Not really what the title suggests:rolleyes: but I thought it would be nice to have a thread where people can give tips based on their experiences trading forex. Its a free for all. Tips and ideas on how to improve trading.
PS: If another thread about the same exists :eek: then we’ll just have to close this one.
I’ve lost a mini-fortune in forex and its got to do with the following:
-Using indicators that just throw me into [B]second-guessing[/B] my decisions. I’m not saying that indicators are a bad thing, its just that as a beginner you tend to use the whole load of them. Remember K.I.S.S
-Being [B]hopeful[/B] that the loss will turn into a profit or atleast a break-even soon. Problem is everything goes pear shaped up until you get out, then the trend does a reverse and you start to chase it. Very painful an experience it is.
-Letting that plethora of [B]emotions[/B] take hold of my decision making.
-Getting into a trade so as to [B]compensate[/B] a previous loss. Thats when you get a margin call, because you doubled the position size but the equity reduced due to the previous loss.
-Related to the point above is the [B]lack of patience[/B]. There will always be a good trade if you just rein in.
I have myself to blame and learn from, I pulled the trigger :eek: . The above is just a statement as to how the current situation unfolded.
Thats all for now, you’re all invited to voice your opinions. Happy trading 
eh man, I know it’s tough to keep threads like this going. I’ve tried many times. But I’ll help you out. I’ll talk about optimization because it has been the root of all evil in my trading. I always tried to fit the perfect combinations of indicators and just when you have something it seems you can mak eit better keep tweaking it. Backtesting causes it. Because you feel since it happened in the past it has to happen again. Especially profit targets, those you must stay away from for backtesting rather have a mathematical winning approach, it’ll work much better. Also the entry, I used to study what would happen every time my plan told me to enter. I even could guess it pretty accurately like if it went a certain distance it would rebound a bit then come back, so I would enter at the rebound. However, this is only a staircase that leads to a slide, since you realize no matter what anything can happen, it doesn’t have to do anything, it will do what it will do (I’m talking about price of course). So I torn those walls down, but the fact that I am aware of the probabilities has in the past hindered my progress. Anyways if you haven’t fallen into the trap, I’m telling you if you do you might as well jump on a rocking horse and try to move an inch(assume it’s bolted down.
). If you have, well you will climb out of it, but it is painful. Well have a good weekend eh, best.
Thanks Shadow for sharing your thoughts. Its not easy to share ideas when you have more readers than peeps contributing. I’ll try my best and maybe I’ll keep going and be able to help someone realise something, just trying to stimulate the different lines of thought.
About backtesting a system. I believe that this is where things start going pear-shaped. The “best” system that you could try to create is one that I’ve realized to be difficult to put together using a set of indicators. It is a system that you understand by observation and having loads of patience. Self doubt and emotions should never come into play(difficult but should be aimed for). You take a position based on what you can see on the charts. At one point the prices might go against your position :mad: or make you some money . What am trying to expound on is that you are always right on whatever decision you make(based on proper analysis), what makes your outcome wrong and lose you money is when you drop the discipline you had before you entered the trade.
I better stop before I get people confused.
Food for thought: Its easier for a beginner to make money on a ranging market than a trending one