Newbie with long post

Hello everyone,

This is a long one, I’m sorry.

I’m new here, and new to forex trading. I have been reading and getting to know the environment for the past month or so. I have experimented with vt trader and now I’m using the MT4 platform. Here is what I’ve done so far as for preparing.

First thing I did was read an entire book based on candlesticks in order to get a grasp on not only what their signals may indicate (for predicting) but also give me an idea of market sentiment.

I went through a few online courses dealing with indicators and what not.

I’m almost finished with the babypips school.

I just finished the free chapter hectortrader.com has to offer (and considering his course). Incidentally, I have developed a system based on his 3sma.

My next plan is to read : “Bird watching in Lions Country” which from my understanding he uses a very specified system (getting to know one pair really well). I think that know a general method (i.e. 3sma) and a specific method will be a good contrast.

I applied my system on Wednesday (I got up at 3 for the London market), checked the news and started to look for possible entries. I made four trades, all positive for a total day gain of 135 pips.

I did the something today, and the first thing I noticed was that I was expecting to do as well this morning to. This was the first signal that I was not going to do so well, as I was over confident. I started a good trade, I was up around 50 - 60 pips and I kept pushing my original limit. Until it eventually just broke even. After that it was all losses. So I decided to step back and was about to call it quits when I saw a good signal that for the first time actually fit all my criteria (all the others I took where rather impulsive). I waited, set my stop/limit. Turned the computer off and walked away. Sure enough I came back some hours later and I had recovered my initial losses.

I have a lot to work on, and good thing I’m still on demo mode… and good thing that I lost today to bring my feet back to the ground. Sometimes you get that feeling that the market is taking off without you (and it’s just testing the waters), you make an impulsive buy/sell without waiting for the reversal formations and all of the sudden your in the negatives.

Again sorry for this long post, it’s my first and I need some venting.

questions: How do I add ADR to mt4? is there any way that it will split up the daily periods like the VT platform?

I will like to start trading by the end of January mid February, with the steps I have taken so far, I’m I going in the right direction?

I will start with around 1500 ~ 2000 capital. I have been trading .3 lots, 100:1 leverage. I’m comfortable with the losses so far, but I know that newbies should trade mini lots with 50:1 leverage. Also my stop losses are rather high averaging around $40-$60 (when they should be around $20 i.e %2 risk with $2000 capital) but I like the 1hr and 4 hr time frames so it’s difficult to have them any lower.

Based on what you have read, could you guys give me any advise?

I’m willing to start all over from scratch if need be. I want to get this right from the beginning and eliminate any bad habits so they don’t exponentially grow on me lol.

Again sorry for the long post, but somehow I felt it was necessary.

The first thing I would say is that it sounds like you’re reading up on a bunch of different systems, but that you already have one you like. I would stop investigating new stuff and just work through the one you’ve got. If it doesn’t ended up suiting your needs, then look elsewhere. If you keep reading up on new ones you’ll just end up bouncing around. Really work with and test out the one you’ve got.

Thanks for the response. I think that you are completely right. I’m going to fine tune my system and start testing it out. I want to use MT4 but I have heard mostly negative things about the brokers that use it. I may just use it to analyze my graphs (on the demo account) and use another broker to input my trade. Does the demo account provide reliable data for me to do this? I notice that the demo account for oanda and alpari (MT4) are off by a few pips… I’ve focused so much on getting a system ready that I have yet to research for a reliable broker… and with all the hype (negative + positive) on the forums about brokers you never really know what is is bull**** and what is real. Quite frustrating really.

Thanks again.

I’ve focused so much on getting a system ready that I have yet to research for a reliable broker… and with all the hype (negative + positive) on the forums about brokers you never really know what is is bull**** and what is real. Quite frustrating really.

My sentiments exactly!! Thats why i’ve decided on Oanda, yes they have good reviews and bad reviews but at least they appear to not be running off with anyones money. In addition the small trading sizes afforded to you, lets you work on your system without really taking financial harm