Hi there, just getting my feet wet, seriously, with forex now…I’ve read up on it before, but I want to make a go of it now. I’m starting with the free courses here, and I grabbed a demo account from FXCM just today. Any advice for a new guy appreciated. also, one question…information, intelligence, if you will, on worldwide markets are the key to determining trends, it seems to me. what are your bedrock info sources? do you go with what’s out there in the MSM? or are you checking sites like shadowstats, or gerald celente’s site, or all of the above?
Welcome to the site:)
As far as advice goes, here’s a few things I learned the hard way.
First off, charts tell you all.
You can study, stuff your head with info, read day and night, watch every financial bit on TV you can find, and find yourself in a state of utter confusion.
Charts will tell you when money is scared, scarce, or plentiful.
Check the timing of announcements. (unemployment rate, interest rate decisions, GDP, and the like) There are plenty of sites available with the info on those. While you’re learning, stay out of the market around those times. It will save you some heartbeats:D
Stick with just one pair until you get a handle on it.
And don’t neglect money management strategies.
Cheers!
My advice (and I’m still working on this myself) is don’t do like I did and form a bunch of bad habits demo trading just because it’s not real money. Bad habits are easy to make and hard as hell to break. To learn from demo you have to treat it like it’s the real thing. That means learning to trade without having any significant drawdowns. That’s the hardest thing to master. Profits are a cakewalk after that. In fact, if you can trade a full week with no drawdown, you are guranteed a profit by definition. It doesn’t mater if it’s only one pip profit in the begining. Over time if you focus on controlling your drawdowns, the profits seem to come almost by accident.
The trick really isn’t making profits. Any 2 year old can hit the buy or sell button and make a profit half the time. Hell, my cat could do that. The trick is not losing all your profits back to drawdowns. Until you can trade week after week without incuring drawdowns at the end of the week, keep learning and practicing on demo. Once you’ve learned to trade without drawdowns, all the rest is easy. Like I said, if you are trading week after week without drawdowns, a profit is assured.
Happy Trading