Reflecting on my short time here at BP I have to thank the community for what I have learned. It truly is a forum with value beyond compare. The search tool is a key to a veritable gold mine of great intell that is years old and doesn’t come up in recent posts but is still so pertinent and useful
Thank you to all the members who have replied to me directly, indirectly and all those who conitinually share their experiences and knowledge with those of us just starting out.
This is what I’ve learned over the past number of months. It’s nothing new or fancy Pretty much plain jane. I have read it all before recently and years ago. BUT… I can now say that I own it. Use it. Employ it. This has been the challenge for me. It’s one thing to have the knowledge. It’s a completely different story to be able to apply the knowledge. Finally feel I can do some application now!
Here are some of the things that I have learned…
It is very difficult but possible to leave emotions outside of the trading room. For me I have learned that this is directly related to the size of trades I put on - .01!!
Risk management is crucial! Trading stock option years ago more than doubled a live account in 3 months and lost it all in the following 3 mos - almost all, still have $7 -. . This was due to large orders, up to 90% of balance invested at a time, revenge trading and not understanding how the market really works.
Switching to forex a while back, doubled a demo and lost 80% overnight Too many open trades and too big with no SL.
I love the grid approach!! Seemed very straight forward! Set up my grids and ground it down to double digits. Too many, too close, going against the market trying to catch turning points. . .
Indicators are simply different pictures of the same scene. That scene is the price chart. I have stopped looking for the holy grail - I use a few indicators that help me make a quick assessment of the chart I don’t use them as trade triggers.
I have to take the time to look at the chart/candles and read each story/candle as to buyers/sellers and what that tells me about pending orders and key price levels.I know that this may sound silly but it’s the way my mind works. When I don’t do this I make poor entries.
Identifying supply and demand zones has been very helpful!!
Studying how tick volume levels react during cosolidation and on breakout - and ask myself what does the number of price changes mean in relation to pending orders and S/D levels. BTW - even though I ask myself these questions doesn’t mean I have a correct answer or an answer at all!
I have found the hardest part for me is getting into a trade. Once I’m in, I’m vested and will start placing pending orders based upon S/D and PA. Once I have a trade on the board it seems so much easier to set profitable pending orders.
Learned to wait for the price come to me! This was a game changer for me!! Love Pending orders!!!
Very seldom use a TP - though this may change. Don’t use a stop loss - though this my change.
I will use a TP on a counter trend trade. Love the automation of set it and the trade takes care of itself. Usually do this for short pips 10-15. It’s like “found” money for me! Come home or wake up and it’s all happened without me! It’s like magic!
Learned that I am a very patient trader. Very patient. I am a 9-5’r and use the 4H, D, W charts. Will accept draw down and wait and watch for the turn. Mapped out ahead of time, I will start scaling in as it goes in my favor. Will sit on trades for days or weeks. When I started my most recent account, I did a poor job on the first number of trades. I am still holding these from beginning of December, 2018.
This is why I prefer Forex over stock options. No time decay. That is so key for me on a leveraged investment/trade/transaction - whatever the nomenclature. I’ll wait.
I measure trades in dollars, not pips or percent. I have found this the best path for me.
Here’s the let down… All my learning has been on demo accounts set up as the live account will be. I asked @purtle if there was a big difference going live - OH YEAH!!
Hope to be going live shortly,
KC