What happened?
Anyway, managed to make the 40 pips back ( plus a couple on top ) during the pullback thanks to Messrs Papandreou & Drahgi.
I wonāt have a bad word said about those boys !!
I added the same post twice, then added the āthatās what happens ā¦ā post, and THEN discovered how to delete a post.
Which rather confirms my point I believe !! Lol
Hilarious. But you added a little levity into a very grey afternoon - already dark here, and itās only quarter to four! Congrats on the 40 pips, nice end to the week.
ST
This is the way I tend to think about paying for a coach/mentor to learn Forex.
If I wanted to learn to build web-sites, Iād go find some-one to teach me.
If I wanted to learn a new language, Iād find some-one to teach me.
My oldest daughter sits her GCSEās next summer and she was struggling a little with maths. So I pay for som-one to come to my house and teach her.
If I opened a shop, Iād have overheads like electricity, rent etcā¦
So I think it is a good idea to have a coach/mentor. Itās just a business overhead.
Iām now trading for 5 months, and I struggle to get to grips with some concepts and sometimes when some of you guys talk about different things, I get lost as to what you are talking about. Very few people in life, I reckon, become successful completely on their own.
So I reckon a coach/mentor/instruction programme is a good idea. But I reckon the biggest challenge from a newbie point of view is which one of those programmes are genuine and worth the money, and which ones are just a scam ?
Because it doesnāt matter what the subject is, there are a million āgurusā on the net just waiting to speperate us from our hard earned.
Is there such a thing as an independent review site of coaching programmes?
HoG, you can always look at forex peace army for reviews. I use them for broker reviews. One just has to read a little between the lines to grasp the truth. Not every complaint is honest. Albeit if you have 10 guys say the same thing itās probably true. I guess they do review also other services.
I am more the diy guy. Though, I have a strong business background and I did not learn business economics by myself. I was at a top class school to learn those things. So, if you have no deep roots in knowledge of the basics of business, it is probably a little harder to catch for yourself. I mean, one can learn everything, but thatās really extra dry stuff. I couldnāt learn that while sitting at home with a browser or an ebook. Thatās more valuable knowledge for money management, risk and all that. Not directly trading. Though, trading is a bit like buying and selling something and that is the same what you do with a shop. Anyways, donāt worry if you do not understand everything. After 5 months of trading I did not understand much as well. It all comes after time and I still am learning. 
Then I guess you did very well. Look where you were a couple of months ago. Now you made back a lot of that lost money in your account and you learn every day. Though, itās not as fast with learning if you have another job running. To learn trading successfully profitable takes time. If it would be that easy that one could learn it in a couple of days everything would make money and this is not possible.
My only advice, trading consists of only one action that is split into two choices.
Single action - clicking the mouse.
Choice - Buy or Sell ?
Thats all there is to making money trading.
Anything more is over complicating a simple task and bound to make you loose money IMHO.
That is unless ofcause you would like to learn all the terms, ideologies, nuances, trade speak, prime cut, rib eye, drumstick, finger licking good and a hundred little names that people use to describe meat.
All that comes very handy to pass ourselves off as a very knowledgeable person during a round of drinks or trying to impress someone.
But to make money, I would take it with a pinch of salt.
I have asked many who have taken up forex courses. Again single action with two consequences.
Take a course, majority get cheated because the course teaches them what this or that is, but not how to profit from it. I have seen one guy who showed me a chart that probably had all the basic indicators that came with a standard MT4 platform on his chart. Couldnt see the candles honestly. Thats what he was thought for USD 3000 a pop for a single day course here in Malaysia. ( The exchange at that time was 1USD - RM 3.70!)
The minority second group got a coach and most dropped out or were not very successful. Why ? Because the trading method did not suit them. Those who made it tried to understand what to look for, how to read the candlesticks, where to see for momentum, how to capitalize on market opening hours etc etc and than went on to incorporate their own style into it. These are the select few who made it.
The rest were just driftwood.
Sorry for the long drawn uninvited comment.
Started realizing the above when I compared it with my personal experience.
Just before I start, NO comments are uninvited Niki, you should know by now your comments are always welcome here !
Anyway, taking the valid points you both raise into consideration, it does throw up the obvious question in my mind.
What we have to remember is where we are, Newbie Island ( I know you know that but stay with me ) Essentially people come here hoping to learn, or at least hoping to learn WHERE to learn. I personally found that it is all very well reading what Support and Resistances levels, Fibonacci levels, Moving Averages etc etc all are, but there is a total lack of sites that just show newbies how to use these tools in practical examples. ( maybe these sites DO exist and I just havenāt found them )
Donāt get me wrong, if you go on to YouTube there is no end of people sharing their videos of how wonderful they are. ( Funny how you donāt seem to find any videos of someoneās trade bombing isnāt it?)
When I first started I originally started a blog that was supposed to be my ātrading diary of a newbieā. But I soon realised I didnāt know enough to keep that blog going. So I stopped it. But the funny thing was that in the short space of time it was running, I had people from all over the world reading it ( I could track the visitorās locations through the blog stats page).
So this shows me there is huge demand from all over the world of people just looking to find out Where to start, what to use and more importantly HOW to use these tools.
Personally I think it would be a great idea to start such a thing if you happened to know what you where talking about, and if you had the time in between youāre own trading.
Anyway, so getting to the actual point of this ramble, here is a question then for the experienced readers of this thread.
Where do complete newbies start? What books do they buy? Whatās the best site to learn?
Iām not even interested in the āWhatās the best indicators or tools to use?ā Havenāt even got as far as that thinking yet. Just where do they start?
Knowing what you all know now, where would YOU start if you had to do it all again?
HoG
Last thing for tonight, and quite possibly this week in fact as I donāt see myself doing much trading tonight or tomorrow, is this thought.
Over the course of this thread I have, every now and again, updated the readers with my account balance. Now I know there arenāt a whole lot of people on here who do that, for obvious reasons. But I have viewed this thread in a slightly different light.
Iāve always thought of this thread as a sort of āDonāt worry, youāre not alone, Iām making a backside of it as well,ā kind of thing. And just to confirm that, Iāve added the details of my account balance. However adding the balance has also given me that little bit of honesty about it all. I couldnāt in reality write that I had $100 one week, then tell everybody the next week, āWow, had a great week, Iāve now got $10,000 !!ā Itās also kept me in check slightly at times 'cos I knew Iād have to come back here at some point and admit to everyone my mistakes. Which isnāt easy to do sometimes yāknow !
But obviously at some point that will have to stop. So when do I stop?
Well, since I started this trading thing with $400, Iāve decided that if I ever DO make it back to that figure, Thatās when I will stop adding my account balance to the posts. I am still a long long way away from that mind you, but now I feel Iām making positive steps forward. |Not saying for a second I know more than I do, I just feel recently that I am progressing slightly.
So here is the state of play as of today:
As you can see, or at least I hope you can see, in the highlighted are, my account balance currently stands at $136.05.
Iām very pleased with this as I started the week at $107.88, and had a couple of losses in between as well. Remembering that a micro account is 10 cents per pip ( sometimes Iāve traded 2 or 3 lots this week, never more and always adjusted my stop accordingly ) itās been a good week.
So why stop adding balance at $400? Two reasons. First is obviously the privacy aspect. You canāt go on forever telling people what you have, or havenāt got. Second reason is, if I ever get to $400, that is when I will stop considering myself as a newbie.
Donāt get me wrong, Iām NOT saying at that point I will consider I know all there is to know, far from it. But I feel if you can start with that amount, and lose what I did, then get back to that amount without adding fresh capitol, surely thatās an education enough to get you promoted from newbie to learner?
So thatās the plan.
That aside, looking at the charts just now, and as ST mentioned earlier, NFP out tomorrow, where are we going in EU? Are the charts looking down, or is it more to the upside for Friday?
1 HOUR EUR/USD
4 HOUR EUR/USD
Daily EUR/USD
Like I say, wonāt matter much to me, canāt see myself doing anything else this week.
If I donāt write again this week I hope you all have a great weekend. Take care yāall
HoG
HoG, I am exactly in that (our boat.) Iāve been trading going on four months now. Although my background has been working for investment banks in accounting, the only things applicable are having seen currency movements and being able to use Excel to set up analysis, also some economics in college so I get supply and demand. Iād reached out all over the place looking for mentoring type arrangements, only to realize theyāre already here. Inner Circle Trader website has a school of videos to get one up to speed, as well as numerous other videos reviewing real life situations and teaching decision making. He occasionally has webinars where students can ask questions. However, if I were to start over again, (I would follow Inner Circle Trader from day 1, check out the videos from Eremarket which are similar in concept, and pay attention to the daily highās and lows for each session. When combined with support and resistance tools, there is a logic that works.
I consider myself to be a fairly bad trader overall, but gradually improving. Over the last 4 weeks Iāve logged every trade and have 19 wins, 9 losses, and 8 flat (slight profit on the flats) and am net + 295 pips. Iāve gone back and analyzed my trades and am leaving way too much money on the table with really poor decision making at times. This week Iāve made two trades and have 1 win and 1 flat (really bad decision cancelling the Cable long at 3:00 amā¦ Uggg.) I like your thread because you make everyone feel welcome and it feels funā¦
I really believe that the only indicators one needs are basic charts, support and resistance, the ability to draw Fibs, and some pivots. Btwā¦ Nikitaās thread is very helpful, and usually all of the people who comment on ICTās thread are very open to sharing knowledgeā¦ Iām sure that there are schools that will teach things that can be used to be successful, but there really are great resources that are free, which I think share information in a much more direct way. If my closest friend asked me where I would start, I would say:
- BabyPips Scool
- Inner Circle Trader Videos and thread
- Eremarket videos (his thread is cool too, but the videos are short and helpful, and he recommnends Sam Seiden - also good
Iād say understand support and resistance as they relate to supply and demand, and avoid the indicators to start as they are a distraction. Iād also say (and I wished I had) avoid the patterns to begin with. The harmonic patters are cool conceptually, but a distraction from supply and demand. I am a beginner totally. If I find major success it will be thanks to others. However, there is no way that I will blow up an account. Risk 1% per trade and put together a plan using compounding for the long term. Sorry for being wordy. I think that everything anyone would need is available already for free thanks to some amazingly generous people.
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I appreciate you writing this Hogarste. Trouble with most things on the internet is that there is so much S**t going around itās sometimes hard to find the good stuff.
So any genuine recommendations from independents, regarding good sources of education for newbies is always welcome.
I like reading Nikitaās thread too. I get email alerts on my phone when someone adds a new post to it and it helps me pass the day sometimes when Iām at work. I know you could argue I should try working and that would pass the day but Iām a cab driver, I only work when someone wants me to.
Anyway, Iāve just downloaded a huge file of different trading books, which knowing how hard I find it to read books, should keep me going in holiday reading material until I am 3467 years old !!
But listen, thanks again. Iām off to bed now, can hear Mrs HoG snoring already, might be a night in the spare room for me !
HoG
Just to add a footnote to this, I think the trouble with the whole āhow to learnā discussion is that we are all right. Everyone learns differently, needs different things, will make different things work.
I knew nothing about Forex, had left my career, and had bought a house to renovate, extend and sell on within six months purely as an investment. We did that, and on selling it got more than we expected (pre-recession lol!). So we had some āfreeā money knocking around and thought of it as my income for that period. So we were comfortable investing a small part of that (the course I took was about two grand, we then purchased extra coaching afterwards) in the training course. We were prepared for it to be a waste of time, but thought it worth the investment. My wife (who had the crazy idea in the first place!) thought that I had a few aptitudes, but I had no experience. Never even bought a share before.
Turns out that it was great for me, I now make a good income from it, and on paper the cost of the course (which was just a normal monthās salary at the end of the day) looks stunning value. But - and itās quite a big but - in my opinion there are [I]no[/I] reliable review sites for Forex courses on the net. I have seen some reviews of the course I have been on and thought that they were garbage. Many of them also contain factual inaccuracies. So I would say that if one is considering a course, go to a free seminar, read about it, whatever else, but signing up for the course will just be a leap of faith. Use money you can afford to lose, and if you canāt afford to lose it donāt do the course. It has completely changed my life, we live on a completely different level, now, but someone else could attend the same course and get nothing from it. I also think that it helped that I knew nothing going in. We are all different, unfortunately we are the variable.
So you will get anecdotal evidence on both sides, but at the end of the day that just amounts to the personal opinion of a bunch of people you have never met! For example, anyone handing over the money can go on the course I attended. It is a business for them, they are very committed to the students, but there is no qualifying entrance exam. There were people in the room when I was there who asked daft question over daft question and clearly were missing the point of the whole concept. I guarantee that those people blew their original account and are now not trading. As most of us in life prefer to blame outside factors when we fail at something (when I tried welding I was convinced that the steel was the wrong gauge and the welding rig was faulty - actually Iām just rubbish at welding), so a percentage of those people will go back and write a negative review. Also, unhappy people tend to shout louder than happy people, just a fact of life. You donāt get a demonstration in the street by people who are happy with the status quo too oftenā¦ I have seen very negative reviews of the K2A courses online, and reading between the lines it is clear that these people only went to the free seminar, so they are slagging off a course they never sat!
So I would take internet reviews of courses with such a pinch of salt that attendance is generally a leap of faith.
I know that that is not very helpful, but wanted to get it off my chest!! Sorry for taking up so much spaceā¦
And well done, HoG, on getting your account onto such a strong footing - very encouraging for the future!!!
ST
EURUSD is heading for all fall. serious resistance at 1.3859.
Did BP ban CERTAINTY1? Too bad.
What a foolā¦
ST
Thanks for giving your opinion. My point in raising the issue in the first place is that I donāt necessarily think complete newbies come here to learn as much as I believe they come to learn WHERE or HOW to learn. And I thought it might be an idea just to get different independent opinions on the learning method rather than the usual, ājust use the hooflebonger indicator and all your troubles will be over.ā nonsense. ( there really should be an indicator called the hooflebonger you know )
Of course youāre right we all learn in different ways. As Iāve said before, I struggle to learn from reading, but if you show me it ( pardon the expression ) then Iām your man. But again with so much crap on the Internet, itās just good to hear from people who can say, yep been there, donāt it. It did or didnāt work for me.
Anyway not trading at all today so I hope everyone has a good weekend.
P.S. Had a similar experience to your welding adventure when I was hanging a door recently. Isnāt it disgraceful the way they donāt manufacture doors as square as they used to ??
Please dont give him or her any ideas.
secondly I think mathematicians dont tend to think that way 
U know, the Good Will Hunting sort.
Indeed, very true, context for the knowledge I was gaining was certainly one of the benefits of my course. For instance, even passionate advocates of indicators would agree that it is not practical to have all the indicators on the screen at one time, as this would obscure the chart itself. But which indicators are best to have on there? On the internet one will find advocates of each, but not much comparitive analysis. Truth is, even if one likes indicators, each suits different approaches differently. This is something that I can explore in coaching, but on the internet I either find positive reviews of all the indicators, or people saying āindicators are uselessā. It is tough to establish a personal, balanced view.
Yes, I was trying to weld a repair panel for the underside of a 1960s convertible. It arrived as the right shape for the area I was trying to repair, yet the more I welded it the worse it fitted. Took a while to acknowledge that I was the weak link in the equationā¦ I now do the prep work and leave the actual welding to someone likely to survive the process and not destroy the car.
I canāt wait for CERTAINTY3ās pearls of wisdom. We should open a book on how long it takes before he gets banned again. Except that thatās gamblingā¦
ST
Good afternoon, folks!
Bingo Bango Bongo today, lol. 2 x 30+ pips bot winners.
Okay, letz go to the nice school debate. I was a teacher for 5 years and a bit more. So I may tell a little. ST is indeed right! You can teach a horse how to drink water, but you cannot make it drink. 
In the end it boils down to the individual. However, I wouldnāt go as far to say review sites are completely a waste. As I mentioned already, read between the lines. If somebody just complains without details you can kick that to the troll can. Albeit if some guys let shine through what was the issue and there is a common opinion of the majority, you can bet it is not without grounds.
The point in trading is imho this: You can learn the mechanics, the risk management, money management, but you can not learn from others how your emotional reactions are or how you cope with drawdowns, profits, etc. There are also several styles of trading. What makes a swing trader happy would probably produce losses for a scalp freak and vice versa. If somebody works and has just the Asian session for trading he would likely lose on a strat with a London open part.
Particular going now to that idea of attending a free course Iād say just do it if you like. Itās free, so in the worst case you could learn from it is that it didnāt work for you. Even that is a lesson.
Okay guys, the weekend is around the corner and I wish all of you a great one!
Just looking what in the other threads is going around ā¦
I reckon Bingo Bango Bongo is right up there with āOne small step fir manā¦ā and " Whatās up doc?"
