Yes, stick to the rules and you shall be well. For me, I’m risk taker and it’s pretty going good, just doubled the fund after 3 years which is too slow [live]. But grateful that it’s doubled.
I do really feel that patient and humble are the key reasons.
Oh well done you! That’s really good going. I try to increase my demo by 20% a month. Not sure how well that will go on a live account though haha xx
Good luck Lilly, from the northern side of
Hadrian’s Wall…
Had a pretty big blow recently on demo after trading this account since Feb. 2017 and going from 50k to 58k to 10k to 36k and finally down to 0.8k!!!
I am back to day trading now after trying to play long-term themes… It is hard, hard, hard.
I really wish you the best of luck. Discipline is not enough when frustration with slow months and low-volatility periods will kick you into forcing trades.
I have sat through multi-month drawdowns in pursuit of great trades but even that degree of patience is not in itself a recipe for success.
You just have to be well-capitalised, smart about a whole lot of things, have a strategy and be specialised but also adaptable enough when your watchlist pairs/instruments or strategy are stagnant.
I hope to bring in more female trader interviews soon. It has been a busy summer.
Happy trading
and welcome on BabyPips
Hi there from very slightly below Hadrians Wall! What’s it like north of the wall? Cold?
Wow that is a big blow. Was it a lot of bad trades in general or a risk management thing? Or both? Thank God it’s a demo though and it’s lessons learned, experience I guess which should hopefully make you better.
Yes my discipline waivers in times of frustration and it’s something I am really working on.
I know you said in slow periods about knowing when to adapt your strategy? When I think or try to adapt it I’m conscious I’m just trying to find an excuse to trade and again I make bad trades.
Anyway thank you so much for your message and I really do wish you the best of luck too! Xx
Strangely, no, Scotland has been warm for three and a bit months… I’ve even just been a week to the west and Outer Hebrides but there too was mild…
You can gain some insight into some of my problems in this video, if you have time… it is from the heart…
I think adapting a strategy depends on time: learning a whole new gameplay is very time consuming. I have no coding and everything I do is forward tested, not backtested. I have no time for backtesting things manually… So I forward test and if results are positive month after month then I can get some joy out of this.
Currencies are a hard game to play, though… not impossible but stocks really offer better movement and leverage. I opposed it for a long time but now that i have tasted something like the Nasdaq I can see why so many trade the e-mini S&P … But I digress.
Feel free to share your trades… What currencies you trade, etc. anything.
Enjoy my video (it is a bit long).
Good luck
Hello L, please read the following article,
https://www.barrons.com/articles/the-top-100-hedge-funds-1497666771
You would be doing yourself a favor to get rid of the notion of percentage and monetary goals. The only goal you should have is to trade well. Also the concept of “doubling the account in x years” is not founded in truth UNLESS you are able to see an independently audited statement, outside of that, it didn’t happen.
If you are willing to focus on the mental aspect of trading, and change your personality to fit the profession, you are off to a good start, but if you insist to try to make the markets and trading fit your personality, you will fail. I would suggest reading A. Elders updated Trading For A Living, and pay special attention to the psychological aspects.
Remember, once you are in a trade, no one cares about you, your feelings, your losses, etc. There is no safety net, no emotional salve, nothing but you, yourself, and you. You will see yourself reflected in the market by your actions, every weakness you have will be exposed and there will be nowhere for you to hide. Please read some of the real life experiences in my section The VIPER Couch, it might help you see what you are in for.
The Ever Experienced VIPER
So do you not currently trade currency pairs? I will definitely give your video a watch thank you for sharing it x
Since getting margin called on a long-term EurTry carry trade last month I have been looking for alternatives and I am just staying off currencies at the moment, for the first time in nearly six years.
Hi,
Thank you so much for your message and for sharing your link I will definitely have a read through your experiences.
I know what your saying in regards to monetary and percentage goals and sometimes there’s just not the opportunity to meet those goals. Luckily I’m very laid back and not phased too much by wins or losses. Although I am number orientated and like to put a measurement to what I define as good if that makes sense? Haha so 20% I can say wow that’s good going this month. So yeah that outlook could do with being tweaked not sure its the best trading mentality. I’m not sure if I’m making sense or rambling so I do apologise if I don’t make sense.
The mindset is something I’m really working hard on. I’m not a big risk taker, I don’t get overly excited or overly cautious but a lot of the time I get bored and frustrated when i can’t see opportunities and then I just seem to trade without cause or reason. I really really need to work on that. Trading a demo is also easy to be emotionless I don’t know how I will fare trading live so I’m looking forward to reading through your experiences and learning what I can from them xx
@lillyw91 I think you have to be prepared for the long haul… especially if you are starting with small figures… i.e. if you start a business with £1000 it has to grow proportionally to that… If you start a business with £1000000 then you would grow in proportion to that. I think the average forex retail trader starts with false hopes of converting £500 to £1 million: faced with the advice of ‘aim for 1% a month’, which would be decent returns when trading larger accounts, the trader puts a lot of work and sees a monetary reward that is laughable (you may as well give that time up for free to volunteer for a charitable organisation)! Then impatience sets in, maybe the trader gets lucky with a big win and thinks: “I just doubled my account in a few minutes!”. . . He/She tries his/her luck again, but this time it is a big loss and he/she has undone his/her previous wins, and some more…
You can see how easy it is to get hooked on winning big when you have small capital and you are not prepared to wait a year for a £100 gain…Most pro traders I heard interviewed had saved up a lot of capital before going solo: these are people who had worked in funds, banks, or prop firms initially. For someone with little capital and who has to learn everything by him/herself, it is a double wall to climb and you have to be realistic…
You could try trader contests for quick results/prizes, but they encourage pure gambling and extreme leverage, so that is not a sustainable attitude for trading your own money.
Great advice and thank you so much for taking the time to help me. I definitely agree with it being a long haul venture and to be totally honest I don’t know what my long term goal for trading even is. I am in no rush, I own a business and enjoy growing that so I don’t want to stop doing that. I suppose I’ve viewed it the same as when I’ve invested in shares etc it’s an investment for retirement haha. Not sure if this is A bad or good way of looking at it. Xx
Yes, I am along the same lines, trying to find a way to grow money my own way as bank interest rates linger at sub-1% levels…
Did I tell you that I am self-employed?
You will know all about the joys of running your own business then! 
I really value all your help and advise thank you so much guys. I really do need it especially when it comes to mindset so any advice you give is greatly appreciated. Xx
It’s harder than being employed haha but I love it. I can’t remember if you did mention it. That’s great do you love it? X
Sometimes I love it…others not so much (like during tax returns time)…
Great read! Thank you so much for sharing! Xx
thank you,Lilly!
And…good luck …
Hi Lilly I am new to trading too. I have been using 2 demo accounts, and I am now really confident about my trading. I have been trading for nearly a year. I hope to start trading live very soon. I have joined a few groups, like babypips.
And that has helped me a lot, also I do a lot of reading about the market’s and that has been a big help to me. So you are heading in the right direction keep it up.
Hi! Thanks for messaging! I would definitely love to hear how live trading goes for you. Out of interest what got you into trading in the first place? Xx
Welcome Lilly! Where abouts in the UK are you, out of interest?