Whats your opinion?

[ironpips]

whats up, im a newbee here. very new to forex.

Age:23
Location: NYC
Blanace : $145.00
Starting Balance : $350.00
Beginers Strategy : Follow the blogs.
Acct open : 2 weeks.
Practiced : 1 month.
Pipsology : 3 days.
Grade : 5th Grade.

I got into investment, because I have been reading about it and have made the efforts to learn about it. When I started with the demo, I’ve seen I was making profits. During that time I had no idea what the waves meant, what the moving averages meant, heck I had no idea what candlesticks meant. But I was seeing profit on my demo account.

I opened up the live account, and started loosing money rather quickly, first day I lost $60.00 next day $50.00 next day gained $30.00 next day lost $50.00 then +$3.00 then -$10.00 and you get the picture right?

I didn’t know what to do, so I googled up forex secrets and tips and came across actionforex.com. Thank heavens I’ve received that call from the agent from forex.com and told me about babypips.com. I’ve learned much more here than any where else.

I’m seeking assistance because I can’t do it by my self. What do you think and what is your opinion? My strategy now is to follow the blogs and pip with the pick of the day, or forex ninja’s opinion and keep educating. I still have yet to check out cowabanga system.

I’ve came across the 20pipsAday and vanessafxsystem, and system for beginers and experts. I want to Read them thouroughly and then work up slowly. I UNDERSTAND ITS THE HOLIDAYS NOW and therefor there wont be much profit to see, so, I can take it easy for now, I can understand it and use that time to try and learn as much as possible.

Can you understand whats happening here? Do you have a method for me to bring up my balance to where I started?

I was curious about the VT Trader system in the 45pips a day, but I’m using FOREXTRADER so that might now work.

My Plan : follow the blogs.

What do you think? Whats your opinion?

Happy Pippin.
-IronPips

[evenpip]

1-stop trading with your real money
2-keep trading with practice account for 6 months

[ironpips]

isnt practicing and trading different?

[n_aftab]

yes and no

a demo account will give you exactly the same functionality you have with your existing account, rather then waste your money practise with demo money.

Find a system, test the system, then trade your system.

There are differences regarding the way you will feel when demo trading granted, you will not feel pain when loosing money. But i stress this is not the real point of the demo account, you need to get up to speed with the features and then your system.

From then move onto trading with micro amounts (real money)

When you have a account size big enough 10K for a mini you have the option to take that route.

As for trading the blogs. I cant comment i dont do it myself, i do know that on one of the blogs there is a suggested system cowabunga, which will take you through the triggers of the system perhaps a good starting point?

Regards

N

[ironpips]

thanx for the tip n. I also got with the program now the 45pipsAday, and I’ve watched the arrows, it seems pretty fair to me, seems profiting. Plus, I’ve read about it and people say its pretty accurate.

Following the blogs is pretty cool, though, the targeted profit is not precise but I can still see profit from it. I followed the blog with forexninja about the usd/jpy, within a day I was able to see 20 pips or so profit, and I’ve jumped in the trend about another 10-15 pips late. And then the one about usd/chf, I was outside at that time but when I came back I’ve seen that it was actually working I could’ve had some profit had I seen that post.

I understand it’s the holidays time and its not a good time to see much profit, so i’ll stay away, though its very tempting. And I do understand about practicing much, yeah I agree, but now that I’m doing some research and trying to find all kinds of tacticts in this forum, I think I’ll take a chance with a lot with james’s system, if that doesnt work, then it’s back to the school again, and graduating with a scholorship from the practice accounts before I fund more capital in there.

Still, let me know what you think, whats your opinion?

I do appreciate the comments and concerns.

Happy Trading.
-IRONpips

[pippingtoddler]

Hi IronPips,

Before I give you my two cents of advice, let me share with you my trading journey. As usual, I started in equities with seven figure account, got cheated, then moved to Options (talk about leverage,) and I liked it. I had seen my account fluctuate with $50-70K profit/loss in a day! Moved to futures such as index futures, the minis, and commodities. I have traded one of the most volatile contracts in the world (CRUDE OIL.) When Ahmedinajad of Iran sneezes, this wild contract can go up or down $2 per contrcat (for 20 contracts, that is $20K up/down in five minutes.) I just started my journey to the FX and I have not committed any real dollars yet. I am using a Practice Account and testing it for all the good set-ups that people like James are generously sharing with us here in this forum. I treat my Practice Account as a real money, I feel the pain when I lose it and I mean it. I dont see it as a funny money or play money…

Why am I telling you all of this personal stuff? Just to let you know that you will have plenty of time to play with real money. But, plze don’t do it now. take your time, practice the set-ups, horn your skills, broaden your knowledge base in trading and enlarge your toolbox. The trading World is littered with the lives of millions of failed traders, and one way to avoid the:) same fate is with knowledge, and patience, patience, patience…

Hope this adds something to your perspective and good luck!

Cheers:)

[groovenator]

Iornpips I want to know if the $350 balance is just to test or is that all you can afford to put in?

I think that all the people saying to trade a demo might be wrong. Chances are they are not real traders and they offer generic advice based on what they read on ebooks, blogs or other sites. I am just offering a different point of view.

I know for a fact most real traders will tell you that a DEMO gave them false confidence and in no way compares to real trading. I know from my experience that demos did not help me rather they impeded my development. Remember this 95% of traders think the same way as most of the people on this forum think, if 95% are trading demos as training and 95% are failing you should do something different. Conforming to the norm does not work in Forex!

I do not believe it is possible to truly psychologically treat a demo as real, you may feel the pain when you lose but that is more a pain caused by you ego taking a hit. If you lose real money you can’t pay bills, eat, or live that is what a full time trader faces every day. You need to perform to survive with a demo that kind of pressure cannot be replicated. You may think that you’re traing asif the money was real on a demo but when you step into the real traders world its a whole differnt ball game. You will then understand that the time you spent demoing was preparing you to live in the suburbs but you now have to learn to live in the Amazon jungle. Bad analogy I know but the point is clear the line between fake and real is a lot wider than most think.

Micro lots mean you can trade as little as 1 dollar and that is better to test the brokers real time performance and to give you a feel for real trading.

Iornpips you mentioned the VanessaFX system this post is by the girl that wrote the system.

[B][U]The Demo Scam[/U][/B]

Doubled your account? Brimming with confidence? About to open a live account? WAIT! Slow down that’s exactly what the brokers want you to do. Making money on a demo is a lot easier than making money with a live account. First of all the performance of a demo account is usually significantly better than the performance of a live account. Most brokers will never slip you and will always honor stop/limit orders on demo accounts but as all of us know this is not the case with live accounts. If you compare a live account and a demo account side by side you will be surprised with the differences, during economic releases particularly you will find it close to impossible to get filled with most brokers on a live account but on the demo it is usually no problem.

The technical differences however major they might be are not going to really effect how much you make, the main issue is mentality, no matter how much you try you will never be able to treat hypothetical demo account money like you would real money.

With live account people tend to be a little more apprehensive about entering orders. This minimal hesitation can turn into maximum losses. I know what you’re saying “well that won’t happen to me” a few words of advice IT WILL, it is like the difference between having a fake gun pointed at you and knowing it’s fake and having a real gun pointed at you and knowing it’s real. Your reaction would be completely different. Demo accounts are just advertising tools and like all advertising they are designed to suck you in.

[B]Don’t be a pawn in their game, I guarantee you the results you achieve in a demo cannot be replicated in a live account.[/B]

Contrary to what most of the cough cough trading gurus say I think nobody should use a demo accounts (unless it’s to test the trading platform or they are already experienced traders). The better option would be to open a live account with a few hundred dollars and play around with that for a while. If you can’t afford to do that than sorry you are in the wrong business, go back to serving coffee, working in an office or whatever it is that you do.

I may think differently to most traders here but notice I am not the one asking for help… they are!

[ironpips]

pippingtoddler, I appreciate your concern. Good luck in the journey of the trades. i think fx is the chance to take when its investing. The reason I think that is because it’s the investor in control of the trades. And they say, be acknowledged, fx is not for everyone, there have been cases where individuals have lost a great deal of capital, yes i understand that, and saw it myself, how it is possible, but i also believe that with proper education, training, and advices it can be good. I know I still have a lot to learn, but when there is systems available where you can learn and earn a few pips along the way, I’ll take my chances with to earn a few pips while I’m expanding my toolbox.

Follow the blogs is my method because, read the update from today, you would see that it paid off, there were pips to be earned if went for the trend. I didn’t because I know it’s almost the holiday, so I’m taking it easy for now, cleaning up my room, learning some more things from babypips. ya know?

Groovenator, The initial deposit was the actual deposit, and i started loosing a lot of money before I came across babypips. If I had known about babypips prior to live trading, I probably would’ve had some pips on me by now. But I’m glad I went for the chances, because as I starting loosing I started being more cautios on the trade, then I checked out babpips, you know, schooling my self, and then started to read about the blogs, and ultimately here in this wicked forums.

And Groovenator, I do have another additional $350.00 if my balance declines me of further trading.

I have some plans in my mind, for now, start off very cautios, start with the 45 pips per day system, and try to get the most of the trend. I’m not a scalper so I have a bit more patience. And, at the same time, follow the blogs, because I witnessed profit myself.

Happy Pippin.
-IRONpips.

[groovenator]

Beware of mechanical systems I am not trying to dissuade you from trading but trading just mechanical is difficult in the long term and you have a big chance of failing. I know I keep posting what others say but these two traders are a great inspiration to me and what they say isn’t sugar coated. They talk to you directly and what they say has always been right.

I am not saying this applies to you exactly but it it something to think about.

This was in response to a question by somebody asking what technical system does he use and if he can reveal it.

It’s the Nick method I use my great mind to take trades.

I see a common theme in this and other forums that makes me mad, people get so caught up on ‘the system’ ohhhh wow ‘the system’. What is a system? it is a bunch of indicators on a chart! any grouping of indicators is likely to tell you the same thing. Some tell you faster, some slower but the end result is always the same a SAR, stochastic, MACD, RSI, Awesome Oscillator they all do the same thing.

People try to understand that the system does not matter, what matters is the person behind the screen making the decision. That is why I am a good trader because I understand that it is not all about a stupid MA crossing or a SAR moving to the top. Yes they do help me make a decision they do give me indications of directions but trading is so much more.

There is also the fact that I could reveal my own private method to everybody a method that has made me a lot of money but chances are none of you could make money with it. You can trade somebody else’s system a system has to be your and you have to feel comfortable with it. That is why the VanessaFX system is good it is easy to tweak there are no concrete rules. People email me saying there should be clearer rules but if you want to be spoon fed a system with rules for every contingency you will never make it in this business. A good system makes pips mechanically a great system consistently makes a lot of the pips with the use of your own discretion.

I say this so many times and nobody ever listens this time I will shout it and hopefully it gets through to some of you.
[B]
F**K THE SYSTEMS[/B]

Stop emailing me and asking what system I use

Stop wasting your time looking for the new revolutionary system

If you want to spend one more day searching forums up and down for a new revolutionary system you should give me all your money now! because at the end of the day it will end up in my pocket anyway (through the market). Whenever you lose I win so lets cut out the middle man you can hand me your money I will slap you over the head and we can call it a day.

The system does not matter, the super special new indicator made by some idiot on some forum that is meant to be 99% accurate will not help you. You very mindset has doomed you from the beginning.

It is like I am speaking a different language.

YES! Technicals are important and YES! systems are important but once you find a suitable one stop searching. You have the VanessaFX system that is all you need it is perfect stop searching and start working on becoming a good trader.

I am telling you right now if after you read this you spend one more day in your trading career searching a forum looking for the holy grail system you will fail!

Oh and before you guys start defending yourselves just sit back and think… you know I am right so do not fight it. Just take my words to heart and start trading like you should.

Vanessa’s success rate on trades is over 90% but the VanessaFX system traders are right about 60% of the time. That is because she doesn’t blindly follow the system she uses her brain.

P.S. Ramrocket it was both the 30min and 4 hr time frames

[ironpips]

Appreciate the tips Groovenator.

Happy Trading.
-IRONpips

[groovenator]

Just be careful trading a mechanical system, any good trader knows they need to know fundamentals, geopolitical news and they need to keep an eye on the stock market. I made 700 pips in 3 hours on one trade a few weeks ago because I was watching stock market prices.

[ironpips]

can you be my mentor? I was just reading some things right now. But I’m a complete newbee in this forex. I’m thinking mechanical system might and can pay off in the short run but in the long run I know I have to understand fundemental systems and everything you’ve just mentioned. What’s your idea on the blogs, for pick of the day trades? To me they seem pretty accurate.

-IRONpips.

[genghisclown]

I think that all the people saying to trade a demo might be wrong. Chances are they are not real traders and they offer generic advice based on what they read on ebooks, blogs or other sites. I am just offering a different point of view.

I know for a fact most real traders will tell you that a DEMO gave them false confidence and in no way compares to real trading…

Uh… no. I think you’re throwing the baby out with the bath water there, Hero.

A demo account is a tool. That’s all it is. I’ve used one to learn my way around the interface I’ll be using for live trading, and then I used it to test some generic ideas. I am harboring no illusions that things will be exactly the same when I go live. Let’s get real. That would be stupid thinking anyway, since no two weeks’ worth of trading is going to be exactly the same (demo or live).

I am now placing a small amount of real money into my live account. I’m going to use this amount to get a feel for the differences between the live action and what I learned trading the demo. I will use this period to test the system I am developing and make any necessary adjustments. When this second stage of testing is complete and I am comfortable trading with actual money, I will send the remainder of my investment capital and be on my merry way.

It is therefore my humble opinion that forgoing the demo trading entirely and/or urging someone to jump straight into the Forex with all of their capital is just as silly as assuming that demo trading will be exactly like the real McCoy. I learned a lot from demo trading. Not everything, but it is a great way to begin… as long as you realize it isn’t the end of your Forex education.