OK. We're about to start this game. Now where to first

Beginner Questions
1

I’ve read until my eyes hurt, and have the beginnings of a trading plan in place (no more than £500 to start an account with, and 1% trades maximum). I know what a StopLoss is, but not quite sure how to set one up. I’ve kind of settled on Forex because it’s what I’ve seen and like best. I’ve been to a webinar on HawekeyeFX indicators, and quite like the look of them (but they are going to cost me over £1000 UK to buy). I haven’t yet opened a practice account because I can’t decide on which broker to go with. My main computer is an iMac, and I only now have an old and rather cranky Windows 7 laptop (should I buy a newer windows based laptop?). I’ve downloaded MetaTrader 4 and NinjaTrader 7, but haven’t set either of them up yet.

I’ve got two things going for me, I guess. One is time - I don’t have a real day job, just some interesting things to keep me ticking over. The other is the ability to learn from mistakes - as a yacht skipper, an essential thing to stay safe.

But where to start? I’d love some input from those who’ve been there and done that…

2

Step 1: School of Pipsology and study as well as possible preschool and kindergarten
Step 2: How to Choose a Forex Broker - BabyPips.com and try to choose 2 or 3 brokers to open demo accounts
Step 3: School of Pipsology come back to Pipsology school to study hard!
Step 4: Write all your questions on the forum, we will be happy to help you
Step 5: Now you’ve finished school and have attended the forum, you are ready to start with a real account
Step 6: Stay focused and steady, read blogs, books and try to study Forex
Step 7: congratulations, maybe you will be able to not lose in Forex trading!

Good luck :41:

3

Well the best thing you said is this [I]“ability to learn from mistakes”[/I]

You will make 1000 mistakes until you develop your own method that you like to interact with the market and reap profits on a consistent basis. The market will be your best teacher. Better than me, better those some other trader. Put what you learn into action and listen and learn what the market is tell you. It will tell you if your wrong, or right.

Where do you start?

How do you start anything? You need to learn the basics first. Good place to start. Is ,google, babypips school, my website, other peoples website, your local book store.

People ask us on here - how do they learn to trade? Its like the biggest question and they are expecting some elusive, esoteric, god like answer, that is a secret, that only the profitable traders know.

There is no secret to trading. The closest thing thing I have to a secret and that i tell every beginner is: [I]If your intentions are wrong don’t even bother. The only intention you should have is that a seemingly, comprehensible, easy to understand, obvious trade has presented itself. There is no other reason to trade![/I]

One thing you will notice is trading will bring out every single flaw you have in your mind from patience, discipline, and emotional control. Learning the trading methods and money management is the easy part. The hard part is mastering your mind, that little voice in your head that tells you to bend the rules of your trading method, tells you to take short cuts, tells you to change your method every day, tells you to revenge trade, over trade, anticipate a breakout, trade just because you feel like trading because you have an addictive personality.

That voice in your head is what you will need to ultimately master. If you don’t trading can really do some damage to your life especially if you have an addictive personality and can’t be mindful of your actions. I know a great day trader that is one of the strongest people i know. Because one day he tried to commit suicide because trading almost ruined his life he was a mess. 5 years later he’s doing great and has clients he trades for.

He just kept doing one thing. Learning from his mistakes and eventually he got there.

Start learning the basics.

Support and resistance
Momentum
Swing points
Charting formations
Money management

Once you done all that. The fun begins mastering your mind. If you don’t know what i mean. In 2 months you will.

4

here is some input… don’t even bother buying anything, its all out there for you, all for free. Nothing works when you have to pay for it, or the developer would be making a fortune from it, not selling it. Biggest mistake in Forex if falling for the scams, and there are lots.

5

Welcome to the club! 12 months ago I started with $20k. I ran a real money equity account up 1% through market mayhem and a Cfd account down 90%! Lesson: leverage is very risky.

Since august I’m net flat

  • my own systems are up 70% on demo funds since November and 20% on real money since January
  • follower systems are flat-modestly down

anyway, the gains filled the hole.

Net- what I’ve learned has made me realise that it takes time to master this game but with diligence you can. Mastering your mood while you test approaches is another matter. Stick at it and good luck!