I need to post my trading plan

[JAYJAY95]

Everyone is different. Ultimately, you have to develop your own trading methodology to be successful. I come to the conclusion that it’s almost impossible to imitate others trading strategy. No matter how hard you try. Everyone’s temperament, work schedule , family commitment is so very much different. The same strategy becomes so skewed in a different person’s hands. You need to come up with something that suit your own risk appetite and life schedule. I edited the post. Just in case you never see this portion.

No No, i did read it. Like i said it’s good advice and i take it by heart!

[JAYJAY95]

That observation is to some extent going to be true of all forum “information”, regardless of anyone’s membership-duration or post-count, though.

I don’t think it’s any more, or less, true of Alpha than it is of anyone else here (including myself, doubtless).

For the record, although one-minute bars would be too fast-moving for me, I do think Alpha makes a good point and is basically right in what he says, here. The time-frames you’re looking at are going to make your learning-curve negotiation terribly slow, and its educational/practice benefits could be significantly speeded up by doing the same thing on a faster time-scale.

Here’s the reality about using faster time-frames: the “signals” become less reliable, it’s true, as the time-frame reduces, but the number of trading opportunities significantly increases. We all have to decide for yourselves whether or not the balance between the two makes speeding up worthwhile. For what it’s worth, I offer you the observation that less reliable signals can still be more profitable, overall, than more reliable ones, if their trading-frequency is significantly higher (and I do trade on that basis myself, and have done so for many years).

I’ll offer a few general observations about your trading plan, too, but I want to start off by saying that I think [I]it’s a hugely useful and helpful thing to have produced, and that you’ve done it very well[/I].[B][U] I really want to stress that, at the outset[/U][/B], because otherwise I know my comments below might come across as criticism, and I think you deserve congratulation than criticism!

Please note that the following “general observations” are personal perspective only, and that I wouldn’t expect all experienced traders to agree with all of them …

(i) I think “daily targets” don’t mean very much and aren’t worthwhile; I think “monthly average targets” are probably all you should be thinking about

(ii) I think you’re being very ambitious aiming at 100% profit in a year (it’s what the top trading-floor traders at places like Goldman Sachs expect to make on their accounts over a year - and they have two math degrees, hundreds of hours of highly specialised trading education, thousands of hours of screen-time experience and a risk manager standing over their shoulders) - nothing wrong with a bit of ambition, though!

(iii) I think you should be very careful indeed about over-conceptualizing "overbought"and “oversold” and be aware of the difference between the speed of a car and its acceleration: a fast car can accelerate more and more and more [I]slowly[/I] between 100 and 200 m.p.h, while its speed continues to [I]rise[/I], and for very long periods of time its acceleration can fall (it can be increasingly overbought) while its speed (the prices) continues inexorably to rise

(iv) I think that allowing your combined open trades to represent as much as 5% of your account (given the direct and indirect correlations between forex pairs) is terribly dangerous, and [I]far[/I] too high; it might make sense if you were trading a mixture of forex, indices, stocks, options and so on, but I think you need a re-think, as a spot forex trader, about risk-management, here: black swans are getting both more frequent and darker in colour, in the forex markets

(v) I agree with Turbo’s comments about Fibonacci and express them more strongly, myself - after studying it for quite a long time, I never found any more than anecdotal, cherry-picked evidence that it has any more value than randomly drawn lines (and am aware of some independent, academic studies which report exactly the same), and can see no sensible probabilistic/statistical/mathematical reasons why it would - for me, it’s about as rational as a horoscope (and plenty of people base their trades on those, too!

(vi) I think it’s very important, [B]before[/B] trading with real money, to [I][U]know[/U][/I] (from backtesting and forward-testing on a demo account) that your systems has a proven statistical edge over the market

(vii) I think your idea about automated trailing stops is basically a mistaken one (I’ve said more here)

I hope I didn’t sound too critical, and have been helpful. Again, well done in principle for producing your plan.

All right after reading and analysing everything you said. i made a few questions to ask myself out of the advice i get. So thanks a lot for helping me out. i’m going to figure this out. If i get anymore questions i shall not hesitate to ask! Another huge thanks for the effort you put in to take the time to give a decent reply!

thanks

[WinPsych]

Everyone is different.

This is correct even if we all fall into various overlapping psychological profiles.

In these forums you can read threads by traders who have backtested and demoed for 3 years and who have then blown up within 6 months of going live.

Others have followed a simple strategy from the start and then spent years jumping from strategy to strategy never knowing why the current strategy isn’t working.

Some have started by building their own strategy and are always tinkering with it and couldn’t follow anything for any period of time to know if it works or not to save their life.

Some have gone deep into psychology and can name every issue a person is experiencing but can’t do what some other guy is able to naturally.

Someone here put it very well when they said something to the effect of you have to be very good at alot of things to be successful in trading. You also have to be able to do them when it matters.

In my opinion when starting out you need time to learn in a low pressure environment where you can build your ‘modus operandus’ and make your mistakes safely; and by that i mean not blowing thousands of £, $ or Euro in vain.

Don’t take anything for granted, think for yourself, find out for yourself, test for yourself.

With regards to the books you mention… i feel that if a book has 300 pages and only 5 pages are useful but in those 5 pages is what i ‘need’, then its a good book! haha

There are lots of beginner book recommendations on the site. Check out their contents on amazon and see if it fits what you are looking for.

[JAYJAY95]

This is correct even if we all fall into various overlapping psychological profiles.

In these forums you can read threads by traders who have backtested and demoed for 3 years and who have then blown up within 6 months of going live.

Others have followed a simple strategy from the start and then spent years jumping from strategy to strategy never knowing why the current strategy isn’t working.

Some have started by building their own strategy and are always tinkering with it and couldn’t follow anything for any period of time to know if it works or not to save their life.

Some have gone deep into psychology and can name every issue a person is experiencing but can’t do what some other guy is able to naturally.

Someone here put it very well when they said something to the effect of you have to be very good at alot of things to be successful in trading. You also have to be able to do them when it matters.

In my opinion when starting out you need time to learn in a low pressure environment where you can build your ‘modus operandus’ and make your mistakes safely; and by that i mean not blowing thousands of £, $ or Euro in vain.

Don’t take anything for granted, think for yourself, find out for yourself, test for yourself.

With regards to the books you mention… i feel that if a book has 300 pages and only 5 pages are useful but in those 5 pages is what i ‘need’, then its a good book! haha

There are lots of beginner book recommendations on the site. Check out their contents on amazon and see if it fits what you are looking for.

LOL you won’t know if those 5 pages are included in a 300 page book or a 50 page book. so you really have to go through and just read it and if it was helpfull you shall notice if not then you sharpened your reading skills anyways

[CarlosRay]

LOL you won’t know if those 5 pages are included in a 300 page book or a 50 page book. so you really have to go through and just read it and if it was helpfull you shall notice if not then you sharpened your reading skills anyways

Not only that, you may need to read the other 295 pages to put the 5 into context. Likewise in trading, you can’t just use a certain strategy because someone tells you its great for them, you need to find one that suits you as an individual. By all means start with something simple like the 3 Ducks or Ribbon strategy, but don’t be afraid to tinker with it to make it your own. Even with trading plans, although common sense and perceived wisdom suggest sound money management, some people just love the adrenaline rush of pure gambling and are prepared to risk their accounts to get this. Not what I would do, but each to their own

[JAYJAY95]

Not only that, you may need to read the other 295 pages to put the 5 into context. Likewise in trading, you can’t just use a certain strategy because someone tells you its great for them, you need to find one that suits you as an individual. By all means start with something simple like the 3 Ducks or Ribbon strategy, but don’t be afraid to tinker with it to make it your own. Even with trading plans, although common sense and perceived wisdom suggest sound money management, some people just love the adrenaline rush of pure gambling and are prepared to risk their accounts to get this. Not what I would do, but each to their own

Thanks a lot Carlos, i made up my mind to start off easy. So i’m throwing the Fibonacci over board. and going to focus on price action, support and resistance and RSI to give a little bit of a idea where the market is.

[WinPsych]

LOL you won’t know if those 5 pages are included in a 300 page book or a 50 page book. so you really have to go through and just read it and if it was helpfull you shall notice if not then you sharpened your reading skills anyways

Haha, thats’s not what i meant with regards to books but i think by the grin that you already know that

It is an important point though so perhaps for any other new guys starting out that may come across this i should clarify… [I][B]note to self[/B][/I], ‘[I]you have to be sooooo careful what you say in here.[/I]’

If you have read a few books on the same topic new revelations start to get thin so if you find a few pages in a book that give you that missing thing you need…

Ok now something more specific… beginner book selection.

Lexy has a well worded selection criteria, look it up

If i make a book recommendation and you buy it and you get nothing out of it, is it because the book is bad or because i don’t know enough about you and/or your overall background? The book i recommend may be better as the second book for you to read etc etc.

I have read trading psychology books that ‘everyone’ says you ‘must’ buy and found them not to be very good. I have then read mainstream psychology books and found them better and seen that some trading psychology books are watered down versions of these… always better to go to the source imo

Anyway, whatever recommendations you go with, applying that well worded criteria of course, browse through the book and get an understanding of what it’s offering and that the level it’s focused on is where you are at right now. Don’t just blindly accept that it’s ‘good’.

[B][I]Note to self[/I][/B]: ‘[I]you have to be sooooo careful what you say in here[/I]’

[lexys]

Ok now something more specific… beginner book selection.

Lexy has a well worded selection criteria, look it up

At the end of this post.

[JAYJAY95]

Haha, thats’s not what i meant with regards to books but i think by the grin that you already know that

It is an important point though so perhaps for any other new guys starting out that may come across this i should clarify… [I][B]note to self[/B][/I], ‘[I]you have to be sooooo careful what you say in here.[/I]’

If you have read a few books on the same topic new revelations start to get thin so if you find a few pages in a book that give you that missing thing you need…

Ok now something more specific… beginner book selection.

Lexy has a well worded selection criteria, look it up

If i make a book recommendation and you buy it and you get nothing out of it, is it because the book is bad or because i don’t know enough about you and/or your overall background? The book i recommend may be better as the second book for you to read etc etc.

I have read trading psychology books that ‘everyone’ says you ‘must’ buy and found them not to be very good. I have then read mainstream psychology books and found them better and seen that some trading psychology books are watered down versions of these… always better to go to the source imo

Anyway, whatever recommendations you go with, applying that well worded criteria of course, browse through the book and get an understanding of what it’s offering and that the level it’s focused on is where you are at right now. Don’t just blindly accept that it’s ‘good’.

[B][I]Note to self[/I][/B]: ‘[I]you have to be sooooo careful what you say in here[/I]’

Thanks a lot for the tips man! and note to self came through i shall review the book list with caution

[JAYJAY95]

At the end of this post.

Lexys thanks for the help appriciate it

[sebastiano]

JAYJAY95 such a great post, thanks for sharing. I guess it’s every trader’s dream to become financially independent by switching to full-time trading but it takes a lot of time and practice. It’s good that you know what is your major weakness and dealing with it but don’t push yourself too hard. In the beginning we are all too emotional or scared but when time goes by, we gain more experience and eventually this leads to much more discipline and less emotions. I strongly agree with your decision in keeping your strategy simple and not using too much indicators. They could be quite misleading sometimes, I personally do not like to use them so much, I really believe that keeping it simple is the key. Never stop learning and exploring.