Hi @trolloc63,
I am a project manager by trade, and what I have asked you to do, in short, is to conduct a lessons learned review. The objective of that is to not repeat the same mistakes next time around. Believe me, I feel your frustration. I have been trading currencies on and off since 1988. And I don’t think I have made any money if you segregate that directly into “trading currency pairs with leverage”. But over the years, I have done many other things with currencies, including being a director of a small trading company that sells parts to oil companies in the Middle East. To be fair, what I could not achieve directly with leveraged trading, has more than compensated in other areas of our lives in particular, risk management of funds.
You may have made up your mind not to continue to participate in Forex (and presumably in leveraged stock trading too), but I have found solace (and profit) during the last 18 months by focussing my attention on crypto currencies. Some say you would have to be an idiot not to have made money in crypto during the last 18 months, so at least I am not an idiot. But since Feb 2021 what started out as being a longer term investment has morphed into a part trading strategy combined with the investment strategy, and then latterly has also become a short term income strategy too by addressing mining (and this week that has broadened out to DeFi liquidity provision.
Whilst you contemplate other pursuits for income, think about taking a look at crypto and applying what you have learned in Forex trading. It can’t be nothing. And your lessons are valid, and I support them 100%.
1 Stay clear of mentors. Instead, use “the wisdom of the crowds” and take opinions from many on forums like Babypips. You will then be able to balance advice without having to trust mentors who sometimes don’t know what they are talking about.
2 Maintain a journal. If you work in a job, do you check your take home pay to make sure the “specialists” in finance and payroll have made the right deductions? You cannot improve what you cannot measure, and measurement begins with a trade journal. In my past mentoring (for property investment) I did not talk about property for the first 8 lessons. I talked about writing stuff down, knowing where all your hard earned money goes, as mandatory, discretionary, charitable and tax amounts, and if mentees were not willing to do that initial work, I politely fired them.
3 Don’t jump from one strategy to another, one tutor to another, one instrument to another. Though I use all I have learned over 33 years, it is only in the past five years that I have learned to be patient enough, and organized enough with writing stuff down, that I finally get to profit from my efforts over half my life.
4 You have said “Discretion for me is impossible. I look at that chart most times and have no idea what to do.” Anyone who thinks that the charts can tell them for sure which way the market is going is lying to you and themselves. Looking at two or three indicators in conjunction with the general market direction viewed from the charts is the basis on which a strategy (and plan) can be backtested to determine if there would have been an edge. And I agree with you. My ideal plan is 100% mechanical. But you have to get to the basic plan in the first place that has a chance of being right 60% of the time (for a 1:1 reward/risk trade). It is only this last year that I have put in the time to do this, which has severely cut down my actual trading frequency, and has most likely produced an edge, though it is way too early to declare that as a success.
Whether you stay interested in investment and trading or you find other pursuits, please remember the risk management lessons. They will positively impact your life, even outside of trading.
best of luck with what you choose to do.