I’m Guido, an aspiring trader from the Netherlands. Since all the Dutch trading fora are pretty death I’ve ended up here. So as an excuse upfront: English is not my native language but I’m doing the best I can. Be free to correct me though, since I’m here to learn.
I’ve been in crypto since '17. 10x my account back then, thought I had all the wisdom in the world under my belt - but yeah, everyone’s a genius during a bull market - only to see it al go down the drain. Pretty standard stuff.
That’s why earlier this year I’ve decided to put up the work and study. Been reading some of Van Tharp’s en Bob Volman’s stuff. I’ve recently ordered Trading in the zone and Al Brooks Trading Trends.
Van Tharp has really helped me to focus in on my believes, and what kind of trader I would like to be. That’s how I ended up in the currency market. Furthermore, his theory on R multiplies was surely eyeopening.
Bob Volman on the other hand triggered my passion for price action. The way he discribes the market feels a bit like a detective researching a crime scene. Really intriguing stuff. I’m not the most patient kind of guy (although I am working on that), so his approach on the 5 min scale suits me just fine.
In the meantime I’ve already learned that there’s no such thing as to get rich quick, and it really takes time and effort to learn the craft of trading. The latter is what I’m here for. To learn, and in the future to hopefully give some of that knowledge back to all the new aspiring traders.
I have to say you have chosen some very good books to read to start your journey. I have not read much about Van Tharp so I cannot comment on any of his work.
However I am a big fan of the other three. Both Bob Volman and Al Brooks are price action traders but use price action in a different way to find and trade valid trade entries. I am a huge Al Brooks fan and I have bought his course which is not that expensive. It’s worth noting that Al Brooks books are very hard to read but if you read the books in conjunction with viewing the videos on the course then it becomes much clearer. Bob Volman is as i said a different style to Al Brooks and his books are a bit easier to read.
Trading the Zone is a must read for any trader but it is a book that needs to be read slowly so as to absorb what he is trying to teach you. Also read it in context. That is very important.
Thank you! You’ve got to start somewhere, so better start somewhere good where my thoughts. I’ve googled Al brooks video course and he even seems to have a dedicated forex course, really interesting and it looks definitely worth te purchase.
I’ve already read some reviews on Mark Douglas, so that’s why I’ve decided to purchase an English/Dutch dictionary alongside with it For me, I consider my forex journey as a full time study and I’m treating it accordingly, continually making elaborately notes of everything I’ve read, so your advice about trading in the zone is surely taken at heart!
Do you also trade according to Bob’s methods btw? Would be nice to have someone trading the same system to debate with every now and then.
Bob Volman has this idea of drawing tend lines and support and resistance lines and using a 20 period EMA. Its worth noting just how many times price becomes squeezed between those lines and or the EMA and once there is a break out of that squeeze price explodes in one direction. I look for these situations all the time and I like to trade them as they are high probability trades that at times produce good results with very little drawdown.
Someone else to consider is Anna Couling as she combines price action with volume which again is worth watching.
With regards to Al Brooks I only bought the futures course because that’s what I mainly trade and I believe that the moderator Richard has said that the futures course is really all you need as there is very little difference in trading futures verses forex. Al Brooks mainly trades the S&P500 on a 5 min chart both scalping and swing trading. He also has a daily trading room although that is a little expensive. Scalping and swing trading is my style and although there are plenty on this site that will say you cannot make money scapling I say that they cannot make money because they don’t understand how to scalp.
I will try to send through some trades so you can see what I mean.
In the meantime be careful this week as margins will be high and markets very volatile due to the upcoming Presidential election in the USA.
Correct. I’ve backtested Bob’s system and it’s amazing how everything seems to line up as nicely as depicted in his book. The only footnote is that the distance between trend/support/resistance lines and the EMA (25 in the 5 min book btw) seems a bit off in real time which makes it somewhat harder to detect similar kind of squeezes as in the book. I suppose the primary cause for this is the vertical stretch of the chart, and the fact that Bob uses custom charts with fixed axis.
I’ve read his book 2 times now, but I’m still having a hard time putting everything in practice. Most of the time I end up with what he calls tease breaks. I also have a hard time identifying the various (since they come in all shapes en sizes) W and M patterns. Furthermore I’m really struggling with the confirmation bias, mostly when exiting (I’m using the more discretionary approach instead of the bracket). But yeah, it’s al part of the game I suppose, and Rome wasn’t build in one day also.
By the way, this saying reminds me of an inspiring, old Roman saying: 'the crowd, the world and sometimes even the grave steps aside for a man who knows where he’s going, but pushes the aimless drifter aside.
Anna Couling looks really interesting too, never heard of her, but added her to my wishlist for future reads.
I’ve read some negative things about scalping too, but yeah, there’s something negative (and fortunately also positive) to be said about all things in live. In regards to trading you can, as Van Tharp discribes it, only trade what you believe in. And if you don’t believe scalping will work for you then you’ll going to have a really hard time trading it. For me, scalping seems to suit my personality just fine, and that’s why I believe it’ll work.
I appreciate your advice but at the moment I’m back to paper trading for a short time. Had quite a rough week a couple of weeks ago and at the moment I’m not feeling fit enough to put my own money at risk. I’ve started working out again a few days ago so hopefully everything will be back to normal very soon.
Kind Regards,
Guido
Ow yeah, I would really appreciate if you could send me some of your trades
Don’t worry you are not alone as I too have, at times, been caught out with tease breaks. Rule is that 80% of the first breakouts usually fail. What I look for and this may help you, is if there is a large candle prior to the break then that break will mostly fail. If there are a number of small candles and spinning tops close to the breakout point and then the breakout candle is a big candle that is usually a sign that the breakout will succeed. I want to see that breakout to be a strong breakout and that should lead to a successful trade. What I have also noticed if there is a strong breakout then price will test that breakout. so I you miss that breakout you may get a second chance to enter as price retraces to test the breakout.
If you find you have taken what looks like a breakout and it fails then you need to recognise the fact that it has failed and cut that loser short. A small loss or a break even trade is far better than a big loss. You preserve capital and live to fight another day.
Don’t stress it is difficult to get the timing right on the entries. Patients is king.
Thanks for the advice, I’ll give it a try tomorrow! Most of the time a breakout retraces indeed, but I’m still finding it a bit hard to separate the strong candidates from the weaker ones. From time to time it also depends a bit on how you’ve drawn your trend line. Wouldn’t be the first time (and for sure not the last!) I’ve bought the retracement of a weaker one or even a fake out only to see it drop all the way back to the channel
Cutting trades faster is also something I need to work on, more often than not there’s still too much hopium involved with a full stop out as result. Something I can, and need to get rid of since reviewing my trades afterwards learns me that 9 out of 10 the signals to cut where clear, so this is mostly a psychological issue.
This is a reasonable example of a strong breakout. If you took the trade at the open of that second big candle then you potentially could have had a trade of 100 tics at $10 a tic which is $1000.
A yes, I see, that helps a lot. A breakout like that usually provokes more follow trough than a smaller one so that more than justifies the somewhat later entry. Bob’s entries are usually a bit earlier, on the break of the first small red candle against the support line I would say. Waiting for just that little bit extra confirmation should surely minimize the risk of buying a fake out!
Thanks for all the help, and I’ll be seeing you here at forum
For me, I consider my forex journey as a full time study and I’m treating it accordingly, continually making elaborately notes of everything I’ve read, so your advice about trading in the zone is surely taken at heart!
