5 Things I have learned in 5 years of trading!

[Yanezez]

Good thread! I did not want to start a new thread as im prob. the millionth to post this.

I have taken a consistent loss on VIX these past 2 months, with gains on other stocks/ETFs. I am not sure if emotion or not but I am considering pulling out of VIX and move back in in about 2 months for hedging.

Would you leave the money there (assuming you believe a correction is coming)?

 

[Farm Yard Forex]

Revenge trading is a traders curse .
I even did it on demo lol 😆
Seriously it's a one way ticket to blown accounts

Seriously quick route to the poor house!

 

[S Hughes]

To add to my original point about trading taking time - I think a big mistake many make is that they blindly go into using signal services out of a desperation to make money without consideration for what type of trader they are and how much time they have to dedicate to trading. It might be a scalping strategy but they can only commit to swing trader lengths of time at the charts and this means they end up missing winners and thus increase the variance of their results.

Glad you added the extra. It is no use giving out advice without looking at what the problem actually is. People are turning to forex and more so crypto trading to "make money" the idea of enjoying it and being interested in trading take an absolute back seat in this day and age. People are risking and losing a lot, the % of retail investors that lose all their money is only going up, never down. Trading is more than risky, if you are in it for the wrong reasons then prepare to lose a bunch of times.
Thanks for taking time to try and educate these guys where you can, not that many will listen

 

[DT5]

The "Get rich quick" dream attracts those who don't want to put any work in. The result is they pay others (who also don't know how to trade) to trade for them. It never ends well.....

 

[Surepips]

I like this mate, its spot on and hits home. Like you said about brokers most are fine, I just compare what they offer to better suit my trading style or strategy, be it wether I need higher leverage, or be it more crypto on offer. And even then I'm still currently using at least 3 or 4 different brokers regularly as I like tontake advantage of perks one will offer but not another.
Don't get me started on the gurus.... most are egotistical douchebags to out it as politely as possible. and as you say only a few trade themselves. Most have an income from selling some form of course that 9 times out of 10 is all freely available information, or some form of vip signals group, so really don't need to trade themselves.
What iv learnt the most is to trust my own analysis. Spent so much of my earlier years following another persons strategy assuming as they could realise a return they must be right and their analysis was superior to mine. I realised not all analysis taken place is fully portrayed when it comes from another source

 

[Farm Yard Forex]

The "Get rich quick" dream attracts those who don't want to put any work in. The result is they pay others (who also don't know how to trade) to trade for them. It never ends well.....

I think the issue is also get rich "easy". You can get rich quickly, depending on how you define quickly. 10 years is quick in a lifetime. But as you say people don't even want to put the work in. Even it was arbitrarily quick. Money is easy to part from the lazy and desperate.

 

[Eg1989]

Definitely agree with your third point @sebking1986 I was way too impatient at first and completely underestimated just how much time, patience and knowledge it takes to even just grasp the basics. I suppose that also goes for your fourth point, too!

 

[Farm Yard Forex]

It's a profession. And a hard one to really grasp and be successful at. As such if you can, and have access to the capital it can be a well paid vocation. But that doesn't just land in the lap of those not willing to work for it. I seriously don't understand the arrogance of those who think it might be different than that.

 

[Farm Yard Forex]

When I got to know about forex trading, I had no idea that it would be this difficult. And that’s what I would like to tell all the beginners out there too. No matter what anyone tells you, it is difficult to make money in the forex market and you better bear that in mind before it’s too late. Make your basics strong so that you know what is achievable and can set your trading goals accordingly.

I think trading as a concept is relatively easy but what makes it very hard is the human element. We are greedy by nature and are scared of loss. On top of that we are emotional. People assume they can rock up to the markets with no education or experience and treat it like their own personal ATM.

A lot of this is driven by social media though which preys on those in often deperate positions. If you're broke and stuggling and you see all these people saying following me and this method and you WILL make money then people follow. It's sexy and appealing and sounds like instant gratification. Someone saying, well treat it like learning how to become a hotshot surgeon which will take years of learning and practice simply doesn't have the same appeal. Despite being 100% the more accurate representation.

 

[No_Fear]

As a kid I always wondered why 90% of traders lose. I often look at the indexes and thought to myself, almost all of them are trending upwards. You simply have to put in money and wait, it's so simple.

But as I grew older, I realized people are impatient and full of emotions and most traders are just gamblers overtrading and on huge margin that's why it's easy to lose.

To win, you have to keep it simple. Don't make your system too convulated (unless maybe you are a genius and it's simple to you). Don't kill yourself by betting too big on a single horse. The longer you survive in the market the chances are you will be profitable at some point.

 

[Farm Yard Forex]

Great post. I too agree that when we compare ourselves with other traders, we create psychological hindrance in our path. We never know how hard the other person might be trying or how many failures he has gone through before reaching the level where we are seeing him. Our biggest competition is with no one other than ourselves. One can only go forward when he decides to beat his previous performance and try to do a little better every day.

I think this is generally born out of a lack of confidence in one's own confidence. Be it in their strategy, dedication to learning a strategy or other. Experience is so key in forex and unfortunately many fail to stick around long enough to acquire the necessary experience to realise it doesn't matter what the next trader is doing.

 

[Farm Yard Forex]

A broker is important. In fact, it is the most important and very first decision a trader makes in his trading career. All your efforts will only bear fruits if the broker you are using works in the best interests of you and is trustworthy. There’s no use of all the profits if you face problems in withdrawals or your broke runs away with your money. One should only choose a decent and reliable broker after a lot of research.

But I don't think it is hard to find reliable brokers. Taking the time to do a bit of research will quickly highlight brokers that don't pay out or have a history of issues.

 

[Farm Yard Forex]

withdrawl history is nice, but it really means nothing.

the big question is: is my broker operating as an unregulated bucket shop.

the big question is: is my broker going to suddenly stop making withdrawls and execute an exit scam?

https://files.catbox.moe/wkb648.mp3

It does if there is no history of it. Assuming things are scams before there is evidence to suggest so doesn't make it the case.

Regulation doesn't protect funds in certain countries so in those cases perhaps better to invest less in an unregulated broker and make use of leverage. If you are using a massive amount of capital to trade with then the chances are that you know what you're doing unless you're a total numpty with no appreciation of risk management. If you do know what you're doing and have the capital then the chances are you have contacted brokers/banks and are using a professional account rather than retail account anyway.

 

[Farm Yard Forex]

So you would never get involved with anything or buy anything from anyone with that overly-cynical logic.

 

[pezza55]

To add to my original point about trading taking time - I think a big mistake many make is that they blindly go into using signal services out of a desperation to make money without consideration for what type of trader they are and how much time they have to dedicate to trading. It might be a scalping strategy but they can only commit to swing trader lengths of time at the charts and this means they end up missing winners and thus increase the variance of their results.

after looking in to signals so many of them adjust and move there targets and entries you can never believe how they say they made 1000 pips yet you as a follower oly made 100 or something like that. i have never followed 1 that was continuedly profitable and all you ever do is relies on someone else word.

 

[Farm Yard Forex]

after looking in to signals so many of them adjust and move there targets and entries you can never believe how they say they made 1000 pips yet you as a follower oly made 100 or something like that. i have never followed 1 that was continuedly profitable and all you ever do is relies on someone else word.

Like I say, most have absolutely no business at all selling signals.

 

[DT5]

I've never found one profitable signal seller either. People with profitable systems don't sell them....

 

[Farm Yard Forex]

Quite - when you can make more than enough yourself from trading then time becomes the most valuable asset. You're not setting up signal services and creating work.

 

[S Hughes]

It took me a long time to realise being profitable isn't about the volume of winners I get but the quality of the trades I take. I spent a good portion of my initial years taking profits before my targets were hit often because my targets were daily and I never looked at the bigger picture

 

[LuckyMac]

As a kid I always wondered why 90% of traders lose. I often look at the indexes and thought to myself, almost all of them are trending upwards. You simply have to put in money and wait, it's so simple.

But as I grew older, I realized people are impatient and full of emotions and most traders are just gamblers overtrading and on huge margin that's why it's easy to lose.

To win, you have to keep it simple. Don't make your system too convulated (unless maybe you are a genius and it's simple to you). Don't kill yourself by betting too big on a single horse. The longer you survive in the market the chances are you will be profitable at some point.

Great post, simplicity is so key not just for success but to prevent mental burn out. Some just want to put it on and hope too and that is one of the largest reasons for failure. Stick to a system and accept their will be losses and the battle is close to being won