Hello, I have been trading for the past 1 year and have no profits to show I demo traded and went to live and lost it came back to demo trade but didn’t had the patience so again came back to live account with a small investment lost about 90% of that money within a few weeks but after that I decided to be really serious and I started watching some interviews on youtube about retail traders being successful and that got me motivated in taking this business more seriously and I went on to trade the D1 timeframe and became more patient and disicplined in my trading and recovered the money that I lost in the last four months of 2014 and was thinking that finally it is my time to earn money now as my trades were consistently going positive for 4 months. And I am a student as well doing engineering and currently in my 3rd year and I never really liked it but I hadn’t had that many choices either and now when I am in my 3rd year I feel that I am not happy in what I am doing right now but sometimes think that is it because of forex trading that has caused me in being disturbed from my studies and am in a tension. I am very much interested in forex market and the potential that it has and the freedom that you get and by that I mean do not have a daily 8-5 desk job and it is like every single day is the same and I have never liked that but forex trading is also full of risk and you can’t simply rely on trading by being a few months profitable you have to be atleast 2-3 years of consistent profit in my view and also should have a good capital to rely on it and I am just so fat up of my studies that I don’t have that much time for forex these days so I don’t know what should I do because this is the first time that I have been doing better in my trading and don’t wanna leave it like this but sometimes I feel it is disturbing my stuides as well really confused about what should I do…
Occupied by studies and trading D1? It’s either this or this. And nobody sane will tell You to drop studies - focus on it and dream that the diploma is Your back-up.
In first year I barely made over 20% of what I put in, and first 6 months was redepositing. If You made it back then You are on a good way to do it, but You don’t have enough time to focus on it in 100%.
Ever considered short term trades? Swinging on M5/M15 while having Your nose in the books? 
FX5 MACD with STOCH is good for it, and it has an alert for entries. Anyway anything that doesn’t make You keep your trades open overnight or while at university will suit You best.
PS. What kind of strategy You use?
Never quit. I took a hiatus from trading in the 2000-aughts and I wish I hadn’t. Reduce your position size to stretch out your experience. Don’t worry about how many dollars you are going to make, or have made, or have not made, or whatever. If you are going into draw down, trade smaller and smaller until you turn it around. Approach zero asymptotically so that you can trade forever while working on discipline. Marty Schwartz was not profitable until year 10.
As they say, 95% of traders fail (I’m not corroborating this, the fact I s often disputed but it IS said very regularly) so taking that on-board, your studies have to be your priority. You’ve invested too much time & money in them to turn your back on your education so if need be, make changes to your course etc to make you happier, knuckle down & earn your degree.
If you do become consistently profitable, you’ve already said that you are going to need a decent investment capital & just how do you think that you are going to get that? Yup, you are going to have to use that degree, get yourself a job & start saving so FX isn’t your immediate “out” from the rat-race.
Stick with the daily TF & just dip in & out when time allows but keep a hand in the market & just keep monitoring just how successful your trading is.
In the long run, you may be a great trader but even so, you may need to slog your guts out working long hours to get money behind you while still finding time to trade. The learning in FX never stops as well so it’s a long & time consuming journey that can all be overwhelming but the things in life that are worth having aren’t handed to us on silver platters. Personally, I work a full-time job, I’ve got a family & I’ve got hobbies so time is an issue - however I have my goals in forex & I just have to bump them up my priority list & make time for them. Don’t kill your social life completely (everyone needs friends), but can that pint after 5-aside on a Wednesday night be skipped to give you an extra hour on the charts. It’s all about the hard choices - see the photo below.
[QUOTE=“aniskazi;675442”]Hello, I have been trading for the past 1 year and have no profits to show I demo traded and went to live and lost it came back to demo trade but didn’t had the patience so again came back to live account with a small investment lost about 90% of that money within a few weeks but after that I decided to be really serious and I started watching some interviews on youtube about retail traders being successful and that got me motivated in taking this business more seriously and I went on to trade the D1 timeframe and became more patient and disicplined in my trading and recovered the money that I lost in the last four months of 2014 and was thinking that finally it is my time to earn money now as my trades were consistently going positive for 4 months. And I am a student as well doing engineering and currently in my 3rd year and I never really liked it but I hadn’t had that many choices either and now when I am in my 3rd year I feel that I am not happy in what I am doing right now but sometimes think that is it because of forex trading that has caused me in being disturbed from my studies and am in a tension. I am very much interested in forex market and the potential that it has and the freedom that you get and by that I mean do not have a daily 8-5 desk job and it is like every single day is the same and I have never liked that but forex trading is also full of risk and you can’t simply rely on trading by being a few months profitable you have to be atleast 2-3 years of consistent profit in my view and also should have a good capital to rely on it and I am just so fat up of my studies that I don’t have that much time for forex these days so I don’t know what should I do because this is the first time that I have been doing better in my trading and don’t wanna leave it like this but sometimes I feel it is disturbing my stuides as well really confused about what should I do…[/QUOTE] You won’t be anywhere near to being ready to trade full time until you have at least a few years under your belt as well as a $50k trading account with living expenses sent aside in another account. Having been through engineering school and having started trading during the last year of it, I know exactly how difficult it can be to focus on both (both demand a lot of focus to do well in). I wouldn’t say it’s time to quit… But it seems like you need to re-evaluate your expectations. Finish school and get an engineering job, while continuing to chug along with trading. Keep your expectations for trading realistic, and work on building your capital and preserving it. Give yourself 5 years after graduating and working while trading before thinking about making the jump to full time. If that timeline doesn’t appeal to you then it may indeed be best to quit, otherwise the impatience will lead to many blown accounts.
Ok look.
One of the biggest problems when it comes to folks starting trading, is this incredibly unrealistic expectation that they will be profitable instantly. Traders fall on a bell curve. Some suck and are simply nothing but donators. Some are lucky, and from day one can nail every single trade and amass a small fortune in no time. The majority (I’d argue) fall in the middle.
When they’re “winning” the world is cherry. They’re happy, and more importantly- confident. When they’re “losing”, they want to throw the towel in. They’re depressed, emotional, and more importantly- lacking any shred of confidence in their ability.
This question “should I quit”- the second word in that sentence is “I”. How can I tell you what you should do? This is something you need to analyze on an incredibly immense personal level. No matter what you share with us here, no one can truly answer this question for you.
Trading is not easy.
Life is not easy.
Anything worth achieving is going to be difficult. In the beginning, in the middle and in the end.
Market dynamics are constantly changing.
You need to be able to adapt on the fly, or, you’ll be squatted like one.
What does this equate to?
You need to work on erasing any doubt in your mind and believe in yourself.
True confidence is internal- not external.
Listen, your mind is not wired to become a trader. Literally.
We are human beings. We require three things to exist: Food, shelter and companionship. Our sole goal on this planet is to procreate and pass our knowledge down onto further generations to survive through our genetic coding / DNA.
Most people subscribe to the idea that human beings evolved from a primate type animal.
For the majority of the time which “humans” have existed, we have not been as intelligent or technologically advanced as we are right now, in 2015. Our primary functions were food, shelter and companionship.
Competition was a major part of our past (and, to a different extent still is today).
Back then, competition was a genetic way to ensure survival.
It was a way “dumber” hominids tricked themselves into ensuring that our species would be carried forward from generation to generation. Amongst a small pack of non-evolved humanoids, the male who was the fastest, strongest, smartest was able to mate with the females. This bred envy amongst other males- competition.
This system of survival still exists today- it’s just been co-opted by car companies, watch makers, clothiers, etc etc.
Males compete for the right to mate.
Losing (in terms of not being able to compete competently) might have directly meant the extinguishment of your blood line, and [B]more importantly[/B], your species.
How does this equate to trading?
If you’ve been reading this post in-between the lines, you’ll already know the answer.
WE AS HUMANS DON’T LIKE LOSING.
Period.
Even if you’re too “adult” to admit it, sub-consciously, you want to avoid “losing” at all costs.
When it comes to trading, the enemy is yourself. You are competing against your own ability. When you “lose” it stings “twice” as hard. Why?
Well, because you lost in the first place, but, worst of all, you lost to yourself!
There is no one to blame but yourself.
[B][U]LOSING IS A PART OF TRADING.[/U][/B]
[B][U]LOSING IS A PART OF TRADING.[/U][/B]
[B][U]LOSING IS A PART OF TRADING.[/U][/B]
New folks simply can not drill this into their mind.
Whether it is blowing 5 accounts in your first 2 years, or, taking a hit as a veteran. We ALL deal with this. It’s in ALL of our DNA.
Here’s what you need to do.
Understand, that learning how to trade profitably is a process- like anything else.
You know what it requires.
If you want to quit, then quit.
If you’re a stubborn motherfu@#$@#r like me, then you will never be able to give it up.
They say that if you’re doing what you love, everyday, then it’s like you’ve never worked a day in your life.
If you are truly passionate about trading, and are willing to dedicate yourself to the practice, then who the @#$ would I be to tell you to quit on some internet forum?
You need to wake up, every single morning, and look in the mirror and assess your goals.
Trading profitably has the potential to open up doors you could have never imagined. It can be life changing. Indeed.
If you are passionate about trading, then you need to look back into that mirror, and realize that every single answer to every single question you will ever have is inside you. Find that internal confidence, nurture it, and over time you will find yourself looking into the eyes of a completely different human being.
Jake
Maybe consider what time frame you’re using. You can trade a higher time frame and only 1 pair. All you need is a couple hours during the weekend and maybe 20 mins a day.