Winning at forex

[Morpheus]

is the best thing in the world !! Got 10 pips tonight. Had a bad night last night because I lost my nerve. I'm trading more units now and it scared me but hopefully I'm readjusting. I get almost the same high off this as I did playing blackjack.

[Blooey]

Good on ya Morph. I've turned things around in my forex trading too. Starting to wonder if I should change over completely from stocks. Haha.

My trades:

BOT 45000 GBP.USD Cash 2.0315
SLD 45000 GBP.USD Cash 2.0328

BOT 50000 USD.JPY Cash 119.2
SLD 50000 USD.JPY Cash 119.35

BOT 25000 USD.JPY Cash 119.01
SLD 25000 USD.JPY Cash 119.13

BOT 40000 EUR.USD Cash 1.3703
SLD 40000 EUR.USD Cash 1.37125

BOT 50000 USD.JPY Cash 119.04

[Blooey]

I need the JPY to tank right now. LOL

[mookie9920]

Originally Posted by Morpheus

is the best thing in the world !! Got 10 pips tonight. Had a bad night last night because I lost my nerve. I'm trading more units now and it scared me but hopefully I'm readjusting. I get almost the same high off this as I did playing blackjack.

Congradualtions....but there lies one of your problems....your not suspose to get "highs" of trading....there should be almost no emition invovled....sure when you have a good trade give yourself a pat on the back....but other then that there shouldn't be emoition or "highs" invovled

[techno791]

I love these panic drops in the markets. Good for reversals, and great for carry entries.

I wrote down a bunch of trades I liked yesterday, though I don't have the account size to trade them all. But two of them were up, and retraced back down. So that'd be breakeven.
Cable is up 90 pips atm. EUR/AUD 30 pips, and Euro/Cable, a pair I really hate, up 40, which is really 80 pips since every pip counts as 2 pips.
Actually, EUR/AUD was one of the best. It broke a daily channel sometime ago, and bounced off the bottom line yesterday. I would've spotted that if I wasn't on a different computer where I didn't put the line on there.

That's so nice, see you at the next meltdown.

[wolf825]

Originally Posted by mookie9920

Congradualtions....but there lies one of your problems....your not suspose to get "highs" of trading....there should be almost no emition invovled....sure when you have a good trade give yourself a pat on the back....but other then that there shouldn't be emoition or "highs" invovled

Exactly...trade like a robot--emotions will burn you and cloud your judgement. Keep the control aspect of your trading in YOUR hands and in your mind--not in the markets hands or the hands of your emotions...

Congrats to everyone...good to see you guys are doin well.. Forex rocks better than stocks...IMO. Doin great myself...4 winners and only one losing trade for over +200 pips banked since Sunday....damn Euro/$..

-w

[Blooey]

Well, I just don't know how to trade forex. I guess I'll have to give up. How in the world is it possible to be wrong 9/10 times? It defies all logic. I tried breakouts, trendline bounces, just going with the trend... Absolutely nothing ever works in my favor. I've lost a CRAPload of money trying all sorts of things. Closing my eyes and just randomly hitting the buy/sell button would work better. In fact, I must be the anti-forex trader. It seems that the wiring in my brain causes me to do the exact opposite of what I should do - if I could just train myself to do the opposite of what I think I should do, I'd be so rich, it's not funny.

How the hell is this possible to be wrong SOOOOOOOO often?!

[wolf825]

Originally Posted by Blooey

Well, I just don't know how to trade forex. I guess I'll have to give up. How in the world is it possible to be wrong 9/10 times? It defies all logic. I tried breakouts, trendline bounces, just going with the trend... Absolutely nothing ever works in my favor. I've lost a CRAPload of money trying all sorts of things. Closing my eyes and just randomly hitting the buy/sell button would work better. In fact, I must be the anti-forex trader. It seems that the wiring in my brain causes me to do the exact opposite of what I should do - if I could just train myself to do the opposite of what I think I should do, I'd be so rich, it's not funny.

How the hell is this possible to be wrong SOOOOOOOO often?!

I have been where you are...all I can say is persistance and learning how these markets work can pay off. It takes a while to learn the markets and their moods. Forex is extremely volitile....its not for everyone but it forces you to become a trader. It forces you to be disciplined and plan things out, and take a view of the markets and your trades from a very disciplined vantage point. I'm not saying you are a bad trader or undisciplined or anything--I'm just saying that you need to give it the proper time to learn it and practice at it. Everyone does..Forex is not something that you trade whenever you wish or that you can open up a chart on a whim and be in a trade 2 minutes later--it takes planning and it takes lookinng at a lot of factors beyond the charts--fundamentals and economic factors as well--and you need to learn key times in the markets and what to expect. Knowing when to trade is as important as knowing when NOT to trade...

This is not easy...all I can say is I understand what you mean. I lost a ton when I began...and I had what seemed to be a 2+ year losing streak when I began--I would win some at Forex and then I would get raked over the coals and lose it all....I came close to giving up a lot of times and banging my head against the keyboard going --WTF WAS THAT?! The keys to my winning and getting a WHOLE LOT BETTER at Forex was taking detailed views, broader considerations, learning and making trade plans and rules, and disciplining myself. If you are tossing real money after having been in Forex a short while--Stop trading now. No one is kidding when they say you need to take 3-6 months minimally to demo and test--and often it can take a year or more until you can build up the consistancy needed to toss real $$ into the market.

A problem a lot of folks run into is they do not learn the markets or learn when to step back--they develop a method or way that kicks butt and seems invincible and then they jump in with cash a flying--then the markets change gears--and they don't see it or change with it--and they start to lose their account time after time after time. They take the mentality that they had a losing trade--so they have to risk even MORE or play without a stoploss on the next one to make up for it and get their revenge--that kind of mentality will KILL your account in Forex. They don't stop to look at or see WHY the last trade failed--if a trade fails--you need to identify WHY it was so...was it a fundamental, did you miss a sign on the chart--did you time your entry wrong etc etc? Knowing why you lose can be the key to figuring out how to win....

I made every mistake possible in Forex and probably invented a few of my own stupid mistakes..but I learned from them and what I was doin wrong...now I win a lot more than I lose--but I trade less than I did when I began. In fact--most of my time is spent in planning than actually trading. Yes I still have losing trades--that will never stop...but lessening them and picking the best ones that will work out as planned and has validations it makes, minimizes those losses. I make anywhere from 50-200 pips per trade of mine--and that is enough for me to trade only a few times a week and take the BEST opportunities out there... I trade when the markets are good--and right now they are in chaos and defying all logic...and I posted I was sidelined--have not had a trade open since Sunday/monday. Anyone who is trading right now is risking a lot...for good solid trades--folks need to wait for the markets to stabilize and level off IMO..and that could be next week or so.

I am glad to help you or anyone as much as you wish--I will gladly work with you or anyone in figuring out whats going wrong for ya.. I get 3 or more PM's per week from folks with the same questions--I work with to help them figure this out.. I'm glad to do it here on the forums too.. But you have to dedicate yourself that this will take a lot of time to find your niche and learn...and you have to start from scratch. If you come into Forex expecting to trade this like stocks--you will lose...you have to forget what you know and start from scratch.. You simply need to ask yourself is it worth it to you to learn and not let it beat ya...its OK if its not for you--Forex is not for everyone...but that is the first question you need to ask yourself...

-w

[BigBubba]

In my trading a couple of days on demo, I have realized that:

- It is indeed easy to lose money.
- The stop loss set to 2 pips below the entry price will almost always be hit because of volatility. Not I'm setting my stop loss at 6 pips below. But that means when it loses, the amount is substantial. The take profit is set to 10 pips above.

Having said that, the issue becomes how do I know it will go up 10 pips. So the plan part needs more time.

Still learning from babypips lesson 1.

Long time to go. But then again, if it works it'll be sweet.

I'm not an intermediate level or beginner trader in FX. I'm noob, so take my opinion with that in mind.

---------------

Wolf, is it possible to try to develop a strategy where one can make roughly $300/day. Granted some days will make $500 and some days will lose $500. But overall shooting for making $300/day, is that something that's doable?

[techno791]

Originally Posted by BigBubba

Wolf, is it possible to try to develop a strategy where one can make roughly $300/day. Granted some days will make $500 and some days will lose $500. But overall shooting for making $300/day, is that something that's doable?

On some boards, they get into really heated debates about counting pips or money. I think they're all math drop-outs possibly.

It's a big math equation with variables. It's Algebra.

How are you getting $300/day? Are you looking for 3000 pips on a mini lot? How about 5 standard lots. Which is $50/pip. What is that, 6 pips?
1 lot, for $300bucks is 30 pips.

See how it all varies? From 3000 pips to 6 pips. That's why I don't care what people say in terms of how much they make. Because it takes money to make money. Some guy can buy 10 lots and I can buy 2 mini's doesn't make him a better trader because his trades will always be bigger money.
And those people will always say pips don't matter because they can make more money in less pips. But I don't know if people who are really that good go on internet boards in large numbers, so I ignore that.

So I guess it all depends. I don't know if Wolf would agree, but I don't even look at the money. I don't know how to trade and say I just want $100 bucks. I pay attention to how far the trade can go, and resistance or support, or what happens overnight that's all. If it's 30 pips it's 30 pips, if it's 600 pips(AUD/JPY overnight) it's 600 pips. I care more about not losing money than making it. Sounds messed up doesn't it? A traders magazine last year said if you've been trading, and haven't lost money, you're doing something right alrady.

And Blooey, I don't know what timeframes you're trading, but you might be falling into the overwhelm trap of trying to many things and not perfecting things one at a time. When I'm on the 15 and I'm looking for breakouts for bounces it's maddening. I've been throwing in the towel on breakouts so far and been focusing on bounces. If it breaks it breaks. Just as long as it doensn't break EVERYTIME, then I got a problem. I can't get anything to work right if I'm trying to diagnose 50 methods at once.
And if you've been messing up in August, forget it, half the world has been.
I've been trying to work on something that can handle a breakout and a bounce in one trade, but that's been taking a while. It has to work first. On the 15 it feels random at times.

Got a lifetime to figure it out give or take. Even though I'm sure this has all been done before over a MILLION times! I know I'm not the first one to mess around with forex!