Is anyone else pulling there hair out? I’ve been trading for about a year with no real success to speak of, and fading hope that this can actually be done for a living without already having enough money to make trading a fun passtime. It seems that everyone on all of these forums is either still searching for a magic system, holding their ground with a tiny account, proclaiming to be a guru without actually teaching anything, or trading with an account that they started with more money than I’ve ever seen (james 16 at FF, for examlpe).
Every system I’ve tried seems to work for a little while before falling apart for no reason I can ever put my finger on. I think I’m a reasonably smart guy, business owner, family man. I’ve gone through times when I have invested as much as 4 hours per day to the charts. Indicators, no indicators, S&R, fibs, I’ve tried them all for as long as I could stand it. I’ve seen the same names in these posts for the last year without anyone ever saying that they have finally made it. Did we all start at the same time and it just takes longer than this? What about the “95% fail” rule? Where are the 5%? I really need to here from them if I’m going to stay sane. I need to believe that a person can make alot of money, in whatever time necessary, without already having alot of money. Yes, I understand compounding. What I don’t understand is consistant winning. Who’s doing that?
I’m with you on this topic; I closed both my small funded accounts as nothing seemed to work. I do know this from extensive reading - since the bailouts/Wall St. fiasco, the financial world has not been the same. And this past June-July-August saw exceptionally thin markets so one bank’s jump in or out of the forex could skew things unreasonably. I wanted to test a couple of strategies but with this kind of a market I couldn’t trust the results. I’m hoping this fall sees a return to normalcy, whatever that is!
You make good sense Dobro, I’m just not sure I know what normal looks like.
I don’t feel like I’ve even figured out what kind of trader I am. I really like the pace of the shorter time frames, but they usually just amount to more opportunities to donate to my broker. The longer TFs are easier to manage, but the problems are atill the same (entry, stop loss, take profit, risk/reward, move to break even?, etc., etc., aaaaargh!).
Indicators seem to be mostly inconsistant and require instincts anyway, so most of my focus lately has been on price action, which is just about enough to make a person want to jump off of something tall.
Just when you think someone might actually have some real knowledge to share, they want to sell it to you or they tell you they can’t tell you everything because they are professionals and I’m not in the cult.
Is a year too soon to expect the account bleeding to stop?
There in lies the magic, but when did you start coming up with your own ideas? And are you successful now? It’s not that I want someone esle to make me successful. I just want to know that others are finding the path.
From what I’ve seen, others have found a path. Some trade for a living and it’s a goal one has to set for himself. Those traders didn’t become successful overnight, let alone a year I may add. I am in my first months and honestly speaking, in 6 months of trading if I can even have a $10 profit I know I’ll have made some progress.
It takes time and dedication like other things. I don’t speak from experience but rather from what I’ve read along with what I expect to happen
One year is nothing but you are heading in the right direction. Price action is the most important indicator to look at and you’re heading that way. Trade smaller or go back to paper for awhile.
You’re looking at a personal investment in yourself for 1 to 5 years if you’re serious.
Thanks for the advice. I’m hanging in there. It’s just nice to hear from the like minded ones. How did some of you successful people know when you were making progress and not just creating bad habits?
Just like how you watch a price chart, always do a spreadsheet chart (Excel or use a free service like myfxbook.com) of your account balance at the end of your trading day. If your acct bal is in a downtrend, whatever you’re doing is not right and you need to figure out how to change it.
Once you try different things and observe the chart of your acct bal, you will be able to see what works from what doesn’t. You’ll know you’re going in the right direction when you’re acct bal becomes choppy. From there it’s usually psychological and/or tightening your stops and letting your profits ride.
Most successful trades use price action alone or price action and 1 indicator. I use price action 1 moving average. 30 min for direction 5 minute from trend and 1 minute for entry. Keep it simple. Stick with one direction.
Nice Flir. This is the gewy caramel center I was hoping to bite into with this thread. Not necessarily specifics, but methods to find the specifics. Thanks alot.
I think every novice trader starts of by pulling his hair within the first year of trading. All those clowns that tell you double and triple your account in a month are are talking BS, maybe there are a few but will never give you the secret to it. I have also started realising that making constant profits is quite difficult. Look long term direction and trade VERY VERY small positions to handle DD, eventually you will start making profits at a tiny pace and than you can start building your own system. PA is the most important, Sell on rallies and buy on dips, REMEMBER small positions. You would want to pull your hair out for not making huge profits but at least you will be making profits instead of loosing.
you are trying too hard and trying too much, if you want to be a good trader you must keep it simple … i use just 4 things and iam doing great and i have not been going for years, so the secret is keep it simple…
Lots of good advice here, but there’s one thing no one else has pointed out yet…
This has been a really rough few months for the forex market. Up until June I was doing very well, but since then I’ve barely broken even. Don’t write off your trading as a failure just because you can’t make money in this ranging market.
[QUOTE]Originally Posted by rhodytrader
A year in trading is nothing. Heck, I think it took me at least that long to realize I shouldn’t be trading off other people’s ideas.
Reply posted by Cas;135865]
That’s a brilliant post in my humble opinion.
[/QUOTE]
I agree with with [B]Cas[/B]!!
I guess that’s why I started my own trading system on this forum.
You guys are great! I’m feeling like much less of an idiot. I’m starting to understand that maybe I’m just jumping the gun here and expecting too much too soon. And as Phil pointed out, this market whacky at the moment.
This September is really difficult to trade…
now, i was break-even…I am up 6% on 1st September…then break-even…
this strange market…i don’t know how long will it be lasted…!
by the way, regarding giving up trading, it is a hard decision. I am a full-time trader since FEB 2009, I am now break-even…I learn really really a lot…
I am confident to continue to trade…but not in market like in September 2009…When the USD touchs its limit and bottom…hard to trade for me…
