Another Noob - Where to start

Hi, and firstly I do apologise as I am sure you guys get so many threads like mine.
I have recently been looking into forex and have been researching for a while now. I have seen through most of the “make 7% per week in 7 minutes a day” stuff, knowing nothing reall is that easy. However, I do want to learn Forex properly and without being scammed or directed incorrectly. I am about to start running through the BabyPips learning centre, but would love to hear from anyone who truly has made Forex a success for them and how they got started so I can get some direction. I have spent a lot of time on here now and it has basically confused me with so much info and I have gotten a bit lost for a good starting point.
Another question - has anyone found success with the people who do trade advise and learning together. ie you could join a live trade room and trade with them as you also learn? I have found a few of them, but not so sure on how genuine they are or if they are in it as salesmen only and after your own $$$$.
I do feel I have the correct mindset/psychology and able to follow rigid structures and want to make a serious attempt at Forex trading successfully - I just feel like I need some help to get started in the right direction.

Thanks so much in advance

Kyle

I’ve been modestly profitable since February (though I’ve backtested as far as 2000). That particular quote you have there isn’t actually all that incorrect. The biggest hurdle is getting to a point where you have a working system that is profitable. Following the system shouldn’t take much more than 7 minutes and surely, depending on risk tolerance, 7% per week should also be relatively attainable.

From there Investopedia, Stockcharts, Action Forex, there is a lot of excellent content all over the internet. There is no easy shortcut, as with all professions it takes time to “learn the trade”.

One problem, and perhaps this is where your confusion having read this board started, is that we all have different ways we learn best, so have employed different approaches to learning Forex. From your point of view, the problem is that many of these differing approaches work, they just suit different people. Personally, I went on a course in April this year, I also did a lot of my own reading but also have a mentor through my original course, an experienced trader who goes through my trades with me, talks through strategies with me etc. I have been live trading since May, and am now hitting 5% a month return, with hopes to increase that by the end of the year. I spent a little over £3k (GBP) on the training/mentoring, which some will consider a lot but it suited my learning style, I am very happy with it, and I do feel that it has helped me avoid a few blind alleys and find my preferred trading style. I have an account of £25k, which I felt helped me cover the sorts of trades I wanted to place, so with the percentage I am hitting I should, by the end of the year, covered all the costs of my training and be able to start growing my account. So obviously I am an advocate of getting formal training as, for me, I feel that that accelerated the process and avoided losses, so overall the cost is money well invested. I just like being taught by someone consistent and having the option to ask my sorts of questions, and see someone else’ real results. However, there are many on here who will say that everything I was taught is available for free in books and on the internet, so I would have been better putting my money into my trading account. Fact is, we are all different, so this thread should help you get a feel for others’ experiences, but unfortunately only time will tell which is right for you. There are many starting points, many routes, just as there are many different trading styles, it is just that sort of business. The Babypips school is great, but for me I was glad that I had had my tuition first. Again, others will say that the school is the best first step. As people of each opinion are making trading profitable, the trouble is that we are all right!

I hope that this has been helpful, if not particularly definitive! Do give trading a go, though, particularly if you are confident, based on your research thusfar, that you have the right mindset - it is a truly liberating career if you suit it. Good luck with it.

Completely agree that the answer to this will vary by opinion but not one answer will be soley right. It’s about personal preference. I have personally gone down the ‘free’ route, reading and studying what I can online through forums, ebooks and webinars. I am trading live just now, and would say so far so good. BTW, I measure that by consistently following a system which has proven to be profitable in backtesting and demo trading. % bank growth will come naturally by following a proven system consistently.

Slightly off topic apologies to the O/P.

I spent a little over £3k (GBP) on the training/mentoring

Hi SimonTemplar may I ask if this was with Knowledge to Action as the cost is around about the same. I would have PMed you this question but you do not have enough posts.

Hi guys and thanks for your replies.
I totally agree with SimonTemplar. I think the best way to start learning and hopefully avoiding others mistakes/experiences is to have a mentor on board. It just seems difficult sorting the scams form the genuine ones. One of you mentioned Knowledge to Action. I checked the website and it has both UK and Aus sites, so it could work for me if it is a good one. Seems bragging excessively with their four minute video though, showing a 20000GBP profit in four minutes. I’m sure the losses would be as horrendous or more if you miscalculated or jumped a bit early. Wonderful if it were the case though in reality. Other ones I have seen, but not sure how they are include LTG Goldrock if anyone has an experience with them. Seems like quite a slick website etc, but not sure if it is just a pro sales pitch for your money and then not much from them. Similar concerns with YourLiveTradingRoom. Seems quite slick, but not sure if it is all genuine??

Any others thoughts would be appreciated, as well as any comments etc on the sites mentioned above … if that is OK within the rules of the forum. I have not intended to break them and hopefully haven’t.

Treat forex like a business. It’s a source of income. Equity is your capital. You need to learn the market, which is much greater now because we’re dealing with countries. Follow particular pairs. Start with higher Time frames. Go through the BabyPips school several times. Learn Price Action, Support and Resistance, and Fibs and Pivots. Don’t waste your time with indicators, with the exception of one for divergences.

Measure your progress over the span of months to years. It will take that long to develop a good system, and to be a proven profitable trader.

Hi, am new to the forum, did not realize that I needed a certain number of posts to receive private messages. Absolutely you may ask, I did not name the provider simply as I a) did not want to breach any forum rules/look like I was advertising anyone, and b) as I was making a generic point about different routes suiting different people, I did not want it to come off as though I was recommending anyone in particular. But as you ask yes, I trained with K2A earlier in the year and am receiving ongoing mentoring from them.

Hi Tassiefx. happy to offer an opinion: I am with Knowledge to Action, yes. I went along to one of their free seminars back in March this year, signed up and then sat the course the following month. I have been very happy so far, I do feel like I have avoided some pain, the mentoring is very good, the techniques they taught on the course do translate into the real world, so I am very pleased with it. I knew nothing about trading before I attended the course, and do not have a financial/IT background, yet am now profitable in trading, so they did something right! There will obviously be a range of experiences out there so do canvas other opinion, and go along to one of the free seminars before you make any decisions - as I said in my original post, we all need different things to learn, so what suits one will not suit another. I agree that the £20k profit video on YouTube feels like showing off, but at the end of the day it is just a 20 pip short trade, it is just the numbers that are attached that make it look different: the underlying trading style works, and I guess if he had made £20 on the trade it would not have been eyecatching enough to pull in casual observers. A lot of people use slightly extreme examples to advertise and drum up profile, it does not mean that their ideas are flawed.

Should stress that I had no prior relationship with K2A, and not sure that I should go into more detail on here as I do not want to breach forum rules by straying into advertising. I do not know the other companies you mention, sorry.

I’m also thinking of getting some mentoring, but this K2A course seems very pricey, but then again, it should pay for itself, but at the same time it is often said that it is mostly down to yourself, so if it’s mostly down to me, it seems very pricey.

I’ve had a look at their site, and I’m thinking if it’s worth going to the free seminar or are you just ending up in the same kind of thing as when I went to a timeshare meeting a few years back and end up signing a loan at an extortionate interest rate to pay for the timeshare, I wasn’t so gullible and actually managed to get a free holiday for going to that meeting.

My nearest seminar is over 100 miles away, so that in itself is quite an investment of time and money in the first place, and there are a few courses for a couple of hundred quid, which is not too painful if it’s not good, but still a waste, decisions decisions - my head spins!

I was lucky in that the free seminar for me was only a half hour drive away so not too bad. I can only speak for the one occasion but in the two hour seminar I attended there it was about 90 minutes of presentation on trading, 15 minutes on work/life balance and ten minutes or so of selling at the end. The selling was not too hardcore, they just told us the prices and outlined the course, given that they had given the seminar for free it was fair enough. They offered the inevitable discount for signing on the day, but when I attended the eventual full course we had pretty much all paid the same. I found them a nice bunch of people who were genuinely happy to answer questions on all aspects of the course, they seemed to have confidence in the product. I did not find them evasive or aggressive, and have yet to see them do anything other than what they said they would do.

Hi ST thanks for the reply, hopefully you will stay long enough to reach the 50 posts needed for me to PM you regarding K2A, as I know there is a confidentiality requirement in the course. Also if you stay it gives all members a chance to monitor how influential taking a course would be as opposed to the “free” route. :cheers:

You’re welcome. I am sure that I will hit 50 posts one day - here’s one! - so would welcome a pm at that point if you would find it helpful.

These seminars aren’t that good in my opinion. Have seen some of the webinars and they teach you nothing, apart from what a pip is and what a candle is.

It’s free and it gives you a chance to get a feel for the people and company. There is no commitment necessary so no downside other than a bit of time.

you’ll feel pressured though…

There was no hard sell, if someone can’t resist that level of pressure then they possibly don’t have the discipline for trading in any case!

What kind of skills do you get taught, is basic trading assumed? Do they teach about indicators, price action, patterns, Fib, S/R, psychology ?

To be honest I am not sure how much I am supposed to say in this forum, I am conscious that I am beginning to sound a bit like a salesman! They do cover all the basics, yes, some in less detail than others - you can’t do things like Fib justice over that timescale, better to give a thorough grounding in things like S&R and tackle more complex stuff down the road, in wider reading and with the mentor - so in theory you could start trading having done nothing other than the course. However, it is obvious that if one addes a decent quantity of one’s own research and reading etc. then a better, more rounded understanding is going to be achieved. So the headline answer is yes, they covered all the necessary basics of trading (no point teaching strategies to an audience unless you are sure that they understand the basics of trading!). I have also learned a lot from other sources but am very happy with the course and mentoring and consider it good value for money.