Trying for 10 years - Give up?

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Hi all,

I’ve been trying now for the past 10 years to get somewhere with currency trading, bit of a late introduction after resgistering on here 7 years ago!

I have a solid understanding of charts and indicators but likely holes in that knowledge that I’m not even aware of.

I know consistency and risk management (I slipped up on this one yesterday…) is key and only using a few handy indicators/drawing tools.

I find it very difficult to ignore noise and stay disciplined. If anyone has some good advice then I’m all ears, I would love to find a trading mentor but there are a high percentage of bullshitters online out there these days it’s hard to come across someone who can focus me in the direction that’s right for my style (and identify that style or tell me to pack up shop!)

I’m not expecting to stumble upon a holy grail, just get it to click a bit more for me and know what I’m doing on charts is well founded. I don’t want to be mega rich, super quick, I’d just like to defeat this beast and know I can find healthy ways to enjoy trading knowing that I’m doing everything I can to prevent a crash. Need to find some finesse.

I’ve been through most of the trading academy but I’m sure it couldn’t hurt to go through again.

Hopefully an old hand on here could jump in.

Cheers
T

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You can’t know everything and you can’t be good at everything and you can’t do everything all at once. Break the issue down into specific and limited problems. Find out what you need to know to resolve each and solve them by test and trial one at a time.

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I suspect this could be the source of your difficulties?
What time frame do you usually use? One approach could be to use a longer term, say 4 hr and/or daily, and then avoid looking at your charts between each period end.

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I feel for ya - it also took me many years.

I don’t want to talk much about systems and timeframes - there is enough of that already - but it would be interesting to know how you are doing it - maybe there a few pointers some on this forum can suggest.

For me though the best thing I actually did was move back to demo trading after my account was left with nothing in it.

I didn’t blow up as such, instead I suffered a death of a thousand cuts.

I then spent a full year demo trading which meant I finally moved past all my previous losses and the revenge trading that came with it.

I actually started to enjoy trading again - it was like all that bad karma had been released.

But it still didn’t come all at once. There were still ups and downs.

I think many assume one day you suck as a trader and the next moment when it all clicks you are some big swinging ■■■■.

It doesn’t happen like that.

Even when you start making money you still have a tendency to mess up.

Traders at this stage often go to pieces and slip back into error.

You may even have been at this stage yourself.

It’s a slow grind becoming a profitable trader and it will not come over night.

If you haven’t read any of the Brett Steenbarger books I suggest you do - his focus is on trading performance psychology, not cognitive psychology that is common with other psychology of trading books.

Much of what he writes just makes sense.

One of my fav books on trading is called Trading for a living by Gary Smith - it’s an older book now - but tells his own story in there - it took him 25 years to be profitable.

It took legend Buddy Schwartz nine - so don’t beat yourself up - your likely closer than you think.

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@tommor

I will consider this and see if I can iron out all the problems first before trying a new focused path.

@SovoS

Yes this, and watching / reading material that seems like a good way to learn from other peoples’ mistakes, but I then get sidetracked from anything I was focused on and go off on a tangent thinking their advice will help focus me in. But it does the opposite.

With timeframes, I do always start with the overall trend on the daily chart, but once I have carried out analysis I will try to go into the smaller timeframes to nail in the entry point for whichever the position would be. This can drive me a bit nuts because I can see from the impulses or patterns on the higher time frame that I have a good setup, but then I get obsessive over the smaller timeframes trying to work out a good entry.

I do spend a lot of time in front of charts and read something recently that pointed out about over use of charts - it would seem I have a slight obsession!

@Johnscott31

I can relate to this…

:joy: - I guess it’s something like the business I run, it didn’t just become profitable. 2 years into this one and nothing has clicked per se, just fallen into place very slowly! Although it doesn’t turn huge profits yet, it’s on it’s way to organically grow.

I will look into those books, thank you for the suggestions.

–

I appreciate all of your constructive comments, I might be over thinking the problems to this blocker and they may be simpler than I think they are.

Any other tips or book recommendations are welcome.

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ask me some specific question, i may be able to chip in 2 cents worth of advice…

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@alphahavoc, well… I’ve got three questions in that case:

  1. How many pairs/stocks at any given time will you focus on?
  2. What time do you carry out an analysis of those charts?
  3. If you see a good looking setup, will you set your orders and walk away for the day? (For example, would you wake up at 0600 and look for your trade setups for 30 to 45 mins then place your orders ready for if your predictions play out?)

I find it hard to grasp what healthy trading looks like (aside from making a profit of course!)

I find it hard to stick to plans, going back to distractions etc. - I’m very easily side tracked

One more question whilst thinking about it, how much detail do people actually put in their trading logs? Date/time, pair/stock, entry price, stops, TP, result, screenshots of charts with annotations?

I think I have a good grasp of reading patterns in charts, but then finding the entry from those patterns I am not consistent with - just discipline or am I missing something else?

Lots of questions, they may be stupid, but sometimes I wonder if what I’ve learnt and practised looks anywhere near what a profitable trader’s routine looks like.

:v:

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Very good advice. It always comes down to ones own psychology. I’m in the middle of my psychology battles right now. I don’t listen to much noise but at the same time if you follow the noise, follow your reaction to the noise, listen to the outcome, study that outcome, and finally learn from the outcome.

Read the book.

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Started reading some books today.

Eyes are opening. I will continue to read into the psychology and risk management.

I’ll make a plan and report back in a couple of months - I will first consider whether to go back to a demo account and practice methods there.

Thanks again for the pip-talk from you all :nerd_face:

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One pair at a time. When a trader trade with sincerity, they can move mountain. As long as you focus on doing it in good faith, impossible is a myth.

During weekends, choose a comfortable and quiet place to INTERPRET your data. “Quiet the mind, and the soul will speak.” …

No, i do not. When I’m trading, I’m two beings. There’s the one monitoring the distance between myself and the camera, making sure I hit my marks (greed), and there is the one driven by this inner fire, this delicious fear. Face your inner beast with austerity, build your stamina!

More importantly, are you documenting your thoughts for taking that trade. “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking."

There is no limit to the sea of ​​learning. Keep swimming, either sink or swim!

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