Information Overload

[BabyPips_001]

Flicked through my Trading Diary over the weekend… The past 3-4 months of learning Forex, one of the biggest problems I can now see is a scorching case of information overload…

Infinite information is freely available to new traders and is found on various websites and demonstrations on Youtube. Most of the strategies and systems that are presented are sound FX strategies for the most part.

This is possibly the biggest distraction to the new trader. We keep reading, watching, trailing every new strategy we see that appears to be more “Holy Grail” than the last. It gets to a point that you lose sight of the very basics of trading. The reason why we thought we could be successful trading FX in the first place.

Everything from FA, TA, Price Action, MA Crossovers, Catching Trends and Breakouts all the way through to Heikin Ashi candle strategies. All these systems can be profitable as long as the new trader is disciplined and adheres to their chosen strategy, developing and improving it along the way.

I imagine that a large percentage of newbie traders swap and change strategies, time frames, indicators, even trading platforms looking for the “silver bullet”. There is so many different ways to profit (and lose) in Forex that it becomes difficult to sort the overwhelming number of strategies, trading styles and markets to begin with.

I have concluded that after months of demos, books, YouTube, websites and live trading. The strategies that are proving the most profitable for me are pretty much disciplined applications of the same ones I started with.

“Jungle Law” for newbies… find the [U]simplest[/U] proven strategy that you can… concentrate on one pair, understand how it flows, and demo it… Microlot trades (0.01) and say a simple 50 EMA Crossover strategy… once you consistently TP at 2% a day. Then you are ready to go live (Microlot trades (0.01) and let the power of compounding do the rest. ( $200 = $1500 in 102 trading days)

PS. Thanks to Martin K’s posts… Unorthodox but a good kick in the ass…

[stakz]

Flicked through my Trading Diary over the weekend… The past 3-4 months of learning Forex, one of the biggest problems I can now see is a scorching case of information overload…

These guys have been saying that for years.
Keep things lean, succinct & based on logical application.
I suppose the smart ones realise that soon into their journey & stack the odds more firmly in their favour whilst the majority continue to spin around in circles chasing their tails.

Probably goes someway to explain why so few make decent headway & the vast majority don’t.

…you’re (still) thinking far too much.
It’s a very common & dangerous trait amongst retailers, especially new ones.

Me thinks you’ve absorbed way too much useless information from around the various threads on here & elsewhere. [B]Analysis paralysis aka, information overload[/B].

Focus & application count for a lot when you’re seeking to construct something worthwhile.
The ability to avoid & ignore distractions is a rare yet precious commodity, especially in a field of endeavor such as this & one which offers tremendous benefits if you can side step the noise & static which continually emanates from the herd mentailty.

[tommor]

Flicked through my Trading Diary over the weekend… The past 3-4 months of learning Forex, one of the biggest problems I can now see is a scorching case of information overload…

Great post.

I learned in another field that when you’re having to collect information to support a decision, the key is to work out the questions your data will need to answer. And that’s the only information you collect, ignore everything else.

[sebastiano]

Well, it takes years to actually become a successful trader. During the first year of learning how to trade it’s absolutely normal to feel like your brain wants to explode. That’s because we try to learn as much as we can so we can start trading and make some profits but unfortunately it does not work that way. We need more time to gain experience and to get used to the market, instruments, platforms, etc. My advice is to keep things simple as much as possible, stick to your strategy and use the other sources only to improve it.

[dianajs]

I dealt with information overload by focusing on one or two things at a time - trends, indicators, price action, and so on, and so forth. I focused on one or two of those and once I was satisfied I moved onto the next topic.