12 month challenge to trade $2740 per day.....$1million per annum!

[Long_and_Short]

Hi Simon Thanks for your response

Appologies for the delay

Good afternoon NJ (or at least, have just had lunch here, not sure if it is afternoon for you!),

Anyway, how many Pairs to trade? Well, I might be in a minority on here (don’t know, have never asked) - many seem to advocate specializing in one or two Pairs, learning how they move. I never bought that argument, personally, so I trade a lot of different Pairs:

Would you say that learning “everything” there is to know about a pairs would not keep a full time trader ging. What i mean is, from a learning point of view for a trader, there is more than enough time to learn all about many pairs? I would have assumed that the vast majority of trading principles apply to one and all pairs with only country specific economic differences that differ the pairs? I am new however.

EUR/USD
GBP/USD
USD/CHF (although not since the recent SNB intervention)
USD/CAD
USD/JPY (although not much since the BoJ intervention)
AUD/USD
NZD/USD
EUR/GBP
EUR/CHF (although not since the recent SNB intervention)
EUR/AUD
CAD/CHF (although not since the recent SNB intervention)
EUR/CAD
CHF/JPY
EUR/JPY
GBP/CHF (although not since the recent SNB intervention)
GBP/CAD
GBP/JPY
AUD/JPY
NZD/JPY
GBP/AUD
AUD/NZD
SGD/USD

So that is, what, 22 Pairs? It works for me, and I feel that it lets me focus in on really high-probability setups. It sounds like a lot of Pairs, but generally I am a trend-based trader.

So trading either dominant trends up or down and not ranging?

I scan on Sunday, looking at Daily, Weekly and Monthly charts. I am looking for trending Pairs, which I put in my watchlist for the week. Those are the Pairs I focus on for the week - I also make a list of Pairs that I won’t glance at that week. For instance, a few of the CHF and JPY Pairs did not make the cut for me this week. Then each evening during the week, I skip through the 240 chart for each Pair, looking for clear trends. Takes me sub-30 seconds per chart, so only a few minutes. That gives me a list of Pairs that I am actively looking to trade over the next 24 hours. I boil the 22 Pairs down to maybe 6-10 Pairs for a given day. So the day after my evening scan (or it might be an early morning scan if I am up early and didn’t fancy working the previous evening) I only have 6-10 Pairs which I am actually looking at. I won’t look at the full 22 during the trading day. So for those 6-10 Pairs, I look at the Hourly and 240 charts for intraday setups, and take anything I see up to a maximum account exposure at any one time of 4%.

Noted. I like the 4%.

I might have placed some end of day trades the night before, I might not, I will use only the remaining exposure for the following day’s intraday trading.

So this week, I placed long trades on AUD/USD and Cable off the 240, and Daily short trades on GBP/AUD and USD/CAD. Four completely different Pairs, but four winning trades.
Nice work.

When I first learned Forex, I scanned a lot of Pairs, so it has become second nature to me, it’s the only way I have ever approached it. I know that many like to focus on one Pair, but the thing with Forex is that there are many ways to win, we just each need to find our own. Some people swear by indicators, others don’t use them at all, but both can win as long as they understand what they are doing.

I am one that likes to sytemize things ( iam not suggesting that it will work here but i want to apply it). So to me, if i focus on pin bars to begin with (which is what i am doing), i will gat a list of all the confluence signals that are relative the the pin bar and scan every one of the following pairs:

EUR/USD
GBP/USD
AUD/USD
NZD/USD
USD/JPY
EUR/JPY
GBP/JPY
AUD/JPY
XAGUSD
XAUUSD

Now unless i cant physically do that in the morning over several hours (which from what i understand is achievable once i know what to look for) then i would se no reason on concerntrating on 10 pairs (in my case) rather than 2. More oportuninty and more chances of set ups to appear.

10 pairs = 10 opportunities to find a set up
2 pairs = 2 opportunities to fin a set up.

Now i could stand corrected if to learn and monitor “every single thing there is to know” about 2 pairs can consume the entire day. However, I do not feel that this is the case.

So if you want to study ten Pairs, I would say that you should try it and see how it works for you. I always felt that if I can spot a trend and plot Support/Resistance and spot Price Action on one chart, I could do it on any chart.

Agreed

Hope that gives you what you wanted to know - apologies for the extreme length, turned into a bit of a ramble!!

ST

Thanks for the response Simon

Nick Jordan

[Long_and_Short]

Just to pick up on this - no, I can’t think of any way that demo could harm future live performance as long as one is realistic about. I think that some people emerge from demo trading with too much confidence, as they think that everything will just translate across directly to live and that they will make big money, just as they did with demo. However, then the psychology kicks in, their performance is not the same straight out of the box, they don’t really understand why,

AHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAA! That there is crucial i think. NOT UNDERSTANDING WHY! Its one thing to identify the signals on a price chart, but without understanding whats driving those signals to happen i think is like being feed tips from other traders and hoping for the best. I think one will have a better overal perspective on trading and more confidence if you know “why” the market is moving. What announcements happend, what are the correlations between the 2 pairs you are trading and what influences them? Political instability, resources, a pending rate hike, a grant to all new home buyers, etc.

then their performance dips again as they are doubting themselves. But as long as one understands that there is more pressure attached when there is real money on the table, that this will affect things like the ability to execute mechanically following a couple of losses, then no, there is no reason why demo should adversely affect live performance, in my opinion.

Noted. I think as a newbie a set and forget strategy is what i will go with.

When I started, I had a £2000 live account, I traded 50p a pip, risking £20 per trade (1% of my account). I could afford the losses, but five losses was still £100 so I noticed it and did not enjoy the losses. As I improved, I topped the account up to £5000, so risked £50 a trade. I still aimed for 50p a pip, so I was now able to cover trades with a wider Stop. Once I was consistent then, and had my nerves/psychology under control, I added further funds to the account, and then I was away.

A point of experience meeting confidence? well, probably confidence from experience. I do like the quote, [I]“Good judgment comes from experience…and experience comes from bad judgment”[/I]

For me, that gave me the practice advantage of demo, while still giving me a financial penalty if I strung together too many losing trades. I risked 1% of my balance at any given time, so following some losses I would have less to trade with. I treated it like demo, but learned psychology lessons along the way.

It was not always easy, but I am very pleased with having chosen that route now. Train hard, fight easy…!

ST

Nice

Thanks Simon. Great info as always

Nick Jordan

Day 10/365

Earnings to date $0.00

[Long_and_Short]

heya, buddy, it is great to be looking for a goal, can i ask how much capital you expect to have in 12 months, as an example i work on the goal of 4% per month. (which is about 50% per year). so to be able to make 1 million i would need at least 2 million, probably as much as 4 million in float to achieve that.

Obviously there are ppl who work on higher expectations, but obviously they may have to shoulder more risk and drawdowns. another key is to remember that not all your days will be positive, some days you may be 2000 dollars down, and you just have to make them up another day.

Hay Paul

Thanks for the response

I am am not out to make $1m in my first year, merely to be able to trade on average over the course of a month a daily total = to $2740/day

So it mite only be months 11 and 12 only i do this. Perhaps only month 12. If i do get to that it will mean maybe the total earn for the year is $200-$300k, which is still substantial. (i say that in a non gloating way as whilst i do like money it is not a representation of how complete a person is…far from it. I say it that it is substantial meaning a tall order).

The preceeding months will be spent leading up to that. I doubt i will earn much in the first 6 months. Nothing to speak of, but it will be a matter of honing the skills.

How much capital do i expect to have. This i am unsure of. At this stage i am more looking at finding and studying only a handful of setups that i can systemize (as much as can be done on fx) than apply them to these pairs as often as possible.

EUR/USD 

GBP/USD
AUD/USD
NZD/USD
USD/JPY
EUR/JPY
GBP/JPY
AUD/JPY
XAGUSD
XAUUSD

As i evolve each month i will have a clearer picture. 10 days in a am still puting things in the relative oigeon holes.

At the 2- 3 month mark i will seek mentors that are heavy weights. How do i do that, become kick arse and work exteremely hard between now and then.

Wow, i digress.

Thankyou for taking the time to read this

BTW? Which trader to you aspire to be like? (if any)

Thanks Paul

Nick Jordan

Day 10/365

Earnings to date $0.00

[Long_and_Short]

Wow LaS! I’m impressed with how much you know in only 8 days. When i was 8 days into this trading lark I was still trying to figure out what a currency pair was. haha. Loving the positive attitude/vibe you are producing. Good Luck

Hey Pipmart. Muchos Grathcias

They say it takes 10,000 to become good at something…(who are they anyway?)

That is if you started out in what ever it is you want to do…baseball, racing cars, FX trading, ballet, property development, whatever.

Now, in my opinion, most will roll into something slowly and just do abit here and ther, then they will travel down a few different paths until they find the right one for them, then they will have periods of time of here and ther, then comes a point where they decide to actually get serios. Alot of unleveraged and dare i say wasted time in there. (through no ones fault as the intention to be serious from day 1 was never there).

Now, take the scenario of someone who has started knowing that they are going to make a carrer of it and are going to find the right paths “first” to avoid the ladder being on the wrong wall, they are full time “every” day which gives results in the learning and retention of info being massively leveraged (immersion), they then get information from people who are already successful (forums) and then they align themselves with the top 10 percent when the time come to get the best advice possible. 10,000 hours begone. A plan, quality information, applying the 80/20 rule and immersion is the key…period.

Is it hard to do that, you bet, if it wasnt everyone would be doing it. Am i going to struggle at times…hell yes.

so why did i go into this huge rant about learning, you said it took you 8 days to know what currency pairs were, nothing wrong with that if you were learning the 10,000 hour way.

Anyway, google a guy by the name of Tim Ferris and you will see one of the best examples of 80/20 in the current times.

Thanks Pipmart

Hope i havnt bored you

Nick Jordan

Day 10/365

Earnings to date $0.00

[Long_and_Short]

I like your energy and I think many of us have been dreaming about making a million in a short period of time…

Hi Julie

Nice to meet you

Thanks. As mentioned in previous posts on this thread, i am not out to make $1m in my first year, rather, i am looking to consistently trade the average daily amount over 1 month of $2740. (maybe a total of $200-$300k perhaps)

I used to register all my profits on a spreadsheet everyday and calculate the average of my gains and so on. The point is that when you don’t reach your target it’s quite frustrating. I mean, really frustrating because you can end up losing a lot, even if you’re experienced. You should focus much more on getting the experience first.

Agreed

Also, consider you’ll lose money for sure, so to get there it means you’ll need to make [I]more[/I] than a million in one year.
So the math is more complicate than that, first of all you can only trade 5 days a week, not 7, and you’ll then need 3846$ or something daily for your annual target… also, fridays are not great days most of the times, so take away some of them and holidays, and if you’re really in asia it won’t be convenient to trade the london market which I find is the easiest, so you’ll really need a lot of money to start with, for this timeframe.

Yes, agreed. It is an average figure

I think a great result you could consider first is to double your initial capital, believe me, even that can be really tough to get.
So all the best and we’re all in this together, just be careful not to burn your chances too quickly.

Good luck!

Thanks for your response Julie. :50: (there was no smiley to choose from this time…)

BTW. Do you have a favorite heavyweight trader that inspires you ar that you follow?

Nick Jordan

Day 10/365

Earnings to date $0.00

[Long_and_Short]

Hi L&S, looks like you are getting some good advice here, I am a newbie trader like you and for what it’s worth, here’s my contribution.

My advice is keep it simple, I tried all kinds of indicators and found they all work sometimes, none all of the time and found the best indicator is price action coupled with support/resistance areas and the occasional fibo along with japanese candlesticks. Above all good money management skills and try to understand what the big boys with deep pockets are up to as it is they who move the markets, we are just food for these guys. Learn to swim with them, not become their dinner!. My take is the market moves in cycles, namely accumulation, markup, distribution and markdown. Repeat as necessary. The big guys buy low and sell high, sounds simple? you would think so.

Agreed. Simple is best in anything. period.

You mention try to keep track of the big boys…how do you go about doing that. Are there particular journals that they frequent with a few tips about how they look at the market (obviously they are not going to give away too much, but once you compound 1 tip from one, 1 tip from another, etc,etc and put them unto a list, this info is good to use when identifying pairs, setup or even not to trade.)

Try to ascertain which phase the currency pair is in before you place your trade and trade with the big guys, which is not necessarily with the trend as this is only your fair weather friend, it will give up on you at the end.

I like what your saying here. I did a masters degree in property and it is the same there. Using a clock scenario, with 12 o’clock being bust, you look to get out of one sector (say residential medium density aprtments) at 11 oclock where the newbie developers are still flooding the market with new stock and place your cash into what ever sector is sitting at 5 or 6 oclock on the development clock. 6 ocklock is usually where over supply has been taken up, interest rates have come down, banks have cleared out most of the defaults, demand starts to build (lets say it commercial office space) and money is easier to get. Spotting this in my opinion is relatively easy. However this cycle happens on every ebb and flow (daily, several times aday, etc) and cannot be anticipated. (unless perhaps you are Warren Buffet or a professor in economics/finance)

I am a newbie so my advice may be worth diddly squat, but I am learning and gaining experience, give yourself a year to learn and hone your skills before loading yourself with expectations.

Mate, your opinion as well as every ones opinion on this thread matters very much to me. newbie or seasoned. :50:

May i ask…Who’s a heavy weight trader you like and why?

Thanks LT

Nick Jordan

Day 10/365

Earnings to date $0.00

I will follow your thread and wish you well, who knows, yo may just do it.

Please do. I have a blog also detailing the journey but i cannot post the link on here. Perhaps pm me if you like.

[Long_and_Short]

" In real life, however, when x% of one’s account is on the line, it is much harder to leave a trade open when the market twitches in the wrong direction. "

I do see what simon is saying, there is a large difference in trading demo then being live, subconsciously you know you arent risking real money, you wont feel the fear that you may encounter live, not that i suggest no demoing, but i do agree with opening a smaller live account as soon as comfortable. i demoed for about 2 months, and then l went live with $2000, over a year later im about to finance my float and am more ready now then ever, and it think it helps that i have live experience

What do you mean by “finance your float”? Are you borrowing money to trade with or leveraging against your biult up capital to get more money? Are there lenders that do that? Once you have proven you are a “succesful” consistent trader, will a lender lend you money to trade with using an LVR to your built up margin account? I am assuming they would be a high risk lender. Leverage upon leverage.

Thanks mate

NJ

[Long_and_Short]

if i could i would like eremarkets reply twice.

Yessir…that there was great. :50:

NJ

[Long_and_Short]

[QUOTE]

Long… whether you can be successful in a year and on track for a million (or even profitable) is primarily a function of these concepts:

Wow, I think I may have just found my new mentor!!!

Ok, here we go…(apologies for the late reply too)

1. Does your method have a distinct edge? If not, you simply will never arrive.

At this stage with the amount of knowledge I have in 10 days, the edge is Price action, trading 3 pinbar strategies (that have to be mastered), whilst applying where necessary a combination of confluence signals “from a tool kit” of 10 or more ( i didnt say applying 10 signals). Using a set and forget entry, stop, exit method on a 4hr/1day chart using swing trading with the trend. (more to come)

2. how specific are the rules for entry? The more discretionary your system or method is…the longer it will take to master.

Agreed. Applying the 80/20 law and finding the sweet spot (i know it doesnt exist) between not enough confluence to to much. I will only be using price action with no signals apart from the SMA (simple moving average) as it is the least lagging indicator to spot trending markets. Having said that. Using an SMA, what is the most accurate chart to be looking at? 1hr, 4hr, 1day?

3. how fast can you adjust psychologically to the markets, the money, and the method? The more your method is based on your own personal preferences and strengths, and avoids your weaknesses, the faster you will progress.

Noted and agreed. I know that i can be a meddler, so thats why swing trades on a set and forget method will be best suited to me. I say swing trades as i do not want to spend all day looking at the monitor when i can be using that time to learn more about FX.

4. how much time it will it take you personally to absorb the seemingly vast basic information; and develop the skillset; to be able to start applying your method successfully? The faster you learn and the more time you devote, the faster you will progress toward your goal.

Agreed. I have narrowed it to 3 setups. The pinbar, the fakey, the inside bar. Why these and how do i know these will work with my limited experience. Simple. They work for others and in particular Nial Fuller. Are there others to choose from, you bet, could i paralyze myself at an early stage from trying to look at all of them… you bet. A weakness i have suffered from in the past and am avoiding on this challenge. The pin bar is currently getting engrained in my mind with 7 or so hours a day of study on it. That will continue until i am satisfied that i know it.

These things being said, I’m going to assume that you have a method or idea with an edge to approach the markets with. From your posts it seems you do understand some basic principles of one type of approach to the markets that does provide an edge.

This is actually a substantial assumption on my part. I am asking any trader that has had 3 months or more of profitability to comment on this assumption, as I expect the overwhelming majority (99% of profitable traders) would agree this is a substantial assumption.

As above. I have outlined a very very very basic strategy that will evolve rapidly. It will evolve a little after reading this post.

2. Specific rules for entry: As in… could you tell a computer exactly how to duplicate this? You mention pinbars. Define a pinbar. How big is the body to the wick…what about any potential wick on the “head” of the pinbar? where would it have to occur in a trend? would the candles around the pinbar have any bearing on whether you take the trade or not? what about support and resistance? define support. 3 touchs to a price point? 2? 1? 37?. How specific a zone is your price point of support or resistance? 5 pips? starting where? and why 5? arbitrary 5? or 5 because of XYZ (now define XYZ)… and so on.

Noted. That is exactly how i think. Continual variations. All of the points you just mentioned, some i understand and some i do not are a list of each point i will research against the pin bar, the fakey and so on.

The more you can define all of these questions with exact answers good enough to feed a computer, the faster you will be able to apply your system. Every question you cannot provide an exact answer to is going to require “discretion”. And to develop the correct type of discretion cannot be taught per se. It must be learned via experience. This will take time. To learn by experience requires you see many incorrect ways of doing something before you learn to identify what the correct way is, when it changes, to what degree, any why. Think learning to ride a bike. Only by experiencing what DIDN"T balance at all gave you the insight on to what DID balance it.

How to define the questions:
1/ A list (and thorough understanding) of all the possible confluence signals that are available. ( i have previously noted 6 in my other thread and am looking for more)
2/ Short, meduim and long term look at the trending history of the pair in question
3/ Conclusions draw from Economic reports from the various bodies that influence a particular pair
4/ Awareness of current and coming announcements that will affect the pair
5/ Sourceing feeds that release statements from the various CEO’s of the said econ reports. ( to get as sson as announced)
6/ And then yes, Discretion

I am sure i have missed many items here and some may be incorrect or uven uneccessary (80/20 applied to econ reports and announcements) so feel free to correct me or ad.

By the way, a bike always balances when doing it right. A trade does not…in fact, it usually only “balances” correct a few times more often than incorrectly. Makes learning to “ride a trade” substantially more complicated then learning to ride a bike. Experience based learning needs to see the wrong ways and the right ways to do something in order to learn proficently.

Too bad doing the right thing will cause you to lose ALMOST as often as doing the wrong thing… and doing the wrong thing can sometimes lead to many many wins

3. At one point, (probably by your 1st trade), the market will do something that you did not want it to do. How will you handle this? How do you handle situations that you have absolutly no control over the outcome, and at the same time have a massive amount at stake (your future career and bank account)… and about 30% - 60% of the time, you will watch this situation that you have no control over literally take money from your bank account, and you can do absolutly nothing to change this course of action.

Attachment causes pain…emotionally & physically. I am fortunate enough to have done much research into attachment as it was a problem for me previously and from time to time still can be. ( google eckharte tolle and Vipassana meditation, they are both great). Hence choosing the set and forget method and also and moreso, realizing that what happens is not a reflection of who i am. Merely something that happens.

Removing myself from temptation the same as an alcoholic removes them self from a pub, an overweight person from a cake shop and a gambler from a casino. When one feels emotional “pain” (what is that any way?) The “pain” is merely the physical action of your mind reacting to a situation one doesnt like (in this situation of loss). The loss is happening that triggers your “pain”. Whats really happening is a whole range of subconscious mental triggers.

EG:

I am a failure
I am not good enough
What would others think of me loosing
I cant buy another meaning less trophie that brings me a sugar high only to leave me feeling just as empty as before
This loss is a representation of me as a person
Why me (victim mentality)
This confirms that i am no good
etc, etc,etc.

One needs to go into “any” situation realizing that the kick’s in the teeth are coming and the higher you set the bar the more teeth kick’s you will receive. It’s how you react to such teeth kicks. I am used to teeth kicks as i do like to set the bar high. I wish that i didnt, but i do.

Knowing that it will be the case that drawdown periods are coming, and to the extent where you think you are totally useless at trading (ohh, theres that emotion thing again…i am useless, i suck at this, why is everyone else making millions and not me…self defeating talk) will prepare me for this. Am i saying it wont bother me…no…not at all, **** bothers me every day, but im still here and my teeth are sharp.

Now, if it were the case that no one else was making money in FX then things would be alot togher as you wouldt really know if you were on the right path or not. Bt its not. People “are” making money in FX (albeit a small minority) but they are. Are they super human gifted geniuses? No…they just know what most dont. (warren buffet may be an exception)

I will be controlling attachment, which will control many personal weaknesses one of which is emotion.

How will you feel when this has happened 2 days in a row? how about most of the time during the last week? how about enough times over the last month to cost you money. A month goes by, and something you have absolutely no control over is literally sucking money out of your account seemingly on a whim? How will you feel?

Say you decide to take fewer trades…only the best quality trades. And now, you only take 2 trades a week… and a week later, you took 2 trades, and both lost. You not only didn’t make money that week, you LOST money working. And you were absolutly powerless to change the way the market moved. How will you feel as you are, for that week, WORSE than unemployeed?

and most importantly…how will you ACT in these situations. How well can you accept this as a reality? And if you start to respond differently to these situations…how will you know? what will you do to identify a problem that needs correcting? remember, your stressed out, and already making bad decsions. how do you suddenly have the insight into yourself to know this, and let all emotional connections to this go immediately, and resume the proper psychological state to trade properly.

Oh, by the way… how will you know you are in the proper frame of mind when doing the correct thing may continue to cost you for a while before you post any real profits?

Didnt the world use to be flat? (i kid) One will never know if they are in the best frame of mind. One can only do the best towards making that a gooder chance as any. IE: rested, physically and mentally, no stimulants, knowing your craft and above all, accepting that the decision you make is final. One will never know for certain as “everything” is everchanging. A picture of you this morning to a picture of you now will be different. You will have ingested information today that may contradict a decision you made 3 years ago, and the things that were importanat to you last year may not be as important this year (or may have changed).

Again, you will never know, so putting as many contributing factors in your favor as possible is all you can do. And if that means dont trade that day so be it. However, if that means do trade 99% of the time because you are afraid of an outcome which you will not like (ooops, theres that emotion (physical reaction to a mind trigger) again) then that is hiding behind the fact that everything is everchanging or you dont believe in your ability (rightly or wrongly) or both.

4. How much time do you have? and how fast can you change and accept a reality that is far different than that of human nature. Where you have no control over the outcome. Where a bad day at work doesn’t get you fired…it gets you fired and sued simultaniously. Where you will never know from the time you open a trade to the time you close it how big your paycheck will be…or even if you get a paycheck at all, or worse (and quite often) how much the “lawsuit” will cost you. Not to mention all the technical skills needed to tell a pinbar from A PINBAR BABY!!! or how much support is enough? how much is too much? and what fib retracement levels should you take anyway? Not to mention pivot points, order flow concepts, liquidity, macro and micro market structure, classical technical analysis, relevent (and irrelevent) news reports…and so on.

the simpler your system, the less you need to know. maybe. you then need to accept if you know less, you can do less to improve it, or to correct it should it start to fail…and to know when something is failing, or something just is in a drawdown period, or when its you that is failing, not your system.

I do like the way your mind works. That will come with screen time and trade time. I will take care of the tangible varialbles first (mastering setups, mastering signals of confluence, mastering the habits of each pair, and keeping well informed of econ factors). The intangble variables ( mainly discretion and different scenarios) will come from screen time, trade time, immersion and learning from guys like you.

In some ways, this post doesn’t even need to be made. Any more than describing to someone what swimming is really like is. Eventually, you get in the water. And then you realize that it’s absolutly irrelevent what they told you. Nothing in the world could have properly prepared you the first experience of falling, jumping, or wading into a large body of water, and as easy as everyone makes it look, you instantly realize that swimming is actually pretty easy, if only you could shake that fear of DROWNING, master the technique, and apply it consistently, you too, could swim easily.

At least with swimming, you don’t start sinking to the bottom 35% of the time you jump in water.

But hey… I will say this, it DOES look easy watching those folks swim laps doesn’t it?

I used to hate swimming when i was a kid, did 2 seasons as a life guard on the sunshine coast in australia and i grew gills. Come to think of it, that was immersions too…literally!

Jay[/QUOTE]

I do truly like the way your mind works Jay and thankyou for your list of this to work on. You may or may not have noticed but you have just pointed out 20-30 items that i (or anyone else) can work on

Thanks Jay :50:

Nick Jordan

Day 10/365

Earnings to date $0.00

[MeiHua]

Hey M

Thanks for the reply

Nice one on the note pad journal. I think it is a great idea otherwise how do you know where you went wrong (or right?)

I know what you mean. I looked yesterday and XAU spread was 100 pips. I am assuming because it is moving so much? I thought the higher the volatility, the less the spread as the brokers will be making money of volume rather than a sideways market? (clearly i have spent the last day writing my trading plan and not studying!)

Did you find Nials paid course better than the free content? There is so much free content (through the eyes of a newbie). I have read a couple of threads that say the free stuff on his site is just as good and that the paid stuff doesn’t differ too much?

Nice point on the lot sizes. So is it the case for example…that if i am selling 5 standard lots that my broker needs to find a buyer for that exact amount? Or are the lots pooled in the brokers account and sold off in an order of entry? (they would need some sort of a float i imagine if this were the case to make up uneven buyers to sellers and vice versa)

Thanks for the chat M

Much appreciated

NJ

The spreads are larger in gold and silver because they are demoninated in dollars and not specifically ment to be broken in to pips. so its really like 3 usd for 300 pips i believe, but they use pips because they are using forex based platforms. Not 100% sure but thats as i understand it. Moving so much doesnt have anything relivent to do with it. It has to do with liquitity. Yes techinically the brokers should just be making money off the commisions or spread, but i have no idea what goes behind the scenes at places where they are a market maker. Because it is not techinically delieverable, i assume its just some made up instrument that they obviousy “make a market for.” But yeah we dont know how liquid the internal markets for these market makers are on gold or how they adjust. I dont actually know if they have to take out actual contracts for gold or silver or how they would provide liquitity for themselves because as i said i never really paid attention to how spot forex would do it.

Nail fullers free content is basically his paid course, he gives you a forum and some more videos. But definately not worth it. The free stuff is enough to get the idea of his system, although like i said i was not impressed with the results. Even with the additional set ups and vids did not drastically improve my performance. Actually as i trade now i use ZERO aspects of his system in my trading.

No you do not need to find an EXACT match. You will get filled as people cross the bid ask or are matched. Its also possible to get partial fills, and this could average out to be higher or lower than your order. Slippage or price improvement.

[marksp2007]

Hi Nick,

All the best. Dreams and goals are what spur people on. Be realistic, patient and don’t get greedy. Also, listen to any advice offered from seasoned traders. There are those that will want you to fail but there are many that will want you to succeed.

If you have a live account, why don’t you set up a myfxbook account so you and the pulic can track your progress.??

[SimonTemplar]

Hi Simon Thanks for your response

Appologies for the delay

Thanks for the response Simon

Nick Jordan

Crikey, no problem whatsoever, you are under no obligation to respond at all, was just putting my thoughts out there as you had asked.

To pick up on your followup questions:

Would you say that learning “everything” there is to know about a pairs would not keep a full time trader ging. What i mean is, from a learning point of view for a trader, there is more than enough time to learn all about many pairs? I would have assumed that the vast majority of trading principles apply to one and all pairs with only country specific economic differences that differ the pairs? I am new however.

I agree with you - I don’t approach one currency vastly differently from the next. I am a largely technical trader and find that I can apply my approach to most Pairs without making major adjustments.

So trading either dominant trends up or down and not ranging?

I prefer dominant trends in either direction (although in my experience downtrends tend to flow more clearly and quickly), but the same concepts do work well in a ranging market, with some tweaking. Your pinbar research in a separate thread will stand you in good stead for a ranging market, whereas I don’t bother with emas at all when it is ranging.

I like the 4%.

For me it seems sensible to have some sort of daily risk cap. It is impossible to predict the market with 100% accuracy, all of the time, so I figure that there will be the odd day where it just turns on me across the board. If I am never exposed more than 4%, then that is the maximum that I can lose on any given day. So then I don’t have to spend days and days making it back - when the market returns to decent trading conditions, the 4% goes back on the account pretty quickly. For me, I start with capital preservation, and everything else goes from there.

Nice work.

Lol thank you!

Now unless i cant physically do that in the morning over several hours (which from what i understand is achievable once i know what to look for) then i would se no reason on concerntrating on 10 pairs (in my case) rather than 2. More oportuninty and more chances of set ups to appear.

10 pairs = 10 opportunities to find a set up
2 pairs = 2 opportunities to fin a set up.

Now i could stand corrected if to learn and monitor “every single thing there is to know” about 2 pairs can consume the entire day. However, I do not feel that this is the case.

I agree with you - I like studying more Pairs as I feel that it means that I can select higher quality setups. Some are a little choppier than others, but a Stop protected behind a sensible level should still not get hit too often, in my experience, so overall it pays better to study more Pairs for my style of trading.

I am glad that you found some of my comments of interest.

ST

[Long_and_Short]

Hi M

Ok, noted on the gold. What do you mean by “liquid internal markets”?

Nail fullers free content is basically his paid course, he gives you a forum and some more videos. But definately not worth it. The free stuff is enough to get the idea of his system, although like i said i was not impressed with the results. Even with the additional set ups and vids did not drastically improve my performance. Actually as i trade now i use ZERO aspects of his system in my trading.

Noted

No you do not need to find an EXACT match. You will get filled as people cross the bid ask or are matched. Its also possible to get partial fills, and this could average out to be higher or lower than your order. Slippage or price improvement.
[/QUOTE]

I am assuming that with a partial fill that your broker has previously discussed or agreed upon partial lot sizes to sell at if they dont fill your entire lot? I am also assuming he doesn’t have to spend time getting in contact with your for your consent?

Cheers M

NJ :50:

[MeiHua]

Hi M

Ok, noted on the gold. What do you mean by “liquid internal markets”?

Noted

I am assuming that with a partial fill that your broker has previously discussed or agreed upon partial lot sizes to sell at if they dont fill your entire lot? I am also assuming he doesn’t have to spend time getting in contact with your for your consent?

Cheers M

NJ :50:[/QUOTE]

No i dont believe so as you stated above. Although if it were anywere to be found probably customer agreement.

The broker is not filling partial lot sizes. He is still filling standard lots or whatever your trading. I know in my days of working a desk working institutioanl order flow on the floor of a large exchange, we didnt have to tell anyone they got partial fills. We would just hold the order until the entire thing was filled at an average price or better than they had specificed (assuming it was a limit order, all market orders get filled) Well lets give an example i hope can illistrate my point. You want to buy 10 standard lots at 1.3525. So lets say the current offers are at the 7s with reasonable size and you are the closest bid at the 5s. Now we have a “problem” price is stalling because buyers and sellers can not agree on the price. Well someone really desprately wants to sell so they cross and offer out at the 5s, BUT they only are looking to take 5 contracts. So you will be filled for 5 with remaining 5 left outstanding. Well guess what no one else wants to sell at that number so price would go back to the 7s. So your sitting there filled for 5 and the remaning order will still be in place so if price once again returned you would be fulled for the remainder. (BTW this is how supply and demand works which creates support and resistance). SO now you have price moving back up to the 7s. well you made a profit on your 5 lots but have 5 left over unfilled. Well now you see sellers starting to cross over and buying up the 7s thinking price is going up. This will cause an “uptrend” in price, pushing price upward. therefore you will have 5 lots filled 5 lots remaning. However as price one day reaches that level again you will have the remainder filled. Can you cancel the remaning and manage your orders with your broker sure thats up to you. But there is no concent or contracts or any of that nonsense that i know of. Its just common practice. Trust me no institution gets filled for large orders the first time around, and thats exactly why we have S/D(or S/R) if the market did not work this way then that entire concept would be thrown out the window. The only obligation your broker has to you with a limit order is to get a fill at or better than on average the price you specified.

Ok about the spot forex brokers that offer gold, I assuming they are market makers here. So i have no idea how liquid their markets are. Also i have no idea how they provide liquidity to them selves or their clients. So does it actually reflect the real gold market? I have no idea. My understand on the market dynamics behind these onliine retail brokers on the precious metals side, has never been of intrest to me. So i never was curious to look behind the curtain persay. but as the example above illistrates lack of liquiditiy causes the market to act a certain way, as does liquidity. Just think of it this way why do people call fiber cable uchf and ujpy the majors? because they are the most liquid. Why are the exotics exotic? because less people trade them and they are less liquid.

[Long_and_Short]

Hi Nick,

All the best. Dreams and goals are what spur people on. Be realistic, patient and don’t get greedy. Also, listen to any advice offered from seasoned traders. There are those that will want you to fail but there are many that will want you to succeed.

If you have a live account, why don’t you set up a myfxbook account so you and the pulic can track your progress.??

Thanks Mate

I just had a look as that is a great idea, but they only accept meta trader. I am on a mac. Do you know of a similar one for mac?

cheers mate

NJ

[Long_and_Short]

Hello to you all

Here’s one for the full time or semi professional traders among you. (if thats not all of you, hopefully it soon will be! :D)

So in order to pull this 12 challenge off, i am going to need to know how much capital i am going to need at different points along the way and what % of my margin account will i have to risk relative to the amount of capital i will have access to. (you follow me )

So, I would like to ask each of you for some averages the apply to you in your trading. Now i know that consistency is very few and far between in FX so applying a system will only be relative to a certain extent, however it is a foundation to start on working out capital milestones.

Ok then, feel free to answer the following with your averages: (12 month averages)

1/ How many trades would you take in a month (wining or losing)
2/ For question 1 to be in context, how many pairs do you trade in that month
2/ What is your ratio of wins to losses
4/ What is the “average” ® value on each trade (2:1, 3:1, 4:1, etc)
5/ What % of your margin account do you risk (if its fixed price pls give example)

Ok. It will be great to see the different answers that come back. You may see something in someone else trading style that gets your grey matter going or confirms you are on the right track.

BTW: since there are software programs for anything and everything out there, does anyone use or know of a program that can be used for running different RR scenarios for trading. I have just been using excel but i know i am reinventing the wheel.

Thanks for your participation

Nick Jordan

Day 11/365

Earnings to date $0.00

[longandshort]

Hello there people. Whats new?

I have been busy learning copious amounts in the last few months to keep on track with this challenge. Sooo much information which I literally cant get enough of because sometime I have to sleep. Hope you are all trading well and learning lots.

Nick Jordan

[nevergiveupss]

Not much Nick. Just keep trading and making money everyday! Did you make your millions yet? Lol

Hello there people. Whats new?

I have been busy learning copious amounts in the last few months to keep on track with this challenge. Sooo much information which I literally cant get enough of because sometime I have to sleep. Hope you are all trading well and learning lots.

Nick Jordan

[craig131]

I’d like to hear an update on your “earnings to date” Nick, although I have a feeling it’s not going to be great seeing as you haven’t updated this post for quite a while. Even if it’s negative, it could still teach people about unrealistic expectations possibly?