I have been meddling with forex for the better part of a decade on and off. I am nowhere near where I want to be, but far from where I used to be, at least in terms of knowledge of what I have gotten myself into. I don't know where I will end up, but for now I am enjoying the journey.
A few things I have picked up...
1. Temperament - this is without a doubt the most important requirement for success. If you don't have the correct emotional settings you will fail miserably. And the correct settings can be learnt, it will take effort to unlearn most of what you have been taught throughout life but it can be done. Read. Read a lot. And be patient while your neurons create a new map.
2. Hanging around places like FF trying to get signals for market direction won't you get very far, while there are good traders here who present decent analysis, it takes serious effort (if you are not so wired) to ignore the other idiots. There are too many geniuses here who aren't making enough to even afford toilet paper. They are easy to spot, they are often the loudest, have an opinion on everything and on every thread - in almost all cases incorrect opinions that they postulate as facts. They also seem to have some weird brain wiring that tells them they should act as forex cops, protecting everyone from everything instead of focusing on their own shortcomings.
3. 99% of threads here are useless, the good ones are easy to spot, they tend to have the least activity or a smaller concentration of regular posters as the topics and methods discussed requires too much work for most people to take on.
4. There is no easy way to be profitable and people need to stop searching, you simply have to do the work, whether it is reading or spending hundreds of hours just watching charts. Whenever a new system is posted, somewhere in the first 5 to 10 comments someone will pop up with the question of can it be coded into an EA. EAs will work some of the time no doubt, but as market conditions fluctuate from time to time, why turn your back an leave a computer to somehow understand and make sense of these varying fluctuations? Also for the threads which are not "systems" in the pure sense of the word, which requires an understanding of price action, S&D, patterns etc, you get the same people asking for indicators to do the work for them. To borrow the words of a famous investor, "It's not supposed to be easy, anyone who finds it easy is stupid".
5. Too many people predict and are sure of too much things. It is only when we realize we really don't know anything that we start to get better. Nothing is for certain, except that the market is inefficient, which means to obtain some degree of success we must train ourselves to find where (and sometimes when) these inefficiencies may be present and then structure a trading plan around taking advantage of these inefficiencies. Success in forex is all about understanding probabilities. Nothing else.
Will probably add more some other time...
A few things I have picked up...
1. Temperament - this is without a doubt the most important requirement for success. If you don't have the correct emotional settings you will fail miserably. And the correct settings can be learnt, it will take effort to unlearn most of what you have been taught throughout life but it can be done. Read. Read a lot. And be patient while your neurons create a new map.
2. Hanging around places like FF trying to get signals for market direction won't you get very far, while there are good traders here who present decent analysis, it takes serious effort (if you are not so wired) to ignore the other idiots. There are too many geniuses here who aren't making enough to even afford toilet paper. They are easy to spot, they are often the loudest, have an opinion on everything and on every thread - in almost all cases incorrect opinions that they postulate as facts. They also seem to have some weird brain wiring that tells them they should act as forex cops, protecting everyone from everything instead of focusing on their own shortcomings.
3. 99% of threads here are useless, the good ones are easy to spot, they tend to have the least activity or a smaller concentration of regular posters as the topics and methods discussed requires too much work for most people to take on.
4. There is no easy way to be profitable and people need to stop searching, you simply have to do the work, whether it is reading or spending hundreds of hours just watching charts. Whenever a new system is posted, somewhere in the first 5 to 10 comments someone will pop up with the question of can it be coded into an EA. EAs will work some of the time no doubt, but as market conditions fluctuate from time to time, why turn your back an leave a computer to somehow understand and make sense of these varying fluctuations? Also for the threads which are not "systems" in the pure sense of the word, which requires an understanding of price action, S&D, patterns etc, you get the same people asking for indicators to do the work for them. To borrow the words of a famous investor, "It's not supposed to be easy, anyone who finds it easy is stupid".
5. Too many people predict and are sure of too much things. It is only when we realize we really don't know anything that we start to get better. Nothing is for certain, except that the market is inefficient, which means to obtain some degree of success we must train ourselves to find where (and sometimes when) these inefficiencies may be present and then structure a trading plan around taking advantage of these inefficiencies. Success in forex is all about understanding probabilities. Nothing else.
Will probably add more some other time...
