My First Trade

[tomorton]

Just focus on keeping losses small, don't worry about making big wins. Let TA show you the target levels, not the % increase you would like to see in your account. Be aware of the pattern you're trading - if you can't see a target being hit repeatedly by price emerging from similar patterns in the past, it's not a pattern and you don't have a target.

 

[tomorton]

Actually, take heart that your first trade was a loser and made youi sit back and think this through - think what you might have been led to risk if it had been a winner.

 

[Bartlby]

I'd agree with Tomorton there - thank God you lost. When I first started I tried trading oil on an SB account, a demo account. I wanted to trade it because over the years I've done a lot of reading about oil and energy and felt like it was something I knew something about. But my knowledge did not translate into usable knowledge for trading an oil futures contract and the volatility makes it way too risky.

I've found I can find good trading opportunities on a few fx pairs. The set-ups are clear and offer clear signals, stop loss levels and likely targets - now if could just manage those trades better and manage me a little better I'd be getting somewhere.

I'd suggest reading this thread http://www.trade2win.com/boards/forex-strategies-systems/75950-trading-naked.html
and this thread http://www.trade2win.com/boards/for...55-phil-newtons-range-break-out-strategy.html
as a start.

The other thing is to keep a trading journal - you can't learn anything if you can't review what you're doing.

Good luck.

B.

 

[SRINIARK]

Re: My Forst Trade

Trend is UP, DOWN or RANGE

I sent you a message with some links that will give you a free start on learning. You can pay to learn but I took the long free option to become self taught. I've been at it 3 years and I still class myself as a newbie lol

Hi JTRADER,

Could you please send me the links as well. TIA.

 

[JDTRADER]

Re: My Forst Trade

Hi JTRADER,

Could you please send me the links as well. TIA.

Go to my blog the link is below and you'll find all you need to get a basic start in the Link list

 

[betman]

thanks for all the comments guys..
I think people are right when they say its a good thing i lost money on the trade..

I have been reading a lot about trends and moving averages and all the other tools to assist in spoting a trend..
My question is what timeframe do people usually view these on..
For example looking at bollinger bands, do you normally view it on a 5, 10, 15 min chart??? or does this depend on what sort of timescale youplan on putting the trade on for?

Also do people here purely just trade on these signals or do they look for something else too (i.e news stories ect that can affect)

thanks

 

[Bartlby]

I try and look at a few time frames - maybe 4hr, 1hr, 15mins and 5 mins. I'm not really using indicators anymore - have looked at moving averages, bollinger bands, stochastics etc but now look at trendlines and support and resistance.

I'd recommend reading "High Probability Trading" by Marcel Link as a good starting place. Get a demo account and practice, learn to use the platform etc - try lots of things - indicators, timeframes and instruments and find what works for you.

 

[betman]

Do you use a certain criteria to determin levels of support and resistance??

 

[Bartlby]

No I just look for levels where price has failed to make higher highs or lower lows - I use a longer timeframe to determine those levels and then use a shorter time frame to watch what price does.

This morning its not working at all.