What should newbies stop doing in order to succeed in forex? [We now have our forum giveaway winners!] 🎉

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Stop:

  • Trading without a plan. You wouldn’t start a business without a business plan, so why would you start trading without a trading plan?
  • Listening to self-proclaimed experts. In other words, choose your mentors wisely.
  • Optimizing variables in your Expert Advisor (assuming you are doing automated trading). Understand data bias and fitting before you succumb to the seductive lure of back testing.
  • Taking without giving. By that I mean, don’t ask dozens or more questions on a forum without giving something back to the forum. Giving back might entail answering questions, posting strategy ideas, posting software tools that you have created, etc.
  • Falling in love with an indicator or strategy. When something isn’t working, move on.
  • Trying to be right.
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Babypips has webinars? :scream:

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Every newdies should stop depositing shallow amount of money and also need stop using higher leverage as these will not enhance freedom to stay longer in Forex trading

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Newbies should simply stop trading live accounts using their gut feeling and guesswork. They should instead go through the school of pipsology twice in a period of not less than 6 months. After which they can now open a demo account and start practising what they have learnt for at least one year. From this point onwards they will able able to gather relevant knowledge and skills like a snowball rolling down a hill.

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I’ll give an advice that resonates with every new trader

Establish one thing first, you’re here for the money, nothing else. If you want to safe lives and trees and make the world a better place, if you want to be able to make better lifestyles choices. You’ll need money. And money is not everything but if your choice is to have more of it then read on

Trading is a great way to make money. Your downside is limited to your account, but your upside is scalable to infinity.

That spectacular return your looking for, that big profit that your wife gets the hots for you, bragging about it to her pals. Is not nested on your charts. You cannot bet big on a trendline bounce, and when it fails, strut home and say “Hunni the trendline took our money”

You can’t even build an account up slowly, only resting on your technicals, there is a risk of ruin built into every strategy. Sooner or later you’re back at square one.

The one skill you want to master is not the one you’ve been chipping at. Pure technicals, lines of supply/demand zones , crossovers and such, are not the answer to your trading success. It never was.
The one method that will carry you over the finish line is based on Logic and it stood the test of time.

All the big and money making moves in the market happen, because there is a reason behind it. This morning I made a month worth of wages buying Canadian dollars and Oil. A single piece of news caused a strong move in oil prices. If I were stuck on my technicals, I’d have never had the confidence to bet bigger as i did today. And today is one of many these occurrences that changed my trading career. Making money is beautiful.

My advice is don’t shut yourself out from the world of information around you. It’s a goldmine and doesn’t require a great amount of intelligence to figure out.

Trading with logic also eliminates Fomo, string of losses and impulsive trades.

Good luck out there Ledges

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Here we go.

New traders. I’ll give you all I got.

The question is…what should you stop doing…
Well, since I don’t know each and every one of you. And since every single human being is different. I’m going to approach it at a side angle. This is what you need to do.

Before I get into it, you need to know who you’re dealing with. Me.
I am no one special. Really. I’m not even consistently profitable. I can’t even brag about anything in regards to my results. But…

I am old enough. I have the mind for this. I’ve been desperately seeking all of these answers like nothing else exists in life. I’m in my 7th year now. I feel that I am possessed with more determination, self discipline, mental strength, unlimited patience, than any other human being. This has consumed me ever since I started. And I won’t quit. Cause what’s most important to me is evolving into the person that I was born to become. Once you find that out, then it gets real.

Let me tell you what I think needs to happen. If you accomplish these things I’m going to set out for you, you will succeed. I believe it. And no one can dispute it.

  • Anchor Trade - It’s the one trade that you are an expert with. You know, without a doubt, that you can make a return on. It’s almost like your guarantee trade. You’ve gotten so good and intimate with it. You’ve earned the right to continue on in the market place. It’s proven.

  • Defineable and Repeatable - Meaning you can measure any aspect of the details of that trade. Consistency can only happen that way. It’s a repeatable process. When this happens, you do this.

  • Prove yourself on demo - You cannot move forward unless you’ve proven yourself, and your strategy, in the practice arena. You absolutely need verifiable proof that it works. Confidence will be developed.

  • Live account experience - There should be no reason you do anything different in this fashion than in the demo experience. Position sizing will be the only difference. Always start out small. You will just be building from previous accomplishments.

Look. Nothing makes more sense. There’s principles in life. Success builds upon success.

It all comes down to finding what works. How about this question…Will it be you or your strategy that does the work? Well, shouldn’t it be the strategy? I mean, all you should be doing is pulling the levers, right? Unless you’re a discretionary trader, then, it’s you. But, how can you measure something like that? The answer is you can’t.

See. It’s you that’s behind the strategy. And once it’s built, it is the thing that does the work. Not you. The market is unpredictable. Sure, we might think we know what will, or might, happen. But in the end, it’s the market that’s always right. Therefore we need to come up with a way that manages the losses along with the winners. Whoever does it better will be the one that is more successful.

I don’t know the myriad of things that we shouldn’t do. We are nothing but a bunch of emotional beings, dealing with uncertainty. The only thing that’s going to work, is somehow finding that way, like the casinos do, in which, in the end, will win out.

I don’t know any other way than to find your anchor trade. You should always be able to go back and say that you followed the plan and except the outcome. Measure and record your results. Over time you will see whether it is what works or not.

Believe me. I’m no one special. I haven’t made it yet. I’m just passing along what I’ve learned from my mentor. That’s what’s going to get you there, though.

Success builds upon success.
It doesn’t come by accident. It’s proven.

That’s the best advise I can give.

Mike

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Read the thread title, then change two words.

‘Should’ belongs to the past and what a person should have done. That’s a finger wagging approach and all it does is to create guilt.

‘Stop’ is equally negative and belongs to the left side of the market.

Think only on the right side, then inwardly ask the question by changing ‘should’ with ‘can’ and and ‘stop’ with ‘start’. :slight_smile:

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Sorry - away in Portugal at the moment and have my office closed owing to building work hence have been offline for a while and missed this. Sorry. Anyway, simple answer which for me is at the root of most newbie traders’ problems:

Newbie traders should… stop throwing indicators on their charts before they really understand how a chart moves. For me, there should be many hours’ staring at a naked chart before then adding extra data, information and indicators. That is all additional information, can add weight to a trading argument, but if you aren’t 100% comfortable with how a chart moves then you’re just adding complication and confusion if you add indicators.

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I particularly liked @eddieb 's, @johnnykanoo 's,
@MikeWolski 's and @SimonTemplar 's replies, although it was also good to see contributions from @peterma , @anon46773462, @TradeViper amd @ria_rose . Many thanks also to the very supportive and watchful @Penelopip for telling me about this thread…

As @johnnykanoo said, it is a long way up to become.successful at.consistency…

I would add one more.thing: playing at being a trader is not the same as being a trader… In other words: a chef in a top restaurant can perform the same.routine every night under stress and consistently dish out platefuls of high-class food that show great presentation skills and taste delicious. The person who watches him/her at home on their television set and tries one of that chef’s recipes may get good at making one of them but they would crumble if they had to make that recipe fifty times in one evening for paying customers (rather than for themselves or their loved one in the safety of their own home).

Cooking a famous chef’s recipe at home is like demo trading; cooking as a chef in a restaurant is the same as professional trading, meaning that by then you would be making money through your craft.

So the bottom line is: do not call yourself a ‘trader’ and start throwing money into live accounts until you have had enough success at home cooking - if you understand my analogy!

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Stop counting how much you could win, start counting how much you could loose.

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That dreaded FOMO…

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Well…after becoming a successful after so many years of experience , i can really tell what is the most important thing to do as a newbie to become a profitable trader

One: is discipline, you need to stick to one method and only to one that you trust all methods are basically winning if you just stick to the rules that applies to it , if your method i just 60 % profitable then you are a winner all you have to do is keep doing the same right steps over and over
two: education, no matter how good you become at trading you still have to read books of great traders and there are plenty of them online , the idea to broaden you forex culture and build a strong intuition based on knowledge and experience
Three: Practice and psychology, you have to practice trading everyday or whenever you can but consistently, make a schedule for for trading and most importantly take notes , whenever you make good trade or bad trade you need to learn from your mistakes, and to not stop when you win you have to improve more and more , and that will help you psychologically cause this will make you organized and idea will settle in an organized way in your subconscious mind and this will reduce tremendously level of stress .
Those are words of wisdom from someone who was a losing trader once upon time… and now he became successful … Thank youuuuu

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Ananais, nice to see your still here :sunglasses:

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Resist the urge to trade every single second!!! The market will always be there.

Take the time to understand the market undertones, evaluate your performance and READ MORE BABYPIPS :wink:

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Newbies, stop disbelieving yourselves as traders.

If you like trading and you have decided to do this as something serious, you need to really believe it!

If you don’t, you won’t dedicate enough effort (time, sweat and self-taught discipline seasoned with patience) to really get the knowledge and develop the skills needed to succeed. It’s a different path for everybody, but you got to walk yours to get there.

It’s no game, nobody says it’s easy. And it’s true a whole bunch of people will quit the first months. The first really strong step should be convincing yourself you will be a profitable trader.

So start believing you can, and put your 110% energy to make it work! Best wishes for ya all!

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Newbies should stop looking for a get rich quick strategy. it doesnt exist.
They should learn first that it wil take time to become succesful. If the effort is put into it then the rewards can be great.
good luck newbies

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Hi @Penelopip,

Newbie traders seem to fall into 2 categories:

Those who listen to everyone they can and end up confused with no real direction, they develope fear from the negative experienced traders and become indecisive when it comes to entering trades and taking risk.

Those who think they can become millionaires in a week or so and go in all guns blazing, and blow up their small account.

So, my answer?

Newbies need to stop seeking verification for their actions, stop taking so much time to listen to others. Listening and learning is fantastic but it depends who your listening to! You wouldn’t take work out advise from an overweight PT.

They should work out where they want to be and take the appropriate risks to achieve that goal. Risk 1%, 2%? There is no real answer but a quick look at real successful people, doesn’t have to be traders, shows that nobody got there by being conservative.

But hey, am I the right person to listen to? :joy:

Stop seeking to copy those who say it’s hard! Find a way to make it as easy as possible and yes, you may well fail a couple of times, maybe a lot of times, along the way but you WILL eventually learn the best way for YOU!

More than the required answer, I hope you don’t mind @Penelopip :roll_eyes:

Anyway, I wish everyone the best of success and hope you can see where my words come from.

Be great, be a beast, don’t hold back, go get what’s yours!

Brentrader18

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Hello Simon, John here from Ireland, I really appreciate your sound advice and the methods you have described back the years you use which make a lot of sense to me. I have been lurking for years and also demoing for years but I have been focusing on your posts back the years and there is a lot to be learned from them both directly and indirectly. You are a very trustworthy and consistent contributor so again huge thanks.

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HI to all. I am a newbie too so I will tell what I am doing right now.
1-First of all read a lot. Start from the academy here. I am proud to have finished all the lections there.
2- You already have one good idea how to trade. Find a perfect trade that you would had taken if already you were trading. Find a system that find setups like your perfect trade.
3- Open an micro account. Some like back-testing but i like forward testing with real $$$. I can’t afford to lose a lot so I have opened an account with 20$ and my balance says 2000 US cents :wink:
4- It is very important to read and implement a lot of psychology. Trading is a business. You will not be all times right.
IMPORTANT Stick with your choosen system for at least 3 months. After testing it for 3 months begin to change it or find another one.
Make sure to cut the losses and let the profit grow. It is the most difficult part to adapt. There is a lot of work to do with yourself and your mind to upgrade it.

I am at this part now. When i get further I will be happy to extend this post :smiley:

Green pips to all :smiley:

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Just stop revenge trading

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