Give Up ?

I can't really add to any of the advice given here but I can say I know exactly how you feel. I am currently in my second break from trading, luckily i've only lost £1300 of my own money (4-5k if you include what i've won then lost) but it can seem as though you're fighting a losing battle.

I don't know you from adam but I am certain your problem is the same as mine: lack of discipline. Even with a solid strategy that I had paper traded successfully for months I still deviated away from it and screwed up.

My only advice is take a good step back from trading, don't even think about it for a couple of weeks then come back refreshed and find a direction you want to go in. Sort out a strategy and paper/demo trade it to ensure it works at least in theory and then get back to trading the smallest stakes you can with a set stoploss % on each trade. I am sure you will come good in the end, just the same as i am sure i will.
 
so heres the thing. if its all about following a system 100% why do automated EA's not work ? perhaps some kind of automated system would suit me better
 
advfntrader said:
I have a problem, I LOVE trading and keep doing it even though I have not made 1 SINGLE PENNY from it. I do win some trades but I eventually lose and have to constantly top up my account.

my question is - do I just keep plodding on and hopefully eventually the penny will drop ? or should I just walk away and stop it once and for all ? I'm beginning to feel its like a gambling habit:cry:
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Hello Advfntrader,
Chin up mate dont give up, I dont know how long you have been trading, but I can certainly relate to your experience up till now.

I am in my 4th year and only now am I showing some consistency, winning more than losing. What you have said above is part of the learning process. Constantly topping up is your subscription to the school of hard knocks. As long as its controlled, not £1000 a week (perish the thought). Min pos size, tightish stops depending on r/r. Stamp this on your forehead.

50p a pt is ideal for now, you need to pull the trigger often, I dont mean overtrade, just when a set up occurs, not being afraid to take the trade, learning to accept losses is part of the process.

You are much better doing this than paying for expensive seminars, actual trading experience is the only way you are going to crack this game.

Think about this, I paid for my daughters tuition fees at university, which today cost £9000 for a 3 yr course. She has been earning about £16000 pa for the last 2 yrs, looking for a better job, not much of a return for a degree at present.

You are paying for learning something here that could hold the keys to the kingdom (cue Kylie - I should be so lucky ).

You have had some good advise on here, especially about forming a business plan, but it took me 2yrs in the ice hole, to even know what I should use to formulate a plan. Its only by trial and error and binning a few sure fire plans, that you have any idea what a good plan is.

And do you know what, those plans become a hell of a lot shorter as you develop.

Hang in there Bro.
 
advfntrader said:
I have a problem, I LOVE trading and keep doing it even though I have not made 1 SINGLE PENNY from it. I do win some trades but I eventually lose and have to constantly top up my account.

my question is - do I just keep plodding on and hopefully eventually the penny will drop ? or should I just walk away and stop it once and for all ? I'm beginning to feel its like a gambling habit:cry:
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Give up or start by getting yourself a proven trading edge that you can employ is the simple answer.

Some good advice already in this thread, but if you are going to carry on...you should as advised in posts above completely re-examine what your goals and objectives are then develop a plan to meet them. The plan has to encompass a proven trading edge and part of your plan should allow time to develop/acquire one.

Currently, judging by your posts re stochastics you don't have one. Acting on o/b or o/s stochs with the trigger of the lower t/f's rolling over at ma's does not constitute a profitable trading edge as you are finding. This is because you are effectively swing trading with no attempt to determine trend or potential supp/res other than ma's (which on their own do not constitute potential supp/res, particularly on the lower 1hr and sub 1hr t/f's.) Also you are using an indicator as an effective trigger, not price action itself.)

Once you have developed/acquired a trading egde, and as further suggested in posts above, trade it with impunity such that:

a. Ensure that you know it's historical strike rate over an extended sample that encompasses all market conditions.
b. If the strike rate fits your tolerances ensure that you calculate your risk such that it does not cause you to suffer a destabilising loss in your account or a destabilising psychological effect if you suffer a consecutive losing run of trades
c. Calculate the optimum risk to reward profile that best fits this trading edge and optimises the gain from it.

Ie Be in a position that your trading edge can pull no surprises, you know what it is capable of and what the likely distribution of winning and losing trades./runs are, so that when it occurs there is no panic.

I think it was Einstein that noted that the definition of insanity was doing the asme thing over and over and expecting a different result...this is effectively what you doing...change the way you work, get a plan that encompasses a proven edge, or save yourself more pain/time and give it up.

G/L.
 
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I assume you were able to cover your costs, in spite of not being consistent for 7 years ... I gave myslef a 6 month target to get consistent in the Bund. At the moment I am breaking even although am still experiencing off days when I'm better off staying out of the market completely. Hope of success and riches can at times be intoxicating however ... being able just to walk away may be a harder thing to do in practice. Like a recovering alcoholic, I live each day as it comes


trader_dante said:
An easy way to tell if its a gambling habit is this: Decide to take a two week break from trading to clear your head. When you come back sit down for a few hours and work out what your objectives are, what your targets are and what RULES you are going to use to trade with: in otherwords, make a business plan.

If you find out that:

a) you can't survive two weeks without trading or -
b) you can't be bothered to make a proper business plan

Then you are most likely gambling.

If you are not gambling then the question of how long you should stick at it before you give up is a difficult one to follow. I lived the market literally as an obsession for 7 long years before becoming consistent and still have days (and sometimes weeks) which make you wonder whether you've lost what you had and doubt yourself.

This is why a plan is so vital. You should refer to it every single day you sit infront of that screen.
Click to expand...
 
advfntrader said:
I have a problem, I LOVE trading and keep doing it even though I have not made 1 SINGLE PENNY from it. I do win some trades but I eventually lose and have to constantly top up my account.

my question is - do I just keep plodding on and hopefully eventually the penny will drop ? or should I just walk away and stop it once and for all ? I'm beginning to feel its like a gambling habit:cry:
Click to expand...

90% fail. The odds are firmly against any of us succeeding at trading.

Trading is far from simple. Poor implementation of a near perfect trading plan can result in heavy losses.

Many new and old T2W & other trading forum members talk as if they are highly successful high flying traders to whom success came easy.
Sadly, regarding profitability, i think many members are lying, or kidding themselves, or both.

Trading is not simple. It is a mine field.
 
JTrader said:
90% fail. The odds are firmly against any of us succeeding at trading.

Trading is far from simple. Poor implementation of a near perfect trading plan can result in heavy losses.

Many new and old T2W & other trading forum members talk as if they are highly successful high flying traders to whom success came easy.
Sadly, regarding profitability, i think many members are lying, or kidding themselves, or both.

Trading is not simple. It is a mine field.
Click to expand...

This is a very good point. It is easy to believe when reading these and other trading boards that it is just ones-self that is struggling/not profitable and that everyone else is, and the inevitable conclusion seems to be '..it must just be me that is not getting it...what am I missing etc..' This is simply wrong, as JT says many of the posters here will be /have suffered the same trials and errors that you are going thru, you are in good company, lol, and to that extent it is the norm. Success therefore does not come easily and it can take a long while to become consistently profitable.

It is always far easier to impart advice than implement it.
 
http://www.trade2win.com/boards/567868-post24.html

Chartman - I never traded either really.... just dabbled from time to time
:(__________________
The views expressed here are my personal views and for your information only. Any expression of likely movement of a share is merely guesswork and is to be treated as such.This information must NOT be used as a basis for making any investment decision.
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As an example -

Look at how much effort this guy put into trading & t2w ffs.

I am guessing he never actually traded properly as he never actually found a method that worked consistently enough for him that allowed him to prosper.

If this is so, at least he had the balls and good sense to walk away at the right time.

There is a saying - if you find yourself in a hole - stop digging!

Surely this has to serve as a warning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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advfntrader said:
I have a problem, I LOVE trading and keep doing it even though I have not made 1 SINGLE PENNY from it.

my question is - do I just keep plodding on and hopefully eventually the penny will drop ?
Click to expand...

Lots of sensible replies already to this BUT I would add that whilst I agree that trading profitably is extremely tough that doesn't mean that it has to be extremely complicated.

When you are banging your head against a wall there is a tendency to think the solution is to bang it harder. Take a pause, go back to the basics, be professional and disciplined.

Ben
 
This is why most trading courses and systems are a CON.

Because the people that pay for them, do so believing all they need is a profitable strategy to make them money.

Sadly, there are profitable systems all over the web for free.

But few traders implement them correctly.

And if they do, they bring a whole other host of other personal issues to the table which impede their success.
 
so does anyone have a basic system that I can try that IF I follow to the letter I can make money ? does such a thing exist ???
 
trader_dante said:
This is why most trading courses and systems are a CON.

Because the people that pay for them, do so believing all they need is a profitable strategy to make them money.

Sadly, there are profitable systems all over the web for free.

But few traders implement them correctly.

And if they do, they bring a whole other host of other personal issues to the table which impede their success.
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And you've just doubled your workload by volunteering to test/report on a vendors "system" (that can save all our asses?) for him:eek::!:

Like there isn't enough

spam.jpg


:)
 
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trader_dante said:
Sadly, there are profitable systems all over the web for free.

But few traders implement them correctly.
.
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Agree totally, but I'd go further (what the hell, I need some abuse on a cold, wet afternoon) and say there are profitable systems all over the charts. Prices trend, prices react to S/R etc. None of it is rocket science but with small spreads it should be enough at the very least to get you to break-even. A few subtle improvements will quickly deliver a small profit (although I am not sure people are happy with small profits?).

For me at least, the tough learning curve was seeing this.

Ben
 
advfntrader said:
so does anyone have a basic system that I can try that IF I follow to the letter I can make money ? does such a thing exist ???
Click to expand...

trader dantes system is as good as gold and im not just saying that because i know hes taken a pinkie (£50) and made six figures out of it :p
 
advfntrader said:
so does anyone have a basic system that I can try that IF I follow to the letter I can make money ? does such a thing exist ???
Click to expand...

It's not so much about following something to the letter, you need to find a system you like, play around with it until it feels right, suits you (sir) and of course makes money. I'm still not consistent after a few years of trading, but i adjust my system and add rules to get closer to this goal with each change.
 
advfntrader said:
so does anyone have a basic system that I can try that IF I follow to the letter I can make money ? does such a thing exist ???
Click to expand...

There are simple rules ('only trade with the trend', 'enter/exit in region of validated S/R', etc) which will actually get you quite a long way.

What you should also have by now, if you have been *really* watching the FX charts is the start of a 'sixth sense' about where price is more likely to head.

I'm not giving you the answer you requested, but I *honestly* believe that with a couple of hours work you can get yourself a workable and tunable strategy. If you can promise yourself to follow it then you may notice a step-change in performance once you have executed a sufficient number of trades to be meaningful.

Ben
 
Advfn,

You should also spend some time on your system devoted in determining when NOT to trade as well as when to trade.

I only became profitable when I learned to sit on my hands in choppy markets and also by not trying to catch all of a move. Very often I would make a profitable trade and close it - to find the market continuing - so I'd jump back in again and subsequently give up a chunk of those profits.
 
advfntrader said:
so does anyone have a basic system that I can try that IF I follow to the letter I can make money ? does such a thing exist ???
Click to expand...

This document is part of a longer series of documents that I have produced that make up an overall methodology. It contains a discussion on both trend, support/resistance, and indicator based techniques such as divergence and band/channel deviation. It may prove useful in helping you to devise your own trading edge comprised of the confluence of proven technical phenomena, with the emphasis on the word confluence (the coming togther of.)

The wider discussion is at this thread http://www.trade2win.com/boards/for...comprehensive-trading-system-methodology.html and the further discussion (Parts II and II) are on post 74 (page 10) of the thread.

Edit; the doc (called: Part I) will not upload for some reason, but it is located on post 74 of above thread.

G/L
 
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