Beginners luck or born to exceed?

[scott_fx]

In 3 days of using a practise account. I have made £3000 betting against the real FOREX market. MOST of the decisions I have made so far has been the right ones and I think I have only lost once or twice out of 10 times. Is it beginners luck or is this just the way it is? Interested in views and opinions.

Thanks

Scott

 

[liondoctor]

For me practice accounts didn't tell me a lot, as I tended to make slightly different decisions, knowing deep down that it wasn't real money. You need to prove consistency, so stick with what you are doing over a longer period and if you are still showing this rate of success after two weeks, a month, 3 months etc then you could be on to something!

 

[Shakone]

3 days...no real money involved...no emotions involved...about 10 trades...

I'm gonna guess luck. But I could be wrong 🙂

 

[tomorton]

You might ask yourself why the right decisions were right and how small were the losses from the losers.

 

[Masquerade]

Sounds like you have the X factor.

Time to order the ferrari, start writing the book, set up the trading company and call forbes and tell them there's going to be a new entry in the list.

 

[anley]

Most people lose very quickly with practice accounts and the ones that win straight away, take to it like a fish to water etc, are normally the natural traders. Sort of like a good footballer, you've got it or you haven't and when you first start to kick a ball you and everyone else just knows.

The problem with making £3000 in demo money is it's just that, demo money. If you'd been trading with real cash you'd be in for a pretty good weekend! My advice is simple, stop playing and get serious because if you've got natural talent it's a shame if you don't utlise it.

Good luck.

 

[shadowninja]

How much loss did you see? What size per tick were you risking? How many trades?

 

[scott_fx]

Thanks all for the feedback! Il keep it going for the next few weeks and see how I get on. Trying to pretend as much as possible I am using my own money - although I know nothing will beat the real thing.

Shadowninja - Losses is approx £2-3 hundered, lot size of 100,000 and approx 13-14 trades. I had a huge gain last night of £720 but cant remember which instrument.

 

[shadowninja]

Typically, what size profit are you taking per trade?

 

[shadowninja]

Oh, currently, the market behaviour is unusual. It doesn't normally spike up 100 pips at 1am like it has been this week.

 

[scott_fx]

It fluctuates by quite a lot. Some are £200, £70, £700, £100 etc etc, may just be the unusual behaviour of the market as you say!!

 

[shadowninja]

Since you're trading such a big size, you should aim to make £50k over at least 100 trades.

 

[Black Swan]

Most people lose very quickly with practice accounts and the ones that win straight away, take to it like a fish to water etc, are normally the natural traders. Sort of like a good footballer, you've got it or you haven't and when you first start to kick a ball you and everyone else just knows.

I don't think there's any such concept as a natural trader, it's a birth by a thousand cuts, he has to suffer those cuts and bruises so yep it's not even beginner's luck, it's just luck, he's not even a beginner.

As for the footy analogy I can't agree, the game is 90% perspiration 10% inspiration and the players that make it are mature enough to know this. The x-factor that kids need to make it right through to getting an offer from a top club is an intangible mix of hard to define qualities. For every Rooney there's a hundred Nevilles who also get there but through having; a desire to win, to compete, never lie down, but little in the way of stand out playing ability or skill. Their capacity to listen, work on their weaknesses, be team players and walk through walls sets them apart as a breed.

Traders are made not born..imho..🙂

 

[forker]

I don't think there's any such concept as a natural trader, it's a birth by a thousand cuts, he has to suffer those cuts and bruises so yep it's not even beginner's luck, it's just luck, he's not even a beginner.

As for the footy analogy I can't agree, the game is 90% perspiration 10% inspiration and the players that make it are mature enough to know this. The x-factor that kids need to make it right through to getting an offer from a top club is an intangible mix of hard to define qualities. For every Rooney there's a hundred Nevilles who also get there but through having; a desire to win, to compete, never lie down, but little in the way of stand out playing ability or skill. Their capacity to listen, work on their weaknesses, be team players and walk through walls sets them apart as a breed.

Traders are made not born..imho..🙂

I just had a visual of your birth... Scarred for life 🙂

 

[LoveToTrade]

Traders are made not born..imho..🙂

Right!

 

[RC24]

Paper trading is good practice, but it can also make you overly confident. Even if you have an amazing system, you won't know if you have amazing discipline or not until you are risking actual money. Trading gets a lot more difficult when you see your own money being taken away on losing trades. Even if you do cut your losses short, do you still have the same confidence in your system that you did before you lost the money?

If your system truely has an edge, it will win in the long run if you don't stray away from it. You need a hell of a lot more time with it than 3 days and 14 sample trades to find out how good it truely is though IMO.

Keep with it, log all of your trades, see if you can improve your system, and then see how you actually do with real money on the line.

 

[Janiceps]

For me practice accounts didn't tell me a lot, as I tended to make slightly different decisions, knowing deep down that it wasn't real money. You need to prove consistency, so stick with what you are doing over a longer period and if you are still showing this rate of success after two weeks, a month, 3 months etc then you could be on to something!

Agree, consistancy is the key. and learning to control your emotions and trade strictly on objectivity is what really works in the long run.