Must Trade every time?

So, if you sit and open the chart you trade (one pair as per advice to newbies) and you could not find the setup To enter a trade as per your trading plan. What do you do?
Do you force a trade on a different time frame?
Do you find a different pair?
Do you come a revisit the chart later.

You create trading plans and identify setups in order to increase the probability of success.

So, why would you take a trade unless your setup presents itself? You wouldn’t. You wait.

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@simsimony

Well actually I have forced trades when none were present.

In fact I did it regularly for many years. I don’t trade intra day as a general rule, but found myself going to lower timeframes looking for setups.

I’d also start looking at markets that I would not normally trade.

@QuadPip is correct. You have no need to do it if you have a solid plan. But it’s strange what happens to you when you need to start making up for previous losses.

It got so bad for me, I purposely deleted timeframes and markets from my platform just to stop myself doing it.

It became a compulsion, I’d almost say OCD

I did recover from it but it was a bad time of my life.

The problem with breaking your rules once is then you start doing it often.

This whole need to make money everyday can be a killer for your trading account

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You have got to stick to your rules and walk before you can run. Just trade one pair and watch some others. If you get into bad habits at the beginning theyre hard to get out of

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With a strategy that you have tested and refined as far as it can go, you are already trading on the optimum time-frame surely? Therefore, why go to a time-frame you already know does not work so well?

There might be an argument for moving to another pair as long as the strategy respects relative strengths - if AUD is weak against all the major currencies, maybe you don’t want to buy AUD right now even if you find a classic buy signal on another pair. But if you do, maybe the strategy says it should be very short-term with a tight stop.

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The fact that you used the word “forcing” which essentially means doing what you’re NOT supposed to do already sounds like a bad idea. :sweat_smile:

I’ve done this though and many times it was out of desperation to put a trade on. Never turns out well for me lol.

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My advice (no offence meant) is to get off your backside, get serious, go to work, and select more pairs, and when you find the right set-up, halve the trade % risk. See how it goes.

IMO, I’ve learnt more by selecting trades from the whole 28 pairs on a demo account using at least three time frames over a six month period to find out which ones suit my strategy, than just focusing on one.

Resulting in only trading 10 profitable pairs and 4 break-even pairs - the rest are junked from my charts - including my nemesis, GBP/JPY.

In your case, you could consider selecting a few pairs you feel comfortable with and get learning on how they tick. And your mindset must be changed from a wait and see approach to a pro-active one, if you want to succeed in Forex trading. There’s nothing easy about it.

good luck.

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Thanks for sharing your experience. That’s serious stuff. As a rookie, I don’t read many stories of how people felt during their developing stages. So, for a while, I thought how I was feeling wasn’t normal.

But, unfortunately, I think for some it is a natural part of the process. Trading will tap into your subconscious and manipulate you. You have no supervisor, and you’re hungry for money. That’s a bad combination.

However, if you take a deep breath, step back and return to demo trading, and slowly correct your errors, you will see how you can succeed.

As for the OP, wait for the trade to come to you. If you’d like, perhaps keep searching other pairs for set-ups. But even that can be dangerous.
Searching 40+ pairs on 3 or 4 different time frames could be both determination as well as the beginning of mania.

At some point, you just gotta be willing to walk away for the day. Occasionally having a no-trade day while the market is open can keep addiction away.

Go play outside!

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@dushimes

Ive no shortage of horror stories of my early trading years!!

Lol

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That’s very insightful.
Thank you for all the different points of view. :+1:t5:

Well, I had this habit of forcing trades too. But gradually it was taking me out of profits. You need to have a strict plan and have to stick by it.

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I am trying to build my trading plan. I welcome all suggestions that experienced traders would like to give me.

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I am only trading a demo account but have experienced the urge of jumping in a trade just to be in a position and it has bitten me more than once.

Ensure you exercise patience and wait for the appropriate set up to present itself. Not taking a position is better than taking a poor set up! I think these quotes are apt for your question “never turn a mistake into a position” and “taking no position IS a position”.

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Just make sure you stick to whatever plans you have made. This will lead you towards fulfilling your goals.

I never force a trade, if I do not feel like the trade is going in the right direction, I either shift to different pair or revist the chart later. But I would never place a trade forcefully.

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That’s great, I guess visiting the chart is the option I have because I only trade 2 pairs :+1:t5:

Any developments? What plan are you using now?

well if that happen, i consider this as a holiday (for one day yes but as a holiday)

but in reality that dont happen. you come back one session later and youll have a setup (e.g if you dont see signal on asian session come when the european session end and you’ll have one so basically like 5 to 8 hours after)

for me, sometimes my setup comes every week or 2 weeks so i don’t trade until then. in the meantime, i’d go skateboarding or cooking etc.

If you can, create your trading plans to identify setups so that there are better chances of succeeding.