So, I have been trying to scalp the short time frames now for 2 years. I’m a classic boom buster. I have punched out two monitors now, and round house kicked one monitor, literally. I admit I have been trying to make trading my full time gig because I hate my regular job. I realize now that is probably one of my major problems, pressure to succeed causing over trading, and missing out on key signals. Over the last week I have been back testing a strategy using Daily charts.
Who here went from trading low time frames, (5 minute, 15 min, and 1 hour) to longer time frames and saw greater success with less trading, I’m talking way less trading? It seems even trading a 4 hour chart still gets you caught in market noise whereas trading a Daily you avoid a lot of that noise and snag the major inter week, and inter month moves. Also, if you did this, how did you adjust your risk? When scalping I was using a .10 of a lot per $1000 of capitol traded sometimes adjusted for previous bar price action. Looking at the Daily I’m thinking of .05 of a lot per $1000 traded with some adjustment based on previous price action.
You have to find whatever timeframe that works for you. It is well known that generally traders who trade on shorter timeframes fail quicker or more. Doesnt mean it cant be done though. With regards to risk you should only risk 1% a trade. So itll take 100 losers to blow your account.
Yep me for one. Much easier working on daily charts - for most people.
I went through a similar process.
Despite all the warnings I cannot fathom why newbies insist on the hardest type of trading - scalping - thinking they are going to be successful at it.
I mean why would you?
And for those who are successful day traders who will respond by saying well it all depends on your preference, or that it is no harder than end of day trading - please thing of the novice.
You are doing them no favours.
While technically speaking the charts might not be different the emotional aspect is poles apart.
The successful day trader processes information rapidly - probably enjoys shoot em video games or online poker.
But the majority are not like this
I have nothing against day trading but beginners please get profitable on a daily chart before you start playing in the big league!
If you hate your job - which I can relate to - your going to make a ton of trading mistakes. As you already alluded to you are rushing to make money so you can quit.
That will only bring problems.
Besides learning to trade you need to he
be skilling up in other areas that could enhance your job prospects.
What that will do is stop you from becoming so impulsive with your trading. Each trade will stop becoming quite so important.
It will also give you more positive well being - and more esteem (not saying you have low self esteem).
When we feel more positive about the direction of our life we becoming more disciplined - there are studies to prove this
If you can pick up a copy of Brett Steenbarger’s book Trading Psychology 2.0 - the main takeaway is that the old paradigm of enforcing trading discipline is outdated.
What we need to be doing is improving ourselves to improve our trading.
I spent 8 yrs as a losing/break even trader and I wish I had taken my own advice alot sooner.
I was beating myself up about the same thing. I’ve been wanting to so desperately get out of my daily job that I’ve been trying to make the short time frame trading work, that I’ve blown so many accounts. I’ve been so hard on myself. I’ve even thought that I was an idiot and just cannot grasp this concept and make a success out if it. I told someone yesterday that I need help on entry and exit points on the short time frame trades, but when I read the comments from the guys that responded to your questions, I realized that I actually am not stupid and that I am quite successful in the longer time frame trading. I place the trade and leave it. This helps me to do what I need to do without stressing what the market is doing and I can focus on what I need to focus on.
Trading takes time and patience. It’s emotionless. I am obviously not always correct with my trade, but I am so proud when I actually did make profit, Even though I’ve traded in demo accounts.
Just be patient and do what works for you. Learn what you can. Try improving your skills more and more. That’s what I’ve been doing. Just never give up.
Yeah I def feel you on this. Have a look at the D1 and H4 for direction and get in M15 for less risk and higher profit. I used to trade way too much in the first few years and now I only do max 5 trades per week, only with the best setup. Good luck! all about managing the risk and profit to be successful
That’s very true a lot of traders have to fight with themselves, as part of the process towards achieving trading success; you need to find a balance and most importantly according to one of my past mentors - you need to be a black belt in “Patience”
Trading lower time frame in most cases its a bloodbath for all traders and its where the brokers get they daily bread. Losing or winning all depend on what you plan to get in the market.
Analyse your trades and try to build your skills first. Developing your skill does not depend on the time frame you trade but its inside your mind.
Risk only 1% per trade and if you have been demo trading with equity $10,000, then you switch live trading with $1000 you will fail.
Focus on the number of pips you can get from mr. market, by either having a risk to reward ratio 1:2 or 1:1.
Higher time frame will require wide stop loss and for your trading business to replace your job you need business capital. In trading equity is more important for your future growth, so try to first get enough equity if you want to survive serious drawdown before you master the skill.
Trust me demo trading will not help you to build patience, and your edge on demo may surprise you when you go live. Have your plan and trade your plan.
Learn to control your losses. Treat every trade in terms of probabilities and watch closely the main trend on weekly and daily before you enter a trade.
NB: There are 1000 ways to win and 1000 ways to loss money, and to master the skill of trading. Out of the 1000’s how many ways/ tactics have you mastered?. To succeed in any profession: patience, education, hard work and perservance will determine the 10% in the flied of trading. For your small equity your number one enemy is not the time frame but your position size.
Great thank you for sharing your experience, I’m about to go live too after studying and practicing demo for the past 1year6months. I feel like im ready to join the big league, since demo is now boring making a lot of profits that you cannot withdraw Anyway l understand it is the path of the journey
Well thank you for encouragement l will be awaiting for some trading tips also . I used to find it very difficult to make profit from trading demo sometimes l could make huge profits at the same time losses so if l combine them together l was always finding myself on breakeven, but I am finding helpful tips about market sentiment from babypips everyday when I check my emails. Mostly that is where I am getting information about how the currencies are performing that is helping me to identify the potentials before I jump in to my technical analysis, l don’t specialize on certain currency pairs l trade them all but l favor crosses most though it depends with the fundamentals. How did you manage also, l don’t wanna go through the same path that you took:sweat_smile: l although l understand that this game is not a get rich scheme it takes time, knowledge and practice
I can definitely relate to this. While I know some people that have and do well off scalping it was never really for me. I now mostly trade 12 hour charts and above, heaps less time on the screens and heaps more consistent! Except now I am struggling with the COVID lockdown and I find myself starting to look for setups that aren’t there!
Hence joining Babypips haha, a good distraction.
Hi,
Check out Mike Wolski’s journal journey at this link. I have read the entire post once over, and intend to read it all again until I understand the detail of what Mike is doing. On the subject of individual plans, I feel he is like a long lost brother, who may even write more than me. Last weekend, Mike did a thorough walk through of his previous week’s rationale and results (outstanding results) then went into his mindset of how he would reset the month and start all over again. Fascinating stuff. I don’t understand it all yet, but he’s been at it for ages, and I think now finally understands it all. I run projects like that and it often surprises me how much you get to know by the end of the process.
Emotions are a real problem for many traders and for many business representatives in general.
But over time, it passes. Perhaps you have not yet found the strategy that will bring you results on a permanent basis. Do not worry and carefully try what you are interested in.
Anyway l understand it is the path of the journey
. I used to find it very difficult to make profit from trading demo sometimes l could make huge profits at the same time losses so if l combine them together l was always finding myself on breakeven, but I am finding helpful tips about market sentiment from babypips everyday when I check my emails. Mostly that is where I am getting information about how the currencies are performing that is helping me to identify the potentials before I jump in to my technical analysis, l don’t specialize on certain currency pairs l trade them all but l favor crosses most 
though it depends with the fundamentals. How did you manage also, l don’t wanna go through the same path that you took:sweat_smile:
l although l understand that this game is not a get rich scheme it takes time, knowledge and practice