My Journey as a newbie trader

[dushimes]

@MatthaelFx

my goal is to become a very profitable trader at most in two years.

Please create a journal thread!

Trade Journals

[MatthaelFx]

@ayodimej1

I use the market execution order; some use limit order to target a given point/area or in situation they might be away from the chart.
For me i wont do that, i let the market do whatever it want to do and act accordingly, i don’t do trackings.

That’s a good one, you just let the market do it’s thing.

[MatthaelFx]

@flamingoproxy

@MatthaelFx

6. Don’t use risk/reward ratio of less than 1:2.

this one’s a very, very bad idea, and will damage your prospects

What say you on this? What’s your RR ratio?

@flamingoproxy

@MatthaelFx

7. Don’t dwell too long on demo accounts.

this one may be a bad idea, depending on your financial circumstances and educational motivations: we don’t know enough about you to tell

Can you please throw more light on this. Thanks.

@flamingoproxy

@MatthaelFx

12. shoot for the stars .

that can be an easy way to overreach before you’re ready to reach at all …

I guess I used the wrong words, the message I was meant to pass is never be discouraged😁

[MatthaelFx]

I thought that’s what this is, or is there something I’m not doing right.

If there is, kindly let me know. I’m new to all these.

[dushimes]

You’re right; I’m wrong. I thought this was in the introduction section. I didn’t realise. Sorry.

Happy trading!

[flamingoproxy]

@MatthaelFx

What say you on this?

i said it in the second part of this post -

Thoughts on minimum pip gain benchmarks/standard

my answer starts with an apology! i know i can sometimes across in the forum as “criticizing”, and i’m sorry if that’s how this post comes across - it’s intended only helpfully! this is a strange (and in my opinion misguided) starting-point to discuss what you want to know there’s no “number of pips” i’d consider, because that’s not a useful parameter for me nor for anyone else, actually anything like this needs to be volatility-related (as @tommor has wisely said, above) a pure “…

and in this post -

Streak Calculator: The importance of knowing your odds

are they numbers you’ve actually proved over a thorough, accurate backtest of a statistically significant sample-size? or “confident impression numbers”? you may be right, of course i think everyone i have ever known who has believed more or less the same as you and who has actually been persuaded, in spite of their high degree of confidence, to run an appropriate, statistically significant backtest, has been absolutely astonished by the results, reduced their reward-to-risk r…

and here -

Trading strategy for better risk reward

thanks for starting this thread, Carl the wording you chose for the title also raises the bigger question of what is a “better” risk to reward ratio we can all see that you think of it as bigger reward per unit of risk, rather than the opposite you mean “higher reward”, really, when you say “better” the opposite perspective is also an arguable one, though two points are worth thinking about, in this context if you look at successful professional traders, and institutional traders, they t…

@MatthaelFx

What’s your RR ratio?

on average, just under 1:1, but that doesn’t matter

what matters in this context is what yours is, and why, and whether you’re open to reconsidering what you posted above, which several of us, now, are telling you is misguided

@MatthaelFx

Can you please throw more light on this

different people react differently and benefit in different ways from demo and micro-live accounts - it depends on your financial circumstances and how you learn best

my general view is here -

How long to trade demo?

by all means, shift to a small live account using funds you can afford to lose IF (and only if) - you have collated in writing the details of a minimum of 250 trades, over whatever period, on the same type of markets as the ones you’ll be trading live, without making a net loss, and nothing about them rings any alarm bells, AND … you have not, during that period, had a PTT drawdown as high as 5% … but if you haven’t achieved those two things, or if you’re not really clear why those are…

good luck!

[Worker_Bee]

@MatthaelFx listen to @flamingoproxy. He is one of the few people here who are giving valuable advice. I didn’t want to listen to him in the beginning but after several months I realized that he was right and I was ignorant.

I changed my RRR to a flexible “1:1 and then lets see how far we can go” and flamingo was one of the main reason why. Since then my trading is more consistent. Much less losing streaks.

[MatthaelFx]

For real @Worker_Bee I actually started having a second thought after making that post where I stated RRR shouldn’t be less than 1:2

And @flamingoproxy already clarified that here. You don’t have to wait till you can make double in profit what you are willing to risk.

Thanks

[MatthaelFx]

Hmm, great one

Stick around, because you’ve got a lot of criticism to make.

[MatthaelFx]

It’s been days since I updated my journey here.

I’ve been occupied with other activities, but so far I’ve completed 22 lessons.

During this period, I really spent time understanding the forex sessions and the time zones, especially the daylight savings time DST. This can really be confusing

Knowing the best time to trade is very important, as well as knowing when to avoid the market.

So I felt I really needed to have better understanding of this.

I feel I’m taking too much time on this course. Because I see people here graduating from this school (School of Pipsology) in less than two months, and I’m wondering if it’s the same lessons I’m taking they took.

Although I’m not bothered, just curious to know how they learned that fast.

If you went through the school of pipsology, how long did it take you, and what was your learning process like?

[ponponwei]

@MatthaelFx

Because I see people here graduating from this school (School of Pipsology) in less than two months

Maybe just marking lessons as completed but not really absorbing any of it

[Ozball]

I think the duration of going through the School of Pipsology will vary per person. I know I skimmed through the first few grades pretty quickly, as I’d done them before many years ago and then were just refreshers. The later ones I’ve gone through more slowly, and just in and around when I’ve had time. (On the train, during breaks at work, etc) I don’t think you need to worry about the speed you’re going through it. What matters is you absorb the information you’re reading and understand it. As a lot of people here say, learning forex is not a quick journey, a few extra months learning and really absorbing the basics/fundamentals will be a drop in the ocean over time, and will serve you well.

I also used to stick to the 1:2 RRR, but lately I’ve come to start breaking it more, and just trying to set Stops and TPs independently based on each individual trade, and then adjusting Lot Size based on those and my capital risk requirements. Otherwise I found, I ended up with some very tight, very high lot trades that were quite easy to get stopped out of.

Good luck on your journey and look forward to seeing your trades and progress!

[ponponwei]

@Ozball

I think the duration of going through the School of Pipsology will vary per person.

Some people will also “finish” them in a month but take it again and again. It’s true that it depends on each person!

[MatthaelFx]

@ponponwei

@MatthaelFx

Because I see people here graduating from this school (School of Pipsology) in less than two months

Maybe just marking lessons as completed but not really absorbing any of it

Maybe, because that is really making push so hard to complete this course faster. Even at that, I’m yet to complete the preschool for three weeks now.

[MatthaelFx]

@Ozball

I think the duration of going through the School of Pipsology will vary per person. I know I skimmed through the first few grades pretty quickly, as I’d done them before many years ago and then were just refreshers. The later ones I’ve gone through more slowly, and just in and around when I’ve had time. (On the train, during breaks at work, etc) I don’t think you need to worry about the speed you’re going through it. What matters is you absorb the information you’re reading and understand it. As a lot of people here say, learning forex is not a quick journey, a few extra months learning and really absorbing the basics/fundamentals will be a drop in the ocean over time, and will serve you well.

You’re right, I’m definitely taking my time

[MatthaelFx]

@Ozball

I also used to stick to the 1:2 RRR, but lately I’ve come to start breaking it more, and just trying to set Stops and TPs independently based on each individual trade, and then adjusting Lot Size based on those and my capital risk requirements. Otherwise I found, I ended up with some very tight, very high lot trades that were quite easy to get stopped out of.

Yeah, I get. I think it’s all about being flexible with the market.

[MatthaelFx]

Two days ago, I finally completed graduated from preschool.

It has been an interesting journey so far with this great training from babypips.

I think in the preschool category, margin seem to be the most important part every new trader needs to master, because this is where your profit or loss is determined.

Getting familiar with the terms used in margin trading should be your first priority before thinking of placing a trade. Terms like:

1. Margin requirement
2. Required margin
3. Used margin
4. Free margin
5. Equity
6. Balance
7. Floating and Realised P/L

Mind you, your leverage is very important as well. It has a connection with margin.

Once you’re able to get this part correctly, then in my own opinion, that’s one part of trading ignorance cleared off your way to becoming a profitable trader.

So that’s one part for me cleared out.

Cheers to success.

[Pipsteroid]

@MatthaelFx

margin seem to be the most important part every new trader needs to master,

I’ve never understood this perception at all.

You may know more than I do about it.

Or your info about it might be more up to date than mine.

But I’ve honestly never understood why anyone who isn’t using position sizes much too big, or using leverage that’s much too high, or doing something else just as dangerous, needs to think about margin at all.

It’s always seemed to me that if “margin” is much of a concern to anyone, they must be doing something seriously wrong.

Maybe I’ve misunderstood it all.

I’ll look at that lesson again.

[playwiththegods]

I’m still in the School of Pipsology. I’ve been here for two years. I study one lesson a day while taking notes, and at this rate I’ll be done by February 2024. That’s all the time I want to make for it.

In the beginning, I was trying to complete the course as fast as I could, and I got burnt out. I’m just taking my sweet time with it now while enjoying the process.

Don’t worry that you might be taking too much time to finish the course. I think you’re going at a good pace. I’ve enjoyed reading your journal and seeing the progress you made so far.

Keep celebrating the small wins you make with every lesson you complete.

[MatthaelFx]

Thanks for the encouragement.

I’m also taking notes like you said. For me I decided to take this as a part-time college, I take lessons when I’m not working.

I actually tried rushing it at some point, and I understood nothing, so I had to revert back to my slow and steady process.

Hopefully I should graduate either January or February 2024