Hi y’all. I’m terry, a retired psychologist looking to make use of my free time to learn something new that could be of value financially. I tried to learn forex trading in earlier years, but discovered that I am not good at multi-tasking. I can only focus my attention on one thing at a time. I can’t even do a simple crossword whilst waiting for a set-up to emerge. I am currently testing Henry Lui’s news trading strategy, and I am trying to settle down into a disciplined method of trading. I am focussing on cable BGP/USD and tend to use the 5M chart, although I would really prefer to settle down with the 1H or 4H. Anyway, that’s me.
Welcome new here also.
Hi Jake. Let’s see if we can learn something together.
Terry
Hi Telboy, welcome to the world of forex. I use the 5m chart to pull the trigger only , i do my set up from the daily and work my self down to the 4 and 1 hr, sometimes i’ll use the weekly if am not happy with what i see. good luck.
Thanks Tony. Sounds like a sensible approach. I’ll give it a try.
Terry
Hello, Terry. My name is Dennis. I’m a 33 year old, recovered Type 2 Bipolar who trades part-time while working towards a career as a Depression/Bipolar Peer Specialist- if you’re familiar with it. I don’t know how well established the role is over there in the UK.
I read your post and want to offer a couple of suggestions.
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If you’re new to forex trading- news trading is going to be hard. It’s even hard for experienced traders even with a solid strategy. Most conventional advice is to avoid trading during major news announcements.
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If you need to dedicate your focus, you may want to look at more long-term strategies. In my case, I trade the daily time frame charts primarily because I’m Bipolar. I know I’m prone to making erratic decisions for little reason other than it makes sense to me at the time. Thus, I want to minimize the amount of time I spend with my fingers in the market. In your case, you may want to consider checking out strategies that utilize day or 4 hr charts so you don’t have to spend 8 hours a day staring at charts. With the strategy I use, I spend an hour a day, five days a week actually looking at charts. The rest of the time I’m pursuing other goals.
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If you want to find a solid strategy, drop down to the Free Forex Trading Systems sub-forum here and start looking at various things. I highly recommend adopting a strategy that other people use, then you can bounce ideas off of them, ask for input on successful/failed trades from other people that use the same system. I trade Price Action. It’s very simple, popular, and effective. There are probably 4 extensive threads on it on these forums alone.
Being a retired psychologist; you’re probably not going to have a hard time with the mental game. The mechanics of trading are easy to learn. It’s the mental game that so many people have a difficult time with. You’re going to find yourself in a very good position to circumvent those problems if you apply your career experience to understanding and defusing the psychological pitfalls so many newbie traders find themselves in.
I actually think being a recovered Bipolar worked in my favor on this point because I know my psychology is screwed already- so it wasn’t that hard for me to stop and analyze my decision making processes in trading since that’s what I have to do every day to ensure I stay stable. Plus the whole lithium and citalopram thing.
Hi there Dennis. Thank you very much for a comprehensive response to my post. You are absolutely correct that I should trade using the daily chart. I am looking at Froggie’s strategy. I still like to trade the news though because it is a buzz when you get the direction right. I use a straddle that is set five minutes before the news release and it can make 50 pips or more in just a few minutes. It’s good to hear from you.
Best regards
Terry
Yeah. It all depends on your strategy really. There’s no wrong way to trade forex- just profitable and not profitable. The only news event strategy I’ve seen that I’ve liked and has been pretty consistent is swapping to 5 minute charts, let one 5 minute candle close, then jump in with the direction of the market bias until it starts to lose steam. Usually 10-15 minutes after that.
Less guesstimating and trying to predict how people will react to a news event.
Other than that- when you trade on daily charts you tend to operate in higher pip amounts. My stops are usually 75-125ish pips and target profits are around 150-250 pips. But that all depends on your strategy and what not.
The problem with statements like “I can take 50 pips when things go right” is that it doesn’t really explain what happens when things don’t go right. How many pips are you risking to take your 50? How consistent are you winning? I always aim to take at least 2:1 on a trade. So if I’m aiming to take 50 I only want to risk 25 at the most otherwise I just wait for other opportunities.
It’s a more conservative approach but being aggressive in forex isn’t necessarily a good thing. Over-trading into the hole is a problem for quite a few folks.
I am risking 15 pips with a target of 50. So if it goes the wrong way I lose 15, but the right way gains 50. I am still testing it on a demo account, but the results look promising.
HI, nice to see you here.
Hope you can get what you want.