Something that helped me develop a good mindset was to spend less time as a loser and more time as a winner. Starting in the beginning of the week I would try and find a good trade that I felt was sure to be a winner. If I lost the trade, I would continue looking for another winner. If I won the trade (even by just a few pips) I would not trade agin until the following week.
For a month or two I went into every weekend on a win and it really helped me identify myself as a winning trader. Once I genuinly saw myself as a winning trader my actual results began to exceed my windest expectations. Now every winning trade is just positive reinforcement...
This also had the advantage of enforcing the discipline to be selective in my trades; the value of which should not be underestimated. Luck be with you.
People act like social security and medicare/caid are some kind of debt, when the simple fact is that they aren't. An individual that pays into the various systems must do so before they can QUALIFY for benefits, but there is no quantifiable relationship between what an individual pays in to the system and what they are ultimately permitted to receive. In short, you can pay in for your whole life, but the government is not OBLIGATED to pay you one red cent. These are PROGRAMS, not insurance pools, and as with any government program, it can be cut or even eliminated at any point.
In the end it will come down to a simple choice. For all its faults, The United States of America is still a democracy; meaning it is governed by the will of its people. Most of them are stupid and self centered, but that doesn't mean they are all oblivious to the issues at hand. Even the stupidest ones understand what it means when there isn't enough money to pay the bills. When Americans have to choose between giving up their progr ...
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Originally Posted by kimmie
Thanks Darkstar,
You‘re right, this is exactly what I feel like I need to learn, and that’s what I meant in my last post. I do lack knowledge regarding sentiment, news, economics / politics etc.
When I watch the news channels, for example, they may as well be in Cantonese… Though I may get the gist, half the time I don't even understand the vocab...! So I don’t think I can learn just by watching… Can you recommend any books / websites, that explain the principles in basic terms?
It's like anything else, it takes time. Make it a part of your life and you will grow to understand it. As a simple suggestion, keep a notebook and pen handy when your watching and write down anything they say that doesn't make sense. Then google it for details.
Unfortunatly, you are arn't goi ...
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Originally Posted by kimmie
I have been using the Oanda forum for a while, and am so used to the curt and rude responses I get there, that I’m totally blown away by you guys! Thanks so much to everyone who’s responded. You’re replies are all so positive, and full of good advice.
Also, can anyone recommend any good websites / books for fundamental analysis? I’m not talking about forex calendars, but more along the lines of the implications of fundamentals, how they affect and move the market, how important individual reports are, and the long term market sentiment. Basic stuff, but I feel as though most of my research so far, has been on technical analysis, to the extent that I feel completely ignorant about the fundamentals.
If your consistently losing, it isn’t because you’re a bad trader, it’s beca ...
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The news is only tradable in relation to expectations and psychological context.
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Originally Posted by fxbpr1
Hello to all...........I had no idea such a place existed.....and of course I mean a place like this this(forum). Gosh where to begin.....I do not want to bore anyone so I will get down to it........ I AM SOOO FREAKN TIRED OF LOSING MONEY.
There that wasn't that bad..... ok...I purchased a $3,000.00 course to learn the forex....ok it taught me the basics....Then again I could have learned it for free online.
I joined their mentoring program...another $145.00 a month for about three months....lost about $8,000.00 trading, as I trusted their judgements blindly, after all they were supposed to be the best.
I told my wife, "Thats it, I give up un the forex. I do not want to continue to lose any more money"
Damn it man, I LOVE HER, you know what she says.... "you can't give up, you have invested too m ...
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I agree with everyone here that trying to average 10 pips a day is a stupid plan. If you just want to half ass it and take any old random trade, then it isn’t going to work. But there is nothing wrong with looking for a single 10 pip trading opportunity per day. There are many of them, and with patience and discipline in seeking out the best one in a 24 hour period you can do very well.
Can you sit at your terminal for hours or days at a time waiting patiently? That’s up to you to determine. Honestly not many people can, but not many will ever make money doing this anyway. If your one of those few this strategy will be just as good as any other.
With regard to money management, the advice given is good; provided you do things the way everyone else does. When your taking non-stop garbage trades, you should absolutely keep your risk to a minimum because you’re probably going to lose far more often then you win. If you want to pursue a best 10 pip strategy then bet the house. Why? Because whe ...
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Originally Posted by james16
i saw this thread, left to watch the maverick game and couldnt stop thinking about it. what defines a pro trader?
I think a pro(fessional) is anyone who makes a living by using their skills in a given profession. This doesn't imply that they are an expert or a master, just that they have established a level of skill sufficient to sustain themselves.
The pro trader question is a good one, in that there are many different situations where someone could sustain themselves without any skill. But I wonder if there is really any difference at all.
Is the pro basketball player that blows out his knee still considered a pro when he can no longer play? Is the computer software developer that gets downsized and can't find a job still a pro? How about the scientist that spends years developing a vaccine that never gets FDA approval? At what point did any of thes ...
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Originally Posted by SterlingTDR
Twice I've lost 20%+ due to the unexpected whilst toying with the idea that stops were unnecessary. Never again. I use two stops; one mental where if the price reaches a certain level the trade is no longer valid and therefore I bail out. The other one, HARD, which is a disaster stop because the unforseen happens when you least expect it. Believe me, it will happen at some point.
Well, in all fairness I frequently lose 10-30% on a failed trade so that doesn't bother me. I technically have a catastrophic stop too, its called a margin call at 50% loss. What makes it work for me is that a winner nets 30-100% and the wins are far more common then the losses. It's not how most people trade, but I'm ok with that...
I guess it really depends on why your taking the trades you are. If your taking them because of a chart formation or an indicator then by all ...
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Save yourself the aggravation and just skip the indicators. Visit the James 16 threads or trading-naked.com and learn how to trade off of price action. It won't be as intuitive as "buy when price hits a dot", but it will be profitable, eventually.
The problem with all indicators is that they are arbitrary. By that I mean that prices don't move because an indicator says they should, the indicator moves because the price has already done so. Sometimes they will work for you, but the majority of the time price will not move as the indicator says it should and you will lose money.
I could be wrong ofcourse. You could somehow have managed to create an indicator system that is profitable long term, but the probabilities are stacked heavily against you. I'm not trying to take the starch out of your great day. By the way, congratz on your win(s)! I mention all this because I wasted a long time looking at them when I could have been doing much more productive work.
Good luck.