I have been trading forex for 2 years now, well roughly 8 months on the real account but I seem to be struggling with growing my account.
I just want to know how do you stay desiplined, committed to your trading plan, and most importantly avoiding overtrading as these seem to be my biggest killers in this business. I have watched videos and read articles but when I get to the charts, it’s like the execution botton always beg me to click it and end up wiping my account by small pull backs, only to find my trades end up reaching my take profit level.
And yes I have been depositing less than $50 after every wipe out, I’m a students so I’m really struggling financially.
The solution here is to trade higher time frames like daily or weekly. That will reduce the number of trades you are making, and greatly increase your stop loss distance so you have a smaller chance of getting whipsawed.
It sounds like you need some good ol’ fashioned discipline. Whatever your strategy is to find tradable entries, stick to it. If you cant and find yourself making trades just for the sake of being in the market then go back to paper trading until you learn to be more disciplined. Theres just no logic in blowing 50$ over and over.
My last bit of advice, dont trade money that you need to live off of. If your a student, struggling financially, and you are throwing money away in the Forex market then you dont have your priorities right. Stick with paper trading until you have a slush fund and can trade from that.
Overtrading is included beginner disease, which still often appear desired to make a quick profit in trading, how to control our emotion to keep discipline with rules trading we can trying with using long-term plan trading with low risk, first to think is about the risk and profit is the only bonus for our effort, this is need to develop up good mindset about trading forex
Well the good news, it seems, is that you at least have a method that Works for you - that is a big plus…but…….
The bad news is, you cannot stick to it!
I believe this is a very common problem , mainly due to the simplicity and speed of excuting trades. If you had to send an email every time you want to trade with instructions for entries and exits, it would be a very different situation, I’m sure!
As you say, the fact that the button is so convenient tends to drag your eye away from your overall charts and plans, and focuses you directly and entirely on the price movement itself right there under your nose, as it were. As it snakes up and down before your eyes, you become oblivious of your carefully analysed chart surroundings and become an impulsive gambler chasing the market tail all over the place.
Two possible helps here:
Force yourself to keep a journal and enter your trades in there immediately. The sheer laboriousness of it will calm you down as welll as providing you with some very useful data on your trading style.
Place your trades on a “set and forget” basis. If your trades do, as you say, often reach their targets, then give them a chance to do so. Set them, then go study or something. Perhaps set a check-in routine such as once an hour or half-hour or 4 hours, or daily, whatever fits your trading method’s typical cycle.
This sounds like very good advice. Try going back to the demo with a view to build your skills over time until you are sufficiently capitalised. It is good that you do have experience of trading live, although you probably won’t be able to supplement your student income with trading at this stage.
I think the ability to resist acting on urges is crucial here. Discipline in trading is for me -> creating a plan and executing it no matter whether the outcome looks better or worse if ditching it momentarily.
You’re not alone. I am also facing the same problem. I am quite new to the market and however I try to stick to my strategy, there are times in which I overtrade.
First things first, paper trading is not useful. I noticed this right after I started trading on a real account, the experience is not the same. Therefore i do not think I can get displined demo trading.
Secondly, with regards to keeping a journal, i did this, at least twice thus far but it didn’t help but i did learn from what i did wrong.
Thirdly, trading with higher time frames is where I started, and changed to smaller ones thinking maybe that was the problem but turned out smaller time frames were the worst, and went back to higher timeframes.
In all and all I think the real issue here is the execution of trades made easy and fast, I will work on this. I will try to avoid genarating more opportunities, perhaps share them with other people who might find them profitable, and try to get myself disciplined enough first. Currently i have been trying to place a trade and forget about it for a while, this seem pretty working fine although I’m still broke😏 trying to get my funds right.
I think forex trding is about sticking to your trading plan and always learning, once you start skipping useful and relevant knowledge you tend to lose balance.
Thanks to everyone.
You have hundreds of lost dollars that would say otherwise. The point being is if you can’t be long term successful on paper, what makes you think you will be successful with real money? Real money is always more difficult for mechanical and psychological reasons.
You seem to have already made up your mind and have strong opinions about all of the comments that have been made so far. With all due respect, you are not a successful trader and need to re-open your mind (and put down your ego) and listen to those of us who are successful and are trying to help you.
I hope you resolve these issues and I wish you good success!
I tend to challenge people with what they say and you are one person that I think i need to seek more advice from. Indeed I have ego issues I need to put aside but please tell me more.
What is that I’m missing. @krugman25
By the way I did trade 3 paper accounts from 3 different brokers, tripled one account from one broker and doubled one from another and lost interest from another.
I guess that’s as near as you get to apology then !
What other education on trading do you have ?
You joined in February and this is your 4th visit to the site. Have you even been through the school ?
In honesty you have not even been here long enough to know which posters can give you good advice and which cannot.
You are gambling money you cannot afford to lose, on the basis that "It is easy " and you can supplement your student income by trading a micro account.
It is a well known fact of gambling that people who gamble money they can’t afford to lose - Always do !
The best advice anyone can give you has already been given, at least in part ;
STOP trading real money NOW !
If you want to continue at all, Start learning - the babypips school is quite usefull and will give you SOME knowledge.
Yes you certainly DO have an ego. You may be able to win arguments sometimes with it, but you will NOT win against "the market"until you learn to admit defeat quietly and take your wins the same way.
That’s all I have to say - unless you come back with some humility.
Babypips is indeed quite a very useful tool in learning. On top of what I mentioned i also joined a few telegram channels and follow successful traders on instagram.
Perhaps I have a problem with my writing skills or my English is poor but I don’t intend to be rude to anyone or show disrespect.
All that i have mentioned above is true and I am honestly facing a serious issue here that I perhaps don’t understand myself.
All the money I traded was well budgeted. I am back here at Babypips to seek more knowledge that I might be missing, those that have given me their point of views are very appreciated.
Oh and yes I did try going through the courses here at Babypips and I think I also lack patience, wish I knew how to overcome all of this:pensive:
It is not just about how much money you can grab, it is about seeking excellence as a trader and taking pride in one’s skill in creating consistency out of erratic, irrational, chaos. It is about learning when not to take positions more than just pressing the button.
It is a bit like the young guys who think that a good driver is the one who keeps his foot to the floor regardless…….
……then they learn that real driving skill is about reading other road users, accounting for surface conditions, knowing your vehicle’s capabilities, limitations and characteristics, controlling emotions and proactive observance of the road ahead, and, and, and…the list goes on.
But I suspect true trading skills may prove to be too boring for you at this stage……………
I guess that depends a lot on your personality but also on your long term objectives with your trading. If you are only looking to gain some extra cash during your study years then it might be a daunting task, but if you have an ambition to include trading as a part of your life in the long term then that is something entirely different.
I am certainly not suggesting that you might aim to be a full-time trader, I don’t recommend that anyone try to do that. But it can be a very useful and rewarding (and not just in terms of profits) practice alongside a main career.
If your aim is indeed longer term, then I think the “boredom” can be overcome by not just focusing on trade setups but by expanding your vision to see your trading as your own business. This opens up a whole new range of issues covering “product” selection, risk management, profit targets, educational development, capital management, short term v. long term trades, charting techniques and, perhaps the most important and rewarding area………contributing to the Babypips forum!
How much are you working with and how much is your leverage. You might try to force the issue by reducing your leverage so that you are physically limited to fewer concurrent trades.
and I think I also lack patience, wish I knew how to overcome all of this:pensive: