Don’t give up mate. These things happen during the initial phase. I’ve had similar frustrations and now doing good. All you need to do is trust yourself and not allow emotions to rise against you. I think you are doing great with 1% drawdown. Suggest you to stop trading for a while and re assess your trading system. Hope this helps.
I would also suggest that if you get bored, get out. Do something other than sitting in front of charts and trading terminals. Nothing good will come out when you trade just for the sake of trading. Sometimes you may have plenty of trades while others you will only have a few. Just remain committed to a profitable trading strategy and if you don’t have one yet then that should cure your boredom.
You can check up on Fxbook, review traders, their performances, charts etc. But on lobbies and an investor show and tell, that’s sort of a loaded question, isn’t it? Look forward to your updates…
Don’t try to catch every single opportunity. Do not get mad, don’t even get happy. Under no circumstances allow the markets to control your activities. You were out and a move happened, so what? You need to find a good balance between trading and living your life.
Maybe it will help you to set yourself some time periods during the day when you trade.
Take them and learn from them. Keep a journal and stay calm during trades.
Don’t try to catch every single opportunity. Do not get mad, don’t even get happy. Under no circumstances allow the markets to control your activities. You were out and a move happened, so what? You need to find a good balance between trading and living your life.
Maybe it will help you to set yourself some time periods during the day when you trade.
I would also suggest that if you get bored, get out. Do something other than sitting in front of charts and trading terminals. Nothing good will come out when you trade just for the sake of trading. Sometimes you may have plenty of trades while others you will only have a few. Just remain committed to a profitable trading strategy and if you don't have one yet then that should cure your boredom.
I would also suggest that if you get bored, get out. Do something other than sitting in front of charts and trading terminals. Nothing good will come out when you trade just for the sake of trading. Sometimes you may have plenty of trades while others you will only have a few. Just remain committed to a profitable trading strategy and if you don't have one yet then that should cure your boredom.
I took the advice of some people here and went live after not too much time on demo (approx. 2months). IMO this was absolutely the best decision I’ve made in my trading career this far. I know every one of you who are still demoing have probably heard this a thousand times over but; live trading is just completely something else.
I feel I was starting to develop bad habits with demo because there was nothing invested in the trade. I started getting sloppy with my entries and setups because of boredom and a feeling that it’s “not too serious”, and the same was true for my trade journal. So I decided it’s time to break the negative cycle and I opened a small 50e live account, trading nano lots. Even though it’s not a big sum, it’s still enough to make me feel something when I put on, sit through, and close a trade. And this, to me, is important, because now - unlike in demo - I’m able to work on those thoughts and feelings to pave the way for success in my psyche - because that’s where the battle to be consistent is fundamentally won.
I feel the psychological aspect is probably the most important thing for us newbies to work on right after we’ve got our basic knowledge down, and the best way to do it is simply to trade something that’s worth something to you! Don’t underestimate the power of screwing yourself over by getting comfortable in demo & blaming your eventual stumbles in live on bad technicals…
Oh, and I have the perfect cure for boredom, overtrading, revenge at the markets etc. If you force yourself to write a detailed summary of all the emotions you went through, all the things you learned, all the things you did well/wrong etc. [B]immediately after the trade, with no exception,[/B] you actively force yourself to take a step back, re-evaluate and “cool down” after exposure to the markets. I’ve found this method extremely good for preventing taking trades out of excitement/frustration/revenge or whatever, because in the heat of the moment a newbie’s perception is just too distorted by all emotion from the last trade.
BTW, account stats after my first day of live: +1,72e/3,44% with 4 trades - WEE!
It’s a bit too good to be true, right…?
I think it is very good that you did not waste your time in a demo and follow an illusion that you learn how to trade. In my opinion, you did the right thing now just keep taking it step by step and keep learning how to become a better trader, learn to be disciplined and execute your strategy or modify your existing one until you achieve the results you desire.
I recommend not trading at all during strategy development. If you want to learn the mechanics behind placing a trade in order to build the proper trade management method, thats fine do so in demo. Thinking that trading is what will make you realize that your strategy needs adjustments is a misconception. What makes you realize that your strategy needs work is backtesting. The forward testing approach is not only slower but harder. Capitalizing on the wealth of historical price data is the way to go. Live trading, before having constructed a trading plan, will mess with your head and delay your strategy development. Tust me, this is how I reached the consistency I was looking for. Forget trading, focus on your strategy…For now.
If you think you’re ready to go, think again, and again, and again. I don’t know about anyone else but when I truly started being honest with myself, I stopped “trading” while the time and effort I invested in my strategy went parabolic. I realized that arrogance wasn’t allowing me to prioritize. I was a “trader” so I had to trade, so I could make profits, and it had to happen within months or it wasn’t gonna happen at all…arrogance. I talk about this in my thread.
I feel the same ay to when I was just starting. I lose tons of trades i enter but now I analyse few of the experts advise that turned out true. I still do lose trades from time to time but I get to earn most of them.
I see many stories about success in the demo and then complete failure when going live. Your situation is pretty normal. I guess the psychological part of trading makes a huge difference.
I do agree that a strategy and more important the proper execution of it is vital and absolutely necessary. We just have a different approach on how to go about it. You may have accomplished what you were looking for with back-testing it and if it worked great for you (as you claim), great! I value my time which is our most precious commodity, and after I have created my strategy years ago (or at that point I thought it was created) I tested it in a live account to see if my strategy and I work together. I learned the flaws of my strategy in a real-time environment and was able to improve it (yes, it cost me money which is the only way to go) and I learned about my flaws and was able to improve them as well. I learned to become a better trader at the same time I was adjusting my strategy. I need to know if my strategy is able to make profits now and in the future and not 10 years ago and not in a fake trading environment. Life is short and traders only learn how to trade in live accounts and I may be in the severe minority as I favor forward-testing, but I am in very good company and what matters the most to me is that it worked great for me, others I taught and it delivered the results I wanted which now allows me to life my live the way I dream.
We can agree to disagree, we offer others two approaches and now let the individual decide which will work better for them and not what we prefer.
These trades you executed on a demo platform? How do you think you’ll fare with a live account. Well, you must know things are totally different there. This is just the beginning for you. Please go live and try again, then see what you are made of. After that come back and post your progress. Truly speaking, you don’t have to use demo for that long. At least by know you are used to the platform.
Time is my most precious comm also. It only took me 2years to build my trading plan to the point that I was comfortable actively trading, I became consistently profitable almost immediately. It just bothers me when completely new traders come on here and ask for advice and people tell them to open a live account right away because they will learn their most important lessons. I was that guy once and I started trading live right away. The only lesson I learned at the time was to stop being arrogant, stop trading and start building a trading plan (I did and it took 2 years). Your advice works for someone who has spent countless hours developing a plan and is very comfortable with it based on back and visual testing.
TheLastBear, Im not trying to contradict you at every turn I just want quality suggestions being given based on personal experience. So since we both don’t want people wasting precious time… I ask you, how long did it take you to reach the consistency you were looking for doing it your way? If you traded demo for years and thats why you feel so strongly about this because it didn’t work for you, please know that I am suggesting little to no trading at all during development of a strategy. Just extreme backtesting and eventually realtime visuals, until you eventually feel comfortable to go live because you get to the point where you’re following your plan to the letter and you’re on such a roll that it wouldn’t make sense not to go live. Now if you’ve been on this roll (visual not demo because visual wont mess with your psych) and you were following your plan to the T like I mentioned, then went live and bombed…Thats not your strategy thats you not following it for some psychological reason. I said it once and I’ll say it again, Development for over a year (no trading) -> Trading Live (when you’re absolutely in tune with your strategy) -> Finally conquer your mental environment so you stop veering away from your plan.
Anyone who is able to enter the forex world and immediately start trading while building a trading plan…well lets just say I envy you. This is the hardest way to reach consistency. As you have to both conquer your mental environment and learn how to develop a strategy at the same time. These are things that require everything you’ve got on their own. Putting them together when you’re just starting out is a recipe for discouragement.