I'm new here, but am here to stay.

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Dear Forex-TSD,

I've searched all over the Internet for articles that would help me walk through the FX landscape. But I just can't seem to find something that will help me dig deeper into FX to a point where I can start my own system.

Will someone please give me some advice on how to go about doing things?

Just a little bit about myself:

1. I've been demo trading for about a month now, but I still have no clue what I'm doing. I'm pretty much "scalping" based off of my wits, which is pretty much gambling, and I seriously do not want to do things this way.

2. I've been trying to use stochastics, and I want to use MACD, but for some reason, my demo trading application shows MACD very weird - it only shows one line, when all the other websites that I've studied MACD with have two lines that converge. Any thoughts on what this is? What's even worse, I still don't understand how stochastics can be used properly on a 1-minute~15 minute chart.

3. Can someone please describe what they use in order to at least break even on the FX market?

Any thoughts would be extremely helpful....

I'm just starting, so it will be a long time before i'm all here, but please stick with me.

 

Get a copy of Van Tharps trade your way to financial freedom, and follow the system development methodology that he suggests.

 

Hrmm..

What did you guys think of this book?

I've read a lot of articles on the Internet, but most of them were much too general, touching on topics such as trading psychology and money management. Would this book enable me to delve deeply into the technical aspects of trading as well?

If I'm approaching things in the wrong way, please tell me right now, because I'd have to go back and do things all over again if I started off on the wrong footing.

Based off of my past experiences with forums, I learned that a lot of users provided very helpful information to new-comers. Can someone please offer suggestions as to which forum threads I should be taking a look at?

Thank you!

 
PLATONiC:
If I'm approaching things in the wrong way, please tell me right now, because I'd have to go back and do things all over again if I started off on the wrong footing.

Welcome to the world of forex, where wrong footing and wrong way is the norm at the start.

You just have to start somewhere, anywhere. Then stumble, get up, fall, up again, all the way to either "make it" or leave forex like you leave the monster under the bed of your childhood.

 

I decided to buy van tharps' book, as well as a bunch of others. I noticed that the most important thing for me to do as of now is to absorb as much information as I possibly can.

I couldn't find any good books that focus specifically on RSI. Is there really no book available? A lot of the into books touch on it, but they only cover the topic over just a few pages...

I'm interested in studying fibonacci and bollinger, hoping to use these in the 15min~1hr timeframes. I'm excited:D

 

Don't worry about which indicators to use. You will have to spend 2-3 years learning the market's behavior. Advice: Pick one or two pairs and concentrate on them. Indicators: Use a moving avg. cross to start. Trade it for 3 months on demo. At this point, you just need screen time and trading experience. Don't worry about fancy indicators.

Once you've traded your MA cross for a while, try some other systems that others on forums are using. You will either like them or not, but you need to get through the phase of trying out lots of systems to see what others are doing. After a while you'll realize the system doesn't matter as much as the behavior of you. Can you hold onto a winner? Can you close out a loser with the amount of loss you had planned on? These are some things to discover about yourself.

One more thing: Trade 1 hour charts or higher. Scalping is very hard to do consistently. Put a trade in, and leave it for a day or three. Overtrading kills many accounts.

Good luck.

 

love the determination...

 

Welcome to the trading world Platonic. I can see that you have some queries. There are lots of good resources out there to help. One of the best I have some across is makemoneycurrencytrading dot co dot uk as they run free webinars and training.

 

Welcome to the Forex World .. where wealth is 1 step closer from ur feet .. but be aware, there's a big hole between ur step and the wealth

 

Welcome Aboard

Dear PLATONiC,

First I would like to welcome you into the exciting world of FOREX along side my colleagues. You have indeed taken a step in the right direction for financial independence. But, do be ware that this journey is no walk in the park. It will take you years (yes years) to begin to understand yourself first, then the market.

Trading is more psychology than it is a trading methodology. You may have a 100% successful system, but you will fail miserably if you do not have the correct psychology and discipline to follow it through. It is more often the case that fear and greed will get the best of you and make you either exit the market too early or enter the market too late.

So, at this stage what you need to do is educate yourself prior to performing any trades. This will help you build good foundation instead of bad habits as you practice.

From your posts I get the impression that you wish to be a technical trader instead of a fundamental trader (if you don't know the difference, add this topic to your research list).

To be a good technical trader you need to understand the tools available to you and then understand correct application of each tool. These tools include trend indicators, volatility indicators, volume indicators, and momentum indicators. Each has its own unique way of use and interpretation.

Once you understand the different types of indicators, you will then need to educate yourself on proper trading psychology. This will help you to take control of your emotions and accept the losses that will arise during your trading activity. In addition, this will help you to be more disciplined and stick to your trading plan.

Once you have educated your self in the two topics above, make an initial determination of what type of trader you wish to be - a scalper, a swing trader, a position trader, or an investor? If you don't know the difference between these, then add this point to your list of research.

Once you know what type of trader you want to be and you have the basic understanding of technical indicators and a grasp of how to control your emotions, you need to move to money management. Money management is what makes or breaks a system along with discipline and proper use of technical indicators.

There are several money management techniques, research this topic further and make a determination as to which method suites you best. There is no one correct way of doing this, but all money management techniques have similar themes or commonalty that could be labeled as "pillars" of money management; so make sure you obey these "pillars" in whichever technique you use.

Now, with solid understanding of technical indicators, good grasp of psychology of trading, and a money management technique, begin to apply what you have just learned (all three disciplines). You will be surprised with your performance. Just keep at it and you will eventually succeed.

Create a trading system that suites you’re trading style and risk profile. Start trading your system on a demo account for at least a year before you move into real money. The reason I say this is because you will most likely adjust your system several times before it is usable in the real world. You goal at this stage is not to make money in demo; you should be focused on discipline and technique. Once you have these two down, money will follow.

The steps I outlined above can be performed out of sequence mentioned above as long as you do all of them.

Some important points to consider:

1) The success of any system depends 50% on proper money management, 40% discipline of the trader, and 10% on the technical aspect (i.e. strategy).

2) Try to minimize hoping systems. Create one and try to be the best at it.

3) There is no a "Holy Grail" system that will be perfect 100% of the time; don’t look for a black box system that will do the thinking for you and give you buy/sell signals. You will spend a lot of money on these systems before you realize that no such perfect system exists.

4) Any system with a success rate of 50% or higher with solid money management technique will make you money (other may even argue that a system with lesser success rate but top notch money management technique will be successful and I agree with that statement too. This highlights the importance of money management).

5) The market is dynamic and so should your strategy or methodology be. You should formulate a basket of strategies that are used in different market conditions (don't know what market conditions are? add this point to your research list)

6) Do not trade on anticipation, only facts

7) Try not to catch tops and bottoms, you will be burned; instead, go with the follow and follow the trend once it is established.

8) The life cycle of a new trader takes approximately 5-10 years from beginner to a successful trader, and it will depend on your commitment and discipline as to how long it will take you!

9) The phases you go through your trading cycle are: learner, demo practitioner, real money trader with losses, real money trader with breakeven, real money trader with small profit, real money trader with good profit.

10) When creating your basket of strategies, keep them simple; do not over complicate them to avoid "Analysis Paralysis."

I have deliberately left some points vague to prompt you to perform your own research and begin to build your own repertoire of knowledge.

With that said, I wish you the best of luck in your research and if you get stuck or need further assistance, make sure to reach out to either myself or the Forex-TSD community; we are all here for the same reason and you will find many helpful people around here.

Cheers,

 
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