Education plan for yet another new guy

Beginner Questions
1

Hi there. Just your typical new guy here…

I was just wondering if there was anything else I should focus on at some point down my education road if anyone can offer any tips on things that helped them.

I have committed myself to learning everything I can before opening a live account, and also have almost stopped with my demo account. (Not due to lack of interest, but more to do with that I don’t want to develop bad habits until I know what it all means)

I am taking the baby pips course, and reading everything I can on this forum. I watch as many YouTube videos as I can and read what I can around the web. I have no desire to go guns blazing into forex trading and losing everything. I’m in no rush. Other than the things I’m working on that I just mentioned, is there anything else I should be looking into?

Thank you for any advice and tips!

2

Good approach, good attitude.

I’d kick the demo trading up a notch, though. Forex may be hard but it’s not complicated; you don’t actually need ‘all the knowledge’ to be successful.

Instead, the big battle for noobies is finding a simple strategy that fits their circumstances and psychology. Demo trading a ton of different approaches is the fastest way to do that. You’ll find that there are a load of approaches you hate (win or lose), some that don’t quite click, and some that you really enjoy (win or lose). Pick your favorite from that last group and make that strategy and those indicators your main educational focus, and work on refining it into a successful trading plan.

I, for example, wanted to like the Ichimoku, but in practice it frustrated the hell out of me. Once I realised how much I got out of Bollinger Bands, though, I went out and bought John Bollinger’s book to improve my understand of that indicator.

3

I agree with @Drekieyja
i find all too many newbies TALK THE TALK when it comes to indicators,
and then you ask them (For example) what is MOVING AVERAGE, say a 30 SMA
and they can’t explain that to you

so. yes. when picking indicators, REALLY UNDERSTAND what they are doing and how they calculate things

another one is (if you are not good at basic math) Brush up on your basic Math. it’s not hard

all you really need as a basis is
Addition, Subtraction, Division, Multiplication
Order of Operations
Converstion between , Percentage , Decimal and Fractions (you don’t need to get deep into Improper fractions)
Understand what AVERAGE IS
Understand what EXPONENTIAL means
Understand what STANDARD DEVIATION MEANS

Most indicators will be self explanatory if someone has a basic understanding of maths

all that Mickey Mouse stuff aside

TEST THINGS
i suggest going on Demo and TESTING THINGS

if you need a place to start
do this

  1. Open a Demo Account
  2. Download MT-4
  3. Pick a chart any chart, Randomnly if you like
  4. Place a trade, RANDOMNLY… see what happens
    it really doesn’t matter what you do at first, what matters is that you learn from the result

if you are trying to avoid bad habits, YOU CAN’T
you need them to learn
You are going to develop bad habits whether you like it or not, this is what demo is for

but it looks like you already have a good attitude and the right habits, so i say… don’t worry about it
TRUST YOUR INNER JUDGEMENT
Just focus on Testing and getting profitable

4

Nice to know you are not rushing here! I think, your educational plan is good enough, just need execute it with the proper concentration! One thing you can add is called, check-list! You can make this list based on your new trade position!

5

I think demo trading is a good start for every newbies. It’s true that from demo trading you will not learn all the things but you can know at least the basic of forex trading. Drekieyja said absolutely the right thing that if someone do forex trading properly then surely they can get an easy success. Mostly people failed for the lack of knowledge. Also I wanted to say one thing. As a new trader you should start investing with low capital.

6

Go deep into these forums, reading anything you can

Reddit’s Forex subreddit’s all-time top posts has some great info and resources to bookmark

Bookmark EVERYTHING you find so you always have a ‘next’ step. Oh, and see everything as a learning opportunity. I’m not too deep into the knowledge yet, but one thing that helps me a lot is always having a ‘next thing’ to read and learn about, no matter what it is.

I don’t want you to emulate my journey of knowledge, so just… seek.

7

Demo a/c also teaches that it is actually HARD to make profits - and gives you some of teh feelings you will encounter later - yeas trade the “Demo” Every tme you think "Oh yes this will work " - demo it ! (And see whether it does)

Did you learn much from the book ? BB’s seem like a good sentiment indicator, and show where the mainstream action envelope lies, but is there much else to them ?

8

I like Bollinger Bands; they help me see the ‘shape’ of the market more clearly. As John says, the are essentially a way of objectively determining if the price is currently high or low compared to the recent average. He does not try to sell them as anything more than that, but then sets out how that information can be used as part of a trading system.

I did actually feel that the book was worthwhile, both for the discussion of Bollinger Bands, and for some of the more general comments he made. Someone who has traded at that level just has so much institutional knowledge that you are unlikely pick up from 5 min youtube videos.

9

BBs are one of the few things I have interest in as an indicator. However, I use them differently from the “Babypips way” although I acknowledge that way.

Thanks for your input @Drekieyja, but on balance - I think I have enough books already :sunglasses:

10

Thanks for the replies guys!

The layout I kinda have set up in my head that I thought might lead me in the right direction is complete the baby pips school, and then use the forums to find answers to parts of the school that didn’t quite add up and then go back and reread the sections I didn’t quite understand at first and hope they make more sense.

Once I feel I have a good understanding of the forex market I was then going to focus on what kind of things can affect the market such as news releases and what ever else.

Then having an understanding of the market and what can affect its direction I would use that information to fine tune a strategy ( on demo of course) that I’m confident I could use with a live account.

As for continuing to use the demo account, I still do. Basically what you all said to use it for as far as make a trade and see what happens. At one point I would like to be consistently profitable on it, but I also want to use it to experience failure on multiple levels as far as capital goes from nano lots to standard lots. Basically making my own tough lessons so I know what to expect/avoid when I go live.

11

Other than the forum, you should probbly look out for regular books on the subject,as books usually have a different approach

12

I love when you said just place a random trade just to see what happens. Surprisingly, you can learn a lot from doing that because you’re then able to see why the trade was good or bad, and just take note of it :slight_smile:

13

Exactly Right,
i mean if a person is losing, Why not ?
just to see what happens

14

Best way to gain experience is by learning from your mistakes. So why not make mistakes and learn from them with free money :grin:

15

Well, I guess I support such an approach. Also, right now you have to get more experience.

16

Yes , current losses and mistake can teach us a great lesion but if we do same mistake again and again that’s not possible at all to come out from losses.

17

The prime level of education for newcomers is always simple, so don’t hurry. Keeps focus on demo trading with Baby pips school. You can move on others forum community in particularly FPA; it could increase your knowledge very rapidly.

18

Try to continue in demo account and please don’t trade at random. Always try to be mature about your trading strategies; demo is the best place to taste your trading techniques. you can use here leverage ratio to see its performance. After all trade with knowledge and experience that you have acquired from Pips school.

19

Trading at random in demo account is a common attitude for newcomers; generally they don’t believe the importance of this trading place at all. They have to be focused in here, if they want to ensure most powerful analyzing live experience from here.

20

I think you should trade (Paper trade) - Open up a 5 minute chart and look at it - Then in real time, take a bet at the price shown (Use the 1 minute chart to enter and exit positions). Immediately write it down, Write down a stop - loss and a TP too if you want to. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Every time you close a bet - look for an opportunity to open another. Write down your close prices and work out your win/lose amount for each. - deduct 1.5 pips from each trade and write down your actual win/lose including spreads.

Add them all together when you decide your “session is over” And work out how much money you have lost !

Look at the amazing number of times you have picked exact tops and bottoms, so that you have lost the absolute maximum amount !

People will tell you there’s an easy way to do this thing - Do not believe them - They’re trying to sell you something!

Peopel will talk about “EA’s” - They know that most people want to “Blame someone else” when things go wrong - You Have to take responsibility for your own actions and emotions.

“the market” understands human emotions far better than any psychologist - Hence the excercise I just told you about. That is what you will do all the time !

When you say you “don’t want to pick up bad habits” - I suspect you’ve already tried it and frightened yourself.

Try it again and see if when you are panicking, you can take the opposite bet ?

It doesn’t matter what timeframe you are on, It’s the same on all of them, that’s why I used the smallest, so you can get that experiencee as quicklly as possible.

Human psychology has to be overcome. You cannot prevent it - It is geneticallly imprinted on us from when we were hunter-gatherers 20,000 years ago. You have to understand why “Everyone around you” (except you) HAS to lose money - for you to be “on the right track”

95% or more, never do !

See if you can be the exception :slight_smile:

[Edit - You don’t actually have to be able to “Win” using this - Just be aware that "Scalping " may not be for you and resist those emotions when you feel them in “Real” trades. ]