I’ve been through BabyPips School and loved it. I really want to get involved in forex trading. I want to trade properly with patience, discipline and strategy as it’s obvious to me it’s the only way to consistently make progress in the long run. I have a few questions:
Having just read about the COWABUNGA trading system I really want to know where I can find other systems like this?
I have been playing with MT4 a little and it seems intuitive and quite user-friendly. Does anyone have any advice on which system is best for me as a newbie.
When the time comes (in 2 months time at the earliest ! ) I can stretch to a $1000 deposit in a mini account, but I’d like to know if anyone can advise me if this is the best way to get started using real money. Bearing this in mind - does anyone have advice on the best practice method leading up to this?
Once you have developed a strategy that may work for you, practice it on demo. Learn the ins and outs of it in different market environments. The next logical step after demo is going live, but it is best to go very small when you go live. The possibility of losing real money will affect your psychology and test your comfort, confidence, and discipline, no matter how small the account is. (I’m sure many traders here can attest to the psychological difference between demo and live.)
So, it may be prudent to start with a fraction of what you can afford to lose when you go live. Remember, a part of trading success is about longevity. Live to trade another day. Manage your risk, continue to learn and adjust, and you’ll be fine. Good luck!
Pipcrawler - you mention starting with a fraction of what I can afford to lose.
Can you give me any idea of good companies who I can use to do this? And any tips on the best software to use for real trading?
I don’t like to recommend specific products or brokers for the simple fact we’re all different in our trading style, trading hours, and needs. For the most part, I think most dealers or brokers give adequate service and you’ll want to stick to one that’s regulated and in your country.
My best suggestion is to read through our brokers guide for some direction on the right questions to ask yourself and your potential broker. Try a few out on demo as each broker’s trading platform tends to be different as far as functionality and features. Also, as you grow as a trader and gain experience you may find a dealer/broker’s services that you started out with may not be what you need for your trading style and would have to look else where. Maybe that other broker you checked out before would be a better fit for you. Only you know what’s best for you, right?
Also, talk to a traders and read reviews, but take each one in with a grain of salt because you don’t know what kind of person is giving the review. They could be a newbie with one bad trade who is easy to cry out “SCAM” or individuals trying to promote their brokers and naming only the pros and not the cons, but after reading enough you’ll be able to tell the difference between a solid review and one you’ll just have to pass up…
Thx for your reply daydreamer, I appreciate the fact it has very helpful and specified information for people like me (new traders just trying to develop strategies). I am currently working on finding out my trading style; however the more I read the more confused I get. When it comes to brokers I am totally lost because even though I�ve got some advises on how to determine whether a broker is good or not for me, I�m stocked on verifying the regulations and all that, and to be honest with you it freaks me out now that I�m considering on going to real trade. By the way, I am interested on this Cowabunga trading system so I would like to ask kevnewcastle a little bit more about his expierence.
Thanks for your replies. I’m still miles away from live trading. I’ve started using MT4 with Alpari as they offer 0.01 lots so I can demo using a ‘micro’ account with a small deposit (just like I will be when I start live trading). My problem is that I’m at work all day so I’m basically thinking I need:
To use Expert Advisors (EA) on my home PC which can trade for me.
and/or
To use Custom Indicators (CI) which can email me when certain conditions are met. This will mean I need a netbook PC with mobile broadband (currently �20 per month from PC world) so that I can receive emails and instantly begin trading.
I’m a software engineer so I’m very interested in writing my own EAs and CIs. I have found an excellent resource for this at:
I currently have Autopilot set up for EURJPY and Cowabunga alerting me. I can’t trade from work at present as I haven’t taken the plunge and bought a netbook yet so I’m still at the ‘thinking about things’ stage.
I totally agree with you, for those who state a no-use of EA. They should develop a great trading system because for me an EA helps to analyze and evaluate all the factors to avoid wrong moves, and they do it within fractions of seconds (instantaneous complex calculations), so unless they consider themselves as advanced traders and evaluators of every single factor that may affect a trend, they should probably try an EA.
