Realistic trading expectations

Ive been trading for some time, and one thing that i hear all the time is about trader expectations on returns trading their own account.

When starting out there are so many things going against you - the number one aspect is conquering and mastering the emotions, then comes your ability to read price action, and after that, its working out some solid bank management rules. All this requires good discipline, proper record keeping and some software which gives you feedback on your performance within a wide range of metrics - not just winrate and average rvr.

I tell my subscribers, to learn this business properly takes a minimum of 3 years for most.
the first year if you come out with a small loss, but not doing anything catastrophic to your trading pot then you have done extremely well. Not many achieve this. In year two if you can make a small profit or break even, then kudos to you. Your third year you should be achieving 100+% bank growth.

Now this is no easy path to financial independence, there are some hard lessons to be learnt and the market is unforgiving and cares not a jot about you.

If you think about it, any profession you study at university will have you earning from your knowledge a good few years from your 1st year study. Why should trading be any different?

It is an awesome skill to master though and as anything in worthwile in life - takes a lot of hard work to achieve.

wishing you best in your trading endeavour.

John

2 Likes

I agree that it takes years not months.

1 Like

And you need to put the time in, in those years.
I am studying 3-4 hours every day and charting for an hour too

Of course, there is no shortcut way of money making in Forex! For me, the 1st 2 years were too horrible.

Really it’s a good plan; if a new trader starts his learning process with such kind of long term plan, that would be in truth helpful.

Even for 5 years in forex i’m still not confident with my trading skill…

If your efforts are consistent then surely you gonna be successful.

it is possible to consistently bark up the wrong tree.

Trading is so much more complex and has so many layers to peel through. Add “constant change” into that mix - it’s alive ! your conventional knowledge of static S&R and every pattern and candle formation you have memorized goes out the window along with indicators. No matter how hard you try and what you combine them with it just doesn’t work. Sounds familiar ?

If you have realized that on your 1st or second year I salute you! because the journeys just about to begin , just then. Garbage out, you’re ready for real valuable knowledge. So it takes years to master this art more like 4-7 depends on your progress, your age, your circumstances.

Just a few tips, S&R are never static they change “constantly” so to decide where to buy/sell or to take profit you must know your reference levels!!

Do not buy on resistance
Do not sell on support

Learn to identify HH HL, LH LL
Learn to differentiate between impulse wave from correction wave

we can get into specifics like if that HL is just a retrace move in a down move or an actual uptrend continuation.

seems too darn complicated ?
it is!!
so be prepared for intense studies
if you’re in it for the money you’re probably better off doing something else - something “easier”

It is an ’ awesome’ but difficult skill to master for sure. Primarily because unlike other professions it takes a lot of time, efforts, dedication, patience and a never-die attitude to survive in trading business. But success here is not elusive for everyone

Well, yea…if you keep doing something consistently with no progress, then it’s best to switch up your strategy. So, take your first strategy and test it for like 3 months or however many months you want without changing it. That way you will be able to see whether it’s profitable overall. If its not after that, then try a different strategy and repeat the same steps

Yeah it is important for traders to be aware whether their strategy is working or not. If it isn’t then it should be changed as soon as possible. However while formulating a new strategy you need to carefully analyze the previous strategy and see where it faltered so that the new one is an improved strategy not modeled on inaccurate assumptions

1 Like