Why are you trading?

Trading Discussion
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There seems to be a lot of newcomers to BP and trading at the moment. So I thought it might be an idea to discuss why we trade and what are our ambitions. I think that having a clear idea of what we are aiming at in the future can help in planning and executing our trading in the present.

Some want to become full-time traders, some want to build a capital base, some want money to help others out of bad situations, some want it for themselves, some just love the excitement and the game. Some are looking for freedom to work for themselves, some fear being chained to a screen all day.

What is your reason for trading?

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My own reason has always been simply to build capital. I do not like feeling forced to trade in order to earn.

Paradoxically, my working life has always been in risk analysis and management. But that does not mean just avoiding risk, rather it means understanding the nature, extent and impact of the risks we take. In the same way as insurance, I guess. It just means I put more weight on risk/moneymanagement than on the trade. But that is just me.

But I would also like to hear about those aiming to trade full time and how they see it developing in the future. And any other reasons why you are trading.

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The question that should be first and foremost in you trading journal.

Blackduck

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Thank you for that. I fully agree.

My aim is not to moralise on why one should or should not trade. As @Blackduck says, it is worth understanding why one is wanting to trade simply because it can put everything else into perspective and with a sense of priority.

For example, in my early years, I was more like a young unrestrained puppy that just loved jumping at anything that moved and trading for the pure thrill of it. I was still fully-employed at that time and it was just fun for the sake of fun, nothing else. But then it gradually settled into a more serious attitude once the potential for growth became clear.

The way I trade now is nothing like the way I did way back then. Which is right? Neither! It just depends on what is your motive and your objective, at the time and for the future. And that is what one should be clear about.

Thank you for that observation, @Blackduck

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Good topic, for me it started as part of a business I owned importing goods so had to forward purchase currency , when the business closed I continued to trade while I was working out what direction my life was to take and it ended up being my full time job.

Today I trade for income as a day trader and build up a pension fund by swing trading with both giving me the freedom to do what I want when I want but still need to put the work in to be paid

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Some of the main benefits of forex trading that make this asset class a popular choice among traders are:

-The ability to trade on margin (using leverage)
-High levels of liquidity mean spreads stay tight which keeps trading costs low
-Prices react quickly to breaking news and economic announcements (this can be a disadvantage too)
-Trade 24 hours a day from Sunday to Friday
-The ability to go long and short

  • Wide range of markets

How do I trade forex?

  1. Decide how you’d like to trade forex

  2. Learn how the forex market works

  3. Choose your forex trading platform

  4. Open a forex trading account

  5. Deposit

  6. Open, monitor and close your first position

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Hi Gary, Good to hear from you! I took a look at your site only the other day. I am impressed and will be spending more time there. I don’t normally look at such things because most are just sales fronts, but with less to do these days, I wandered in there and liked what I saw - it is very genuine stuff you put there.

My early intro to forex was pretty much on the other side of yours. I started in a bank forex trading room with some of the more basic tasks such as quoting customers spot and forward rates. That led into currency/interest rate swaps and later into securities and options trading and portfolio management. Naturally, being a bank, this was all teamwork and for the bank, not personal trading. But it was a good training and basis for starting out on personal trading. I eventually took a change of career (and country) and was able to trade privately alongside my main job. I have never lost that passion.

Your role in your company’s currency dealings was probably very different to how you had to initially face trading as a new individual retail trader, speculating in an open range of various instruments. How did you go about that and what problems/successes/failures did you go through in those early days?

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Hi @top1markets, thanks for the input. You are providing a good answer to the question how to start trading and the benefits of forex over other types of trading/investment, but the question here is really one step before that - why do we personally even want to trade in the first place. What is our initial motivation? What are we hoping to achieve (not everyone wants a Lamborghini :joy: )!

Some members here encourage all newbies to just go for it, whilst others suggest not getting into it at all. I suspect the answer lies somewhere in between these extremes and that is why it is extremely useful to understand why one wants to start trading in the first place - and in an industry renowned for its risk and level of failures.

If one knows what one is looking for, then it is easier to focus on how to end up in the winner class. Which is surely better for both the trader and the broker.

Just out of interest, are you a representative of top1markets or a trader? or both? Your firm is an offshore company? So you do not need to quote the losing rate amongst your clients but would you say it is generally near to the ESMA levels of 70% losing? Or are your experiences different? If so, why?

Sorry if 'm just being nosey, but it is a very relevant issue for Newbies starting out on the trading journey.

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I do try , the blog is just a extension of my trading journal as the live trades etc come from the fact I screen record all my trades so I can play back and see where I went wrong rather then where I got it right and through time it became the blog and the youtube channel for no other reason than my own enjoyment as have no desire to sell signals or a course

My role in the company prior to full time trading was very different as I was the managing director for 15 years and had to deal with all sorts, from settling the 17 staff disputes , at times I think sorting out the middle east would have being easier as at times they were like 40 year old kids , suppliers, general ops and ultimately sales.

I do get it in the neck from time to time because of the way I trade but at the end of the day does it matter as long as it works and I get paid

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Haha! Sounds like a few people not so far away from here, too! :laughing:

Sorry to badger you, but one more question and I will leave you in peace (for a while!):
When you first went solo, it must have been a very different working environment compared with your company work. This must have meant you had bags more time on your hands when you were trading.

As a result, did you initially suffer the common problems of overtrading, revenge trading and so forth? And did you immediately start with TA? (yeah I know that’s two questions, but I tried to make them look like only one! :+1:)

Now I’ll let you get on…thanks!

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I was always TA based as used to living on a spreadsheet and work most of what I do with maths as well as visuals rather than the news.

Over the time I traded you are bang on with over trading and revenge trades in the first 18 months on my own , this was area I really had to work on which is why I think 80% of the trade is emotional.

I often say the charts are easy its the mind game that is hard, as truly believe that . I see a lot of threads on here and very rarely post due to the backlash as I genuinely think most over complicate the process and are looking to hard for a magic pill that does not exist then argue if they lose money against those that are profitable but that is a story for another day

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This, in my opinion, is pure gold from Gary, straight from the horse’s mouth, as they say (oops, sorry Gary! :grinning:).

If a street-wise businessman can run into this kind of situation in the early days, then it is almost certain that the total beginner to this industry will inevitably find the same, or similar, problem. The issue is how to avoid it, or get past it - especially with a small equity balance, which is often less that $500!

I have often felt that, in my opinion, one of the biggest “problems” with modern trading is that the platform and the trigger are too close! The market is right there, in your face, and you only have to twitch a finger and you are in a risk position. It is too easy.

There is this lovely phrase, “trading is successful (and easy) once it becomes boring”. It is not quite like that, but similar. In other words, when one can enter a trade and, even better, not enter a trade with a cold, tactical, reasoned, rationality, knowing that there is always another trade still to come. And take losses as a cold, tactical, reasoned, rational part of the overall process, then it starts to flow.

And I also agree with the view that simple is best because the hard work is between the ears, the screen is just a support role showing you when and where. You cannot turn your chart into a surrogate brain by just adding more and more spanners to the toolbox.

But I am drifting off topic, as it were.

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Very true , I think most are dazzled by the way the industry is portrayed as easy money and a luxury lifestyle , which make the money the focus and not the process when it should be the other way round. Get the process right and the money looks after its self

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its a nice reply from all, thanks Lang15 for your some fine lines. appreciate all of those that you have explained.

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Nice comments, Neil.
I invite you to also tell what is/was your motivation for trading and what you are hoping to achieve in time. :smiley:

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This is such an interesting topic, @anon46773462. :smiley: We all have different backgrounds and experiences and it would be interesting to see what other people’s motivations are. :blush:

As for me, I’m here because I’ve always been trying to look for other sources of income. :open_mouth: I come from a third world country, and although I’m not the only one working my family, I want to find ways to give my family a more comfortable life. :open_mouth: My uncle who’s pretty well-off introduced me to trading and I thought that I wanna be just like him. He worked so hard to get to where he is right now and I want to follow his footsteps. I know saying that is easier said than done :sweat_smile: but I’ve been here for a while now, and I’ll stay until I get there. :smiley:

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Hi @ria_rose! Good to see you here! :slight_smile:
I also think it is interesting. I felt that it might be useful to others starting their journeys to see what others are aiming for and how they are approaching it.

I guess you are currently looking at trading alongside your work and not full-time yet? But if you reached a stage of consistency then you might consider it? If you did, what would you see as the likely pros and cons of working as a full-time trader?

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I’ve had an account on this website for a while but I’ve just recently decided to become active on here. I trade because it’s fun to do in my opinion, I like having extra money around so I don’t have to worry in unexpected situations and also trading could be the gateway to achieving most of my dreams (also the 24/6 trading times, the effectiveness of technical analysis, and the ability to day trade without a $25k account worth).

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Me I’m not looking to go full-time. :grin: I see trading more as a hobby kind of like photography or cooking, something to mix up my days. Build trading skills, learn how to manage emotions, keep up with the news, maybe make a bit of money on the side, all of that doesn’t sound too bad! :star2:

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Would love for you to continue on this issue or rather start a thread on t, I guess u talking about adding a lot f indicators here