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njbc

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Howdy Forex Traders,
I'm a newbie to Forex.:)
Am currently in demo mode with a broker (won't mention their name for fear of being flamed).
The information available on the internet with regards to FOREX is very overwhelming.
I am sincerely looking for a forex mentor, and/or guidance from anybody to nudge me in the right direction.
Any help, and I mean any help would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
Nat.
:)
 
Hi Nat and welcome to ASF. Not much response to your query so far, like you say the information (and misinformation) around on FX is enormous, so knowing what to reply to you is a bit daunting.

Can I suggest you ask some specific questions you have?
 
Timmy said:
Hi Nat and welcome to ASF. Not much response to your query so far, like you say the information (and misinformation) around on FX is enormous, so knowing what to reply to you is a bit daunting.

Can I suggest you ask some specific questions you have?
Click to expand...

Hi Timmy,

Thanks for posting back.

I'll tell you the broker I am with ...FXCM ... not because they are good, or bad. I'm very new at the game and they somehow appeared at the top of my Google search :eek:. With my level (lack) of expertise I can't make a call on the brokers, or trading platforms, and I'm looking around and reading reviews about other brokers and trading platforms.

With regards to specific questions, I was looking for resources and articles which have been used, tried, and tested by members in this forum with regards to Forex. This would definitely help me with a start, knowing that someone out there has used a particular resource, or done something in a particular manner, and achieved a successful outcome.

Thanks once again.
Nat.
:)
 
hi njbc. Im new to forex aswell. If you would like someone to discuss things with I am happy to. It would be good to exchange ideas and thoughts with someone. Get in touch if your interested.
 
Babypips is definitely worth a read if you're a beginner. You'll have to develop a profitable trading system that you can follow. There's heaps of them being discussed on the Forexfactory forum... and after 6 months of searching and testing, I have yet to find one that works for me!
 
kam75 said:
Babypips is definitely worth a read if you're a beginner. You'll have to develop a profitable trading system that you can follow. There's heaps of them being discussed on the Forexfactory forum... and after 6 months of searching and testing, I have yet to find one that works for me!
Click to expand...


james 16, jacko and silent service method are golden threads for 'systems'...
 
G'day

In addition to the suggestions above, I personally found "The System II (Yes with irony)" to be a very helpful thread over at forexfactory. The main concept of the thread was learn how to trade price action. Learn to look at a chart, see support and resistance and develop some idea of what you expect might happen simply by looking at the chart.

I'm certainly not saying that indicators don't have a place. But some people rely on them too much. An indicator takes past price action, converts it into a graphical display of some kind and shows you what has happened up until now. So you could use it to help you judge what may happen in the future, but don't just look for the magical indicator that will tell you when to buy and sell.

Just so you know where this opinion is coming from, I traded mini lots for a few months and lost. I'm not a successful trader. But I did make a lot of mistakes and I learnt a lot in that time. So I'll tell you what I did wrong so you might avoid the same problems. In no particular order:

1 - I didn't demo trade for long enough. I told myself that I needed to start trading mini lots because demo trading just wasn't the same and I'd learn faster by trading with real money. To some extent that was true, I did learn a great deal by using real money. But the fact remains that I went in without a proven trading plan, I didn't have positive expectancy, I was really just gambling.

2 - I added a few indicators, moving averages, macd, RSI... I wasn't exactly sure how some of these indicators actually worked, but you don't need to know how an engine works in order to drive a car right? Maybe, but you're not driving a car you're trading. Do your research. If you don't know how an indicator works and what it's showing you then why are you looking at it?

3 - Too many indicators. If you're losing money, adding more indicators isn't going to help you.

4 - Changing my trading method every time I have a bad trade. If you trade you will lose, you can't avoid it. The trick is to win more often than you lose and/or win more on each wining trade than you lose on each losing trade.

5 - I found forums with people discussing their trades and what they think will happen next. I tried to piggyback the (seemingly) more successful traders. If one of these seemingly well respected successful traders posted that they were short the EUR/USD at 1.3880 then so was I. The trouble with trying to copy someone's trades is that you don't understand why they took the trade. They have a system, you don't. They will exit the trade if it goes against them and re-enter if the opportunity comes up. They will exit at their take profit point or if something happens to invalidate their original reason for entering. You on the other hand are just blindly following orders, refreshing the web page every 10 second hoping they come back to tell you it's all still ok.

6 - Watching wining trades become losers. Holding losing trades hoping they'll come back in my direction. Don't be afraid to get out at break even if the trade moves against you, get back in later if you get the chance. If you miss it, that's fine, there'll be plenty more chances. Never hold on to a bad trade hoping it will get better. Cut the loss short and wait for an opportunity to get into a good trade.

7. Trading against the trend... while doubling, tripling, quadrupling my bet... during a news announcement. Yeah I did it. I was so sure the price was going down. Then some news came out and price shot up. This won't last I said, it's just a news spike and then it will head down. So I shorted it again with another lot. When it kept going up I kept adding more shorts so I could make back all my losses when it turned around. Then I lost my nerve and exited all trades at a large loss... just to watch the price do exactly what I was waiting for it to do all along (but without me).

8 - Being swayed by the money rather than the trade. Occasionally during a trade I'd catch myself looking down at my account balance. Why was I looking there? Thinking "Just a few pips more and I'll have made back what I lost yesterday". Wrong, wrong, wrong. Your exit from a trade should be made purely by what you see on the chart. The market doesn't know or care about your account balance and it isn't going to keep going just a bit longer because you want it to.

9 - Along the same lines as the previous mistake. Feeling as though I need to take another trade to make back my loss. No, you just end up looking for trades that aren't there. Know the setups you like to trade, If there's a trade you honestly believe to be good then take it. If it's not right for you, let it go. It can be better to walk away if you're having a bad day rather than sit there looking for shapes in clouds, trading things that aren't there. You should be able to come back in 6 months time, take a look at a trade you made on the chart and see why you took that trade. I go back and look at some of the trades I took and I can't see any reason why I should have taken it.

There were many more mistakes I haven't mentioned. But those were by far my worst. In the end I only lost $100. That was my maximum drawdown limit I set for myself. I said that if I lost $100 while trading mini lots for about 15 cents a pip then I need to rethink what I'm doing. So I did. Now I'm back in demo and doing much better. At least I was, I like to do short term trades around the London open, but for the last 3 months I've been working late so I've missed my window. I need to look more at daily timeframes.

Read everything you can and study the charts at every opportunity. Place your trades with an expectation of what's going to happen and when you will exit. Also note there are different strategies for scalping compared to trading on the daily charts. Most of what I said above is from experience trading on a 5 minute chart looking for 20 pip moves. Pick the area you want to focus on and get good at it. Record your progress and review what you did right and what you did wrong. Trade, don't gamble.

Best of luck.
 
I just saw your post and wanted to tell you about a couple of sites that can be very helpful when you are just getting started.

babypips.com - GREAT educational resources. It takes you from the very beginning and has a lot of great information

fxstreet.com - More high level, but there is a lot of great information

fx360.com - Lots of daily commentary and analysis on what is going on throughout the day. There is also an iPhone app for FX360 that is available on their website.

I hope that those sites can help you give you some direction. There is a LOT of information out there and it can be tough to sort through the good and the bad.
 
Hi,

I will vote for Lone Wolf as well, a very helpful post for newbies.

I believe it is vital to define your method and have written rules before you trade for real money.

It is best to be profitable on demo for a least a month at the same amount per trade that you intend to start with. If you are going to start with $100 and trade for micros then that is how much you need to trade with in your demo, not full lots for big dollars.
 
kam75 said:
Thanks white_goodman. Will have a look.
Click to expand...

if you do a search on forexfactory for "forex factory hall of fame" you will get a few gems...

also anything with a few thousand posts is usually good. Problem is the best stuff is always the longest to read, cos a lot of people get good results etc.... James 16 I had to skim, just mainly looking at longer posts and all his posts... its taken me the better part of this year trying to get through all my bookmarked threads
 
Yep, Forex Factory is gigantic, one thread has 179,000 posts and 13 million views.

You can click on the posters name and it will tell you how many posts but they also have a vouching system, the more vouchs the more sensible the poster usually.

There are many BS artists on there so just be wary, usually the longer the thread the more sense it makes but unfortunately there are a lot of silly posts that just make it harder to sort through to find the good stuff.

You will find that if you post any questions in here at ASF you are more likely to get a better answer. Most of the experienced guys on FF were burnt out long ago answering dumb questions over and over and have quit posting.
 
njbc said:
Howdy Forex Traders,
I'm a newbie to Forex.:)
Am currently in demo mode with a broker (won't mention their name for fear of being flamed).
The information available on the internet with regards to FOREX is very overwhelming.
I am sincerely looking for a forex mentor, and/or guidance from anybody to nudge me in the right direction.
Any help, and I mean any help would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
Nat.
:)
Click to expand...

you want a mentor?

I have one for u.... demo accounts and hours apon hours of screen time on a few different times frames.....

you see things after trail and error. Learn your pairs get to know them like family then look at systems to trade em.......

cheers
 
look at indicators. understand what part of the price movement story they are telling you.

then write a book telling the whole story. that is your trading plan.

stick to the story. if its a good one, youll make money. if its a bad one, then try again.
 
One of the most profitable ways to trade FX market is at the major Market open times.

Sydney 09:00 pm GMT
Tokyo 11:00 pm GMT
Frankfurt 07:00 am GMT
London 08:00 am GMT
New York 01:00 pm GMT

One thing is certain around these times.

Price will move in one direction as banks make currency transfers.

If you want to know which direction, wait for it to move in that direction.

Range Breakouts occur at these times.

If someone has a definitive trading plan regarding Range Breakouts, that is where is the entry where is the exit then I'm all ears too :D
 
fapturbo said:
One of the most profitable ways to trade FX market is at the major Market open times.

Sydney 09:00 pm GMT
Tokyo 11:00 pm GMT
Frankfurt 07:00 am GMT
London 08:00 am GMT
New York 01:00 pm GMT

One thing is certain around these times.

Price will move in one direction as banks make currency transfers.

If you want to know which direction, wait for it to move in that direction.

Range Breakouts occur at these times.

If someone has a definitive trading plan regarding Range Breakouts, that is where is the entry where is the exit then I'm all ears too :D
Click to expand...

Sorry mate range break outs in FX can really be a suckers games...... you best pray u have a solid trend at hand...

how is Fap going i see it got some bad press in Forex Factory
 
>Apocalypto< said:
Sorry mate range break outs in FX can really be a suckers games...... you best pray u have a solid trend at hand...

how is Fap going i see it got some bad press in Forex Factory
Click to expand...

EURCHF is ranging nicely, FAP doing well on this pair.

EURGBP is not ranging nicely, not trading that pair.

As for breakouts being a suckers game, not sure what you mean by that.

Breakout of a Range. Wait for Pull Back to Range Previous Support/Resistance. Trade Pull Back Bar by placing an order beneath that Bars Low or above that bars High depending on direction of breakout. SL opposite side of that Bar.

Profit Target next round number or Previous swing Low or High.

If you need a Chart I'd be happy to supply one.

Ideally Range Breakout should be in direction of prevailing Trend.
 
fapturbo said:
Ideally Range Breakout should be in direction of prevailing Trend.
Click to expand...

good to hear you're making pips with it.

FX loves to show a break out of a range with pull back to a low. normally just enough to clean out all the longs. when u have a nice trend they stick

I used to trade like that fair time ago.

if u can make it work then good on ya
 

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