Any advice? I’ve passed the stage of jumping from system to system trying to find what works. What happens when you realize that no mattter what combination of indicators and strategies you throw together you won’t find a magican system? What are the things that makes a person a successful trader once that is realized?
I don’t mean to sound condecending or pompus at all, but please only traders who have been profitable for 2+ years answer. What advice would you give to someone in my position?
You have taken the first step by realizing there is no magic system. The next step is to realize what you can do and what you can’t do.
Hi dominoe239.
I normally don’t post anyting on the board because of my bad english, but I hope you understand.
I think many traders struggles with the same problem, jumping from system to system trying to find the “holy grail”. Trading is a difficult business, and most traders don’t survive the learning process. However, most systems works if you add a couple of techniques like pricepatterns, fibonacci etc. I have been trading fibonacci since 2004, and fibs are very powerfull if you know how to apply them the correct way. Most videos and descriptions about fibs is focusing on single fibvalues. Using fibs this way, has no value at all, and you can just pick any random number. So what I’m saying is that it is a lot of wrong information out there, and if you add it wrong, it will make you lose. When you learn how to do it the correct way, you will realize that there is a lot of “hidden” S/R on your trading chart. You normally don’t see those levels because they never match up with normal swings for support and resistance and/or trendlines. Let me give you an example, you trade some kind of system, you get a “right in the face” setup. all indicators lines up perfect, you take the trade, and make your profit. After a couple of hours the exact same setup occurs again, you take the trade, and it goes against you from the first bar and gives you a stopout. Everything was the same as the first setup, but there was some hidden levels on that chart. If you knew about those levels you would never have taken the trade. That is why you can’t depend on indicators when trading. Trade priceinformation, and use only indicators for confirmation.
So, back to your question, now what? My best advice for you is to focus on one type of methology, ex. fibonacci combined with pricepatterns and a simple indicator like the trsi or stoch. The important thing is to get an “edge” on one methology, and stick to it. I also need to mention that money management is veeery important. If you are going to look closer into fibonacci, be sure to pick the mentors that will teach you the “correct” way. Hope that some of this info was useful, and I wish you the best of luck.
Sounds good, thanks!
First of all you need to decide which kind of approach, so you need to ask yourself these kind of questions. I’ve put my personal answers in brackets.
Which times do I want to trade? (Both major opening sessions)
How much time do I want to spend trading? (As little as humanly possible)
How much profit am I aiming for? (I’m not answering this here because it’ll send the thread into the how much profit discussion)
Do I want to be leaving trades on for hours and overnight? (I’d never leave a trade out of my site)
How much time do I want to spend analysing? (None)
How much time do I want to spend demo trading before I know I can go live profitably? (I can’t answer this because I didn’t think of it at this point at the time)
How much do you want to be withdrawing from my Forex business, (the less you take out, the more capital you have to make more profit)? (As little as possible, I have other income streams, it helps with the psychology, I’m not dependant on it!)
Do you want to be trading with indicators or not? (I don’t)
What are my psychological issues I need to tackle and how? (I had every conceivable psychological trading issue you will come across, I used NLP to sort them all out)
How much Capital will I be starting with (£1,000,000,000,000 
)
What are my expectations? (Mine were to make millions in months - I didn’t!)
I think if you answer these, it will give you quite an insight, but they will raise more questions, but you will find they are more specific - you will be heading in the right direction.
Note - most of the answers are what I do now rather than what I thought 3 years ago, so be prepared to find that your answers may change!
buddy… from someone who had 3 margins call…
proper money manangement is the most if not,one of the most impt factor in forex
hello chinoc,
would you share the way you combine Fibs, S/R & price info?
thank you
When you done playing with indicators,elliots , fibos, gann, etc. try an
artistic approach. Get a few ma or ema, aka 10,20, 40,100 in relation with the price ofcourse. Some pairs suits better for this aproach (us/gb).
On hourly charts after some uncertanty you will notice MA will position themself nicely making a colorful waterfall(if shorts) or the same in the opposite direction. Happens 2-4 times a week. On smaller time frames it happens more often. Fugure out where you can safely enter (use smaller time frame), stop loss is a must. Indicators and trendlines is an addition to that:).
Yes there really is a Holy Grail; it is ANY method of trading that is CONSISTENTLY profitable.
It is not a 100% or 90% win rate.
Anyone CONSISTENTLY making money has found the Holy Grail.
How does one know when one found a holy grail system? How many years of consistent profits? Sometimes things go good and just when I get more confident, then bam, the reverse happens. What if it is actually the markets that change and make ones system become unprofitable.
I 100% agree… Good money management can allow you to only win 30% of your trades, yet still make you profitable.
If a trader always sets his TP at 150 and SL at 50 (for example), then they only need 3 wins and would still be in front.
W = 150 * 3 = 450 pips
L = 50 * 7 = 350 pips
Profit = 100 pips
Anyone who dedicates themselves to learning Forex could easily win 3 out of 10 trades (30% win rate).