I now understand most things on the technical side of FOREX, but I’m still having trouble putting it all together and using it to trade… Is it a viable strategy to just follow people like “Pippin’ ain’t easy” and make trades based off their ideas? If not, why? Thanks
What happens when those people leave? Always best if possible to learn it on your own. So you can continue once they are gone. If you are learning as you are following then that is a good idea, but blindly following someone is a mistake in my view.
Yes and no.
I wouldn’t follow anybody else’s trade unless I understood it and it agreed with my own philosophies on trading. I would want to backtest their methods and satisfy myself that it works. I would also need to know in advance how to manage and exit the trade.
Also, don’t fall into the trap of expecting it to work first time. It’s possible for good trading methods to fail several times in succession, so you need to commit to following the trade signals at least 10 times to get an idea of its value. A lot of people try a strategy that’s been proven to work but write it off because their first attempt failed.
You’ll inevitably get comments in this forum that copying somebody else’s trade isn’t “real trading” and that you somehow need to prove your worth by trading your own system and making 100% a week like they do. These comments are just testosterone fuelled phallus-swinging and can be safely ignored. Learning your craft from someone who’s successful is just common-sense and accelerates your learning.
Just make sure the person you’re copying from knows their stuff. Learn from them and over time your own style and strategy will evolve from it.
If you went to any field and asked the top people in those fields,; Im new what do you think about me following a successful person in this field while Im learning I think they would all tell you it’s a great strategy while you’re learning. Trading is about making decisions. To make good decisions you need to gather relivent information, look at the relivent options and pick the least of the evils. When you’re new, you normally don’t have the experience to make good decisions, following experienced traders and learning from their experences, is a great idea.
Just make sure you’re comparing apples to apples. For example don’t follow a long term trader if you’re a short term or want to be one. When I first started I followed a expierenced day trader while learning and it was enormous help to me. As a matter of fact One of the setups I still use came from him.
Successful trading is not overnight thing, it takes time and patience. There are a lot of experienced traders who offer advice for free; some is good some is not, both will help you to make better decisions. The more advice you get the better you’ll become at knowing what’s good and applies to you
Good Luck
Gp
This only works well in the short term. If you wanna trade for more than just a couple of years, build up your backup plan( learn how to trade well on your own.
It’s lazy… And ignorant. You are blindly putting your money into someone else’s hands… 90% of
I would be really careful when it comes to following others. While there are some decent signal providers out there you should make sure you understand and agree with their trading. I personally only trade my own strategy and have never followed anyone.
So you’re one of the “testosterone fuelled phallus-swingers” that ‘TheDayTrader’ warned me about then…?
[QUOTE=“JRC;540745”]
So you’re one of the “testosterone fuelled phallus-swingers” mentioned by ‘TheDayTrader’ then…
[QUOTE=“ILovePizzaMore;540703”]If you do then here is an easy IQ test for you… Hold out both hands and try to count how many fingers you have… That’s your IQ score. Your welcome. [/QUOTE]
I’ve got nothing worthwhile to add to this debate but as I’m using the BP app on my phone & can’t click the “like” button, I have to comment to say: this is the best comment that I’ve heard in a long LONG time - genius!
You never said what type of trading you do or wanted to, but here’s someone you can follow if you’re trading longer time frames. You can also find same type of thing for shorter terms
TOP 10 Basic Technical Indicators - Forex Education - YouTube
The reason for my “cute platitude” is because I know there are decent trade signal services out there. Well, I know of one anyway. Your point about how can you know whether the one you’re looking at is any good or not is a valid and there’s no foolproof answer to it. Ideally you need referrals from people you trust, otherwise you need to rely on their published trade history and searching Google for feedback.
But ultimately you are taking a punt which may work, but it may not.
I don’t see blindly following someone else as a viable trading strategy as one thing would be lacking on your part – strategy. Following along, trying to emulate and learn from someone else’s strategy is, however, quite a bit different. In that case you are actually trying to learn how to apply a strategy which is not the same as blindly following trade signals provided by another.
[QUOTE=“ILovePizzaMore;540703”]It’s lazy… And ignorant. You are blindly putting your money into someone else’s hands… 90% of the time the people providing the signals are simply trying to advertise for some paid service they are trying to get you to give them money for. It’s naive and childish to think that someone who can make large sums of money by trading is going to give away their signals… And why would they bother selling them if they actually are making a lot of money from them?
If you are too lazy to learn how to trade then put your money into a hedge fund where licensed professionals can invest it for you. You think a random guy on the Internet is going to give you better results then this? If you do then here is an easy IQ test for you… Hold out both hands and try to count how many fingers you have… That’s your IQ score. Your welcome.
Look at the people following the free signal threads on this forum… 90% have less then 30 posts… Have no clue what they are doing… Yet are highly belligerent when the obvious flaws are pointed out to them and willfully throw their money at the signal providers and signals… They demonstrate the behavior typically seen at a mental institution when a caretaker tries taking crayons away from someone with brain damage who is trying to eat them.
On the other side you have very competent traders saying signals are worthless… And pointing people in the right direction to trade on their own… Who are you going to believe?[/QUOTE]
Absolute thumbs up to this post!
I have a real life example to share:
My relative who started trading forex during early march this year claims that his forex broker company does have an acct mgr who provides him with trade signals via Skype, email or mostly direct call to his mobile averagely 3-5 signals a week on the 1h and 4h TF.
His TP for each trade is between 100-150 pips and so far by depositing usd$10k right from the beginning, he has made more than usd$20k profits ie equivalent to more than 200% ROI till today! He told me he is trading a standard lot size ($100k volume) for each trade.
Hard to believe right?
Now comes the exciting part; when I asked him which broker he is using currently and to show me his acct statement or even just one recent trades he has made, guess what’s his response?
He doesn’t wanna tell me the broker’s name nor dare to show me his statement! Other than that, there was once when we were meeting up for lunch I jokingly asked him to buy me lunch since he had made so much money from forex but he tried to shun away from my question and changed topic immediately.
That made me concluded 3 things:
-
If there’s really a forex broker company who can provide such accurate trading signals to their clients, why not the entire world of retail traders go and sign up with them immediately and all can become millionaires just by trading their signals provided? It’s not difficult to find out who they are with today’s technology by searching on google, etc. On the other hand, they will be the richest broker company by just earning spreads from all these retail traders’ trades alone.
-
He is deluding himself or probably hiding cos of ego. He did not really made so much from those signals if not why would he change topic when I just request a simple inexpensive meal treat from him? Also, he can’t even show me a single proof of his trade history or profits.
-
It may be true on all his claims hence probably he is so selfish that he doesn’t want me to benefit like he have done so.
Nevertheless, I just wished him good luck as he is solely relying on someone to become profitable and not learn how to develop own strategies and trade to be profitable consistently.
As for me, I will still continue to believe that there are no free lunches or easy way out in this business and will continue to work hard on my custom strategies development and backtesting like I have done so now already which in turn gives me higher satisfaction and fulfillment each time I develop a new strategy and profit from it.
Have a great day! : )
To your success,
Alvin aka Singaporean Trader
http://forums.babypips.com/newbie-island/57469-my-live-trade-results-2013-a.html
There was a “pro” who used to frequent Babypips known as ICT. He went live with an account, and because many people trusted him, they copied his trades. I’m not sure how much a drawdown he went into, but it was steep. In the end, he said it was deliberate, or so I’ve read.
So from a risk-management perspective, ask yourself why would a signal provider put your interests first? I can imagine sick, twisted individuals trying to attract followers, and then deliberately lose their money just for laughs. If you want other people to trade your money, I think there are better ways where the interests of both parties are better aligned (PAMM accounts, mutual funds, etc).
I read advice from some expert traders but I don’t think copying their trades completely is a sustainable strategy. You may be able to make some profits in the process but you will probably have trouble doing this all on your own later on.
I think it’s a lot like learning how to play an instrument. Once you learn the basics, you watch YouTube videos of pros doing it and learn their techniques.
You don’t call yourself a good musician just because you can copy the exact same pieces that the pros play. You try to learn from as many experienced musicians as you can until you find what works for you. And then you make your own music.
Just my two cents 
Yes, I believe it is more complementary than an exclusively an option unto itself.
Cool, why just don’t tell the guy that he’s not supposed to trade if he cannot understand what is he doing. Copying trades is not thee best thing to do. Never has been, never will be! They just provide you with advices, but it’s only you who’s responsible for your own money.
I think it isn’t bad if you do what you have said, but is just that at some point we would need to come out with our own ideas and plans. if not we i’ll suffer.