Sonic R. System

Reading andyvxr's comment made me feel a little queasy. I have read many
of his comments with great interest, and I had the feeling he was very
knowledgeable in many facets of trading. And then.......POW! He takes the
big fall. This just serves to illustrate to us all that we MUST adhere to the
rules if we plan on surviving in this cutthroat world of Forex.

One thing I can advise is to trade live, but with a small account and equally
small trade sizes. I opened a live account in March of 2012 with $150 because
I wanted to experience the "feel" of live trading. As of today the account
is $14 mostly as a result of not following the rules on just a couple of trades
over the past year. Looking back it is easy to see that by getting OUT of a
bad trade (and not thinking/hoping/wishing it will turn in my favor) I could
have saved the money I lost and used it to make new, GOOD trades. I know
what my mistakes were, but it is extremely hard to overcome them. Human
nature is a powerful thing - and the BB's love it!

My point is, even with all my glaring errors, I have been able to trade live
for a year on that small amount (and believe me, trading live DOES feel different
from demo trading). The trick is to think in terms of pips and not
in terms of money. When you think in terms of dollar amounts, it is very easy
to get greedy after a good trade or two and try to make more.

I have learned a great deal over the past couple of years, thanks to all the
contributors to the thread - andy included! I know I still have much to learn,
and to do that, I need to stick around and try to expand my knowledge.

If you read beneath my name, you will know my philosophy!

Hang in there everyone. It CAN happen if we never give up.

Demo Versus Live Trading

ArtfulDodger just made an excellent post ("Thanks!"). Good for all to read and contemplate.

Yes, trading live does feel different than trading demo. Going live should only be done once the pilot is "qualified". What does that mean? Bad habits, more than anything else, is responsible for traders blowing accounts. One bad habit (that I personally am very familiar with) is to hold a losing trade and add to it. There are other bad habits, too. What is one to do?

Very conscientious traders (Basber comes to mind) keep logs of their trades. And one very important entry into that log is a frank and honest appraisal of why the trade failed, and to the extent that it failed. Often the market whips price to take out traders before a move. There is nothing that can be done to predict it, nor prevent it. But sometimes a trade racks up extensive losses due to trader malfunctions. Realizing what these malfunctions are, writing them down into the log, and continuously reviewing the log eventually gets the malfunctioning trader (that is sick of losses) to accept what must be done to correct matters.

And what must be done is to erradicate any bad trading habits! Plain and simple! ERRADICATE! Don't placate,....ERRADICATE! The best way to erradicate bad habits is to replace them with good habits, not to just try and stop doing the bad things. And the only way to change from doing bad things to doing good things is to practice it! And practice is worthless if it isn't done correctly. Perfect practice is required, not half-assed "practice". Every time a bad habit is accomodated in the practice you have just gone back to square "one", and must start all over again. Not until you are only doing the good, and never doing the bad, are you worthy of trading live. This is the best use of demo accounts.

Most use demo accounts to "get their feet wet" and to "play" in the forex market. This is the breeding ground of bad habits because this is how almost everyone starts. Why do you think brokers make platforms free? They understand that the uninitiated are going to start right off playing, developing bad habits, habits that will inhibit successful trading, habits that will make the brokers money,.....lots of money off of these folks once they've become live trading clients! Figure it out for yourself. It is just like, why do they offer dozens and more of indicators? It is so you can corral in faith your favorite predictors and go broke!

So, consequently, although live trading does "feel" different than demo trading, demo trading is an essential step in the process of becoming a profitable trader. It is only here that anyone can afford the time required to erradicate bad thinking and bad habits by replacing them with good thinking and good habbits. Once that is accomplished, you stop blowing demo accounts and start growing a demo account,....and for the right reasons!

Then, and only then, has the trader become the pilot that is fully "qualified" to take the flight with real money. And the adjustment to trading live, with that initial different feeling, is no more than the qualified pilot is now ready to take in stride after having diligently done all the preparatory work beforehand.


-tah

Personally i found demo accounts to be a real problem. For me they were more of a festering ground for bad habits than a training ground for cutting my skills. It was only when i switched to trading live with micro lots that i began to appreciate what the "bad" in "bad habits" really meant.

And yes Artful Dodger, i understand exactly what you mean by the "feel" of a live account. That increased heart beat, those nervous jitters, the confusion of thought, the FEAR, the GREED .......and all this for the sake of a few micro lots!

Looking back to when i started trading there are many things i regret doing and wish i had done differently. One of which would have been to take a slither of my starting capital and commit it to a 'live training account' where i would trade 0.01 lots until i was consistently profitable over a period of at least 3-6 months. Even if i had to blow 2 or 3 accounts in the process at $150 a pop it would still have been worth it. It would've just been a fraction of the full amount that i prematurely and immaturely loaded up in my first live account. Suffice to say my first loaded up live account went bust, over $50,000 gifted to the hands of SM.

Enough cannot be said to highlight the seriousness of making sure we don't enter into the arena with an under-developed skill set. I went into the forex market so wet behind the ears i was literally dripping with ignorance. Sadly i didn't dry out, and instead i only became more wet until eventual i drowned. It's not a pleasant experience and sometimes the damage and pain caused from blowing up a 'large' account can be a lot more than just financial.

But yes, hang in there, stay smart, be mature, be intelligent and cool headed, take this business seriously and then of course "It CAN happen if we never give up."

I've thrown away a ton of money as well. My main problem was bankroll management. Nothing is more important than managing your funds properly. Don't go for home runs, no losing trade should ever hurt you.

And yes averaging in on losers is a sure way to set your self up for some massive losses. Don't do it, ever. Average into your winners! Find the strong trends and do it with those, ie. the Yen getting destroyed lately.. seems like a trend to me!

Oh and I for one will never give up ever. I'll either be a broke loser for the rest of my life or a successful trader. NEVER GIVE UP, but do learn from your mistakes.

Good morning everyone from asia . Hope you guys will have a week with green pips.

Ouch! Would that be an ancient one, with mold all over it?

Oops , typo, lol

Do not trade not more than 2 trades a day, keep the over-trading at bay..

Sonic

UJ had double setups ?? Both in Friday' London session. Let see UJ will break 90.65 or not???

Hi ... SONICER
i want to share my new trading disipline hope i can stick white my rule

WHAT IS DISIPLINE

WRITE THE SYSTEM OF MY TRADING
· Read the chart and analyst, don,t be rush go in market until have comform the SIGNAL (WHAT YOU SEE WHAT YOU GET).
· Calculate the RISK MANAGEMENT (always prepare for the worst, it will make you servive in trading market)
· Let’s your profit run, and move the SELL LOST to BE. If any Sign of weakness or stoping volume appear just closing and take profit.
· Clossing the trade if see PA SOW or damand has come with small profit or lost.

WHAT MAKE YOUR ACCOUNT BLOWING OUT
· Over Trading !
· Don’t let’s the lost trade running to worst (CUT LOST EARLIER)
· Learning to accept the lost because lost is part of trading but minimize the lost of loosing trade and let the profit run.

MAKING JOUNAL OF TRADING IN EVERY TRADE AND REASON WHY YOU TRADE
Always evaluate your tread every day, count how many mistake or break rule that you had made and correct it, don’t make it again.
Remember !
· GOOD TRADE is not always profit, but is when you in lost trade you know you are in wrong position and cutlost early. Wait for a new good setup from your chart.
· BAD TRADE is not always lost trade,but you let’s your lost trade running to worst and lucky the price move back and you receive small profit whit every big risk. Market will punish you next time.
BAD TRADE is the trade that you make by breaking the rule (mistake) maybe you are not punish this time but it will punish you in future. To avoid it always stick your discipline.
· Only big lost can hurt you.

Hi forexisfine,

Good sharing. Thank you.

Here is a 25-points MANTRA which will go along with your Discipline.

Regards,

thank for your sharing to, but i thing every trader must make his own trading discipline and trading system and analysis that suitable to him. not just follow the other.

On its way to 120??
CT trade..


Sonic

Close this UJ long for loss. Short EJ, SL 122.64 , EP 121.72

http://www.forexfactory.com/attachme...1&d=1359107323

EUR/JPY These positions have been loaded 50% lighter than usual to factor in the high risk of trading against such a strong trend.

Will have to get a bit faster at posting these shots in the future......sorry...

AU: Manually closed all five trades out for 24x5=120 pips, EPavg to TP1.

Short AU, SL 1.0442, EP 1.0397

UPDATE EUR/JPY Scout trade long, may not come to anything, still have one SonicR short open against it, stops in place, we'll see what happens.....

EU: Might be weakening. Still have US open to go, which might entail a pullup. Looking, waiting to see if US PA bactests a resistance level (half number, something higher?). Or, is this just a retrace in the uptrend?

Main Trend is on your side..

It is just the price is below dragon..Wave is also down..It may be going to 121.2x first..




Who knows..
Sonic