I totally agree. A wise man has said: “Believe in yourself and you will be unstoppable”. Whatever trading method you use, you should use it and stick with it preferably on a demo account. If you make money with it then continue with it religiously. Start with small account and build up a sizable account rather than thinking about being a millionaire in a year or so - and give up the 9-5 job. That all will come in due course.
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If you haven’t journaled, I say start.
Take a look at 20 trades and look at why the trade ended in a loss.
Take a tally, and I’m pretty sure you’re gonna repeat the same mistakes.
Choose a strategy that you feel comfortable with and work it out. Unless you find a reason that the strategy is unprofitable.
Keep going!
What is meant hear by “market maker trading”? They have lots of money and I think they can take buy and sell trades - which the retail trader cannot do unless they are trading spot market and future markets - a kind of hedging which require active trade management in addition to risk management and money management.
This is a cry for help, a cry to understand what’s happening on the market. Screw the entries and exits, screw the indicators, in fact screw YouTube(for now).
You want a simple strategy, something that teaches you about the market at the same time. Nothing complex but able to grasp.
Please, have a look at Richard D Wyckoff, read his schematics, take notes, back test. Please give this a go. In time you’ll have your “aha” moment. His teachings are applied to stocks but his principles can be applied to forex.
Search up Richard D Wyckoff, school stockcharts
Please get back to me, tell me what you think, you’ve been going strong for 5 years, support is finally here.
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Hello, i started training in trading few months ago but i’m really passionate about it. I’d like to know your story, how did you start, how did you learn and so on.
What i have learned so far is that in order to trade you have to understand the mechanics behind the market and manage your attitude about risk management THEN chart and indicators readings. Chart reading seems really overrated. But it’s cool and fascinating and you can monetized it really easy on YT.
Who wants to listen to interest rates and GDP when you can take a guess looking at cool looking candles and magical indicators that will tell you the future!
I agree. To be honest, I recommend reviewing trades on W1 and draw your trendlines there. Then go to D1 to enter/exit trades. Just a suggestion.
Have you read The Disciplined Trader? That book is a game changer for me. Perhaps it will be helpful to you.
It started as a way to try and make money online. I started with stocks but realized I could not do that due to the PDT rule. And then the big Fx plunge began. This strategy, that strategy. This indicator, that indicator. This mentor, then that one. This EA… You get the picture. I never settled on anything. I mean I knew I was going to have losing trades. But it was a combo of both losing and not knowing what I was doing. So there we are, 5 years later.
Just telling me to ‘go practice’ does not do anything for me.
I’ll give you a few easy examples. When a previous mentor tells me what I can start with a few 100 bucks in my account and still trade, but only risk 1% of my account. But then when you actually look at position size calculator you really need about $500 in your account for some trades to risk only 1%.
My main problem is the subjectivity with trading support and resistance. I this the right area? Or maybe another? Cause it can change depending on the specific candle or candles you are analyzing. Also we understand that generally it is considered a ‘zone’. But no discussion on what to do when PA gets to that zone. Do we wait for specific candles to enter? What if its a big zone? What if its a fake out?
What about break and retest, and what if PA just blows thru your area and never comes back? What is rejection? A specific candle or wick? No clue. You see the trouble I’m having here. I cannot get these straight answers. All I get is cherry picked examples, and then I’m told to go practice. So I go practice and have no idea what I am doing. Then I get mad and want to put my fist thru the screen.
I think you get my flavor…
Your Flavor Stinks mate.
You mentioned within 5 years, you do not know anything? What have you been learning thus far. I bet in another 10 years, you will never understand anything, not even the basics.
In any given subjects, learn and master the fundamentals, before you move on to anything advance.
Truly this industry is not for you. You seem to have more excuses than efforts to search for your answers. Go and find something else.
Forex traders, brokers nor institutions does not miss you at all.
You deserve a much harsher advice.
And you will also fail in other industry if you have this shiny object syndrome.
Ask yourself in the beginning, what can you achieve from this FX trading?
I bet you are searching for a holy grail of Buy/Sell button that can profit instantaneously.
The dreams of having a red lambo and a big mansion near a beach.
Bring your laptop with charts near a swimming pool with a glass of vodka.
No need to learn, just pay the developer and click few buttons and you set to go. Dream on dude!!!
Trading CFDs may not be suitable for everyone.
So move on and switch to something that you are passionate about.
Don’t chase for money, it will comes naturally from your sincere efforts.
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.
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Market makers are hedging yes. We following them does not mean we have to trade exactly like they do. This is impossible. However by understanding what they are doing, we have a big edge in our trading and can trade with them.
Example of having that edge. You read where liquidity is placed in the market.
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This is what you get with typical retail trading. Do not fall back in that gut. Your experience is not lying.
If you want some good Youtube videos about market maker trading I can link them to you. They are free. If you need a mentor, who is precise and direct, I can be of help as well. This is not a must, but it all depends on your wants and needs.
I have to say this. It will take effort. One of my logbooks is 400+ pages for example. I have notes consisting of 100+ pages as well.
Just let me know what you want.
I understand how you feel. I’ve only been trading for 9 months and I’ve come to the conclusion that if my trades aren’t being manipulated by someone behind the scenes then, I can only assume the market is possessed by some mischievous demonic entity, lol.
That said, I haven’t reached the breaking point that you have yet and after reading about your frustration regarding support and resistance I think this guy, Rayner Teo (TradingWithRayner) might be what you’re looking for. He’s on Youtube and I purchased his book, Price Action Trading Secrets, from Amazon for £10. It’s very good. Here are a few of his videos on support and resistance:
Good luck.
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