I have been finding it difficult to understand when to sell to when to buy, unfortunately i just lost my first investment capital, and I’m beginning to loose interest not until recently i come across this platform.
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Sorry to hear it! Trade only on a demo account until you’re confident that you can trade profitably.
This question basically boils down to “how to learn how to trade safely.” That’s obviously a long, slow, process (for everyone!), and the answers start right here -
Welcome to Babypips. 
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Statistically, there is no difference in an efficient market, tight spreads. Take any strategy, buy when buy or sell when buy, with enough samples in the set, no difference.
Don’t forget the third (and commonest, and most important) one: “when not to trade at all”!
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There is such a lot in this simple question.
To keep it as simple as possible, you buy because price has been rising and it’s still rising.
Or you buy because you see that price has been falling but there are signs that it has stopped falling or is slowing down. And also that it’s starting to rise, as the two are not the same thing.
Likewise, you sell because price has been falling and it’s still falling.
Or you sell because you see that price has been rising but there are signs that it has stopped rising or is slowing down. And also that it’s starting to fall.
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you do not play with real money when you are not ready! do not deposit any cent before making sure that you are a profitable trader!
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Practice with a demo account is free of charge, no risk to learn when to buy and when to sell, learn about the trend market as a reference for trade decisions while practicing risk and money management.
Totally understandable. Figuring out when to buy or sell can be one of the hardest parts of trading, especially early on. Losing your first investment is tough, but it’s also something many traders go through at the start. What matters is how you learn from it.
Glad to hear you found a platform that gave you a new perspective. Stick with it, take your time learning solid strategies, and focus on managing your risk. Trading is a skill, it takes practice, patience, and the right tools. You’re not alone in this, and it does get better with experience.
This is a “millionare dollar question”.
Nobody can answer you that with 100%. That’s why people came up with indicators, risk managment rules, etc.
Go through Babypips school, read it, understand it and practice it on some demo account first (sorry for your loss).
I know this isn’t the answer you expected, but this forum will slap you with the truth. Not lies.
Thanks @tommor! Quoting your wisdom again for the new arrivals in this thread - just in case someone’s about to reinvent the wheel… but in reverse. 
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By using directional bias parameters.
Many successful traders have fixed, clearly defined, objective rules which determine “when to be looking at the chart only to identify potential long entries” and “when to be looking at the chart only to identify potential short entries”.
A simple, basic example would be someone who gets the trade-entry timings from price action (typically, because indicators are next-to-no use for that purpose anyway) but also has - say - a 65-bar moving average on the chart, and looks only for long entries when prices are above it, and only for short entries when they’re below it.
I took that simple one as an example just because I read it in Chande’s book “Beyond Technical Analysis,” which is really helpful.
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Knowing when to buy or sell takes time, practice, and a clear strategy. The important thing is not to give up after your first setback. Start small, focus on learning one method at a time, and don’t rush the process. Platforms like this can help you learn and connect with others on the same journey. Keep going, it does get clearer with experience.
What strategy are you using?
For me it’s easy, I use a breakout strategy based on London open so I trade 8am to 9am but often my trades are done by 8:30am
I enter a trade when the price breaks out of the opening 5 minute range and wait to ensure the breakout is sustained.
If the price is breaking to the upside I buy and vice versa.
I have also started to trade XAUUSD (scalping/day trading) and I go with the trend so I buy if the uptrend is confirmed by price action and vice versa.
Focus on ONE strategy and ONE instrument, you will find you begin to understand how the thing you’re trading behaves and that can be a massive game changer.
The question we are given is when to enter a trade.
The unspoken question is when to exit.
This is much harder to answer - it’s the hardest question in trading. It’s also the most importatn as you only make a profit when you exit. And if your exits are poor, you may make no profit at all or so little that your gains do not match your losses.
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Some authors advise scaling out (e.g. by dividing their exit into halves or thirds).
It means that no individual trade’s exits will ever be “the best possible that time”, but collectively they smooth out the equity curve, which can have significant benefits.
Some authors like Harris and Tharp discuss this a lot, too. And then there’s also Donald Cassidy’s book “It’s When You Sell That Counts”.
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Yes, there’s a lot of opinion, precious little evidence. Even successful traders seem - if you can believe what they say - to use random techniques, sometimes getting out for one reason, sometimes for another. Me, I like rules.
One thing I have learned about myself is I am not good at timing my exits, and the sooner the time since entry the worse it is. So short duration trades for me are high risk, so is range-trading. I think I am stuck with long-term trend-following.
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I don’t think I’d fancy that. Doesn’t it mean that your biggest position size is always early on, before you know whether or not it was a good entry?
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It is true for trading generally. And some other subjects!
I am on your side. Rules are easier and they increase confidence if you make up the rules from “stuff that works”. And they reduce emotion also if you make up the rules from “stuff that works”.
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Sorry to hear that we have all been there. Losing your first capital is tough, but it’s part of the learning process. Focus on demo trading, learn proper risk management, and don’t rush. Glad you found a platform that’s helping keep going bro, it gets better with time
A “good” entry and a “profitable” entry are two different things, aren’t they?
A “good” entry is one that completely matches your system’s rules, and those will always collectively include some losers, with your win rate being less than 100%? 
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