Finally giving it (another) go

Hi
Just a quick post to say I have been trading lots this week and will update properly over the weekend.
I've been making far more trades. And although I have made cash each day I've not enjoyed it at all.
I've been making a deliberate attempt to take more trades and I've found it really stressful
To make matters worse I've just gone over the last couple of days with my usual strategy and I've have made far more money using just that. I'd have taken far less trades, but would have been more profitable.
The more trades I make, the less selective I become. Today I found myself trading against the trend a lot, yet my usual strategy would have taken me with it

I'm a 3 to 5 trades a day guy. I'll start again next week, just using my usual, simple approach.

I can't decide whether I'm not good enough to take so many trades, or whether it just doesn't suit me.

To be honest I feel pretty stupid. I've found a wee system that was working really well for me. I don't think I got greedy, but I did think I needed to trade more.
From here on in its back to Plan A. Trade the Gbp and the Dow. Wait for a signal, risk 3% of the bank and let the winners run.

When I'm taking 15-25 trades a day I find that I'm cutting stops to break even far too quickly, taking really small profits and heading a headache for a few pips. Yes, I've made a small profit each day, but honestly......it's not been worth it.

Patience is required. I've got a plan, and it was working really well. Why the hell did I change it?
 
I would stick with your old method if you enjoy it and make money.Dont stress yourself.Their is no problem with testing other systems as long as you preserve your bank roll.
 
I also tend to take more sensible trades when I post them on here. Don't want to look too stupid I guess!
So yes, back to where I was I think!
 
Stick with what you were doing. Don't be influenced by any 'gurus' here. If you knew the truth about them you would find that they are no better than you at this trading lark, and are in no position to give you, or anyone else, any advice.
Good luck
 
scholfield said:
Stick with what you were doing. Don't be influenced by any 'gurus' here. If you knew the truth about them you would find that they are no better than you at this trading lark, and are in no position to give you, or anyone else, any advice.
Good luck
Click to expand...

It's interesting.......I should have more confidence in what I'm doing. Bottom line is I was making money. I found something that I like, at a pace I can cope with.
Let's hope it lasts!
 
scholfield said:
Stick with what you were doing. Don't be influenced by any 'gurus' here. If you knew the truth about them you would find that they are no better than you at this trading lark, and are in no position to give you, or anyone else, any advice.
Good luck
Click to expand...

Well said Scholfield,one of the best posts EVER on Trade2win.The boards are full of great theory traders but that's all it is, THEORY for most of them, I see it as a huge character flaw that someone would want to keep proving themself as a great trader , on a forum ! Lmao at that !

@ET A famous golfer once said years ago when he was on the up " everyone wanted to give me advice on how to become a better golfer , I just picked out the bits that I thought would help me and discarded the rest ". He went on to win majors.

If I had a winning system I wouldn't change anything until I'd thoroughly tested the new suggestion , on paper , back test , demo and a walk forward test with minimum stake size.

Good luck buddy and kudos for starting a thread.
 
Edinburgh Trader said:
Had the most stressful trading day ever yesterday.
I tried scalping for the first time.
Turn the risk down to 0.5% and made 3% in total.
Learned a lot. Most importantly...... I'm not ready to scalp!
Click to expand...

Edinburgh Trader said:
Hi
Just a quick post to say I have been trading lots this week and will update properly over the weekend.
I've been making far more trades. And although I have made cash each day I've not enjoyed it at all.
I've been making a deliberate attempt to take more trades and I've found it really stressful
To make matters worse I've just gone over the last couple of days with my usual strategy and I've have made far more money using just that. I'd have taken far less trades, but would have been more profitable.
The more trades I make, the less selective I become. Today I found myself trading against the trend a lot, yet my usual strategy would have taken me with it

I'm a 3 to 5 trades a day guy. I'll start again next week, just using my usual, simple approach.

I can't decide whether I'm not good enough to take so many trades, or whether it just doesn't suit me.

To be honest I feel pretty stupid. I've found a wee system that was working really well for me. I don't think I got greedy, but I did think I needed to trade more.
From here on in its back to Plan A. Trade the Gbp and the Dow. Wait for a signal, risk 3% of the bank and let the winners run.

When I'm taking 15-25 trades a day I find that I'm cutting stops to break even far too quickly, taking really small profits and heading a headache for a few pips. Yes, I've made a small profit each day, but honestly......it's not been worth it.

Patience is required. I've got a plan, and it was working really well. Why the hell did I change it?
Click to expand...


Hi ET

I would personally totally agree with your comments made above.

Walk before you run - stay with what you are happy with - especially if its working and your happy with it and its making money.

There is no way in just 2 months - even spending say 10 hrs a day you can go from being a moderately successful FX day trader to another higher advanced level. Think about - 40 trading days at 10 hrs a day is only another 400 hrs under the belt - I think you need at least 1500- 2000 hrs to go up to another level and achieving higher returns on a consistent basis.

It's really down to you how far you want to go in the FX 'game' - you can stay with 3 - 5 trades a day and if you make a positive good return per week - is over 5% on just 1 or 2 % stake size - then that's excellent.

Don't ruin it with compounding - find your wall and stay under it - as compounding is a recipe for disaster if you reach stake levels you cannot cope with - using your own monies

Good Luck to you. I am this weekend doing a blog on trade management in my other Intra day thread - but not the normal stuff on MM etc - but on optimum number of trades per day for your own system / method etc This might explain more for you

Regards

F
 
Spent the day selling the Dow, before trying to buy later in the day. Took me a while to realise that stops need to be a bit wonder on days like this.
Caught 3 great moves of 100+ points.
Still waiting for the good run to end!
 
Still here.....still trading......
Thought I would not post as much as I thought I'd be boring.people!
Will update over the weekend.....
 
I heard a low mewing on the moors. Was it a bird ?
Or was it ET ?
 
That's a bit philosophical for me Pat!

A quick update. Trading seemed to be going pretty well, but went back to work and didn't have the time to dedicate to it. Contract finished, moved and had a big change of lifestyle. Opened a new account a couple of weeks ago and all but blew it out!
Back here for some help and support.
I'm now free to trade from about 11am till about 5pm.
Again ill be posting my trades in the hope that others will chip in with support and guidance.
I'll be looking at price action as per before.
I would also like to start looking for a more rules based system. Buy when this crosses this and the rsi is doing this. You know the kind of thing. If anyone is successfully trading like this, please point me in the right direction.
I've re organised my life so I can trade for around 5 hours each day.
As ever I'm realistic in my expectations and blowing my latest account has reminded me that this is a long term thing.
On my last visit here I found everyone so helpful and supportive that I thought I need to come back.

Thanks in advance!
 
Edinburgh Trader said:
That's a bit philosophical for me Pat!

A quick update. Trading seemed to be going pretty well, but went back to work and didn't have the time to dedicate to it. Contract finished, moved and had a big change of lifestyle. Opened a new account a couple of weeks ago and all but blew it out!
Back here for some help and support.
I'm now free to trade from about 11am till about 5pm.
Again ill be posting my trades in the hope that others will chip in with support and guidance.
I'll be looking at price action as per before.
I would also like to start looking for a more rules based system. Buy when this crosses this and the rsi is doing this. You know the kind of thing. If anyone is successfully trading like this, please point me in the right direction.
I've re organised my life so I can trade for around 5 hours each day.
As ever I'm realistic in my expectations and blowing my latest account has reminded me that this is a long term thing.
On my last visit here I found everyone so helpful and supportive that I thought I need to come back.

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

good luck
 
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