Do The "Strategies" Not Work Or Am I Just Bad?

Beginner Questions
1

So, I’ve been studying and demo trading forex for a few months now. I usually keep my mental state in check, my trades are systematic, impulse is usually at a all time low and I follow any setup rules.

However, It seems My trades just keep loosing. Let me explain what I do to get in trades and maybe you all can help on what I’ve done wrong, if I have.

I trade usually on 5-15 Minute time frames, however, I look all the way at 4 hour time frames to confirm trend direction. I usually trade EUR/USD.

I follow price action (obviously). I set up support lines, resistance lines, and look for chart patterns. If the price breaks a resistance and retests and hold, I go long. My long is 10 Pips, with a stop loss under the resistance lines 2-3 pips.

I will also do, if it hits the resistance and bounces off I go short. Profit at around support level, stop loss above resistance line 2-3 pips.

I trade double tops and wait for fake outs, Head and shoulders and wait for fakeouts. Rising wedges, triangles, channels, Everything!

But over and over It’s like the market goes the complete opposite of what I thought it would. Every time I get stopped out and it goes my way or it just plummets. I don’t understand what I could be doing wrong? My green days could be 23 Pips where my red could be 30-50. I dont chase, I dont FOMO, But when I lose, I try to grab another trade. I only trade London/NY overlap so I wake up at 7 and trade till 11. If I lose I keep trading, If I get 10+ Pips I stop for the day.

I know its hard cause I have no physical examples but im just getting a bit discouraged? Should my stop losses be farther away?

Thanks for any answers or opinions you guys give.

-Zach

2 Likes
2

First impression I have from your explanation is your stops are way too tight. Most/many pairs move 80-100+ pips a day. I understand you are on a much lower time frame, but still not enough to absorb a normal movement.
You might want to try trading smaller lots with wider stops, not risking any more then now/what you can absorb.

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3

I see. What is a good scalping R/R then? clearly 10pips/2-3 pips isnt working. Should I dare say even 10/9 or 10/8 is fine?

Thanks so much in advanced

4

Everyone is different, obviously. I don’t think you should consider a trade less then 1:1. As stated, you’ll have more flexibility with smaller lots and wider stops. Once your target is hit, sell a portion(1/2, 1/3, 1/4)
and bring your stop to break even and trail stop/sell portions as it continues in the trend. Obviously, if you are hitting important support/resistance levels at first target, you may want to alter.

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5

Ah I see. I will try this moving forward! Thank you so much. :grin:

6

You call 8 and 9 pips stop loss a dare? Wonderful!!!

If shorter time frames scalping ain’t working, dump it. And who told you scalping is done with stop losses?

Trading chart patterns are good! Trading chart patterns in an M5 chart is terrible. It’s like trading a pinbar in H1 chart, it doesn’t mean sh*t.

Try your strategy on higher time frames like H1 and H4, you’ll definitely see changes.

Cheers!!!

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7

I agree with what has already been said.

Support and resistance will be respected more in the higher time frames. So, if you are using the 4-hour/1-day chart to draw your lines, then you should also be using them to determine whether or not you should enter your trade. Once you determine that, then you can use the smaller time-frame to time your entry better.

You may also want to look at your stop-loss/R:R to see if adjustments should be made, based on your back-testing results.

Absolutely move your stop-loss as soon as possible (but not too soon) so that you are break-even or in profit…then, continue moving that stop-loss to trail, so that you can maximize your profits in lieu of settling for an absolute minimum each time.

Not sure what else you are doing or implementing with your strategy (e.g. research, back-testing, indicators etc.), but if all else fails, and you still cannot get this strategy to work no matter what you do, then consider trying a different strategy instead of quitting. If you are determined, then you will eventually get there, one way or another.

I will also add, that, if you are scalping on the lower time-frames, then some of what I have said may not even be applicable, since the smaller you go, the less important things can become on the larger time-frames.

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8

Never trade on a time-frame short enough for you to hold your breath from open to close.

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9

Each strategy has both technical and psychological sides, so you need to pay attention to each one to fix the performance.

  1. Technical: try to backtest it on historical data with the help of the special tools (like Tradingview built-in tester or Forex Tester or something like that). It will help you to check each rule and find proper values for each criteria.
  2. Psychological: try to add some rules that will help you to make the pressure lower. For example, you can make a 1 hour break after each loosing trade - this would help you to avoid emotions-based trades executed “to get money back”.
10

Yeah I guess Not scalping, usually my trades dont last minutes but instead 3-4 hours. Thanks for the adivce!

11

My time frames are usually 5-minute, 30-minute and 4-hour. Trades are confirmed on the higher 2 timeframes but entries are placed at 5 minute. I’ll do more backtesting like you suggested thank you!

12

Yeah I never scalp trade that quick

13

I’ll have to backtest it more. Thank you!

14

I have the same problem. I think for me the issue really is incorrect stop loss placement. But I myself am still learning though. I’ll follow this thread for more tips! Thanks for putting this question up.

15

Hi!

So, you have been studying and demo trading forex for a few months now. You usually keep your mental state in check, your trades are systematic, impulse is usually at a all time low and you follow any setup rules.
In doing all that, you keep having losing trades instead of winning.

You feel like giving up but your other side of yourself know that forex trading can make money, but how?

Here is my opinion. Trading forex is a game. If you are good in math, you would able to foresee that you can make it possible to having more winning trades and losing trades.
Why not check out ‘drforex-t’ on Instagram? Take a look at their random students’ daily trading results. Look back to those trading dates on that pair. Backtest yourself. And, mayb… maybe you might be curious want to know how.
If you ask me, I already bought their ebook. I read it and i find this strategy works.
That’s my opinion. You can take it or leave it.

16

Thank! I’ll give it a look. Appreciate the Feedback.

17

Update on my trading a few days after your answer. Every trade I have done I have fixed my stop loss to not be so tight. And I haven’t had a losing trade. Since. Thanks so much for the help.

18

That is great to hear.

I would like to add my thoughts on your question.

Small time frame is not so easy to trade, especially with small pip range like you do. And when you have Stop Loss any higher jump on the price will hit your stop loss and get you out of that trade.

Larger time frame offers better opportunity for trading with stop loss and with good R:R. I have used always minimum 1:3 R:R. If you take a look into hourly pip range for trading pair EUR/USD you will see that there is no much room for trader to leave a trade open with small stop loss.
EURUSD_daily average

If you need more information on daily average moving for other pair, check here: https://getknowtrading.com/forex-market-trading-session/

So, as you said when you have widened stop loss you had better trades and that confirms earlier said.

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19

As each trader is different in his trading needs, he or she can feel the difference while using the same trading strategy that is being used by the others. What a trader must try to do is: he needs to choose his trading approaches and strategy after recognizing his trading purposes and strengths.

20

You’re competing in the most competitive and crowded field in finance - day trading the macro market.

Maybe your time-frame is too short or your expectations/ambitions are too high.