Markets are crazy atm , good news goes down , vad news goes up. More lockdowns goes up … et. . I just got my account wiped today when forex opened. Market ajustements are very dangerous. A fried lost 98k 2 weeks ago for same reason. I feel good , i lost just 2k . We are speaking about gold ^_-
Only tip I can give you is create a system. Make use of indicators or something alike as drawing trendlines or support & resistance can be very subjective. Create a trading plan with multiple criteria and if the chart doesn’t meet all your criteria, don’t force the trade. Move on.
Example of a simplified trading plan:
- 20 MA must be above 200MA.
- MACD needs to have a bullish crossover below the 0 line.
- Price must be above 20 MA with confirmation of a candlestick pattern.
If these criteria are met;
SL 1.5 ATR away from position
TP is 3x the amount of pips from current price to SL
Losing money as soon as you switch to a live account is something to be expected, I’ve done it and at least 80% of all traders will have done the same. Good luck to you in creating that system
5 Likes
This is more relevant. Take this advice to heart, your trading experience will be better.
I highly recommend you read the book trading in the zone by Mark Douglas. I have read it 2 times and it has improved my mind set when coming to trade, real money has more emotional barring then demo. Before you change your strategy read this I’m brand new too. It most likely your emotions blocking your ability to execute your trades on live account.
That was really sound advice and extremely encouraging. I even feel better. 
Please, can you help me with the book? Thanks.
You won’t just turn around your losses in a minute. The trading gods don’t allow it.
I’ve always found you have to slow the frequency of them first.
I think I read somewhere you are taking up to 10 trades a week - well you have most likely overestimated the emotional control you have when money is on the line.
That’s fine we all do it.
What we think is going to be fine when we are on demo we soon find out is not with real money.
If you are adamant on such small timeframes I suggest limiting the number of trades you take until you find your mental poise again and the frequency of losses slow.
Interestingly you haven’t mentioned whether you were losing because of the strategy or because you didn’t implement it correctly? Or some combination of the two?
Also how discretionary is your method?
There’s a chance that as the first losses piled up that your perception of the market changed, so you started interpreting price action through the prism of your last loss.
I would always advise straight mechanical systems over discretion if your new to trading real money.
Whatever the answers, you have to slow the losses first rather than go all our trying to make up for them.
Now is the time to play a defensive game.
6 Likes
1,The simplest solution is to take notice of the most accurate real-time indicator. In your case, as you are trading the 15m chart, I suggest you ensure the 5m is in synch with your intended trade. This downward synch confirmation applies to whatever time window you use for entering trades.
-
Ensure S/L is close to a 1.5 spread of the ATR.
-
Critically for live trading, ensure your mindset relates to percentage gains and losses, never dollars.
-
Accept that trades will lose, but providing your money management maxes at 1%-2% of your capital per trade, and your risk reward ratio is at least 1:1.5 you’ll break even at 40% of win trades. Anything higher is profit.
-
Read 3 again.
2 Likes
The losses are always expected when you jumped into the live account. It is okay. There are so much time to learn more.
Hi Bateman1776, your focus is on your current trade and u want to evaluate your trading based on your 8 trades. Your goal should be for example how is my trading going after a 100 trades where you consistently traded with YOUR trading plan and you know you stuck with your rules. A trade can be won but it does not mean that it was a good trade because if you win without following the rules of your own system then what is the use of it and you’ll never be profitable.
Keep on doing what your doing and it will show if you are profitable or not. Don;t change anything just now stay with your trading plan and also journal your trades.
Cheers Mate and good luck
1 Like
Nothing succinctly strange about any of this. It happens to everyone. Just as long as you’ve not dried up your account you should be good. Keep following your rules and practice proper risk management and you’ll be profitable in NO time. 
Psychological
Overconfidence
Mixed Strategy
You can’t really trust PA on a 15min chart.
1 Like
Can you please tell me what is “PA”.
Price Action
Continue to trade exactly as you did when demo trading but use a small lot size like 0.02
Some great advice on this thread.
Not much to add, only to say how valuable the support for Newbies is from Babypips members.
There can be a number of reasons your method no longer works. Typically the first to mind is that the market you developed your method in is no longer valid, example: developed a trend method. Market is no longer trending. This is the main reason for failure, and more often then not you dont know the market has changed until youve lost.
Wow, good stuff coming out of this discussion
Thanks for this specific example. Love it when the advice is something I can try on my next trade.
Still, lots of good advice here.
No thanks. Just know that I haven’t used nor plan to use this strategy, it’s just an example of random numbers and indicators I made up. But I hope you find something that suits you!