Manxx
Jun 14
Topics 8 Posts 1.8k Likes 981
marcupal86:
The last 2 weeks was pretty good for me +3.69%. Then last Friday, I’m down -0.66%. I’ve been looking at the charts since Monday and until today, I can’t seem to have the balls to execute another trade because of the fear of losing what I’ve gained. I feel really stuck. Should I go see a shrink?
I am not surprised that Friday was a negative day for you. It was the end of a week just before a new week including major events such as G7 meeting, US/Nth Korea summit, FOMC and ECB meetings. This meant a lot of Friday trading would be spent adjusting positions and exposures rather than directional trading.
But there is a very important issue here in your post. I am sure it is quite a common situation, especially for new traders starting out with their live trading. ( I don’t believe you would be saying this if you were trading a demo account or are a veteran).
Obviously the prime objective is to make a profit but in forex trading this is never entirely in our own hands. We only deal with probabilities and that means there will be losses no matter how skilled is our trading “craftsmanship”.
But this type of problem arises when we start to macro-focus on our past profits and the specific trade we are currently contemplating instead of the overall progression of our account over a period of time.
The danger when our focus is distorted in this way is that we tend to stare at the price movements of our open trade and forget the strategy parameters and then take a quick profit instead of giving our trade room to breathe and reach its full potential. Equally, when the trade is in minus pips, we tend to let it run rather that realise the loss - or even “hedge” it with an equal and opposite position. Somehow, locking in the loss feels better than closing our the original position and we falsely believe we can then “trade out of it” in our own time. It rarely ends up with any improvement!
There are maybe several factors here in your situation:
Perhaps you use a mechanically- based method but do not (yet) trust your method sufficiently to be assured that over a number of trades it will produce a net gain regardless of each individual trade outcome.
Or maybe you trade on a discretionary basis, judging your trades on a subjective assessment of what you are seeing - and do not have sufficient confidence in your own ability (yet) to act on what it says.
You have not (yet) developed a clear enough risk/money management approach that you feel comfortable with and confident that it will protect your equity by limiting the impact of each individual trade and also provides a net gain over time provided your strategy actually works in your trading style.
Either way, you have to appreciate that in order to profit from trading you need to be in the market - and if you are in the market you will make losses. What you now need to do is analyse what is actually distorting your focus here and find the solution to that - then trade a position size that is small enough not to cause concerns about its impact on your overall account size and follow your method with discipline, keeping a journal/analysis of your trades, and clarify your risk/moneymanagment parameters.
You need to build your confidence across all these areas…….
3 Likes
James.F
Jun 14
Topics 0 Posts 114 Likes 44
marcupal86:
harts since Monday and until today, I can’t seem to have the balls to execute another trade because of the fear of losing what I’ve gained. I feel really stuck. Should I go see a shrink?
How about withdrawing your profits and taking a fresh start with the balance you had before you started gain?
Then perhaps you wouldn’t feel you have more to lose than you had before.
LauChoKun
Jun 14
Topics 0 Posts 374 Likes 85
That means, you opened your live account too early; please spend enough time here and make a good trading skill for live trading. Then you’ll be confident enough for sure.
marcupal86
Jun 15
Topics 1 Posts 7 Likes 4
Would you know where I can get one those back testing softwares? a free one perhaps?
actually, I’ve had a demo account with oanda and made like 26% in a year, before opening a live account with them. Then I decided I want to do the real thing. Now, it just much harder to simply go in and execute a trade
NeverRun
Jun 18
Topics 5 Posts 5 Likes 0
How is your experience with oanda if you don`t mind me asking?
marcupal86
Jun 23
Topics 1 Posts 7 Likes 4
Manxx:
If your live account is also with Oanda then, I believe, you are able to take positions so small that you are only risk even cents per trade. In that case you could select a position size that is so small that it does not cause you stress when calculating the loss potential, but does allow you to gain confidence with your overall trading……and then you can start to increase your position size to whatever you feel worth it.
Yup, you’re absolutely right @anon46773462, I am able to take positions so small its down to the cents. However, although losing a few cents here and there wont get me any poorer, it’s not about the amount of money lost, it’s more of “why can’t I figure this out???” Kinda thing.
(First time to do quotes, not sure if im doing this right)
marcupal86
Jun 24
Topics 1 Posts 7 Likes 4
NeverRun:
How is your experience with oanda if you don`t mind me asking?
Hey @NeverRun, Oanda so far has been my one and only broker. They have the FXTrade mobile platform, which I think could do better after some improvements. They also have a desktop platform. Kinda nice. But after seeing this CTrader platform, i felt oanda’s is lacking. You also have the option to download the oanda metatrader.
Excecution of trade - i would say there are only a couple of instances where my position was closed 2 pips later. That was during EMEA hours.
They provide varios ways of funding your account including credit card and account deposits.
The account manager is very responsive. Answers phone calls and even helped me out when i got my friend to open an account witht them as well.
Their educational materials are rather difficult to understand. Imo.
Let me know when you want to open an account so i can get a refer a friend bonus! 
purtle
Jun 25
Topics 19 Posts 249 Likes 103
Just came across a timely @drpipslow article on this one! (Saw it off babypips’ Twitter account)
Do you feel anxious to trade again for the fear of losing your recently gained forex profits?
If your answer to most of these questions is “yes,” then I’m afraid that you are forex fear of experiencing FEAR.
Do note, however, that this isn’t your regular run-of-the-mill “fear of losing.” Rather, it is the fear of being stuck and ending up right where you started.
babypips.com2
So You Can Make Profitable Forex Trades. Now What?
They may not know it, but a lot of profitable traders could do much better if they just recognize and learn how to get past their fear of losing their ground.
2 Likes
James.F
Jun 25
Topics 0 Posts 114 Likes 44
wow, awesome! thanks for posting it.
It’s a good feeling to realize that other people are coping with your problem and you’re not alone, right, @marcupal86?
DRFXTRADING
Jun 26
Topics 9 Posts 389 Likes 34
Hey man…
Thanks…looking to hit the 20% and 30% marks soon.
Yes true…its the Wild West in the FX world…lots of scammers. Most people who inquire about my Strategies etc…are hesistant because of that concern too.
1.MONITORING YOUR TRADES
2. ECONOMIC NEWS NOT NECESSARY FOR TRADING
MONITORING YOUR TRADES
To prevent the temptation to monitor our trades which can self sabotage our profit potential…there is a Trade Sheet that I use and recommend tothe people I mentor to avoid this problem.
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Once the trade is identified and the Stop Loss etc specified…
You should close your platform immediately
Never watch news because most of the time it is contradictory and can cause you to doubt yourself.
Never look at correlated pairs because they do not always move the same way at the EXACT same time.
Only check the trade at the end of the Specified Holding Period or when the trade has been stopped out or target hit.
Having a trading platform that provides email alerts allows you to stay away from the chart until the trade is closed. This is one of the reasons I use FxPro…
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The idea is that…if you have a successful strategy…it will hit its targets most of the time. It will not always go there in a straight line without temporary reversals because the natural dynamic of the market is to wave to reflect the buying and selling pressures of traders. But looking at the market during these waves will always cause a little anguish and tempt us to close the trade early.
For example…one of the recent trades made on the CAD JPY shows that there was a temporary sideways movement/pullback after entry took place on the 4 H Chart…
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Chances are…if you had looked at the news during that period…you would have seen news supporting a rally in the CAD with economic data to support it. Had you followed the news and exited…you would have missed out on your profit as you had correctly identified from the start as the market eventually provided that strong bearish candle…In my case this would have meant losing out on a 3.1% Return in just 16 hrs from this trade…
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Trust me…the regret at missing an opportunity is greater than incurring a loss. You might cut down on the size of individually losses but also cut your profitability by MUCH more.
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
As an Economist with a Masters Degree and who worked at my country’ s Central Bank…I can tell you that.most of the news that comes out each week is volatile and unreliable. Even when they are correct…(many times they do predict market direction) it is not necessary because the Candlestick Signals of the Daily Chart and 4H will eventually reflect the market reaction to the news.
For example, if the NFP is expected to lead to a rally of 80 Pips…there is no need to risk the incressed volatility by entering immediately after the release.
Since the Daily Candle will close to reflect the net reaction after the tug a war between bulls and bears… all we have to do is to wait for it …ensure it is strong enough…and then trade in direction indicated.
This cuts down on the stress of guessing market reaction which sometimes can be contradictory to the nature of the data released as well as avoiding whiplashes that also occur with news releases.
Once you spend enough time with a successful strategy on a Demo without monitoring or using Economic Data…you will become comfortable enough to resist the temptation to check your trades and confident enough to ignore unreliable data as you begin your transition to/back to Live Trading.
Duane
DRFXTRADING
1 Like
LauChoKun
Jun 28
Topics 0 Posts 374 Likes 85
I am not sure, which is the best one! But I used FT3 in my learning session, and I have no objection on it.
1 Like
mlawson71
Jul 1
Topics 10 Posts 979 Likes 133
When that happens to me I just stop trading for about a week to clear my head, then I start over.
NeverRun
1m
Topics 5 Posts 6 Likes 0
Hi,
I didn’t notice your response until a few seconds ago.
I’m trying to open an account with them, but won’t let do it directly with them because I’m currently based here in Japan. Kinda weird
