What was it like when you started? Don't know what's gone wrong!! | Page 2 | Forex Factory

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What was it like when you started? Don't know what's gone wrong!!

  • #21
  • Mar 1, 2013 10:54am Mar 1, 2013 10:54am
Quoting Kanzler
Hi Lance,

As a last note for this post I want to say this - don't get trapped in the search for the holy grail with these EAs. They all have a catch and none of them work under all conditions....take a look at them for the purpose I'd outlined earlier and then move on.

Kanzler
Cheers, thanks for your input.
Yeah i know they are not the be all and end all, but if one/i can get an edge in the market then i'm defo keen to do so.
In this particular instance though, it probably is more hassle than anything else.
Understanding the marketplace, candlestick formations and price action is by far the most important element in cracking this whole puzzle.
I have and continue to read and research as much as possible to enhance my knowledge as best possible.

Happy trading, green pips to you
  • #22
  • Mar 1, 2013 12:39pm Mar 1, 2013 12:39pm
Quoting lancedes
Cheers, thanks for your input.
Yeah i know they are not the be all and end all, but if one/i can get an edge in the market then i'm defo keen to do so.
In this particular instance though, it probably is more hassle than anything else.
Understanding the marketplace, candlestick formations and price action is by far the most important element in cracking this whole puzzle.
I have and continue to read and research as much as possible to enhance my knowledge as best possible.

Happy trading, green pips to you
Just take a page from my book and understand that none of them are going to give you a real edge....maybe a temporary fluke but you'll give your profit back before you know what hit you. Price action is definitely a step in the right direction though, but to advance further you need to look at what causes price movement at the lowest level - orders. If you knew where all the real orders were stacked up on a chart it would be hard to lose money.
  • #23
  • Mar 1, 2013 5:16pm Mar 1, 2013 5:16pm
First off, many thanks to everyone who has taken the time to post. Going to have a good read of all the posts and reply in detail.
  • #24
  • Mar 7, 2013 9:51am Mar 7, 2013 9:51am
Quoting Kanzler
When I first started I thought I had this thing in the bag. I get enough indicator confluence how can I go wrong?! Well...it's not that easy. Save yourself a year or more of frustration and ditch every single indicator, including the moving averages. Look at how price behaves, but don't be under the illusion that you can predict every move. You can't - but there are some things that are repeated in the markets over and over. Keep an eye on the big picture and don't focus too much on what one candle is doing. Since you're brand new I would focus...

Thanks, yes I've realized I 've been watching the indicators more than the price and the candles.Probably learned a bit since the big draw downs. Taken me a while to get my head around support and resistance levels etc. Couldn't understand why the price moved in opposite direction to all the indicators, of course momentum and price can be matched, but momentum and price don't necessarily follow each other. Got charts pretty clean now. Many thanks
  • #25
  • Mar 7, 2013 9:57am Mar 7, 2013 9:57am
Quoting Forexnuts
Believe me, we have all been there, wondering what went wrong..think of it as a initiation process.
Do not pay up for any course, not at this point. And as to what you are doing wrong, well, you may want to opt for larger time frames or perhaps, it is your strategy. Either way, we can only point you back to demo and revisiting some of the beginner courses..believe me, it takes a while to get it right.
Thanks, yes got to use it to get better and problem solve. Yep moved to H1/H4 and reduced the number of trades, will keep going!
  • #26
  • Mar 7, 2013 9:58am Mar 7, 2013 9:58am
Quoting Forexgogo
The question was, "Just wondering what exactly do newbies do to lose?" (this is from other thread, but relevant to your question)

My answer, What they do is trying to "trade."

When I started forex years ago, I rarely lost because I didn't "trade" per se. What I did was, I go short and long at the same time on the same pair (hedging), and take profit when I "feel good" about getting 200 or 300 pips. Then, I go short and long again from there, keeping the losing position. Then, go on and on and on. I ignored all common sense, such...

Many thanks for sharing your early years in forex
  • #27
  • Mar 7, 2013 10:05am Mar 7, 2013 10:05am
Quoting Mbaxter
Hi there, and welcome to Forex! Your start sounds very similar to what mine was. I tried several different things until I arrived at Price Action trading; like you! Personally, I love it. It is also very useful if you decide to learn other aspects of trading; like if you wanted to scalp for example. Many of the principles are still applicable as you're interpreting what the charts are telling.

If you're still looking for a good broker; I use MahiFx.com. I used OANDA for awhile starting off but moved for better spreads.

Anyway. Here's the problem...

Cheers for the link, I have found the Nial Fuller (and chris capre) videos very useful. Reading about price action was hard so seeing it visually is better. Got quite a way to go before I really grasp all the candle patterns, but the candle reading is heading in the right direction. Yes it was frustrating wondering why the wheels came off after the first 2 months of doing well.
  • #28
  • Mar 7, 2013 10:19am Mar 7, 2013 10:19am
Quoting smikester
Sounds like you haven't got a clue what you are doing. That might sound a bit harsh. It is, but it is time to wake up and admit you have little or no experience of the markets.

So where from here? First and foremost, don't be hard on yourself. Simply admit you haven't got a clue, yet...

So far, I would say you have learned a bit about platforms and how demo account servers don't get the attention they should. You have also learned that you know little or nothing about margins or money management. You have also learned a little about indicators....

Yep I realize only been at it for 5 minutes, so being a bit hard on myself, and having far too big expectations. I did try and learn support resistance when I started but couldn't quite get my head a round it, along with price action. A couple of months in now I understand these a bit better.

I have an idea about money management and the lot sizes were appropriate for the balance size, but the SL and TP settings need a lot of work, I think this is where the big drawdowns have occurred with getting these wrong, this is something to get right for me.Thanks for the straight talking advice
  • #29
  • Mar 11, 2013 9:43am Mar 11, 2013 9:43am
I've been a lurker on this forum since the beginning of the year and figured it was time to chime in and start contributing. I've learned a few things and nothing is really new to anyone in this forum. Just my experiences.

I started dabbling in forex back in 2008 but I never took it live just didn't feel I had enough capital or experience. Last summer (2012) I decided to get back into it and see if I could really make it work. I have a little extra money now and I figured as long as I can get better then an interest bearing bank account I would be happy. I never got into it expecting to get rich quick. With that said I think the best strategy is money management. Never risking more then 2%, and even with good money management the losses can really stack up. 5 bad trades is 10% of my account. which can really put a dent on your confidence. I traded on Demo accounts all they way up until Mid-December and I never really mastered this whole forex thing. But I still see it has potential.

As I got back into the forex market I also started looking for signal services. My thought being that perhaps I could do analysis on trades someone else is making. They are making money and I could try and learn there methods. However, most these services you have to pay for. Few give out a limited subset of there trades and after trading on there free systems for a while I was not making money in the demo account. However I felt that they were giving out strong trades so I took the leap, and signed up for the service. My thinking being that I will get more winning trades by paying for the service and this turned out to be true.

Mid-December I signed up for my first real account. I stared with a decent initial balance with a plan to add money to it on a bi-weekly basis. January I was up 8% for the month, February -5% and March so far I'm up 4% Total I'm up just over 8% but because I am adding money bi-weekly my absolute gain is only 1.5% it seems my plan is working and I am getting a better return then the bank account.

I hope this helps as it's been my method for getting into the forex market and while I'm not making huge amounts of money I am making some money and that was the goal.

Nic
  • #30
  • Mar 28, 2013 10:18am Mar 28, 2013 10:18am
hello there guys! im just new in forex and also in this forum. i learn many things and insights from reading all your post. i dont have anything to share at the moment,but i will soon. thank you guys and more power!
  • #31
  • Mar 28, 2013 12:26pm Mar 28, 2013 12:26pm
Well, do review some of the old stickies, there's quite a bit of info on all aspects of trading and in case of any query, do post it in the forum.
Back to the topic, On EA, would rather advise manual trading and yes as others have suggested, you can backtest any ea.
  • #32
  • Mar 28, 2013 1:38pm Mar 28, 2013 1:38pm
Quoting NicCOConnor
I've been a lurker on this forum since the beginning of the year and figured it was time to chime in and start contributing. I've learned a few things and nothing is really new to anyone in this forum. Just my experiences.

I started dabbling in forex back in 2008 but I never took it live just didn't feel I had enough capital or experience. Last summer (2012) I decided to get back into it and see if I could really make it work. I have a little extra money now and I figured as long as I can get better then an interest bearing bank account I would...
Thanks for sharing your history in Forex. Glad you have got an edge that is bringing in gains on your balance and it's heading in the right direction for you. Thanks for the advice, much appreciated
  • #33
  • Mar 28, 2013 9:02pm Mar 28, 2013 9:02pm
trading like many other endevours in life has an otpimum strategy and not so good strategies.

but like everything in this universe you have to ask the rigth questions and have the open mindedness to ACCEPT the answers even if you do not like them.

what makes price move? is a good start

do not under estimate the answer to that question.
AVT INVENIAM VIAM AVT FACIAM
  • #34
  • Mar 29, 2013 7:01am Mar 29, 2013 7:01am
Quoting the redlion
trading like many other endevours in life has an otpimum strategy and not so good strategies.

but like everything in this universe you have to ask the rigth questions and have the open mindedness to ACCEPT the answers even if you do not like them.

what makes price move? is a good start

do not under estimate the answer to that question.
Totally agree with you. These type of questions develop thinking, analyzing and learning abilities of forex newbies.
  • #35
  • Mar 29, 2013 11:45am Mar 29, 2013 11:45am
Understanding price action is a must and yeah, that reply says it all.
  • #36
  • Mar 31, 2013 1:54pm Mar 31, 2013 1:54pm
I'll try keep things short and here's my story.

I was in my first year of university in 2007 when i started selling Japanese toy models on kijiji, and from that i exposed myself to paypal and exchange rate for the first time. I was importing small amounts of toys from Japan and US. About half a year into the business i became fascinated by the whole forex thing. And i started doing USD/CAD exchange on paypal, and YES with the ridiculous spread which i was not aware of at that time! I had 2k spare OSAP student loan from the government that i had put into paypal, a year later i turned that 2000 into over 4000, with no strategy or what so ever. It was purely based on when i needed CAD or when i needed USD for my toys.

Nothing happened for the next couple years, in 2010 july i opened my first live trading account with CMC market. I started with 2000 which was the minimum, in a short 2 month period i had made 1800 profit. I got bold and put in over 27k into the account within the following week. With 29k total, the remaining 4 month was magical. I averaged about 1k return per week, netting exactly a little over 16k over a 4 month period.

2011 was nothing short of a fairy tale, i made over 50k net.
2012 i lost 10k, if counting the inflation and the income i could've generated with 29k in bank's mutual funds, definitely lost more.
2013 January I decided to quit forex trading, 58k profit over the 3 year period with 29k investment.

I spent 70% of my trades in USD/CAD, the remaining in USD/JPY and EUR/USD, every single one of my trades lasted more than a week before closing. Some as long as 3 month.

Here're my personal disciplines,
-Everytime i make over 1000 USD, i would withdraw the 1000 and close any open position i had. That is the one thing which led to my success in 2010 and 2011.
-I never set up any stop loss, only take gain.
-I would only trade USD/CAD

I'm still an amateur in forex even now, you could say i got very lucky. 2012 i lost a lot of money bcs i broke my own rules
- I started trading EUR/USD, which i took a short position at 1.24 lol..... and closed it at 1.31.
- I started trading JPY/USD, which i closed after 400 pips loss.
- I broke my rule of take gain at 1000, sometimes because i was very close to the next k. (Eg, 2.8k, i would wait for that 200 extra, and next thing i know, the 2800 profit turned into a loss)

However my mentality was top notch the 3 years i was trading, i held a position that's at a loss of over 20k for 3 month, without a flinch. I simply did not care lol. There was no daily trades, you could say i only looking at the long term, macro.

Now with a family and small business, i no longer can afford the volatility. And voila i left the forex market. And hell yes i know one day i'll be back, hopefully with the same mentality.
  • #37
  • Last Post: Mar 31, 2013 11:21pm Mar 31, 2013 11:21pm
"What was it like when you started? Don't know what's gone wrong!! "


It was like I'm blind kitten.lol. I have a work and I have an education. I really thought that I'm smart. But when I met forex, I felt myself very strange! I thought "oh! God! I don't know anything!!! ". It's funny to remember!
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