It’s 10:23am, I’m finishing my third cup of coffee and thought to hell with this: now is a better time than any to start.
I’ve had a deep seeded interest in the markets since I was a kid. Now at a much more ripe age, there’s no time like the present.
I have never traded before, but I’ve watched Wall Street like, 7 times so I should pretty much have it down by now.
I’m a Business Analyst by day with a ton of free time between projects. Forex (and/or S&P500 mini futures) might be the perfect hobby to spice up my day, and make some beer (or yacht?) money.
I’m based in Canada. I’m approaching this with an open mind and welcome any and all feedback, tips, experiences and pints of beer. If you have any broker recommendations, I’m all ears.
I am a total newbie actually. For the most part anyway. I’ll be opening a demo account to use as a vehicle for learning about forex in general and also to start practicing different systems until one fits naturally.
USD/CAD or EUR/USD would be two that I would consider to start with. I would likely only pick one pair and focus on that for a while. Im a big believer in depth over breadth. A jack of trades I am not. I’d rather be a master of one. I don’t think I have it in my DNA to be one of those sitting at a rack of 10 monitors tanning my face on a pile of charts.
I’m a bit of a minimalist - one currency pair. One reliable trading strategy. Live it. Breathe it.
Truthfully, my dream setup is to literally find something simple enough but effective that I could probably do from a large iPad pro or something. I hate sitting at computers. I already do it for my day job. Forex teases people with mobility and flexibility so we’ll see.
I’m just finishing getting my account stuff set up and getting familiar with BP. I’ll start the school program today or tomorrow and chip away at it through the week. I’m wrapping up a project at work this weekend so I’ll be jumping face first come the following week.
To me, I don’t want to hold trades over night. I won’t sleep with open positions. I already know that. I’ll go bonkers. My plan (as much as someone can plan before they even learn how to do anything anyways) is to gear my strategy to semi-long term trades like, over a few hours. Not minutes. But not days either. Trading on daily trends over the course of a few hours might be something that interests me.
I’ll bookmark and review the threads you posted. Straight forward is exactly what I’m looking for right now. Nothing complicated. Boring = easy. Easy = profitable. Profitable = low risk.
I’m not looking to scalp a billion dollars my first day. I’m in no rush. My goal is to ease into it with a conservative yet reliable strategy, tight, strict risk management and a modest bankroll to start.
To be quite frank, getting set up in Forex is very similar to training for competitive poker (which I have done). Risk management, bankroll management, playing the trend and hammering out plays based on +EV.
If I keep making the positive EV move on the market, eventually it’ll win more than it loses. That’s the mind I have coming into it anyway.
This is not generally termed semi-long term, in fact it is short term day-trading which is a very challenging environment.
You may find traders such as @Trendswithbenefits can give you some simple, straight-forward ideas, but it might mean more screen-watching than you wish, but anyway…
Good luck to you, keep your discipline and apply your patience and I hope you make good progress in your plans!
To be fair, it’s a bit of a moot point trying to evaluate what trading style I’ll be most effective at without actually knowing how to trade all that much. It’s like trying to determine what kind of boxer you are despite never having punched anyone before.
I do stress simple though. If swing trading is generally to be more simple and reliable over the long term then I’m open minded enough to give it an honest try.
Like I said, my main goals/principles are low risk, reliable, conservative, growth. Grow the bankroll slowly. The percentages will add up to greatness eventually.
You had me at “long walks on the beach.” Haha. Welcome to BP Tesko! I think it’s great that you’re finally giving in to the calling of the markets. Forex isn’t the easiest thing but it will surely spice up your day. I wish you all the best and I hope you stick around!
I think the most difficult thing for me at the moment is actually chosing an appropriate, trustworthy broker. There seems to be some major ones that I see all over (Oanda, FXCM, Forex dotcom etc) then there are country specific ones (AvaTrade, TD Ameritrade etc). I’m clueless with this. All of the ‘majors’ have certifications in Canada so I feel like I probably can’t go wrong when it comes to them being trustworthy - but I won’t lie. Before I came to Babypips I read a lot of scary things about brokers stealing money or pushing the market to stop-loss their clients out. (trading against them etc)
This might not be the place to ask but what Brokers are people commonly with? They all look alike to me (the big ones anyway) and I’m sure I can probably do no wrong with any of them but I’m not sure.
On another note, I’m halfway done Preschool. Huzzah.
Haha. 
Welcome to BP Tesko! 