What do you wish you had been told?

Good post ! totally agree :eek:

I've been in the Forex for over a year now and I hope beginners read my post before they get scammed.

Automated signal services:

Do not ever use any automated signal service. All of those sites you see are traded on demo accounts and you will never see the same results on a live account, especially for scalping systems.

EA's:

If you are not willing to learn how to trade then your only hope would be to use an EA and again the only way to find a profitable EA is to back test it using tick level data and then forward test it on a LIVE account, avoid nano accounts as brokers are already aware that people use these for forward testing.

Ignore all demo and live accounts on the internet, 99% of them are fake:


Demo account testing is 100% meaningless and ALL live account stats are rigged, it is easy to rig up an MT4 server and feed the client false info which can then be directed to myfxbook. If you do not have the time to backtest and forward test an EA for yourself, then you should not be trading EA's, you will 100% blow up your account.

Free holy grail systems / community websites discussing free systems:

As with all commercial EA's all free EA's and free "honest communities" discussing free systems are 100% scams and only there to part you from your money. All free systems will be stealthed amoungst some upsell, for example someone may recommend an indicator that works better with the free system. Those who are honest will always be overshadowed by dishonest marketeers or people connected to the said marketeers.

I know this sounds dishearting but I've been following the forex for over a year and have seen the same old scams recycled over and over again. It's a never ending system because as old people leave they are replaced by newbies. The only way to survive in this market is to assume that 100% of the participants are scammers, that includes everyone on this forum, your broker, meta trader, and even your bank. Sure there might be a nice 5% but the probablility that you are going to learn from that 5% before blowing up your account on scams is so far against you that statistically roulette has better odds.

Forums / websites:

When ever money is discussed, as in how many pips can I make, what did you make, what will this EA make etc. The number 1 rule is this: IGNORE that person.

Forum rule 1: Never take advice from anybody. If they have over 500 posts you may "consider" their opinion but absolutely 100% not if it involves you buying a product, broker, system or service.

Forum rule 2: Never trust a "respected member", most respected members eventually turn out to be scammers with too much time on their hands. If a respected member ever "recommends" a system place them on permanent ignore.

Forum rule 3: Assume all admins and moderators are scammers or affiliate marketers. The main goal of all website owners is to make money through ad revenue and / or affiliate marketing.

Forum rule 4: Assume all rating sites such as forex peace army are rigged. These sites are financed by stealth affiliate marketing, stealth meaning the owners are paid behind our backs to promote certain products.

You can make a lot of money in this market, but it really is a lonesome journey, sure have fun with other traders never ever trust them, it's a jungle out there and if this world wasn't virtual you can gaurantee the majority of people here would have no quarms in physically stealing your wallet from you.

The only way to make money in forex is to completely ignore everybody else and systematically test theories until you find something that makes money.

Affiliates:

Do not sign up to any service promoted or sold by affiliates. I assume most people on the internet know this rule nowdays.

Brokers:

All non ECN + STP brokers are scams, period. In my time in forex I've found only 2 decent brokers, go markets and dukascopy however you should still ignore my advice as I could be scamming (employee's are paid by the brokers to post on these forums). The no 1 rule here is never join a broker because it has been recommended on forex peace army or a forum.

I know this post will attract a lot of negative replies from the scammers, I just hope that as a newbie and hopefully an intelligent person who's yet to be desensitized to logic by the community you can see the common sense in my post.

I know as a beginner you don't want to believe it, it's far nicer and less stresssfull to assume that everybody is really friendly and we all live in castles thanks to our scalping EA's but the truth is a very different picture.

I saw a very similar post to mine when I first started and thought "sore looser" and thus I chose to ignore that person and ended up blowing up my account. After a whole year of constant headache and stress I'm just starting to head into profit, and no thanks to any forum, EA or system. Sure you can get a few pips from a couple of EA's but the risk has to be so low that it's hardly even worth bothering.

So I ask one final time, please please PLEASE take my advice and have a long hard think before you get involved with this industry, the journey is going to be long and hard and expect to devote your whole life to screen time. I mean you need a whole year in front of the screen, 7 days a week. Forex trading is a LOT harder than stock trading so if you suck at stocks don't think for a second you'll ever make anything here.
 
I wish they told me that reality is a bugger and the reports about forex all over the internet is just great marketing. You wont be making 225% a month (except when u're fantasizing)! You wont be making 20% a week either!! And most importantly newbie, "focus on one strategy at a time", does not mean pin bars in January, Adx in Feburary, Session Breakouts in March and Retracements in April. Wishing wont make u a better trader, hope definitely wont, and staring at the PC 16 hrs a day trying to decipher the market will damage your eyes!! Help me, I'm at the end of the rope.
 
If you are suffering in Forex (or any market) may i surgest as an option that that perhaps you could put a smaller amount of your account to a different market and learn that one gradually? Say commodities (such as food - basics of life, and perhaps metal - basics of development) or equities?

For instance with commodities they can never go to 0 (but margin can take your account out) as someone is always going to need them to survive/live or build with and chances are as of (19th April 2011) for the majority of those commodities they would have been wanted them at yesterdays prices (An observation - not a recomendation).

Some of the entities effecting the price will want the commodity for delivery and are purchasing it in the market; for example chocolate companies and steel companies. Plus it takes years to build a new mine and i believe something like 7 years for a Coffee tree to be grown to fruitation. Creating a lag of supply and demand when conditions become unbalanced.

Where as with forex i heard 90% of people use it as speculation and do not want delivery of the currency - therefore forex is dependant upon speculators? and not actual need?.

Markets are inter-linked also. For example high cotton prices will effect the price of clothes and those high prices may effect retail sales of clothes. Where as high energy prices and high food prices will effect everyone.
 
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If you are suffering in forex (or any market) perhaps you could put a smaller amount of your account to a different market and learn that one? Say commodities (such as food and perhaps metal) or equities?

As the markets seem to be inter-linked to a degree.

Or dare someone say it, trading stocks like the good old days in 1 or 2 companies that you learn to watch intraday. However, you have to prevent yourself from falling into the trap of trying too many things and trading too many markets.
 
Agreed. Personally i see Forex as exotic.

However I see commodities as preceding equities/stocks in the "chain" as they are the things that the business needs to use (in some form or another on most cases) - like cotton for primark clothes, wheat for greggs bakery in order to make a profit. - And that everyone who wants it needs to pay what is being asked as their is only so much to go around/finate amount available. Perhaps there is too much, lowering prices, or there is too little, highering prices.

When the commodity prices are going up this can show whether the company has a good moat etc. If they can put there prices up and increase sales while creating a better same-store-sales profit then they have good customer loyalty and/or they have great internal management, cost controls and sourceing ability. - If they can keep their prices up at those levels when commodities go down - then chances are you have found a winner and it will reward you due to increased profit levels on the same sales.

The downside is if the management has become bad and/or that some big shareholder wants to liquidate - and that your speculating in the other direction. However if Warren Buffett wants to take over the company you are in for a premium - and you are long - then your going to be a very happy person.
 
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To listen to yourself.

The amount of times I'm sat there either thinking "this set up isn't quite right" or "I should get out the market before I lose my profit and/or take a bigger loss" and end up entering the trade anyway or sit watching my money tick away is unbelievable.

I bet I still don't listen to myself even after posting this.
 
Sorry - replied too slow.

(SanMiguel - two above).

They will do it with forex, swaps etc as you say (i assume). Do they actually speculate on the exchange do you know? or just transfer them normally and pay the difference/fees? (I see forex as the USD/EUR etc - not as a normal transfer - even though my latter definition is in all fairness incorect).

However to me i do not have much understanding of how they work - or why they work. Therefore i consider them exotic. To others they won't be exotic.

Personally i prefer to stick to what i know. And if to learn something new i will go into the market slowley and read what i can about it. - I only have limited information on forex. But feel safer with commodities/stocks.

However i do remember when i considered stocks exotic. And then commodities exotic.

I know people who have never traded/invested either (or interacted with an exchange) and consider what i take for "normal" as exotic.
 
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Its quite an interesting question and I want to know plenty of things before starting my own business.
Surety of earning.
amount of risk involve.
current market trends of the product.
Future requirement of capital addition.
 
I have only just read this and as a newbie this is quite useful. However I think if you gave this advice to most newbies they wouldn't take it too seriously when their emotions take over and thinking they know better. From what I learnt so far is your emotions is your biggest barrier to being successful.
 
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