My FX Journey....so far!

Thats a very good profit. I am on mini account myself, and get $1 per pip, but i am constantly thinking how much i would have made if each pip was worth $10 especially after a successfull trade :slight_smile:

i would say i classify as having a mini account with oanda. it wasnt all $1 per pip, it only came close to that when i traded pairs such as eur/usd. when i trade pairs that are more volatile i adjust the number of units i trade so as to keep the risk the same, hence pip value reduces.

You are correct Kagein that this is much more meaningful. So 2% is equal to R for you. Reporting your results as a multiple of R (as Pipsurfer does in Cowabunga) allows one to assess profit in the light of risk taken, a vital ingredient

today i made a really dumb mistake, i failed to check my calender yesterday night, hence took a trade right before an important interest statement.

It was a losing trade that i would have stayed out off had i known.

oh wellā€¦you win some, you lose someā€¦

bring on tomorrow!!!

At least you knew there was report on interest rates. I didnā€™t know that. I wasnā€™t in any trades either so it didnā€™t bother me. Hate to hear the market went against you. Youā€™ll get em next time.

Trade well

Why is it that people equate the forex market with gamblingā€¦my housemate keeps telling me to quit while Iā€™m ahead. In his words get rich quick ā€˜schemesā€™ never work. I found that heā€™s not alone in his opinion of the currency market, most people i talk to equate the word ā€˜forexā€™ with ā€˜scamā€™. Yeah itā€™s possible to make unbelievable returns in this market but ā€˜get rich quickā€™ doesnā€™t mean ā€˜get rich easyā€™. Maybe the currency market hasnā€™t done such a good job of marketing itself, maybe it just doesnā€™t care, either way people like that are missing out on a chance to find out whether or not currency trading is for them.

Anywayā€¦how am i doing?

Iā€™m doing quite well, Iā€™m becoming a bit more consistent in my method. i now have a win ratio of 71%(includes break even) which Iā€™m happy about. last week i had only 3 trades 2 of which were profitable, the other stopped me out at break even.

Iā€™m switching to the 4hr chart now, i have a pretty busy schedule at uni so day trading is out. itā€™s gonna mean less setups but less fake outs.

I still have a few chinks to sort out trading this time frame such as is fundamental analysis more or less of an issue?

The journey continuesā€¦:slight_smile:

Youā€™re not alone with that. My parents told me the same thing. I donā€™t know if its because itā€™s called forex or what. They, including some friends, said itā€™ll never work, and I shouldnā€™t even look into it. I havenā€™t shown my friends my checks, nor do I have to. They always seem to ask me what Iā€™m up to though. I just tell themā€¦trying to make ends meet. Ha Ha.

I guess when I get my money right they will be asking if they can use my beach house for the weekend, or borrow the car for a hot date, yada yada.

It sucks having to hear it. Just charge them double when it comes to managing their account one day.:wink:

As far as the marketing goes for forex. The problem is soooo many people are taking advantage of newbies trying to get involved/started. There are soooo many scams dealing with forex that most people think the whole market is that way. Just a thoughtā€¦

Keep up the good work kagein.

Iā€™ve got people telling me itā€™s gambling as well.

But thatā€™s ok, we know what we know and they can just stay in the dark if they donā€™t want to know.

To me itā€™s just confirmation that youā€™re onto something worthwhile when people donā€™t understand and try to talk you out of it.

I get excited.

As Iā€™ve already stated, i use oanda as my broker and have funded my live account with paypal. i was just reading up on paypals t&cā€™s and realised that theyā€™ll take 3% of anything i receive in my account. Itā€™s also oandaā€™s policy to send money back the same way it came. If i hit the profit target that Iā€™m aiming for at the end of the year, 3% is quite substantial. I figure its better to take a hit now rather than later. Iā€™ll refund my account with a bank wire.

I have to say i feel like an idiot, this means ill be out of the markets for up to 2 weeks :frowning:

]

I disagree with the ā€œGamblingā€ statementā€¦thereā€™s a difference between gambling and investing or even trading. Under the gambling definition every time you buy a house, get a new job or get behind the wheel of your favorite automobile your gambling?? To me gambling is wellļæ½gambling when you stake your money/life/love strictly on the roll of the dice or the turn of a cardļæ½Therefore Forex is only gambling when you do it without skill, without a tried and true technique only relying on luckļæ½

Then itļæ½s gambling. Other than that itļæ½s practicing a craft no different than a potter or a masonļæ½

J.

well i now know how you were feeling, i just went live this week after 3 months of demoā€™in.

My biggest problem is me!! I placed 5 trades this week and they really sent me overboard, lol, I couldnā€™t stop watching the screen. And I think I broke just about every trading rule I have listed in my journal. Then of course i had to beat myself up about it, vow to not do that again, then go break a different rule, and repeat.

I never thought my emotions would play such a significant role, man was i wrong. You know, afraid to pull the trigger, then regretting I didnā€™t, to stoping out trades early (i did that twice).

I suppose this will wear off in time as i get more acustomed to risking real money. The journey has begun nowā€¦

I suppose this will wear off in time as i get more acustomed to risking real money. The journey has begun nowā€¦

Yep cdawg, best of luck itā€™s a great adventure.

[QUOTE=Trade It;37847]
As far as the marketing goes for forex. The problem is soooo many people are taking advantage of newbies trying to get involved/started. There are soooo many scams dealing with forex that most people think the whole market is that way. Just a thoughtā€¦
QUOTE]

Totally agree with you!!!Thatā€™s the good thing if join a forum like this where there are a lot of nice people will help you as much as they can to guide you safely through the whole process in forex:)ā€¦

[quote=ā€œwakli,post:33,topic:9467ā€]

Yup its a good forum, learnt alot here.

Ok im going to be refunding my account as i previously stated im just wondering whether i should hold the funds in EUR rather than GBP. What are your opinions?

This has been answered at various times on the forums.

I would keep my broker account in the currency which my bank
account is set up for. Therefore there are no little differences in
the exchange rates with your bank.

What happened to this thread? It was a good one.

Kagein, I hope youā€™re still in it.

Yeah itā€™s been a while since i posted in this thread, i probably just wanted something meaningful to say. Unfortunately not much has changed since the last time i posted. I think Iā€™ve arrived at the most mundane but important part of my journey, sticking with and improving the method Iā€™ve chosen to trade. My ultimate aim is maintain a win percentage of around 60% which Iā€™ve manage so far but i havenā€™t been trading long enough for it to mean anything. Time will tell but Iā€™m positive about my ability to achieve it.

Iļæ½m currently trade using the Fibonacci method posted by daedalus and loving it. I wanted however to expand my bag of tricks to include trading with just S&R lines. I mean i know how to draw S&R lines but was somewhat clueless as to how you trade off them. Problem was where do I begin?

[B]Seek and ye shall find[/B]

http://forums.babypips.com/free-forex-trading-systems/6632-alternative-technical-templates.html

http://forums.babypips.com/free-forex-trading-systems/1487-between-40-100-pips-per-day.html

These two threads have a wealth of information regarding price action and how it interacts with S&R lines. I strongly suggest you take a good look at them. There is a bit of jargon but nonetheless its highly informative.
Iļæ½m currently testing Jamesļæ½ IB method and working on a method to trade S&R lines which will be very useful in a sideways market.
In essence i think theyļæ½re probably different ways of looking at the same information.

Iļæ½m quite happy at how my attitude toward the market has changed from analysing indicators to analysing price action. Iļæ½m purely discretionary trader, systems and set abc rules never really worked consistently for me. Why trade like a robot taking every trading signal your system gave when you can use a bit of discretion and stay out of some losing trades.

[B]
The journey continues!![/B]

[B]Oh no itļæ½s the blurry flashbackā€¦:D[/B]

In May of last year i worked as an intern on the equity research desk at an IB. A guy on the sales desk had designed trading systems and was currently performing a one year live test. The terminology he used when describing things and the different indicators he had on his charts was intriguing. Prior to having met him, a chart to me meant a single line connecting the daily closing prices of a share. Iā€™ve always been a fan of equities itļæ½s just so simple to understand. You buy a share, you hold it, and you sell it, easy!! Currencies on the other hand had so much jargon. Itā€™s been 8 months since then, 5 months since i decided that i would educate myself further. It was, as im sure some of you know quite hard to adequate educational information. Every website i visited seemed either dodgy(sketchy) or just really low on information. I actually stumbled on a reference to the babypips website in an obscure post on another forum. Iā€™m actually quite embarrassed of this fact, type ā€œforex educationā€ in google and babypips is the first listing, makes me wonder what search string i was using.

Glad to help, and glad to see you are well on your way to ā€œMaking it!ā€

Its very evident to me that youā€™ve put in a lot of time and effort into learning our method, and honing your skills and I think its starting to pay off for you.

Keep up the great work!