Hi folks, I'm new here

[EdfromSpain]

Hi everybody, I picked this forum as it seems to have a lot of activity, compared to others I looked at.

I decided a few months ago to see if I could make Forex trading work for me. If I could, it would be an ideal internet-based investment (and extra income) tool for me as I live full-time in my "RV" and enjoy the travelling around Europe.

Well, I signed up back then with Alpari for a demo account and started using the MetaTrader4 software. After lots of newbie mistakes I started to get the hang of it and now I feel I am ready to open a real money account. I am now suffering only the occasional losing trade and my last 17 trades have all been money-makers. I try to make at least 10% of my at-risk amount on each trade.

I realise that trading with real money will be different as my emotions will be much more involved, but I keep telling myself to just do what I've been doing and stay relaxed about it.

One thing I noticed is that selling a Forex pair has the advantage of the overnight "swap" amount being a positive sum rather a charge, so I intend to be biased towards sell trades for that reason. Those amounts will add up over time...

But I do like to end a trade before the day is out and especially before a weekend arrives, rather than sweating it out. I want to be able to sleep soundly

I hope to interact with other like-minded "day-traders" here, and maybe pick up some ideas too. I'll post updates of my progress if anyone is interested. I hope they will be happy and positive updates!

Anyway, here goes and good luck all!

Ed

p.s. I deliberately avoided being swamped with information for the past few months and concentrated just on my technique and becoming very comfortable with MetaTrader4, so I am probably very green compared to most of you.

 

[Soloquan]

Hey Ed,

living the dream there buddy. Travelling round in an RV sounds like my kinda life right now. You're doing it backwards to me though, doing the travelling thing first then learning to trade.

I've learnt to trade now I want to go travelling.

Not to put a downer on things for you just yet, you might have it cracked already.. but it's taken me 5 years of blood, sweat, tears and a few blown accounts to get this far :|

Good luck!

 

[pboyles]

Hi everybody, I picked this forum as it seems to have a lot of activity, compared to others I looked at.

I decided a few months ago to see if I could make Forex trading work for me. If I could, it would be an ideal internet-based investment (and extra income) tool for me as I live full-time in my "RV" and enjoy the travelling around Europe.

Well, I signed up back then with Alpari for a demo account and started using the MetaTrader4 software. After lots of newbie mistakes I started to get the hang of it and now I feel I am ready to open a real money account. I am now suffering only the occasional losing trade and my last 17 trades have all been money-makers. I try to make at least 10% of my at-risk amount on each trade.

I realise that trading with real money will be different as my emotions will be much more involved, but I keep telling myself to just do what I've been doing and stay relaxed about it.

One thing I noticed is that selling a Forex pair has the advantage of the overnight "swap" amount being a positive sum rather a charge, so I intend to be biased towards sell trades for that reason. Those amounts will add up over time...

But I do like to end a trade before the day is out and especially before a weekend arrives, rather than sweating it out. I want to be able to sleep soundly

I hope to interact with other like-minded "day-traders" here, and maybe pick up some ideas too. I'll post updates of my progress if anyone is interested. I hope they will be happy and positive updates!

Anyway, here goes and good luck all!

Ed

p.s. I deliberately avoided being swamped with information for the past few months and concentrated just on my technique and becoming very comfortable with MetaTrader4, so I am probably very green compared to most of you.

If you are going to trade forex with MT4 then you'll probably never make a cent. A lot of MT4 brokers are ripping off their clients with dishonest slippage practices. Even without being ripped off you'll still lose money for several years and you may never make it.

Sorry but that's the reality.

 

[wackypete2]

If you are going to trade forex with MT4 then you'll probably never make a cent. A lot of MT4 brokers are ripping off their clients with dishonest slippage practices. Even without being ripped off you'll still lose money for several years and you may never make it.

Sorry but that's the reality.

Sorry, but I have to disagree.It depends on the broker not the platform. Besides, most clients don't lose money just because of slippage, they just don't know how to win even if the game was tilted in their favor.

Peter

 

[barjon]

Sorry, but I have to disagree.It depends on the broker not the platform. Besides, most clients don't lose money just because of slippage, they just don't know how to win even if the game was tilted in their favor.

Peter

Aye, people can buy a gun without the intention of using it to shoot someone, but you'd still worry a bit about the possibility.

 

[the hare]

Aye, people can buy a gun without the intention of using it to shoot someone, but you'd still worry a bit about the possibility.

I think that's a fair comment, just because a platform has built in tools to steal from customers doesn't mean the brokerages will use them. I am sure there are some who don't

If you look at the volume of transactions going through the top 3 or 4 retail brokerages, the numbers are absolutely staggering, shaving off a fraction of a pip from each trade equates to serious money (which is precisely the reason they went to 5 digit prices)

If you get caught (and lets face it the regulators are not the sharpest tools in the box) you get a slap on the wrist, and a measly fine. A 15M fine to FXCM is a drop in the ocean, and a fraction of what they stole. The damage to reputation can be repaired for peanuts, with a bit of advertising, paid shills, IB promotions etc.

To use your gun analogy, if the guy buying the gun has just been released after serving 7 years for armed robbery, after vowing to kill the guy who grassed him up, then there's a possibility he's not buying the gun to shoot at coke cans. If a broker registered in Cyprus, or The Seychelles, or BVI, is buying an MT4 license, its probably because they want to capitalize on some of the platforms more unique features.

The other thing about MT4 is that the barriers to entry are low, and its possible to set up for relatively low costs, and that tends to attract a lower class of criminal

 

[barjon]

I think that's a fair comment, just because a platform has built in tools to steal from customers doesn't mean the brokerages will use them. I am sure there are some who don't

If you look at the volume of transactions going through the top 3 or 4 retail brokerages, the numbers are absolutely staggering, shaving off a fraction of a pip from each trade equates to serious money (which is precisely the reason they went to 5 digit prices)

If you get caught (and lets face it the regulators are not the sharpest tools in the box) you get a slap on the wrist, and a measly fine. A 15M fine to FXCM is a drop in the ocean, and a fraction of what they stole. The damage to reputation can be repaired for peanuts, with a bit of advertising, paid shills, IB promotions etc.

To use your gun analogy, if the guy buying the gun has just been released after serving 7 years for armed robbery, after vowing to kill the guy who grassed him up, then there's a possibility he's not buying the gun to shoot at coke cans. If a broker registered in Cyprus, or The Seychelles, or BVI, is buying an MT4 license, its probably because they want to capitalize on some of the platforms more unique features.

The other thing about MT4 is that the barriers to entry are low, and its possible to set up for relatively low costs, and that tends to attract a lower class of criminal

I'm not sure it's "built in" is it - I thought it was an add-on, but stand to be corrected.

What bemuses me is that some of those features can simply have no other use than to protect the brokers at the expense of their clients at best, or to provide brokers with gains at the expense of their clients at worst. Why the FSA (or whoever) haven't killed it is beyond me

 

[pboyles]

I'm not sure it's "built in" is it - I thought it was an add-on, but stand to be corrected.

What bemuses me is that some of those features can simply have no other use than to protect the brokers at the expense of their clients at best, or to provide brokers with gains at the expense of their clients at worst. Why the FSA (or whoever) haven't killed it is beyond me

'Virtual Dealer' is a plug-in for MT4 made by Boston Technologies. MT could block it if they wanted to but don't.

Metatrader Virtual Dealer Plug-In

The FSA haven't even taken action against FXCM and they've already been caught defrauding clients by CFTC, what's the chance they actually go out and investigate other brokers?

 

[the hare]

I'm not sure it's "built in" is it - I thought it was an add-on, but stand to be corrected.

You are right. I wont comment further cos I don't want to increase Mr Sharkys legal bills

 

[EdfromSpain]

Thanks for the responses.

I find the extra digit in the prices a nuisance, I wish there was a way to suppress it. And I hope the broker won't rip me off, but how would I know?

Ok, first two real trading days under the belt and made useful profits on both. Today was a bit frustrating because I opened a trade then went to the beach. When I came back I saw I had a nice little profit, but the graph showed that just as I was deep in the middle of my siesta under the parasol, the "profit" had been 3 times larger. Oh well. I'm more concentrated on avoiding losing and I think any "big wins" will take care of themselves, I was just a bit unlucky today with that timing.

I'm aware of the MT4 mobile "app", but I want to be able to walk away from the laptop and enjoy "real world" things without distractions.

So far, so good

 

[Soloquan]

..... but I want to be able to walk away from the laptop and enjoy "real world" things without distractions.....

Enjoy it while you can. Before you know it you're gonna be glued to that screen all day long. Hypnotised by candles moving on a chart like a 50 year old paedo in a playground. Trust me.

 

[rsh01]

I try to make at least 10% of my at-risk amount on each trade.

One thing I noticed is that selling a Forex pair has the advantage of the overnight "swap" amount being a positive sum rather a charge, so I intend to be biased towards sell trades for that reason.

That's a v poor risk:return. Do you know what strike rate is required to break even? What's your strike rate over the demo period (from when you first started this method of trading)?

Just as I was deep in the middle of my siesta under the parasol, the "profit" had been 3 times larger.

This is a lulz set up.

I was just a bit unlucky today with that timing.

Yes, funny how not being at the screen impacts timing.

The timing of such threads popping up is uncanny, just as lulz drops off. Traffic flow to the site must be in strong down trend. You may have to do better than this to get the leopard et al back.

 

[NVP]

Ed

i'm still not convinced you are the real deal my friend......I apologise for my exposure to probably 30 years of receiving stuff from the best Gambling and Trading spammers in the business but the radar is still twitching on you....

N

 

[EdfromSpain]

I'm not trying to sell anything here, honest!

I'm happy the ways things are going to so far, although last night I had to go to bed while I still had an open trade still bobbing around in the negative zone. After 4 hrs sleep I woke to visit the bathroom and, you guessed it, I couldn't resist firing up the computer to take a look. It was even more negative... I had to wait until late this afternoon until I could close that one for a (hard-earned) profit.

Summary of first 5 days' trading goes like this: 8 successful trades, 1 unsuccessful, balance now 159% of starting capital. Hey, that's a better return than the bank! The losing one was an impulse trade and a bad idea - I saw a sudden movement and even though it was not in line with my method, I decided to jump in for a "quick profit". Well, it failed to even cover the commission before turning around, so I quickly baled out for a small loss. Lesson learned - stick to the plan. So that makes 17 winning demo trades + 8 winning real trades with one loss since I settled on a strategy. I feel that takes me out of the "just luck" and into the "having an edge" zone.

I'm pleased and a little excited, especially when looking at investment growth projections. Can't help thinking there is a snag or two hiding round the corner. Meantime my goal is to steadily build up my bankroll so that I'm risking even less of it each trade, then gradually ramp up the deal size. Too good to be true? Time will tell....

Hope anyone reading this is making a profit too

 

[pboyles]

I'm pleased and a little excited, especially when looking at investment growth projections.

)

Do your investment growth projections involve making 150% every 5 days because if they do you might be in for a disappointment.

 

[The Leopard]

And they wonder why all we do is use this place to muck about and bash vendorscum. Mods / admin / Steve, seriously, look at this thread. You expect people to to treat this place with respect when you're hosting crap like this?

Don't get me wrong, it's sort of funny-ish, but there are just so many of them. There seem to be several new threads of this type every week.

 

[ChocolateDigestive]

150% gtfo. I expect 300% per trade as a bare minimum. I was trained by the worlds leading authority on price behaviour.

 

[The Leopard]

150% gtfo. I expect 300% per trade as a bare minimum. I was trained by the worlds leading authority on price behaviour.

Silence, caca-roach looser moron! I invent price behaviour, see? It when price do something. Or not do something. That also behaviour of price.

What the f uck is going on here? What the f uck is "slapoopies"?

Anyway, you wanna be my tortoise? Only cost you 50 grand.

 

[rsh01]

And they wonder why all we do is use this place to muck about and bash vendorscum. Mods / admin / Steve, seriously, look at this thread. You expect people to to treat this place with respect when you're hosting crap like this?

Don't get me wrong, it's sort of funny-ish, but there are just so many of them. There seem to be several new threads of this type every week.

I began to think ed may have been you, if it is then nice little spoof here.

 

[The Leopard]

I began to think ed may have been you, if it is then nice little spoof here.

Not me. Strictly one nic at a time, I know the rules.