Thought I had a clue....

[digitalvynil]

Greetings all, my name is Justin and I have been lurking for a few weeks now and I love your forum. I have been thinking about trading Forex for years, and decided to open up my first $1,000USD account(I live in NY)....

Anyway...

to make a long story short I used entirely way to much leverage(standard lot), and sunk half of my capital within the first week. Basically I would have no entry or exit point and set stops entirely to small and get stopped out on almost all of my trades. I have called a few, and made some $$ back, but mostly I can see the down trend happening before my eyes.

I have been visiting Forex Factory and they have some really great stuff...but upon reading the beginner threads, I am most likely doomed to never trade again assuming my poor performance over the past few weeks.

My question to you is, I dont really know the basics....like identifying trends, and then drawing your fibs(I get confused with some of the systems on forex forums)

1) I am currently using FXCM, should I pull my remaining 300 USD out and start a mini account? I dont want to sit and scalp or have to be tied to the screen..I want to base my trades more fundamentally, and let them appreciate over at least a few days...what systems would be a good starting point?

2) Should I be using metatrader 4...as most people are using it..and it looks a bunch better than the stock TradeStation II platform they give you for fxcm....

I really need a system, because doing it blindly is just a losing proposition.

I feel that what is the point if you are not leveraged to the hilt....is this a normal feeling for beginners?

I really appreciate any help that can be tossed my way..and I will keep reading. I really like trading, and I am glad I got in to it...can I be safe to say that most people who first start lose money?

Thnx

Justin

 

[trendie]

read Phil Newtrons thread on FX breakouts: clear set-ups, entry rules, stop-losses, exits, etc.
(he posts daily broadcasts on which FX pairs are setting up)

read trader_dantes threads on use of pin-bar set-ups. (I may be wrong, but I think he now uses Inside-Bars)

read Captain Currencys 3-Ducks threads on using MAs to trade.

read nkruger/options thread on trading the DAX.

all of the above have clear methods, are live threads (except the nkruger one), and you will be supported for free by other members trading those rule-sets.

you just need to decide which method you feel most comfortable using.

however, I suspect you are horrendously under-capitalised.

 

[JTrader]

I recommend MT4, as it is free, and effective, and like you say - widely used.

 

[shadowninja]

Until you have some semblance of a decent strategy, I'd go to demo. Once you have that nailed, take your money to the market and do the fear/greed thing.

 

[fifty2aces]

$300 is undercapitalised for a micro account, never mind a mini one.

 

[shadowninja]

Oanda is his friend, then. Trade 0.0001c at a time?

 

[fifty2aces]

Oanda is his friend, then. Trade 0.0001c at a time?

Oanda will be his friend after demo trading for a while.

 

[jzc]

As far as I am concerned anything under $10,000.00 is way under-capitalized. Do paper trading until you can save that amount. By then you will have gained more experience and will hopefully have a trading plan. Good luck to you.

 

[kamon]

read Phil Newtrons thread on FX breakouts: clear set-ups, entry rules, stop-losses, exits, etc.
(he posts daily broadcasts on which FX pairs are setting up)

read trader_dantes threads on use of pin-bar set-ups. (I may be wrong, but I think he now uses Inside-Bars)

read Captain Currencys 3-Ducks threads on using MAs to trade.

read nkruger/options thread on trading the DAX.

all of the above have clear methods, are live threads (except the nkruger one), and you will be supported for free by other members trading those rule-sets.

you just need to decide which method you feel most comfortable using.

however, I suspect you are horrendously under-capitalised.

very helpful

As far as I am concerned anything under $10,000.00 is way under-capitalized. Do paper trading until you can save that amount. By then you will have gained more experience and will hopefully have a trading plan. Good luck to you.

but he already lost more than half his 1k, imagine if that was 10k :whistling
what's the appropriate capitalization for beginners? it depends but he should have demoed and had some sort of set up before doing so and he shouldn't have gone to standard lots like that
it pays to learn