Hello from London! Any "wish I knew these before I started" tips?

Hi, I’ve recently finished the BabyPips School of Pipsology, I’ve made a lot of notes and really keen on demo trading now.

But before that, I am lurking in the forums to see what’s up, technical indicators, trading systems, etc. etc.

Anyone have any tips on where I should head to for further learning?

Thanks!

Can you ensure how many times you have finished school of psychology ?

I’ve finished twice now, first time was skim reading, next one with note-taking included to make sure I don’t miss anything and understand them fully! :slight_smile:

Many guys say that short term trading is too difficult and therefore stick with long term - try short term first.

They also say to cut your losses and keep your winners running - try to take the profit first.

Apparently FA is out of reach of most retail - learn some FA.

Seems that retail is so small that their actions are of no consequence - therefore adopt an attitude of ‘us and them’.

Never catch a falling knife, don’t call bottoms and tops - so develop a means for grabbing that knife.

Price doesn’t go in a straight line, get to learn when the corners are coming up.

Today’s example - Eur/Usd hr1 - check those 3 marks at 1.1857 (there is likely a TA name for them)

‘Us and them’ are ‘they’ going to take price up on the 3rd effort ?, after all there is a huge hammer just below.

‘They’ are most active at session openings.

Maybe use a momentum indicator - any one will do - does it give a clue as to what ‘they’ intend.

There are many other ways of checking the great ‘they’, but momentum is a good start.

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Now that you’ve learned from the BP course, the next best step (IMO) is to open a demo account and make mistakes. Make ALOT of mistakes. The first few years will probably be spent making goofy mistakes and learning from them.

You can learn from reading books, but what propelled my own learning was venturing on my own, observing what worked and what didn’t work (and if it didn’t work, I’d try to figure out why).

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Hi Kevin, good to see you, takes a while to get used to this new environment.

Fernon, the notion of ‘them’ is not mine, a certain R Wyckoff talked about ‘composite man’ a few years back - better term I suppose than ‘them’.

Anyways, sometimes the market can be as simple as a pool for either risk on (get a quick reward for putting money down) or risk off (put existing reward in a safe place).

The ‘them’ can be those risk guys, figuring their mindset can give a clue to an upcoming corner in price.

The above hr1 chart was Eur/Usd, the move was Asian - so think about Yen - then think risk.

Here is those same 3 guys as reflected on the 15 min US10yr - remember sell US bonds if you want some risk/return. Likewise sell Gold if feeling same.

Now to Yen (this is becoming a long story) buy Yen if the world is coming to an end, otherwise sell it along with Gold and bonds.

Usd/Jpy - selling the Yen means buying Usd - the move on Friday on the above Eur/Usd chart was about the Yen - the third push up was ‘composite man’ or them trying it on.

The Eur/Usd momentum line was based on USDX - so was picking up the USD/JPY moves.

(btw check out Gold as above)

Above chart Usd/Jpy Hr1 Friday.

Edit: the 3 arrows represent the 3 upper wicks in time on the chart of Eur/Usd - just a different broker time.

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I’m only at the early stages of pipschool - but something I heard / learned many years ago trading the Dow was "The markets always cause maximum pain …"

[Edit - So always look what it could do to hurt the most people ]

Yeah, that’s one worth thinking about - the max pain theory - not unlike some of the other market stories.

You will possibly see Viper talk about ‘puke’ - that’s what pain is - having to dump a trade because you are wrong but had no plan set for what to do - you puke, then exit, and then feel the pain.

The pain theory has it’s origins in options - imagine buying something with hard earned cash only to find it has become worthless.

Moral of the story is in Falstaff’s edit - plan for the pain.

Btw, I speak from experience, puked, exited and then felt the pain - thankfully now a distant memory :slight_smile:

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Great. I think as a newcomer right now you have sufficient trading knowledge for moving live trading. Don’t hurry. Just keep calm and move according to your knowledge.

Hi Fernan,

I hope you’ve been well after all this time. I decided to bump this thread and see if you (or anyone else) now have any input to the original question.

Also from UK here!

Never ever get tempted to break away from your entry or exit strategy. It will never do you any good.