Ive been trading for a week, opened and closed maybe 7 trades in all. Result : almost totally flat. Watching the markets almost every hour but still not much posititve results at all.
Does anyone here really make any money consistently just trading at home ? Whats your strategy / secret ?
Goat …
Hi @MrGoat I don’t know your education level when it comes to forex and you’re more than welcome to ignore anything I say here as I myself have not been in the game long.
However, here’s what I’ve found so far:
When you are just starting out it seems to be the best idea to be watching the markets every hour and trying to get a trade or two in to make money. The only problem with that is that you end up with this feeling of urgency to get into profitable trades and you actually end up getting into trades purely on impulse.
The truth seems to be that you need to have a massive stack of patience. Good trades, I mean the really good, calculated and high probability trades will only become apparent to you after extensive research on the how the market moves (what makes it move).
When you are watching the market all day through the different sessions there can be an unreasonable pressure to make a trade. If you combine that with a sloppy trading system without solid rules you will almost deffinetly NOT make money.
Demo for a while, see what works for you and then when you can be consistently profitable on the demo with your chosen system and set of rules move in up to the world of live trading.
This is no quick process, However, if you can grasp this and build your account there is no reason why you won’t make money. It’s just not going to happen in a week.
I blew my first live account a few months ago and that is when the real learning began. If you want, you could try that but there’s no point wasting money.
You’re in the right place, so just slow down and create/master YOUR system. The money will follow.
Yes there are such people here. If you look at how long some of the regular posters have actually been posting here on BP, I think it is a safe assumption that they are not here because they have been consistently losing over these years - and even before that…
There are many considerations to master before it all starts to come together but maybe one very important step - whether you are trading short term or long term - is to be aware of the overall situation your market is in at present.
Perhaps an example is best:
Imagine you are a short term day-trader and you trade off a 5 min chart. Here is the USOil chart for 6.12. - how would you interpret what is going on here, and what are the chances you would make money today:
Then let’s look at this as a single day, 6.12. (red-ringed) on a daily chart - does this change the perspective at all?
I am not saying whether one should trade short term or long term - one can make money in both. But it is clear that when only watching a short term chart, the actual swings up and down don’t really mean anything at all and one needs a totally different method and mental approach to this kind of trading to that of a position trader.
You need to define what kind of trading you are going to do and then find your approach and stick to it with great discipline and patience. And with the short term day-trading environment you will need to be even more precise and disciplined with your selection of entries and exits.
If are not totally conscious of your method and completely disciplined then you will end up just chasing the market wherever it goes - and you can guess from the first chart above where that will end up…
You, mate, need a strategy. Staring at the market and looking to jumping in anytime like a skipper can be bad. Learn how to use a couple of indicators and create an entry and exit strategy based on the signal you get.
Things cannot always go right all the time, we should expect that at some point things might go wrong and this is not as a result of what we did wrong. But it just happened and we must learn to accept it when it happens.
So consistency in my point of view is not giving up when things go wrong sometimes.
Consistency is not defined by the profits that come regularly, but by our continuity in the market. Even when things go wrong we are still pushing forward no matter what happens.
However forex market remains dynamic and unpredictable, in forex trading will very much difficult to always make a profit all the time, risk always there and involved in trading, sometimes inevitable, so forex trading is about how to minimize the risk and learn to increase the high possibility to getting winning trades
hello there. indeed there are many traders here who make money consistently. but it doesnt mean they always win. accept the fact that there are losing trades also. i suggests you create your own trading plan base on your personality and type of trader you wanted to be. create a set of rules or system and stick to them.
@MrGoat welcome to trading, it is going to be a bumpy ride so make sure you don’t risk real money before finding consistency and reliable strategy.
IMHO you will be more successful on higher timeframes, 1D and 4H. I promise you there are many many trading opportunities if you have a watch list of e.g. 10 pairs.
I started to post my trades recently, hopefuly you will make some conclusions which might help you become profitable trader.
You can check it in Trade Journals: Mundus’ trades FX
P.S. I am not selling anything.
I think you have to accept the losing trades. As a trader, all of my trades are not winners. Yes it bothers me— but there is no such thing as a perfect trader with a perfect trading plan. I am trying to obtain a 50/50 win ratio and still make a profit.
There are people who make money consistently but a week is way too small a timeframe to base success or failure off of. I had a great 2018 but I can’t say i’m consistent yet. As another forum member mentioned you need to find a strategy. Look into backtesting algorithms and it will save you time and money. You don’t need to trade algorithmically but mechanical systems are a great approach. Just remember that trading is something you have to try to do long term. You can make money quickly but then you’re likely to lose it quickly. Also an actual profitable system is not very easy to find particularly in forex. Stocks have an upward bias that helps with that. Not the case in currencies.
Hi MrGoat
I have been trading for only one month now and have been consistently making profits. Even little ones like $20 or $30. My success is due to having a good broker who has been mentoring me for the whole time. I have also downloaded a lot of Babypips lessons so am getting used to the jargon and philosophy of trading. I registered with a reputable trading company, Fintech (am I allowed to say that?) anyway they are fantastic with brokers who mentor free of charge, who are honest and upfront about the pitfalls as well as the advantages of trading. My broker put me on to Babypips so I could educate myself in my own time.
The first thing I learnt was using the technical analysis tool which is the easiest way to discern which way the markets are moving and the results have always been positive. I did make one mistake that wiped out all the profit (and part of my account balance) I had made up until that time but it wasn’t because I misread the market it was because of my own ignorance and not being aware of what I was clicking on. I have recovered from that mistake and am back in profit. If you are looking for big profits quickly in a short period of time you’ll most surely die (well you won’t but your account will), be in it for the long haul, get yourself a good mentor but beware of the brokers that are only out for profit and never invest money that you cannot afford to lose.
If you have only been trading for a week then you really need to be schooled up especially about risk management, leverage, point positioning, stop / loss orders and hedging to name a few. You are posting on the Babypips website so you are in the best place to start. Good luck, Cheers Mark
These is possible, with my own way to success. I all started by making my economy tools box what I need it to be. I mean with a good plan of entry and exist you can make money.
Learn to understand your costom indicators before you think of money.
It could be simple…
Just accept the negative trades without any justification.
Justifications only prepare oneself for new failures.
Try to improve steadily
It takes years, not weeks, to only begin to grasp the markets.
Hello dear.
From research, it takes abt 5 yrs to be consistently profitable. U will lose money in your first year. Break even in d 2nd. Start making some profit in d 3rd. Become a professional trader in d 4th, become truly profitable in d 5th year. This of course is not written in stone. But on d average its like this for most traders. Urs can come a little before or a little after. U just have to keep at it n take ur education seriously. Goodluck
Yes, way too much.
To elaborate, it takes a long time to develop the feel for the market: there is no magic indicator that is always right. You need to be able to factor in market sentiment/expectations as well as fundamental factors. To make matters even trickier, market sentiment can sometimes try to tug against fundamentals (as various market participants don’t always consider all of them properly).
No trader can achieve a success within limited time. Rather a forex trader must think acquiring adequate trading knowledge here if he wants to achieve a successful trading voyage. You must choose a well developed strategy as per his financial capacity and even he will require sufficient time in practice with demo accounts as well.
You know, winning always can not be the case for a trader in the market. We should always expect that loses will come at some point.
Having this realism will help in a large way.
