In the coming weeks I will be funding my live account and starting my journey as a trader. I would like to outline my plan here in the hope that I can gather some feedback, be it positive or negative, all is welcome.
I have read countless threads here at babypips and numerous other sources and found invaluable information for which I would like to thank this community for! Seems there are some great minds that frequent the forums.
My plan is a relatively simple one. I feel most comfortable trading mid term swings and long term trends, with which I have enjoyed some success over the past few months trading GBP/USD and EUR/USD on my demo account.
My real account will be initially funded with 500-1000 and perhaps more down the track if I can deliver results. I will be sticking to the trends and using the bounce/break within the trends to present my entry points. Indicators used will be moving averages 200/50/10, and a touch of fib retracement and extension. I prefer to keep it simple.
Once I have an open position I will be looking for opportunities to scale in / add to the position (and moving stops to secure profit) in an effort to build a strong long term profit. I do plan to add positions fairly aggressively but not recklessly, only as the market presents.
Risk per trade will be around 3% with a monthly targets of 10-15% growth. I know some of you will disagree with 3% and I realise the potential draw downs I am exposing myself to, however I do plan to decrease the risk per trade to 1-1.5% as the account size grows.
With all that being said, I am a long way from knowing exactly what Im talking about. Still a lot to learn.
I have no strategy for range bound environments but will be working on that in demo account.
Given that I am looking to trade long term, I need to learn a lot more about fundamentals. If anyone can suggest any reading material it would be much appreciated.
Thanks for reading, I hope I have stirred enough of your interest for you to post your thoughts !!!
First of all congrats for your wise decision of going live in forex market. Your risk management system looks very potent. Your plan is very realistic and as per my experience you have very good chances of success with this plan. Just dont be disappointed of if it doesnt work for first time. It takes a while to become profitable once you have mastered the art of trading and know how to retain sucess there is no looking back in this field. Keep doing the great job. Best of luck to you
Demo results can be found in myfxbook account, i have been reaching my targets. results have been clipped to start of Feb 2014 as prior to that I was mostly just playing around to find my comfort zone. eg strategy/timeframe etc.
Best success has been with GBP/USD
myfxbook account: quincyb45 sorry I do not yet have enough posts to supply the link
Demo results can be found in myfxbook account, i have been reaching my targets. results have been clipped to start of Feb 2014 as prior to that I was mostly just playing around to find my comfort zone. eg strategy/timeframe etc.
Best success has been with GBP/USD
myfxbook account: quincyb45 sorry I do not yet have enough posts to supply the link
Thanks for the info, I will read the article. Do you have a link for forextester? And given that my strategy is largely based on support/resistance and breakouts, do you think it will be of use? I have used the back tester in FXCM trading station but couldnt really find a way to apply my strategy to it, seems it is more for automated trading and signals.
I know exactly what you mean which is why I’m mainly focusing on percentages and not dollar figures. I’m expecting a bumpy transition into real money trading but at the same time I’m not setting out to make $5k per month on a $500 account.
I wouldn’t worry about risking 3% per trade. Your maximum drawdown depends on the win rate of your system. I only lose about 15% of my trades, so I’m comfortable risking 5% per trade. I [I]will[/I] have two losers in a row at some point in the future and lose 10% of my account, but I am okay with that. My growth is fast enough and I am mentally prepared to lose that much, and my winners are larger than my losers. 3 would be very unlikely but may happen at some point, and 4 is getting into the realm of extreme improbability.
Although I agree with Milos, if you’re thinking in terms of percentages you will probably be fine.
Sounds like you have some good stats to back up your work, good on you!!!
Theres soooo many stories about people losing money, its nice to hear someone pop their head up and say theyre doing alright.
one of my side goals is to get my accuracy up to around 75%, if I can maintain accuracy like you then I probably wouldnt be too worried about 3-5% either.
here is the link to myfxbook account if anyone feels like having a squizz. Feb was a bumpy month still trying different things but hopefully the stats should improve if i can stay on a consistent path, although I will of course be linking my real account once I get things kicked off. FXCM DEMO System | Myfxbook
Good point, and, fortunately, FXCM provide both a $50,000 and a $5,000 account… While they do not provide anything smaller, at least with $5,000 it is close enough… I do not know if other brokers offer smaller sized demo accounts…
Thanks for checking it out, but you must have popped in while I was filtering through particular months. Overall drawdown is at 17% but around 6% for march/april. With a bit of luck I will try to maintain drawdowns to around that area and drag those stats back in.
[QUOTE=“PipMeHappy;622326”]Good point, and, fortunately, FXCM provide both a $50,000 and a $5,000 account… While they do not provide anything smaller, at least with $5,000 it is close enough… I do not know if other brokers offer smaller sized demo accounts… [/QUOTE]
I think Alpari offers smaller demo accounts and probably a few more… but the point is you have to mirror a live account in demo so you don’t experience later a huge leap between them.
Moving from demo to live trading has to be an smooth transition not a punch in the face!
While I agree with you regarding the transition between demo and real, wouldnt applying identical risk capital percentage etc yield similar statistics only with a lower dollar value? Provided of course that a similar success ratio is achieved.
Everything remains the same, but as you said earlier the live account size is 1% of the demo.
Im not dismissing your recommendation, just saying I do not underestimate the transition from demo to real cash.
While we are at it, here is the next place of interest for me going long on GBPUSD, though i think the 1.68 level may show some strength. This is just an example of how I plot my charts, may look like a mad mans scribblings to someone else but my charting abilities are also open for discussion
but around 6% for march/april. With a bit of luck I will try to maintain drawdowns to around that area and drag those stats back in.
