I tried to dabble in the forex market almost 8 years ago but never had any consistent results over time. Due to ill health I had to give up my two small businesses it was then I decided to really have a crack at it again and see if I could really ever end up earning a regular income from trading.
The last few months have been a game changer. Through tons and tons of studying and days on end studying price movement on the charts I have really started to achieve some amazing results (short term at least) All I want to say to another aspiring traders is that when you actually see it you look at the charts from a completely different side. I can’t explain it well I’m neither much of a writer or reader that’s why the study has been so hard but you will know when it clicks and you find your edge.
Much of the comments and school on this forum as well as a few member in particular here who have been helping me out have really given me a foundation to build a trading base or plan I should say.
I never had a trading plan or journal but now I do things are defiantly different.
Thankyou BabyPips Manxx Lexy and all others who help answer my questions
Awesome news you have a plan and its working out. I’m currently half way through the school and have been on and off for a fair while but mainly just with demo accounts. I work a lot so I don’t spend the time I would like too. Approx 1 to 2 hours a day! What do you use for your journal?
Hi Regan15, I was using a template that was uploaded on here a few months back when I asked about a journal. (a quick search on here will bring it up) However I no longer use it but information from it like targets r:r etc. I decided to make a simple template on a4 that I fill in and use for each trade or potential trade idea.
I left lots of space for notes like key levels etc I found it helps me to actually write it by hand helps me pay more attention to details and other confluences factors to help me judge my trading idea
Yeah nice one. I’m thinking of building a folder with dividers and break it down into the pairs I trade, which will give plenty of room to break down each trade and also reference back to things that were quite particular to that trade. Currently i’m working on learning and just doing 1 trade at a time so I can follow it and understand what I was thinking and if I was right, but I think with the right journal I could unleash a couple more trades at a time and still analyse them well. Myfxbook is pretty good too if you haven’t looked. Links directly to your account and gives you a good breakdown. Time is always my issue as I currently work long hours, but my end goal is to trade full time so just trying to get a grasp on things at the moment.
That is really great news, Daboss! and I am really pleased for you that you are getting results. I (and others) have often mentioned here how important it is to really understand what is actually going on when one looks at one’s charts, whether it is candlestick patterns, supports/resistances, or, and especially, especially indicators. It is not enough to just watch if the “blue one crosses the red one” and blindly place one’s bet.
You have really been putting in hours of study on price movement as well as on the other key areas of trade risk/reward and overall equity managment - and i am so happy to see it is now working for you.
One of the most important points that you make are that when you, as you put it yourself, previously only “dabbled” in forex you never got anywhere, but this time, when you started studying methodically and thoroughly, you got to profitability within a few months!! That is such a powerful testimony to all other Newbies here and should be a lesson not to first look for profits and then wonder what keeps going wrong, but to do the homework, and more homework and yet more homework, until it all starts to fit together - brilliant Daboss!
I know how much effort you put into this and all the frustrations you went though along the way - and how you worked on every area that wasnt working right until you got it right! Briefly, Daboss, you are a professional! Congratulations a million times!
As I have said I am not yet where I need to be but I am sure I have now discovered that I can in the very near future take my trading as a means of income. It has been and still is a crazy hard road but as I said in the last few months of hundreds of hrs studying my understanding and trading results have become something that I can now measure improvement on by means of a journal.
Note to all others at my stage in trying to learn do not even attempt a demo account without a FULL TRADING PLAN & JOURNAL otherwise you will simply have no idea of how you are really doing and how you can improve what you are doing and iron out errors etc.
Oh and by the way as I learnt here on baby pips but didn’t pay much attention to until very recently a trading plan is not a trading system its only a small part of it…
Yeah people underestimate the requirement of a journal and the benefits it can bring. Im working through this at the moment! I like the don’t even attempt demo without it. I must admit I did and now I see that I should have got the plan/journal sorted first!
What do you consider to be part of the trading system? So far I have long and short term goals, my risk % and ratio, amount of trades I will have in place at any one time to ensure i’m learning each lesson and aware of whats going on, obviously trading rules(which are a very much work in progress), have a simple journal going on excel which seems to be ok but i’m sure will require some improvement over time,what else do you think?
People have very widely differing descriptions and definitions of these things, don’t they?
Trading [U]systems[/U], trading [U]plans[/U] and trading [U]journals[/U] are really three different things, and should be (in my opinion, anyway).
When I was starting off, a long time ago (and on demo), I was advised to keep a “chucks book”, listing and analysing and commenting on all the trades on which I’d “chucked” money: trades I’d done which weren’t really within my system, and had worked out badly. And to make it self-critical, and to keep re-reading it.
It’s a form of “very simplified journal”, really, with the emphasis on analysing (and therefore learning to avoid) the practical mistakes one has made, e.g. the trades one has put on “hoping for the best” rather than because they really met all the entry parameters.
I found it very helpful.
Of course, it excludes many of the aspects one would include within either a trading plan or a trading journal.
I think that trying to analyse “what the system is”/“how one might amend the system” and “how well one’s actually sticking to the system” in the same place gets confusing, and for me, this was a way of avoiding that problem.
Regan15 as Lexys suggested everyone will decide what’s important to them for example I spent ages trying to understand fundamental analysis and news events etc. I could never get my head around much of it so I left it out of my trading completely. I don’t look at any fundamental news only check the economic calendar to know when not to trade rather when to.
I don’t think im yet at all qualified to give much trading advise and I have found my best research and trading improvement has come on the back of researching what other well experienced trades have commented on in the past.
One thing tho my trading has become easier since I simplified it.
For my self a trading system is the whole package. But that’s my way. It includes what I want to do and where, how I plan to enter and exit, my risk I willing to take, my minimum requirements for that potential setup its lots I know and probably far too much than what may be needed but I’m hoping with real trading experiences I will be able to filter what is most needed and what can be removed to simplify my trading. (I am hoping my detailed journal trading results will tell me all this over a longer period of time)
Personally, the term “system” suggests to me just a trading method that is fully or partially automated. So I prefer to use the term trading plan or strategy to describe the combination of items that you mention above - and I do not think they are too much at all, in fact they are the basic essentials…why?
Many newbies’ approach to trading runs somewhat parallel in thinking to this scenario: An entrepreneur wants to start a new business. He goes into a bank for a loan, the bank manager asks, “how much money do you expect to make?” Entrepeneur replies, " sky’s the limit". Bank manager says, “Wow! Borrow as much as you want!”
Of course it doesn’t go like that at all.
As a trader you are a running a business. It is similar to any retailer who buys in stock at one price intending to sell at a higher price. But the retailer does not just buy at random and hope for the best. He does his homework. He needs capital to do business and buy stock. If he asks a bank to finance his business what will the banker want to see?
how well does the retailer know his business, his markets, his products, suppliers, logistics, etc.
what products is he dealing in?
what are the seasonal timing impacts on his products?
what are the costs associated with buying and selling the goods?
what are the anticipated product turnaround times?
what stock levels are going to held?
what anticipated profit margin?
what unsold stock write-off policy?
business plan for current business period?
estimated profit/loss on monthly basis for current business period?
Balance sheet of assets and liabilities?
[I]And that’s before you even start. After that you would need:[/I]
business reports and sales analyses
P/L and other accounting records
comparative analysis of actual v. planned activities and results
product control - sales, stock write-offs, purchase levels,changes in product range etc
Professional trading is no different, you need at least:
Trading strategy: e.g. capital building or regular income, risk exposure policy, what markets, what trading times, what timeframes, what method(s), stoploss policy, exit policy,
Trading method: Detailed and unambiguous method of how and when trades are opened and closed, and how levels are selected.
Risk management: Position size relative to stoploss/targets and account equity
You are running a professional business - you need a business framework and a business mentality as well as all the necessary business tools to make it work - and to make it rewarding and give you job satisfaction.
I was actually very happy to see you start your new thread. It is really encouraging to read such a positive thread which is all about how people are finding [I]success [/I]with their trading through their own hard work and systematic progress and a professional approach rather than just looking for someone else’s Holy Grail that will earn a million without even having to understand what one is doing!!!
In my opinion if someone [I]really [/I]wants to consistently succeed with their trading then they [I]really [/I]should approach it in the same way as starting any other kind of business. And the fact that most do not do this (as is clearly visible in the vast turnover of Newbies on BP) is probably the main reason why statistically so many fail. This failure is often wrongly translated into believing that forex trading is somehow vastly complicated, akin to gambling and dominated by broker/banker sharks fleecing the innocent. This is not so. Sure, forex is complex and demands a lot of knowledge, skill and experience, but it is not esoterically and uniquely reserved for a few inner circle members nor is it a deliberately contrived armageddon for Newbies designed to rob them of their life savings.
Any new business requires an incredible amount of dedication and hard work. Not just at the beginning, but constantly throughout its existence. There is no short cut to this. And it requires a deep personal enthusiasm for the product itself. Probably most new businesses start from hobbies. Just read the biography of Richard Branson for a great example of this!
Daboss, you have shown exactly this approach in your start to trading and you are, surprise, surprise, now already seeing the first blooms apprearing. Instead of just randomly scattering seeds all over the place and watching what happens to grow, you have studied how to select the right flower beds, prepared the right soil mix and selectively planted the most appropriate seeds to produce the best crop, then you have regularly and conscienciously watered and weeded it - why should anyone then be surprised after all that groundwork to see the first healthy shoots breaking through the surface!
Hi everyone. I just thought I would take a minute to update my post and progress. I hope that others at the same point in their trading journey might also give feedback on my opinions to date and the more experienced traders also.
Well in the last few months things have steadily improved my understanding of market price and how it moves has improved very much.
One of the things that helped me the most is documenting absolutely everything. When I don’t I don’t have a good run because naturally I forget about them losers fast whilst winning and loose my disciple and then break my rules. If I don’t keep a record of which trades I took and which worked out as planned and which did not then I simply don’t know what to fix. Unless its my ego that’s another issue.
Another of the best things I have learned from experienced traders and only recently began to take seriously was knowing when not trade.
Price is always moving but it doesn’t always mean there is a setup and if there is it isn’t always a quality one. Waiting waiting and waiting more for the best setups has given me more forcus and time to choose the right trade to take or not.
Once that price is hit I should know what to do already depending on what I see on the chart that has helped me a lot. Rather than them impulsive trades or the ones where I just tried to follow an indicator signal in the past and had no trading discipline whatsoever I was doomed for failure and my trading ac showed it.
I still have a long way to go but no I’m sure that I’m getting there and will arrive at my destination soon.
Have a great week everyone.
[QUOTE=daboss;781707]Regan15 as Lexys suggested everyone will decide what’s important to them for example I spent ages trying to understand fundamental analysis and news events etc. I could never get my head around much of it so I left it out of my trading completely. I don’t look at any fundamental news only check the economic calendar to know when not to trade rather when to.
I actually just downloaded MYFXBOOK app and also use the website as its a very comprehensive journal on its own, which links automatically to my MT4 Demo and saves me having to write every detail down as it keeps track of everything. My journal is more to the point now! The app has a very simple economic calendar and I have adopted the same theory as you in terms of not looking to much into the fundamentals and more just when things are happening and when to stay away!
