I've been watching Urban Forex on YouTube and it seems like the first things I should focus on are support resistance ,trend lines ,and Candlestick patterns but someone suggested to me that I should learn a trend what makes the trend move up, what makes it stay and what makes it go down. What do you guys suggest I look at to learn these things? I don't know who to trust on YouTube.
timsk
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Hi Heydi,
I suggest you start by taking a step back and ask yourself some fundamental questions before getting stuck into such things like support and resistance. In no particular order . . .
Why do you want to be a trader?
If your answer is 'to make money' - then you've got it wrong. There are any number of ways of making money in this world and the vast majority of them are a whole lot easier than trading. If you're thinking that trading offers a short cut to silly money - then think again!
If you do decide to trade and end up losing all your trading capital, would that be a disaster for you?
If the answer is yes - then don't trade.
What are your objectives and are they rooted in reality?
It's not uncommon to read debut posts on T2W in which the novice trader claims they don't want to earn mega bucks, but just want to supplement their monthly income with a little more than they would receive in interest from a building society. On the face of it, this sounds reasonable enough. In reality, the time and effort it will take just to achieve this modest goal will be immense. If this is all you really want, I suggest pulling pints at your local; the rewards will come faster for less effort.
Are you mentally tough? Do you cope with the slings and arrows of life well, or do you rely on a mix of anti-depressants, fags ‘n booze to get you through the day?
If you’re getting into trading with the hope that it will help to solve your problems, be they financial or psychological (or both), then trading is not for you.
Are you prepared to pay the price of learning to trade?
Make no mistake - there's a hefty price to pay. As a wannabe trader, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, you’ll find your mind wandering off and thinking about it. You’ll want to bury yourself in books, charts and articles on the net. Pleas from your children to play with them and from your partner to help cook the evening meal will go unheeded. The emotional highs you’ll experience when you have a winning day will be completely engulfed by the lows you’ll feel when you have a losing one. Unless you are single, with no friends and no other interests in life, you can expect this obsession (for that’s what it could become) to have a significant impact on your relationships with family and friends. Needless to say, probably not in a good way. And all this assumes you don't spend - or lose - a single dime on trading itself!
Will trading be a business or a hobby?
If it's a hobby, then you can treat it like most other hobbies which means you can expect to consistently lose money month on month, year on year. For example, I'm an angler and I don't dare add up what I spend on new kit each year, travelling expenses and car parking tickets etc. in pursuit of my hobby. But it's fine because I love doing it. In your case, if you want to consistently make money month on month, year on year, then you're gonna have to treat trading as a business. A proper, real business. This will require a major commitment on your part - are you prepared to make it?
How long will you give it?
By this I mean, how long will you devote to trading without making anything at all (and probably losing money) before knocking it on the head? There's a massive opportunity cost to consider here because, lets suppose your answer is three years. Sounds reasonable enough to most people. However, at the end of that three years, after which you have nothing to show for your efforts, will you not think that your time and effort would have been better spent getting a degree or a vocational qualification that will stand you in good stead in the future? Think long and hard about this one because the reality is that most traders give up wishing they'd invested their time and money in something that offered them something in return. There are no such guarantees with trading, absolutely none at all.
So, think about why you want to be a trader (as opposed to doing something else that might make you money) and consider carefully whether or not you're cut out for it. If you decide to go for it, thereafter, I suggest you read the links provided in the welcome e-mail you received when you registered with T2W.
Tim.
Quantt
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Do not trust anyone! Verify by testing yourself everything you read and see. Do not pay a single cent for "trading education", because you'll not only lose money, but they'll "teach" you the wrong things and you'll have to spend even more time to "unlearn" the bad habits...
mpups
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neil
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Boring Sunday so.....thought I'd comment
Hi Heyhi,
Assuming your last eight posts are not a sneaky promotion of Urban, here is my reply to your question.
It is highly unlikely you will make a living at forex or any trading because, apart from knowledge honed via experience, you will need a large pot of money if you expect to make enough profit to live on, paying mortgage or rent, food etc.
Tim has covered many other points above.
Hobby? Well maybe part time but it is still a serious business requiring discipline, practice and money management.
I am retired and trade two hours a day then bugger off and enjoy myself. The extra earnings make life more pleasant. But even then, many will fail as traders.
If you pay for trading education then you are a fool.
Demo for a while then use small stakes to feel the emotional roller coaster of trading.
NOTHING on the right hand side of the monitor, whether support or resistance level or any other form of Technical Analysis will ensure or guarantee a winning trade. It is a game of probabilities: a pattern might suggest that price might move in a certain way. So -money management again.
Consider -if certain patterns, candles, rabbits foot etc were to be successful every time then the market would collapse. So every X number of trades you take then Y number will fail. Back to management again.
Statistics tell us that many traders ( part or full time) will fail -90% upwards. Therefore you will more likely make money, every week, via a normal, non trading, job. And then, maybe, trade in your spare time, if you must, with money you can afford to lose. If successful, you will have a regular job providing a regular income, plus a bonus from your part time trading.
A few people go onto Youtube and sell wonderful indicators or "secret knowledge" albeit much of the content of such presentations can be gleaned for free from this site and similar. But you're not foolish enough to pay for such content are you?
Hi Heyhi,
Assuming your last eight posts are not a sneaky promotion of Urban, here is my reply to your question.
It is highly unlikely you will make a living at forex or any trading because, apart from knowledge honed via experience, you will need a large pot of money if you expect to make enough profit to live on, paying mortgage or rent, food etc.
Tim has covered many other points above.
Hobby? Well maybe part time but it is still a serious business requiring discipline, practice and money management.
I am retired and trade two hours a day then bugger off and enjoy myself. The extra earnings make life more pleasant. But even then, many will fail as traders.
If you pay for trading education then you are a fool.
Demo for a while then use small stakes to feel the emotional roller coaster of trading.
NOTHING on the right hand side of the monitor, whether support or resistance level or any other form of Technical Analysis will ensure or guarantee a winning trade. It is a game of probabilities: a pattern might suggest that price might move in a certain way. So -money management again.
Consider -if certain patterns, candles, rabbits foot etc were to be successful every time then the market would collapse. So every X number of trades you take then Y number will fail. Back to management again.
Statistics tell us that many traders ( part or full time) will fail -90% upwards. Therefore you will more likely make money, every week, via a normal, non trading, job. And then, maybe, trade in your spare time, if you must, with money you can afford to lose. If successful, you will have a regular job providing a regular income, plus a bonus from your part time trading.
A few people go onto Youtube and sell wonderful indicators or "secret knowledge" albeit much of the content of such presentations can be gleaned for free from this site and similar. But you're not foolish enough to pay for such content are you?
After reading these posts I could tell you I am not promoting anything I am into Trading because I'm very interested in it's for many reasons. I grew up playing poker my whole life and I'm very well aware of risk management and using money I can or cannot afford. I know I can lose everything and I know I could win a lot. I like the fact that it takes strategy and I'm willing to learn. Applied last 2 months of my life learning as much as I can but the problem is I don't know who to learn from. I'm not sure in what order I should start learning to get the best start. I'm prepared to do a year of learning before I even attempt a trade even a demo trade. It's just something about trading that intrigues me and just holds my intention this is all I think about all day everyday. I understand what you guys are saying about not paying for anything but I was very close to trying a course from Urban Forex and I am not promoting anyone. If you guys can give me some suggestions of where to start and I'd rather it be YouTube and when I say where to start I mean where do I start studying as far as trend lines support resistance etc etc. I really want to learn what starts a Trend and learning how it works , so everytime I look up the trend it just shows me a trend line and how to draw a line. I just need you guys to steer me
To the question of in my foolish enough to pay for contents. The answer is no I have no interest in paying for any kind of indicators. I want to learn the fundamentals what moves a chart. I understand that candlesticks are just people buying and selling in a certain time frames. Now I want to know what causes these people to buy what causes them to sell when is the trend reversing and why it's reversing I need to learn a good way to look at the charts
Quantt
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Great advice and must read for any new trader!
I suggest "Reading Price Charts Bar by Bar" by Al Brooks. The contents are reasonably comprehensive in terms of what you may be looking for. The main downside is that Brook's writing style is not easy to understand. It is not helped by the fact that the illustrative charts are generally located a few pages from
his related comments.
https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Price-Charts-Bar-Technical/dp/0470443952
Another suggestion is Lance Beggs which you can find him on :
http://yourtradingcoach.com/
Begg's approach is much more easier to understand but would require that you have some foundational knowledge.
Technical analysis and price action is concern with "what" and not "why". Candlesticks do not tell you "why" as they are merely representation of buying and selling pressures i.e. "what' is happening. If you are into "why" then the pathway is via fundamentals and is a completely different approach.
Very good information. It is never a waste of time to study these concepts and appreciations, whether you are new or experienced.
traderjoe12
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you should learn macro economics
Tytus_Barnowl
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Contact me in private if you wish, I will gladly share the realities in principle. I posted this in an earlier thread:
Things you can be and need to be taught with accuracy.:
What does each candlestick, bar or whatever you use actually mean in terms of price action.
What really moves the Market(s) and influences potential future moves.
The type of Orders, how to place them with accuracy.
Spread or Comissionand how it is involved in risk management.
What indicators are available and also what they really mean.
The above is around about 30% of the knowledge required to consider trading on whatever level. This is why it can be taught. The remainder is business planning, self examination and evaluation strategy. I can break these down into components but as a taster on self examination get a big sheet of paper, split into 2 columns, in the right column record all the things you are good at (strengths) with proven examples, then on the left column write down all your faults (weaknesses) with honest examples (remember no experience to risking financial losses is a huge fault). If you are honest with yourself your weaknesses will fourfold outway your strengths. If you have difficulty with this single act then forget about trading. Self esteem and ego will allow the markets to destroy you.
Nobody is offering you a whizz of a time as they do in expos, some of the bimps in miniskirts are dressed up for a reason and that is to take your money. They used to wander around places like Soho doing the same or so I am told. There, I've given you a huge clue.
Things you can be and need to be taught with accuracy.:
What does each candlestick, bar or whatever you use actually mean in terms of price action.
What really moves the Market(s) and influences potential future moves.
The type of Orders, how to place them with accuracy.
Spread or Comissionand how it is involved in risk management.
What indicators are available and also what they really mean.
The above is around about 30% of the knowledge required to consider trading on whatever level. This is why it can be taught. The remainder is business planning, self examination and evaluation strategy. I can break these down into components but as a taster on self examination get a big sheet of paper, split into 2 columns, in the right column record all the things you are good at (strengths) with proven examples, then on the left column write down all your faults (weaknesses) with honest examples (remember no experience to risking financial losses is a huge fault). If you are honest with yourself your weaknesses will fourfold outway your strengths. If you have difficulty with this single act then forget about trading. Self esteem and ego will allow the markets to destroy you.
Nobody is offering you a whizz of a time as they do in expos, some of the bimps in miniskirts are dressed up for a reason and that is to take your money. They used to wander around places like Soho doing the same or so I am told. There, I've given you a huge clue.
NVP
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aside from all the other comments here I would focus on these fundamentals
Support / Resistance
Trends
and related Entry strategies from this patterns ......
most things follow on or are next level subjects derived from these guys
N
NVP
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agreed - Lance is a great guy and a great trader.....
dbphoenix
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Assuming you're still here, you needn't buy anything and you needn't trust anybody. What you need is available for free and the only thing you need to trust is the chart.
Start here: Trading Price. This will introduce you to the Law of Supply and Demand, which is what prompts traders to buy or sell, which in turn is what makes price go up or down.
One of the first decisions you have to make, if not the first, is whether you want to trade price or bars (or candles). If the former, you'll save yourself a lot of headaches stemming from indicators, "time frames", books, blogs, trading rooms, courses, "patterns" etc etc. This is so much simpler than most people think it is and, no, it doesn't take years unless you waste most of those years stumbling down blind alleys.
Study charts, preferably "live", either actually live or via replay. They will tell you all you need to know, if you know what to look for. If you don't know what to look for see The Wyckoff Method. If you hate all of it, at least you're not out any money and you don't have to write any essays.
If you're looking at forex then don't assume you can learn to reap profit from technical analysis alone. Other markets might be more tuned towards this approach but when it comes to forex the moves are driven by fundamental factors first and foremost and referring to technical analysis only for defining entry, stops, targets and trade management. People will tell you technical analysis is all you need and that it contains fundamental information. This is a delusion and you only need to take similar fundamental historical releases overlapped with charts to see technical analysis is very different on each occurrence. Now this might be obvious but it highlights an important point and that is whatever technical analysis you are using it doesn't represent the consistency needed to define a successful trade. What is consistent is the fundamentals overlapped with market correlation, market sentiment, and the fundamental horizon. You will be wasting your time trying to carve out success in forex using only technical analysis. Very few people can make it work and those that do won't compete with their fundamental trader counterparts.
I expect some will argue against what I have said but ask yourself this. If it was not profitable, then why does Bloomberg, Reuters, and other market news agencies sell billions worth of news terminals to traders? If the charts provide you everything you need then they surely wouldn't be in the business of selling news terminals. It's these terminals along with fundamental analysis that provides them with the trading opportunities.
Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
greenscorpio
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why do you trade then???? so you can write this, then all the profits you make give to it charities
tokyojoe
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The first thing to learn is how to blag insightful knowledge on T2W....oooor you can literally give a blow by blow account of what is happening as price unfolds & vajazzle everybody every day, hour by hour, minute by minute with how brilliant you are .... it's mostly what you'll read or watch on any forum or youtube vids.
Nobody is going to teach you how to do it, it comes with time, a ton of effort & you will have to get very used to letting go !
I found this forum when I first started & have to say I feel lucky as the guys back then had a certain style I identified with, I've met a few & am still in close contact with a couple more who I found to be really decent trustworthy guys.
Neil nails it, it's a game of probabilities, as you are a seasoned poker player I reckon you're half way there.
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