What piece of advice made you feel like you had an edge in trading? Explain your “AHA! moment.”
While I don’t claim to be successful yet, a few things that got me feeling like I have a bit more traction with success was:
Realizing that price rarely, almost never, takes off in one direction instantaneously. This helped me to stop chasing moves and even looking for a position in the opposite direction.
Following the trend and anticipating pullbacks or reversals.
I’m a long ways to go but every step forward counts.
Ok so say you got a standard deviation of outcomes depending on your trade technique. You can slice off the left side (Losses) of it with stoplosses. (But allow room for the market to breathe of course)
Why are you on a forum then? If we use your logic, then the best course of action is to listen to no one and that includes you. If you don’t listen to others and others don’t listen to each other, then what’s the point of being here?
Don’t listen to other people who say “trade at this level because this is going to happen”, or “do you’re analysis this way, you’re doing it wrong”…As we all already know trading is very much subjective, there is no right or wrong way to develop, analyze and trade. So go down you’re own learning path, developing your own ideas will give you a much better understanding than just simply copying another fellow traders idea.
The best advice I received was after many months of trying different systems and approachs and getting frustrated with failure and lack of progress. Someone in a presentation told us to let a system find you rather than trying to find a system. I recognized right away that this was the approach I needed to adopt and accept my failures as part of the normal learning experience.
Here is some advice that has helped me along the years.
max risk per trade should be no higher than 1%
wait for a candle to close before taking it to consideration. Dont make decisions on an open candle. This only applies to pre trade analysis, not the execution. For example, If an open candle hits an entry order, thats ok. The logic for your entry order should be based on previous closed candles.
trade on confirmation of PA (same as above)
Enter on orders, not @ market.
winning % of individual trades is overrated when using strict risk management and discipline to only trade setups with low risk, tight stops and high r:r, under favorable market conditions with respect to your strategy
identify your SL before your entry.
identify entry zones instead of entry points.
enter by placing orders at certain levels in anticipation of a retracement.
buy high sell higher and sell low buy lower during strong breakouts that penetrate major s/r levels.
use higher time frames to help determine significance of s/r levels on lower frames
higher time frames= less noise
lower time frames= more noise
price is king
indicators have their place but are not required.
adding to a winning position can be of great benefit if executed correctly, if risk is properly managed and if under the right conditions (I dont do this often)
dont hesitate to close a trade out before your SL if there is a strong movement against you esp early on in the trade
profit from your losses by learning from your losses. Learning from and profiting from other traders losses and experiences is even better
it takes years and you’ll have to pay your dues before you have any consistent success.
Your search to find a trading system will end when a trading system eventually finds you.
im not suggesting limiting yourself to one or even a handfull of pairs, but specializing in a particular cross has it’s advantages
Trading is a marathon, not a sprint. There are no shortcuts, no easy ways to profit, no handouts, and no exceptions to these points.
Early success might be the worst thing that can happen to a trader, believe it or not.
positive trading psychology takes years of experience to develop. Mental habbits take time and come with repetition. Its a gradual shift in mindset that takes time.
Nothing new here but these points helped me along the way. Good luck, much success and happy trading to all.
