absolute newbie seeks for guide

[pipvector]

hi guys,

this is my first post here, i just tried out metatrader4 and registered a demo account in order for me to learn forex trading, i am an absolute newbie with limited knowledge of forex trading, so i went on to get myself an account with $5000 deposit, 1:100 leverage and i focus on EUR/USD market.

at first it was delighting and sounds like a good start for me as my first try out, i losses (obviously) few hundred dollars (loses > 10 pips), then i seek through school of pipsology here and found out that using S/L and T/P might b a good idea. i try by setting the value for it, and often get invalid T/P or S/L message (i guess this is smth i need to know about setting orders?), and i do trades for the rest of the day on the end of the day my balance is $16503.27(thats a good start for newbie to me...)

today, i do it as usual, but for whatever i traded in, it goes against my expectation example, i look to charts seeing the trend keep going up, soon as i place my buy order it stumbles down fast as lightning and to add insult to injury, each and every S/L and T/P i placed, the trend will just moving in between...(driving me crazy without profits and loss) then the end it will conclude as a lost due to S/L i placed.

to make story short, i lost a total of 14k++ and now i only left $87 in the balance, and its painful and disappointing to see this happen, good thing is its only a demo account else i'll b in deep trouble. lesson learned today: "do not trade in random haphazard way with instinct".

i believe that there is a proper way to make profits in forex trading, since i'm new in this, i hope to get some advice from fellow traders here. what should i need to focus on as a newbie that looks to make profit?? and i also understands that news and some event will affect the movment of the currency and i wonder where to get those information? i'm still going to the school of pipsology, trying to find a way to secure a profit instead of making losses.

thanks for reading this and hope to get replies from u guys soon!

[redbird]

The best guide you will find is YOU. You will need to find the time to invest in yourself, to take the time to read, to go through forums looking for info, to analyse, to understand, to question, to try, to win, to lose, to learn, ... and when you seek extra information, a specific question ... lots of people here to give you a hand!

Good luck!

[gasanvill]

[quote=pipvector;102538]hi guys,

to make story short, i lost a total of 14k++ and now i only left $87 in the balance, and its painful and disappointing to see this happen, good thing is its only a demo account else i'll b in deep trouble. lesson learned today: "do not trade in random haphazard way with instinct".

...Instinct is a very good thing, but you adquire it later..not now.

If you open an account with US$ 5,000 and you end with US$ 16,000, then you are not following any kind of money managment. That would be the lesson, always have money management. Take a look at that at the School.

If you like to see some important news when they are realeased, you can check fxstreet.com, they have a very good calendar.

[pipvector]

great to get seniors reply, will take ur advice seriously!!

redbird, is that about serious discipline in trading? because i felt that i've driven by greed when gain profit, and frustration when is a loss... is that a process that every newbie needs to go through? now i won't hesitate to seek for advice for my doubts.

gasanvill, yes lesson learn hardly....where can i find for ways for forex money management? books? or the SOP(school of pipsology) itself has it? thx for the info regarding fxstreet it give me a very clear picture for the calendar and extra info i needed for my future trades.

i know what is pips and lots but what actually is a spread? and is there any useful sites for me to get info for a beginner? SOP was great, but i seek for extra info..

[redbird]

Yes you do need discipline and a method. If you take enough time to go through the forums you will find several methods people use.

Before you can use a method, you need to understand the basics, therefor go through the babypips school.

Another way to understand trading is to have a look at youtube, some people made mini-films to explain how trading works with graphics.

It is time consuming but it does pay off!

[trading801]

spread is the difference between bid and ask.. brokers make their $ this way..

so if you have

EUR/USD

1.3000 / 1.3002

the spread is 2 pips

so once u start a position, you are instantly at a lose of 2 pips.

BTW STRICT MM is impt... usually pple go 2% of total account.

SL is impt.. as u never know if u fall asleep or the price becomes crazhy.. once i did not SL and the price was dropping like rock, i couldnt close on time... loss a few K on that.. REAL $.

[mathematician]

Someone else asked the same question recently. Just yesterday, I wrote two very long posts giving him some advice. You can check it out here:

Okay I want to learn Forex... where to start?

Read the whole thread, there are only 6 posts, total.

[mikehf]

Well all i want to say to you is: never count on your instincts only, but never ignore them also! In other words, if u earned 10-12k only because of instinctive actions - then that's a luck. But always be careful! I think you have to look for some investment companies for advices, like i do.

[pipvector]

i have read some of the methods given in the forum redbird, some i can understand but i have some trouble with technical terms, i think is better to get a thorough understanding about the basics from school, and graphical lessons always works best for me especially the technical, i learn fast compare to words and sentence(which is useful when comes to theory & terms), may u suggests any user that post real useful videos on youtube because i browse through some videos its either too blurr to see the graphs or just cursors moving around without explanation

thanks the for the terms trading801, which explains how come i never start off a positive position, for every sell/buy i placed, i loses money, the higher the volume the bigger the losses thanks to the spreads, 2 pips? wow~ may vary depends on broker rite? what is SL btw? i hv some trouble with those abbreviations in the forums, mind share some useful terms which peoples here commonly using?

great thanks to mathematician, i appreciate those hard works of working out the advices or i consider a small workshops there! need some time to digest that but will read it thoroughly.

i agree with you mikehf! is pure luck! do we charged for seeking advice from investment companies via physical or via email u mean?

one question is there were 3 forex trading market hours is Tokyo(open 7pm close 4pm), London(open 3am close 12pm) and NY(open 8am close 5pm) which one i need to follow if i'm trading EUR/USD and i'm from malaysia how many hours need to add in order to match my time here? and is the market close on saturdays?

once again, thanks to u guys for taking time giving me advices, i may start a new thread call pipvector's forex trading journey, which records my day by day outcome of a trade. hope everyone kindly leave comment there for me!

[pipvector]

another question is how is the indicator works? example moving average and Reverse Strength Index... is that to identify signals for a currency if will going up or down??