Time to step back and rethink

For some reason I just want to share with you my decision today.

After trading with concistant (small) losses for about a year I decided today to withdraw all my money from IG-markets where I was trading. The reason is that my account has become to small to keep proper money management and I have realised that I sometimes put my stops at bad places just becuase Im afraid to loose to many % of my account. Instead I will take one step back, stay out of the market for a while. pracitsing daily with forextester and a demo-account and start over again with real money some time next year. But next time I will choose a broker who offers micro-account so I can start really small and work my self up while my confidence grows.

This year has been full of trading insights for me and I have become convinced that this is something I really want to do for a living some day, but I have also realised that I don´t have the skills needed yet. My goal now is to build a solid trading plan, mostly based on naked trading, test it and hopefully 2016 will be a more successfull year for me.

Someone else out there struggling with losses? What is your plan to turn your results to the better next year?

Best regards!

Hi Janus, your call, you made it for a reason. Just keep your nose on the grindstone, dont take a break. Open an account at Oanda, and keep chippin away every day. You evidently want to be in this business, so dont quit. Its not easy, but it can be easier with the correct mindset and will to get better.

Like I said, Open an Account at Oanda, deposit $20 and keep rolling. Confidence grows with your plan U have. If your plan has holes, your confidence will soon follow close behind, as they go hand in hand.

I do struggle will losses also, but my problem is a bit different. I hate lossing, lol… So I dont have many losses, but when I do, WOOOOOOOOO, OUCH. Thats my struggle.

Good luck Bud,

thanks for your reply :slight_smile:

I have been thinking of this aswell, maybe I will deposit a very small amount just to stay connected and don´t loose interest. But I think anyway it could be good for me with a small break. Have spent most of my free time during the year infront of the screen. Plan to spend some time with familly and friends during christmas, then get back in buisness :slight_smile:

Wouldn’t it have worked if you used small lots to increase your % risk margin?

you wanna talk stress? I cracked a beer at 7AM this morning, never done that. I hate were I live. Its noisy, a train rolls thru every 8 minutes, but I hear it for 50 miles, just in time for another to roll thru, and Im 18 blocks from the track. I rush my trading, well, because I have to. Its like trading with a gun to my head.

The struggle is real. I have absolutely no luck, ever. Not even Karma payback. Sitting here with a gain of 48% in 3 days, 38 win streak, but Im sure Im about to lose it any minute now.

Before this streak, I had a 78 win streak, with a 66% gain in 2 days, then, well, the boom dropped on me. Keeping concentration is the hardest for me, then lose track of whats going on, because Im so dam aggravated.

Ok, sorry for being a downer, lol, carry on.

Hi Janus,

I think you are making one of the best choices you could ever make! good job:23:
When your gut feeling says, maybe I should take a step back, ALWAYS DO THAT!

There will always be a new day to get back to trading. I disagree with moneynvrsleeps and would say do what you first thought:

1 Take a step back
2 Withdraw your money
3 Plan a date from when you want to start to get back in trading again
4 Spend all your time at Christmas with family and friends, and do not look at your trading business (or anything related) for a few days/weeks.

I did the same thing before, and to me it was the best thing I ever did.
It brings your mind to rest and that is a great thing for trading. Enjoy life and all other things you love next to trading.

When you get back in to it you will have much more clearance in your mind, and from that point you can think clear, focus on that trading plan, write it out, build on your experience and become a better trader.

Trading is hard work, and I admit I am also not consistent profitable for years and years, but I believe it is a great thing to listen to yourself and take a step back once in a while.

Have a great Christmas and a happy new year!

I think it is a good step by you. Just have some good time with friends and family. Get this through and celebrate new year with a relax calm mind. Market will be there and you will come back and take your share later :slight_smile:

Good Luck

IG-markets do not allow me to take small enough lots, otherwise this would have been my first step!

Heh, can’t say I’m struggling with losses (this year looks like it’ll end profitably). My plan for next year is to find ways of improving the quality of my trades, though. Gotta keep grinding.

definitely check out Oanda.

The desktop platform, ( java ) allows you to trade 1 unit, or max units.

Start small, like I said, $20. A pip is a pip, and thats what your after, the Pip. So practicing with $100 or $10, makes no difference. Of course you have the phycological aspect of it with the amount your trading, but starting small, getting things straight with your statedgy is the way to go. Its about making the trade, and seeing what happens, but on a super small scale, instead of throwing money in the wind.

Feb 1st, Im throwing in $500 and hopefully never looking back. So i have 45 days to get my crap together.

I have pitfalls, we all do. Its how you fix them, and learn from them which is of most importance.

Sure, Ive blown accounts, but $5 here and there is worth it and , really isnt anything to worry about, I eat that on lunch. Whats important is getting right and staying on track.

Everyone here knows, Im afraid to take the loss. I hate losing, and do I have to accept the losses, naaaaaaaaaaaahh, lol…

I might be finished for the day, depends if I get a huge gap, and find it playable.

12% gain today,
56% in 4 days,
43 wins, no losses

Now, I hit a ruff patch in my strat on Monday, which gave me 8 losses, everything went crazy.

So, from Dec 3rd, to today, with 128 trades, 8 losses, and took a large hit to my progress but still up 6% in that same span.

I should take a break, but I feel like I cant. Everything is urgent in my life it seems. Im an idiot.

in 5 years, I got 5 days off from the charts, only XMas.

Keep rockin it Bud.

Heres an update since this morning,

15% today, 44 wins - no loses since making an adjustment on Tuesday

60% since Tuesday,

And, you guys with the flamethrower waiting for me, lol, Ive reduced my risk by 65% recently per trade. Just needed to add that.

The moral of the story is, if your all in for this business, take very little time off at all possible, and learn as much as possible.

I’ve been trading for a few years now, i struggled GREATLY at first and when i had losses i wanted to punch a hole through my monitor. It takes time to emotionally control yourself and be ok with losses, knowing you can and will make back what you lost, once a consistently profitable trader. You should take a step back like you said, but just like MoneyNVRSleeps is saying, open a account with Oanda a micro account, and a demo account, that way you can demo and get consistent profits with your system, then go to the micro live account to get the real feel and add true emotions to it. Last/this month I’ve been profitable because i made a new system that is my own and it has worked good so far and i am grateful for that. You can do it too for sure, it just totally depends on how you want to trade. Im continuing to trade because i want to make forex my career. I couldn’t tell you how many people tried to shoot down that dream of mine, and say things like " you can’t make a good living trading forex only small gains each year and blah blah ****ing blah" Well i say, this is a business and i’ll run it my way to get my results, you do it your way. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, if you can dream it you can achieve it. Don’t. Give. UP. Youre doing the smart thing right now, but don’t take a break just open that Demo account its free and easy, then open a micro account with like 50$ and go from there my friend.

Happy trading! :43:

Good job to you! I like to see those gains haha, are you a scalping trader I’m assuming by the number of trades taken?

Good afternoon Jay, Yeah, Im strictly Scalping with targets. Sometimes 10 pips, sometimes 3 pips, but anywhere around there im fine with. I used to just take 1-2 pips from freight of losing them, but Ive changed that now. Another thing Ive changed is making instant trades, and letting price hit my triggers and then my TPs, something Ive never really done in the past.

Like I said before, last week I did a little test run, just to break the habit of Market orders (instant trades) and had a nice run of orders being hit and then not touching the order till it hit either my stop or my target. Got to 78 wins in a row i think it was, with 99% of them hitting my TPs, and that was a big order for my trading personality. But it helped me grow confidence in my trading even more so then last week. I did close a few instantly, because I seen dark clouds arisin, but other times, I watched it just miss and retrace away from my TP, then have to wait it out, but little Drawdown in the process.

Dont want to hijack this thread, but I think the experience in Time put in and hard work and stress go hand in hand with the thread, lol…

And just like you said, cant really relax, as I feel this is my golden egg, so I have to be in the action, wheather watching price or trading, Have to keep the brain in flux as much as possible. If Im not trading, Im watching Youtube of SUCCESS stories, and Tony Robbins of course.

Its a process, thats for sure. But with Big goals, there is little time to sit back and enjoy the atmosphere that I like very little of. As I sit here typin, I hear Trains and its non stop, and just cant take it anymore. Even earplugs dont work, and I hate wear headphones with music blarring in my ears, as I have sensitive hearing as it is.

SMH, just hate it, so this is my motivation. Its like listening to a Jet plane sitting on the tarmak all day long.

Said before, If I didnt live here, Id be a billionaire by now, because I lose concentration so often and rush my trades. Cant do that, and be successfull…

My goal is 25% a day, but have to be consistent. And 25% a day is grossly a high goal. OMG, a motorcycle, I hate them. Wish it would snow already, but seems Winter took the season off.

On a daily basis, I have about 6 things that regularly annoy me to no end, allllll day, every day, and night.

Now Im done, lol… No more trading for the week. I accomplished more this week then the last 3 years, I think anyways…

Jay, Keep rollin brother, youll get to were you want to be, babypips, I mean Baby steps, lol…

Cheers,

Oh, forgot some key things in my daily routine of importantce. I get up in the morning, get about 45 minutes to trade, then get my family out of bed, cook my teenage boys breakfast, run them to school, ( 35minutes round trip) then get home, cook wife and baby girl ( almost 3 yrs old ) breakfast, Make sure wife has everything for work, then she leaves, then I entertain my daughter till noon, wife comes home, Cook Lunch for them, Load them into car, take wife back to work, come home for 1.5 hours, then load kid back into car, get my boys from school, come home, then load daughter back into car 1.5 hours later, go get wife from work, go to store, come home, cook dinner, Ahhhhhh time to trade for 2 hours, bed time. All the day I clean, do laundry and entertain my daughter, all while trying to make 25% a day. lol,

hectic, glad to be alive, its a grind. Going to drink a 6 pack tonigh t for sure, by myself of course, cause I have no friends,lol…

OK, I have to get outta here, Have a great weekend.

MoneyNVRsleeps i say kudos to you!! That’s a lot of responsibility and a tuff situation, while not giving up on trading. Reminds me a lot of myself haha. I day/position trade, i have trades open from 1 hour to 2 days. But the past month my new system has been profitable all month. Like you this is my motivation to a new start in life, i trade when i can and am always looking to improve or looking up things about forex. It’s a hell of a ride but once you finally cross that finish line you remember why you started trading in the first place!

I don’t think it is a good idea to move from live to demo trading. The best way of learning is through live trading. I think you should open a micro account as you said and continue trading with some small amount while educating your self.

Initially everybody get the loss and we should not become the panic and hopeless after getting loss and should learn from the mistakes. We should review our trading and start again with fresh mind after the break.

I trade live with my style, not getting good results though but I have a demo account on which I trade totally set and forget strategy on daily time frame using price action. In last one month I’m up 9.6%, though a bit careless but I’m only taking proper setups that appear. Now taking any nonsense trades. The result is good, but I only have this problem of having less amount in my real account that leads to margin calls due to poor money management.

You are not the only one who faced this situation and there is nothing bad about it because that is the best way for you to learn on your mistakes.
I wouldn’t recommend you to start trading demo because there is nothing you can learn there (trading psychology is not included in demo trading and what ever you will create there is not going to work in a life trading).