I have been interested in the stock market since I was a kid. Every time I looked into it I didn’t think I had the time, money or confidence to be successful. My circumstances have changed and forex is very interesting to me. I have read several, books, internet articles, and starting taking the babypips school and classes. I have a general strategy laid out and I would appreciate any constructive criticism veteran traders can offer.
Long Term Goal: I would like to be successful enough at forex trading in five years to quit my job and trade forex full time.
Broker: I decided to open an account with Oanda. Although they are a market maker, they are stable and reliable. I may switch to an ECN when I have more money and experience.
Question: Is this the right broker?
Investment: $1,000 I can afford to lose, 50:1, and $40,000 trade size.
Trading Hours: I plan to trade from 7 AM EST to 1 PM EST Monday to friday. I will pause trading for news. I will close out all positions the same day by 1 PM EST.
Pairs: EURUSD USDCHF AUDUSD
Question: Are these good pairs to focus on?
Charting: RSI, MACD, and Tick Volume
Question: Are these good indicators to look at for forex day trading?
Chart Intervals: I use 5 second, 10 second, 2 minute, 15 minute, 30 minute and 4 hour.
Question: Am I looking at the right intervals?
Trade Strategy
Win/Loss Percentage Goal: 60/40
Spread: Oanda round trip is typically 3 pips my trading hours. It can be a little higher or lower.
Taxes: I expect to lose 25% in taxes.
Take Profit/Stop Loss - I originally tried to trade 8 pips take profit and 3 pips stop loss. All of my trades became losers, because my stop loss was to tight. I decided to move to 15 pips take profit and 10 pips stop loss.
Trades per Day - In order for a pair to move about 20 pips, I will be in a trade for an hour or two. This means I can only average about 3 trades per day.
Trailing Stops - I originally had them, but they were stopping me out early. I got rid of these and decided to watch my trades more actively.
Question: Is this a realistic trade strategy?