Suke,
please take a moment of your time, look in a mirror and laugh at yourself a whole lot !
the reason for using virtual money is to prevent a reality that you describe as happening.
when trading, all other things not being a part, one has to know their tools and MT4 is just a tool ----- Im sure youre beginning to learn it well !
RELAX — there is no shame if you blow the account 20 times, just as long as you LEARN what its about and how to do it, and sounds like youre doing just that !
PLEASE just relax and keep trying strategies and technique till you learn it, which will prob take you a year if youre much like the normal new trader !
Each day you get better and better and will be laughing at yourself for your “beginners” abilities as they turn into much more experienced abilities.
I can only offer one piece of advice — “just do it !” and soon you also shall be giving advice, such as those below and happy like clam !
of course you could always trade EURCHF — just buy on even weeks and short on odd weeks ! (NO, thats a joke !)
all of the below posters have good information and you will find lots more as you go forward (and youll even begin to understand some of it !), just understand that youve entered a whole new world, with its own culture, rules and battles and youre only beginning to find your place in it !
the longer the timeframe, observing good money management techniques and reasonably loose stop losses, is a better idea for the newb than the shorter ones, although you will deal with more drawdowns on the way to profit. If youre complaining about the “need for speed” then youre working too fast a timeframe for sure ! The 15 minute is “reasonably” easy to play once you have a few months experience, and especially if you take a look at the LRC channels ive described over on my thread which provide a visual look at what your price is doing, but sticking to the 30 minute and the H1 will earn you pips and are reasonably easy to deal with !
as others state, the MT4 platform, although being a russian spy and reporting your every move back to some KGB operatives office, is the de facto standard for we retail traders, although the platform has no affect on trading !
with time and experience your psychological outlook will go thru many changes — the ultimate change is when it becomes BORING — thats when, if youve learrned well, you are capable of the best trading there is !
[B]Now – WHAT pairs do i trade ?
WAY simpler than you can ever believe ![/B]
pull up a chart of all the “majors” (other words, dont find the Castellian “ropei” and the Mongollian “sistend” and try to trade them — probably NOT a really good choice, but look at a 5 minute chart of each currency youre interested in AND PICK THE ONE WITH THE SMOOTHEST CANDLES, in size, direction and movement — Have you ever heard the expression — [B]“GAWD, thats one ugly chart ?”[/B] What you want is [B]“my golly, thats a pretty chart !”[/B] and once you find it, no matter what the currency pair (as long as something common and tradeable on this planet !) TRY trading that one !
When we raise traders in the outback, we start them on pablum and pretty charts — they easily outgrow the pablum, but LOVE those pretty charts !
any more would be the start of that book I shall never write, thank goodness !
PRACTICE AND LEARN, PRACTICE AND LEARN — a long time before the military lets you out of the flight simulator and into the F 16, a LONG time !
enjoy and trade well
mp
[B][I]Within the great hall at Elfinore stands a wondrous coffer, precisely four cubits square and securely latched against the outside world. Inside that repository, shut away from impertinent eyes, abides many an intriquing trading secret garnered from around the world and over the ages !
As a child, i used to watch from the darkness as the secrets were debated and annotated by the elders. No one there held a single thought of my presence – BUT I KNOW WHERE THEY HID THE KEY !! [/I][/B]