… when I learned that small yet consistent gains are better in the long run than large, inconsistent gains.
… when I stopped over-leveraging.
… when I drastically reduced the number of technical indicators on my charts (too many indicators had me second-guessing every move)
… when I stopped trying to trade M1 and eventually settled on D1.
… when I stopped setting my stops too darn tight.
… when I learned Ichimoku.
This is a great thread. I can’t recall really giving much thought to what specific steps improved my trading until now.
Glad to see it help.
Also, happy to see you found your own personal way to interact with the markets.
That’s the biggest thing I see again and again on forums like this- people unwilling to put the time in, and build a relationship with trading and how they approach the charts.
Lots of people just want an EA they can flip on, or, a quick candlestick pattern on a Daily chart, or some type of indicator to give them the signal. Rather than going out and making trades happen on their own.
Trading is a lot like playing poker. To win, you can’t only play pocket AA, and fold every single other hand. You need to learn how to take down a pot w/ Jack 10 off-suit.
-Started sticking to a consistent schedule (a minimum of 2 hours per day learning/observing, not necessarily always trading).
-Have a list of tasks to accomplish in my daily schedule (review trades, answer any questions in my journal that popped up, research/analysis, checking my daily babypips newsletter!).
…stopped trying to get rich quick.
Took a step back and moved from scalping for quick pips to long term trading.
Less money wasted on broker fees, less time staring at my pc, less stress a I now wait for the trades to turn in the direction I expected instead of getting stopped out all the time
1…started to rely on my own analysis and stopped looking for other peoples analysis to support my own.
2…took all of the distractions, indicators etc off my charts and relied solely on price action and skimming the news/diary to make sure I wasn’t trading into trouble.
Took over a year to start the first one, I used to convince myself I was wrong if i read an alternative view of a currency. I used to lose money waiting for price to move in the direction that an expert I had no reason to trust said it would move in. I suppose this was basically a lack of confidence in my own analysis.
The second was the lightbulb moment for me big time. I was speaking with a guy who runs a course, I won’t say who incase people think I’m promoting his course, I’m not. He wasn’t directly selling anything to me, although, he probably wouldn’t have objected to me signing up for his course!. He was discussing the value of only taking the best setups and educating yourself to spot them without distraction on your charts and it just clicked.