Once, I feel a bit more comfortable, I can move on to the next one. It certainly triggers pain censors to see beautiful setups, and purposely do nothing…
I’m liking this new study routine. Basically, I take a break after completing a given amount of work, instead of taking a break after a given amount of time.
If I take a break every 25 minutes, well, I can do whatever I want for 25 minutes (work, surf the net, stare at the wall, etc), then take a break. There’s no motivation or any guarantee that any work will get done.
But taking a break after an amount of work guarantees that work will be done.
My goal was to practice 100 trades. I checked my tally, and I completed 105. I feel like I need some more practice. I don’t wanna do this practice forever. But I know that if I’m not trading properly, then what’s the point of moving on? I should be able to trade all my charts better. I’m trading most of my practice charts well. But there are maybe 4 or 5 out of 27 that I’m still not trading well.
It takes time to get a strategy perfect. I know I sound impatient, but I don’t wanna wait until I’m perfect. Perfection isn’t necessary to be profitable. I wanna get back to trading live, but I gotta do it the smart way—not rushed.
Well, next on my list is contradictory signals, which are a part of this same strategy. It’s just about when to hold, and when to keep trading.
I’m gonna keep with this strategy for this month. Starting in January, I’m gonna move on to the next one.
This sucks. Medicine never tastes good.
I practiced a new chart and nailed it! For the first time, I traded a new chart and did the right thing. However, I still had some doubt about the entry.
Also, the other two charts that I practiced for the first time I completely missed the entry. Of course, I get familiar with the charts and the second time around I trade better, sometimes.
Gotta keep practicing. Patience, young padawan.
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I’ve been educating myself about investing, financial discipline, etc over the past few years.
My personal preference is books over youtube videos. If I need help repairing brakes or an electrical outlet, I’ll watch youtube tutorials. But when it comes to finance, I prefer books. They’re much more in depth. I’m not saying that there’s nothing to gain from searching for finance videos. I’ve learned tons from Dave Ramsey’s videos. That guy changed my views on personal finance a lot. I feel like youtube is good for tips, or small pieces of information.
But when I need to understand a broader idea, I prefer books.
I’ve noticed that a lot of men don’t like to read. I can understand that. For some people, reading makes them tired. I get it. But, isn’t the information valuable enough to suffer through 15 minutes of reading before bed?
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Part of me is curious about successful traders who create a mentor business and sell their course.
Sure, some of them are fakes. Some of them are real, however. These are guys who learned how to trade well.
I understand that if you’re trading well, and you want to manage other people’s money in order to make more money for yourself. I get that. That’s how you step out of $X,000s and into $X,000,000s, instead of raising the money on your own.
But what I don’t understand is how you’re trading well, and you take the time to develop a course and promote it.
Maybe writing a book. I get that. You wanna share your story and help others. That could be a one-time thing. But doing ongoing mentorship and constantly defending yourself online…to me it seems like it’s not worth the hassle.
There’s a lot of people just on this forum that if they were profiting $10k a month, they’d vanish and you’d never know their name or their face–just their screen name.
Imagine you finally are profiting enough to quit your job, now you have all the free time to do whatever you want. And you just create another job for yourself? Why not occupy yourself with your hobbies? Go make birdhouses, or play chess in the park, or spend time with loved ones. No, instead I’m gonna defend my authentic trading results against non-believers on facebook.
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One or two very successful traders who were professors or teachers first have done so, I am told. Possibly they missed teaching? Apart from those one or two, I share your puzzlement.
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OK, yeah. That makes sense to me. It could be the next phase in their journey of teaching. For them, it provides a sense of fulfillment.
Maybe that’s what some of the course sellers want. They want the satisfaction of teaching; money, alone, wasn’t enough.
Could be. Who knows? haha
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I am moving in the opposite direction. Until now I am a teacher (private tutor for kids), now wanting the satisfaction of money!
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There’s no way to know for sure what the gurus are up to. It’s best to be skeptical. I like to err on the side of caution and think they might be after more money and celebrity status.
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I just finished my trading for the day, and there’s nothing to do. I’m still focusing on my very simple strategy, and I’ve been crossing the days off my calendar.
I finished practicing my first strategy. Now, I’m collecting samples for contradictory signals. I’m about halfway done. I’m collecting 26 samples, and I have 18 so far.
My schedule is now work-driven, not time-driven, so I’m actually getting waaay more work done. I’m not trying to skip steps, but I’m not trying to take my merry old time either. I’m trying to improve my trading…not tomorrow, not today, but yesterday. Rushing, but patient.
Patience, young padawan.
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I just finished my trading for the day. Nothing’s going on–just checking up on trades. One AUD pair is about to retrace, and I thought of closing my position, trading the retrace, then jumping back on the trend when it resumes.
I had to remind myself that’s not what I’m focusing on right now. So, I decided to leave it alone and hold.
Now, I’m still regretting that super easy trade that I purposely let go. It seriously would have been a homerun, and I knew it. Sure, part of me was scared, as usual. I marked it as a trade I would like to take, and it was correct. It would have completely changed my profit margin.
I’m trying to get back to trading live. If I see a super obvious setup, I’m taking it next time. No point wasting time.
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I just finished preparing 26 practice charts for contradictory signals. I expected it to take four days, but I was being intentional and deliberate. I managed to get it done in two and a half days.
My mouse finger is exhausted. My click finger started twitching again. I started doing hand exercises while preparing the charts.
Right now, I’m taking a break and enjoying a small bag of popcorn chips.
They’re pretty good, but they don’t beat pork rinds!
You know, it felt good to be busy and have a goal. But the reality is that just because you’re busy, it doesn’t mean you’re accomplishing anything. Making these charts are necessary for my practice and study, but they don’t produce profit. Actual trading produces the profit. Being busy just feels good, but it’s not actually productive.
I hope that makes sense.
So, I made my charts with contradictory signals, and I even threw in a few fakeouts, just to test myself. I should be able to tell the difference between contradictory signals that I should follow, and the ones I should ignore.
Next, I have to practice the charts. It’ll take about two weeks.
Patience, young padawan.
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I started trading forex in 2005 and became successful in 2015, it took me 10 years, so Patience is key if this is what you desire.
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That’s an amazing example of perseverance. Good on you!
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On my first day of practicing contradictory signs, I didn’t do well at all. There were contradictory signs that I failed to follow, and I missed out on the trade.
On the bright side, there was a trade with fakeout signs that I ignored, and I traded that setup correctly. However, I wasn’t confident when I took the trade, and I should’ve been.
I don’t mean confident in the outcome, but confident that I should take it according to my strategy. After 150 trades in similar setups, I should be confident by now.
I can always go back and practice more, if I need to.
I felt a bit discouraged after losing and missing out on those trades. I reminded myself that this is the whole point of practice.
At the same time, though, I realized that I wasn’t sure exactly what I was supposed to be doing. I thought I did, but I didn’t. Did I want to trade the contradictory signs? Stay out? Wait?
I need to get that clear before I go any further.
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I had some difficulty learning how to trade because I was an over the road truck driver and I eventually became an owner operated company. If you have a full time job, it’s kind of hard to learn how to trade and to learn from your mistakes if you rely on other sources for income.
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Yeah, you’re right. And that’s when the ¨do or die¨ or ¨no plan B¨ mentality comes in. If you’re determined to make forex work, and you see the potential it has, then quitting that job might be necessary.
¨You must be willing to sacrifice what you are, for what you could become.¨
If a job is too demanding, then taking a job at McDonalds or some other minimum wage job might be necessary. Perhaps one might need to reduce his work hours, and live in his car. Maybe buy a mobile camper. If people start calling you crazy, that’s a sign you’re on the right path, in my opinion.
With the job, maybe you only get 2 hours to study a day. Reaching profitability might take you 7 years, like that. But without the job, it could take you 3 years. It’s all a personal call.
In the end, @SmallPaul you did well for yourself. It was worth it, right? How do you feel when you look back at your challenging moments?
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About seven or so years ago I was friendly with a guy who was rather financially well off. He told me that he was trading stocks on his phone.
I just realized that had I been smart, I could’ve asked him to explain to me how that works. Nope. It just went over my head, and I never even thought twice about it. Until now.
There are opportunities all around us, but we often fail to recognize them as such.
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These trades with contradictory signals are taking me longer to complete. They require more thinking. I’m definitely snacking more, haha.
I’m trading decently, but I’m still feeling some anxiety over my trades. Complete separation is quite difficult. I want to be confident on my decisions.
There are still some trades that I’m completely missing. I actually ended up chasing price on one trade. What happened was that I decided it was ok to bring back a strategy that involves trading when there is NO signal. It’s tricky and, if used during the wrong conditions, costly. It’s a very handy strategy, but it can be very distracting. It shifts my focus onto short-term profit, instead of long-term profit.
I’m also missing out on some really nice pyramid opportunities. But now’s not the time to give attention to pyramiding. I can do that later, as it’s patience-testing.
For now, I’m just working on knowing when to hold.