Starting Out

Beginner Questions
1

Hello,

I have been grazing the newbie section here and am currently doing the BP school course.

I have a couple questions so far and mea cupla if it is a rehash and I missed it.

Fx is fantastically interesting to me in all respects, but I am really wondering as to how many people got their start? It seems that trail by fire is very common with a mix of internet research. It appears , from what I am reading that a practice or dummy account is almost in no way indicative of how you you will perform live.

Is that because of stress or dummy accounts being set up differently then live ones?

I keep reading about ECN vs bucketshops… …ECN seems the way to go what is the differentiator other then practices?

A glom on to the above question. I see people asking where to trade etc… and the most common respsonse is that eprson favorite OR an assortment left up to personal preference. I find this hard to fathom and generally in most things there is clear top 2-3 firms group. Is this not the case here?

Assuming one is successfull and takes this on as a full time job, what is average learning curve/time if you are completely devoted to it? I know this is a tough and very speculative question but I am saying to get into a rythm and not be a COMPLETE babe in the woods;)

I personally can read for days and do all the online things possible, but experiance is the best and IMHO only real teacher. I see systems for free, systems for sale and magic bullets all over the inet and I am quite hesitant to believe in anyone of them. Is there a firm I can go work for to learn or a mentor system? I need tog et my hands diurty and would prefere not to spend 10k to do it.

I need to watch someone do it and work with them before I can take the reigns I have found. I don’t want to just learn a system I want to learn about all indicators and variables and be able to constructively apply them to the currency markets to generate my own systems and formulas. I want to learn about everything not just go in and blindly hope to make money. Basically be able to really live in the charts and am I wrong in assuming to do that you need to to work with someone who is doing it already or do some people have a preternatural understanding of the currency markets?

Should I pare my starting account down to something small like 5 -10kUSD to start because I am led to believe most people end up crashing the first account or should I go and say here is 50kUSD and make a run?

Should I just trial by fire or buy or nip a free system as a mentoring/training process doesn’t exist?

At any rate thanks and I am sure I missing something, but I ( despite all suggestions and articles I have read) really want to take this up full time. It is fantastically interesting to me and seems more suited then stocks where you almost need insider information to really make a play. Also I didn’t go to an Ivy league school. Any help is appreciated as I can’t get enough of FX now and I really want to immerse myself in it, but I need guidance.

Thanks!
CjS

2

Demo for about 2 months, then go live

Like they say if you can’t make money in DEMO WORLD don’t bother with going live…

I have been Live trading over a month…and i LOVE IT…Don’t have alot of money so MINI Account is what i am doing $1000.00

Learned from BABYPIPS and FXCM 19.99 course, then just alot of INTERNET searching and reading…MY MAGIC SYSTEM that every one talks about is NOT having a system… seems to work for me …i use 2 indictors and listen to what is going on in the world and away i go…

FORGET Stocks! the key to making money here is LEVERAGING that is the beauty of currencies!
GOOD LUCK , the forums here are great…

3

It’s all in here just search.

http://forums.babypips.com/newbie-island/6127-newbie-questions.html

http://forums.babypips.com/newbie-island/6272-any-beginner-support-groups-i-can-join.html

:wishes:

4

Is that because of stress or dummy accounts being set up differently then live ones?

Totally, this is all about psychology which really comes into play when money is on the line

I keep reading about ECN vs bucketshops… …ECN seems the way to go what is the differentiator other then practices?

There are pros and cons for both. ECN is not an option when you start out because they require high deposits and in the case of mine the minimum trading size is 2.5 lots

Assuming one is successfull and takes this on as a full time job, what is average learning curve/time if you are completely devoted to it? I know this is a tough and very speculative question but I am saying to get into a rythm and not be a COMPLETE babe in the woods;)

3-10 years is most often quoted

I need to watch someone do it and work with them before I can take the reigns I have found. I don’t want to just learn a system I want to learn about all indicators and variables and be able to constructively apply them to the currency markets to generate my own systems and formulas. I want to learn about everything not just go in and blindly hope to make money. Basically be able to really live in the charts and am I wrong in assuming to do that you need to to work with someone who is doing it already or do some people have a preternatural understanding of the currency markets?

There are very few people who allow this

Should I pare my starting account down to something small like 5 -10kUSD to start because I am led to believe most people end up crashing the first account or should I go and say here is 50kUSD and make a run?

Absolutely YES. Its why I responded to your thread. Have an unassailable record on demo before going live and then trade with the minimum money possible when you feel ready. Its not the amount in your account its how much leverage you use thats the killer

Should I just trial by fire or buy or nip a free system as a mentoring/training process doesn’t exist?

Why not start with the Cowabunga system since it follows naturally from the end of school

Thanks!
  CjS[/QUOTE]
5

Tonymand has some vary good advice. The only thing that I heard different was that the learning curve was 1-3 years. But thats not anything to argue about.

As for MakemoneyorDie. I think that you should demo until you have atleast 3 months profits in a row. It always seems like when you start a new system you go on a winning streak for 2 months and then lose it all on the 3rd.

Pratice with a demo account with a balance that is equal to the amount of money you plan on going live with. Use MT4 software for this, you can set your own amount there. Don’t demo with $50,000 if you only have $500. How realistic is that?

When you go live start with a micro account, it is a nice transaction between demo and real money. And remember never risk more then 5% of you account on any one trade.

Good Luck

6

best advise I can give you is that the forex is an ART… give two people the same paint brush… they gonna paint different pictures…

7

Hi,

I have a question on your trading. . . . . what time frame do you use, is it 15 minute, 1 hr. or what? How long do you usually hold your trades for?

Thanks for a reply ahead of time.

8

To Pipit2me :

I think that it is very important that you go thro as many of the [U]past [/U]posts on this forum as you can.

Just about every question you can think of is posted there and then some.

You will then get every answer that you ever want.

There is nothing new under the sun - your questions have all been asked before and many times so.

So go thro those past posts and your wisdom re forex will increase markedly. :slight_smile:

9

My system is fairly easy…i use the Daily to find the trend then hourly to find where to get in…it seems to work for me…Read up on the Japenese candelstick patterns.

also watch the economy on all countries…I think the UK is going to have the same problem as us in the USA…mortgages etc… so just like the dollar has been getting beat up so will there’s…Good currencies to go long
EUR/GBP, GBP/USD, my focus is on them next week

I try not to get too wrapped up with indicators…i use a RSI 8periods
and i use a Moving average expo…both 8 periods i watch for the crossover to get in…works pretty good…also the PARABOLIC SAR is good on big trends

Hope this helps…that is the only way you are going to learn…no need to reinvent the wheel , do what other people do…

10

PIPIT2ME

Oh yea i forgot …i usually stay in a day…sometimes i will let it go overnight…I try and take any PIPS i can get…starting out small i am not going to get greedy, My goal is to make 25-50 pips a week right now and i am doing that…

i trade only Tues thru Thurs…i grab pips when i can…5 pips here 15 pips there… I look at it as FREE MONEY…Doesn’t cost me anything to click the mouse…

Are you getting EXCITED yet??? I was doing the same thing you were when, i started reading stuff in the FORUM 2 months ago…NOw i just have to figure out how to do this for a living…

11

Hi,

Thanks for your reply to my previous post. I still have some more questions for you. You are right I am excited about the Forex!! It’s kind of funny but I also did the FXCM beginning course for $20 and went through the Baby Pips School. I’m not making money yet consistently in my demo account and I think it is because I was using stops and getting stopped out! I used stops just like they taught us in the FXCM course. I think you have the right idea about not using stops, seeing it as free money, and keeping it simple. Do you use the Market Scope charts that are displayed with the FXCM trading station? What time of day do you usually trade? My time will be different then yours because I live in California. What did you say you use for your expon. moving average lines, it was 8 and what number was the other line? What leverage are you using?

Happy Trading Days!!

12

No problem…i am not expert by any means…what i am sharing with you works for me, if you can pick up something from this i hope it works…

anyway…i quit putting stops…i had the same problem in the begining i would get stopped out…people might say that is a receipe for losing all you money…but i am always watching my trades, so i don’t sleep on them. i know the course teached stop and limits but i keep losing in the beginning so i stopped doing it

I seem to be sucessful from 6pm eastern time to 11pm…i trade GBP/USD, EUR/USD…it seems tues,wed, thurs those days allow me to take profits but don’t panic i am usually in the negative but it goes the other way pretty fast
then i get out… trading mini account…10 lot trade at a time

This week is going to be JUICY alot of news going on…i still think GBP/USD is going down… well see …Take care

13

Im sorry RSI 8periods MOVING AVE EXPONETIONAL not the MACD one

8 periods on both…the RSI will be put at bottom of chart then you need to lay over the MOVING AVE EXP, so it lays over on top of it Just check overlay and pick the RSI one in the drop down…

14

Thank you for giving your side, every bit helps when you r new to this pip game; piping ant easy at all…

15

Hi,

It sounds like you are doing the 8and8 way of trading. Are you also using ATR? I will have to let you know how my trading is going once I apply some of these techniques you are using. Are you also using the Marketscope charts that come with the FXCM trading platform? What leverage are you using? Thanks!!

16

Yes that is one of the techniques i am using…Since i have an account with FXCM i am using the DAILYFX charts…i don’t use the charts on the there platform they are horrible…if you have an account with FXCM hit the research button on the platform and it will bring you there…

17

Go on youtube and type in forex - you’ll find a TON of useful information :slight_smile: