Read about a noob dealing with his losses...

[Labrat]

About two or so weeks ago, I got hooked on forex trading. I trade stock occasionally and followed the stock market in general. So Forex seemed a faster and more direct method to bet on the market and economy. Opened a demo account with an UK broker and started playing around with MT4. I went from being cautious to risky. Meanwhile I was reading Mr Candlestick Nison's book and some other literature about Forex trading.
After winning some pips on demo I checked 1000 € into a micro account.
My plan was to do scalping, fast in - fast out Earn about 100€ a day to finance the amenities of life. Nice dinners and cigars and so on...

Day One: EURUSD - lost about 25 €, lot size 0.1 to 0.2. Reason: I tried scalping on M1 charts and got really scared with the up and downs (real cash vs. DEMO€) so I went out to early and got in late.

Day Two: EURUSD - Started with lot size 0.2 on M15 to M30 charts and it went fine, hauled in about 200 pipettes on "scalping"
Now I increased the lot 0.5 and hauled in about 550 € in 3 hrs. Could not believe it!

Day Three: EURUSD - a Friday - Got in late that day in the market and missed the best hours of morning trade. (my position is somewhere in southern Germany) Made the mistake to check to often M1 chart and got nervous again. My profits melted - late in/late out always on the bad side. Balance 950€ Loss 650 €.

Day Four: EURUSD - After the weekend tried to recover. Lot sizes to big. Picked wrong entries fumbled with the S/L switch and got really burned! Result at the end of the day: 9€ left. Not good at all for the ego. Bad Friday - bad weekend - bad Monday.

Day Four: EURUSD - Got back to lot size 0.1 and tried to read the candlesticks again. Looked for the usual turning signs and tried to get lock down profit. Goal: Every deal should have some profit. Get out when 100 pipettes reached. Try to save 50 pipettes. Result: 9 out of 10 deals ended with profit.

TBC.
labrat

[Labrat]

Day Five: EURUSD - Meanwhile fresh cash arrived. No Sir, did not increase the lot size. meanwhile found this wonderful site and forum. Great, feel home around here! Continued with the 0.1 lot size and succeeded with profit deals. No big cash wins but about 150 pipettes. Leaves the balance in bad shape but good for the ego.
BTW: I print out the daily statement I receive form the brocker and add my diary notes on the back about my trading experience.

Comments welcome

labrat

[peterma]

Thanks Labrat for posting, we all learn from each other - especially each others mistakes.
Can I suggest you read the now sticky thread at the top of the forum started by ICT, he has changed my style of trading from exactly what you have been posting to a much more disciplined (and hopefully more sucessful) trader.
Check out his video collection - it's all free - everything - no strings attached ( just like babypips) - refreshing in this business.

[SoundOfLight]

how long did you trade stocks, and what was your approach there as far as timeframes and track record?

i'm thinking out loud here, but targeting a 10% PER DAY gain - while possible - should only be approached by those who can trade stocks with comfort day in day out. reading about your adventures, methinks you bit off more than you should have! :P i've done that too, so i can say it without being a hypocrite. my realistic goal is more like 1% a day. with compounding (and no withdrawals), that's a healthy TWELVE-FOLD increase each year.

i've traded stocks before forex and much of it is similar. costs are lower, market moves for a longer stretch of time (UK plus NY sessions), but other than that it's all very similar. ok, no genuine volume indicator, that's the biggest difference i see.

yes, 1min charts are worthless, far too much dither and not enough meat. my 'fastest' chart is a 3min and a 2pip-trading-range (untimed). and that would likely be scalping / momentum trading.

your DAY THREE is kinda interesting. how'd you manage to lose 40% of your account in one day?? was that one trade, or just a bunch of trades with too much leverage? my biggest one-day-loss was the first week i ever traded stocks, and it was around 15%. sweating bullets, i tell ya...

[Labrat]

Thanks Labrat for posting, we all learn from each other - especially each others mistakes.
Can I suggest you read the now sticky thread at the top of the forum started by ICT, he has changed my style of trading from exactly what you have been posting to a much more disciplined (and hopefully more sucessful) trader.
Check out his video collection - it's all free - everything - no strings attached ( just like babypips) - refreshing in this business.

Thank you for the suggested reading! It's bookmarked

[Labrat]

how long did you trade stocks, and what was your approach there as far as timeframes and track record?

Not professional. Just trying to build for the retirement. Got a good exit back end of nineties with MS before the stock price went down. Some funds went so la la and were sold during the internet bubble break. Thought of buying Apple when Steve came back on board and was a coward, which really pisses me off... I was more involved in high tech since this is what I knew about.

your DAY THREE is kinda interesting. how'd you manage to lose 40% of your account in one day?? was that one trade, or just a bunch of trades with too much leverage? my biggest one-day-loss was the first week i ever traded stocks, and it was around 15%. sweating bullets, i tell ya...

Just too much leverage and I got really burned. As a matter of fact, doing the demo account did not help me at all. Well I can somewhat afford it but this one really hurted and leaves a much better impression than all the good advise. Interesting: I did money where my mouth was

[Labrat]

Day Six: EURUSD - was not spectacular. Stayed with lot size 0.1 and managed to not burn any further money. Missed the 10:00 hr long rallye and later "newbieed" around with 50:50 outcome.

labrat

PS: BTW, this thread is my approach of trying to stay honest (mostly to myself), present improvement or (total) failure and seek advise on this bumpy and potholes ridden road to somewhat of a success. As you can see, my expectations met already my experience so far .

[SoundOfLight]

(in response to losing 40% on one day's trading) As a matter of fact, doing the demo account did not help me at all.

more kids should read that statement!!! darn' tootin' that demo is only useful for a week to learn which buttons to press and then people should definitely go live with real money, even a paltry $100 and molecule-sized positions.


are you still targeting a 10%-per-day ROI? :P i'm hoping you're backing it off to maybe 1% or so! you could likely target 10% per week, though, if you're able to trade through the most active times of UK & US.

[steverichards25]

About two or so weeks ago, I got hooked on forex trading. I trade stock occasionally and followed the stock market in general. So Forex seemed a faster and more direct method to bet on the market and economy. Opened a demo account with an UK broker and started playing around with MT4. I went from being cautious to risky. Meanwhile I was reading Mr Candlestick Nison's book and some other literature about Forex trading.
After winning some pips on demo I checked 1000 € into a micro account.
My plan was to do scalping, fast in - fast out Earn about 100€ a day to finance the amenities of life. Nice dinners and cigars and so on...

Day One: EURUSD - lost about 25 €, lot size 0.1 to 0.2. Reason: I tried scalping on M1 charts and got really scared with the up and downs (real cash vs. DEMO€) so I went out to early and got in late.
TBC.
labrat

trading on M1 is crazy man! these type of scalpers eventually get burned real bad. greed kills. need a more slow and steady approach.not much point in making some money, then giving it back to the market the next day lol.

[Labrat]

@soundoflight
Thank you for agreeing with me regarding the demo accounts. Using real money just changed the whole thing!

Regarding the ROI a 1% measure is quite OK with me at the moment although I changed the perspective a bit. Instead of running for the money I'll try to haul in 50 pips per day going going either long or short with a lot size of 0.2! Also widening the S/L and trailing stop leaves now enough room for fluctuation. I successfully stopped being scared of 15 to 25 pips going up and down as long the direction is right. Again, the decision charts are M5 and M15. The M1 is off the screen although I have to admit that I do peek and then click it away still somewhat horrified ;-)

The UK and US trading hours seems the best for me, although I start nosing around at about 07:00. My questions is, when to stop? An hour before dinnertime at East Coast?
Still got 3 positions open were 2 are in the money.