Why Am I Losing So Often Compared To Wins??! + Why I Always Choose Wrong Direction??!

[spanish89]

Aloha again people...

Um ok im not sure how many of you have seen some of my other posts, but so i will keep this 1 short as not to bore you even more and so you wont be so fedup by the end that you just be rude and insulting to me!! :cheesy::cheesy:


My favorite market is the Ftse and oil, but i also trade a lil on the dow when its trending sharply, and from today going to try AUD/USD as it seems more stable and consistent straight then Ftse or oil.

I plan to become a fulltime trader once i leave college in 2months, but currently im losing about 2/6x per every 1win!!



Ok over the last 3weeks ive tried almost every different stratergy there is!!!

1. Ive read the topics by the most traders on here and other forums.

2. Ive metup with 2 sucessful traders from here and speak to a few others daily.

3. Ive tried slowing my trade frequency down, and holding for longer (2-15 minutes), instead of scalping so much like i used to (10secs-3mins).

4. Holding for on longer even when im in loss.

5. Only trading on the trend lines, and in dips, and using suport and restistance lines as guide lines.

6. Looking at the trend for 5mins-45mins, not the 10secs - 2min trends i used to use.



But over the last 2weeks ive lost about £500-£600, and only had technically made about £250 - £300 (Never withdrawn ever, the most profit i ever had in account at one time was £45, and now have lost all apart from £26 left in account!!)

I started with £50 capital, lost 20 so put in £100 more, and then just kept toppingup account everytime balance went below £50 capital!!



My preferred and current style of trading is:

1. Looking at graph and trying to see if there is a trend over the last minute to few mins to 15minutes..

2. If there i either buy or sell into it, with minimum stoploss available (20pips on ftse/ 30dow oil and fx) as i simply cant aford any greater risk.

3. If it continues to go in my favour i will hold till i have about £6 - 8 profit and then close, unless its trending in my favour very fast and constant.

4. Once close i then look and if it still trends more over next 10 - 15secs i will trade again, or if its moving opposite way i will try to cash in on that too.

5. However when i open a trade and it starts to go against me i will normally try and hold till minus 6 or 7, and then either will close and be sad at loss, or try and hold out till it turns again, but then more than likely end up hitting stoploss and being even more upset and sad and depressed!!



I dont just jump onto every tick and every trade randomly just to pass the time,
i do actually wait and only trade when i see a trend line forming...

But how come about 80 - 90% of the time when i trade in the direction of the trend line it either suddenly changes direction against me after a few seconds - few minutes???!! :!:


But so how do some many others of you get the trend direction correct 80 - 90% of the time, and not have it change direction against you after 15secs - a few mins??! :-0:-0:-0



(I now am in £2000 overall, about £1000 due to stockmarket spread-betting and on fixed odds on BetOnMarkets.
But so now have 0 money left to trade with, so am now only using demo account as taht is all i have left)

 

[nine]

Questions:

1. Do you enjoy what you're doing? How much? How fast does your heart beat?

2. What did you learn from your last thread?

3. Does it make sense to keep risking money when you are not showing any positive consistency?

4. What's the difference between gambling and making money in a statistical game (poker, trading)?

5. How much do you want to succeed - how much work are you willing to do and how long are you willing to stop trading for while you get yourself sorted out?

 

[Nut]

I would suggest that you cease trading for the moment. Commit no further funds until you get this issue sorted out.

Point 4 above I can sort for you now, don't hang on longer, when you took the trade you placed a stop loss(I hope) this should have been to prevent financial disaster. If it's heading that way then clearly that is not what you expected therefore you were wrong.

As I don't know just how much study you have undertaken it's not possible to ascertain your level of knowledge therfore I would suggest you begin by conducting a review of your knowledge based upon that review study as required. Try to get some kind of structure into the study rather than just bits from here and there.

Following the study start to implement the knowledge gained by trying to put together a strategy that is profitable, at this point the £value of the wins is not important the % wins over % loss is important. To find a profitable strategy backtest the strategy and more importantly forward test the strategy, all of this must be done honestly given the honesty of your post I suspect this would not be a problem for you. Try lots of different strategies. If you wish take bits from one and add to another to get your own.

So eventually you find the system that is profitable well what then, next look at yourself and try to decide what it is you would like to gain from trading. Draw up a written plan of how you might get there.

We are not done yet, next is the money management. If you do nothing else you must use money management. when measured against your plan and what you want to gain this will in the first instance tell you if you are starting with enough capital to attain your aspirations. If sufficient funds
are not available then either get more over time until you have enough or adjust your aspirations.

Then begin the process again and contiue to review the parts as required for the rest of your life.

Good luck

Nut

 

[shadowninja]

Newbies should avoid scalping. They should be focusing on the 1 hour and preferably the 1 day charts, only. If you can't afford the larger stop, then you can't afford to trade. Trends that appear on the 1 minute, 5 minute and 15 minute charts don't tend to last long, IMO.

I think that is the reason why newbies veer towards scalping; it appears cheaper but in the end, like a bargain Ferrari, it will cost you more in the long run.

I also don't like the fact that you're risking £20 to win £6. Unless you have an awesome system that gives you a 95% success rate, this is a losing tactic. If you're risking 20, you need a system that is likely to return a minimum of 20.

Oh, yes, and as I have been telling you for the last two weeks, STOP TRADING!

 

[Lee Shepherd]

Stop trading, If enough of us keep saying it do you think you'll get it eventually. Shadow ninja's been telling you and am sure the traders you've met and spoke with have said the same.

You say you've tried almost every different stratergy there is over the last 3 weeks - it takes longer to backtest and then live trade forward testing just one strategy more than 3 weeks, and you've been doing this PART TIME. Look into strats, theres more than you appreciate. For every strat(and theres hundreds of them) theres a style and these are also many, along with styles comes money management, please dont say you have this, along with money mangement comes discipline, again, dont say you have this either.


You speak with successful traders every day, so, listen to them - surely they cannot be guiding you in this direction to lose your money and be in debt because of it.

Think of how long you've been at college and how much hard work and time you've had to put into to get the possible grade you require or wish for, now think of this in terms of the stock market and ask this question.

How long does it take successful traders to become successful? check out traders of many years not many months.

 

[Trader333]

Ok over the last 3weeks ive tried almost every different stratergy there is!!!

But over the last 2weeks ive lost about £500-£600, and only had technically made about £250 - £300 (Never withdrawn ever, the most profit i ever had in account at one time was £45, and now have lost all apart from £26 left in account!!)

Well I am very surprised that after 3 weeks you have not been able to become a full time consistently successful trader. After all this should be able to be achieved in just two days according to most of the EA or commercial offerings that are about.

I do wonder though how you have managed to trade every possible strategy there is in just 3 weeks. This is because there are so many that you would have had to try a new strategy every 10 mins of trading during the day for the 3 weeks that you have tried it.


Paul

 

[shadowninja]

I don't think he realises how many strategies there are out there. It is worse than the dotcom boom: back in the '90s, every man and his mother was releasing a new Internet magazine. WHSmiths was PACKED with them. Now, every man and his mother is releasing a new strategy. I have no idea why.

Mine's the best, though.

 

[Lee Shepherd]

Shadow ninja,

Your strategy still makes me laugh but am still waiting for a return on my money.

Have phoned your line many times now and am having to meet remortgage payments by credit card.

Are you sure your system works, I'm gonna try some others.

 

[shadowninja]

No, please keep phoning and wait on the automated queueing system.

Calls cost just $5.99 a minute; calls should last no longer than 38 minutes.

 

[Trader333]

Is it a £1.50 a minute premium rate number ?


Paul

 

[Lee Shepherd]

Hey Shadow ninja,

Can I become an affiliate for your strategy program then I'll just tell people how good it is and that it really works and collect any commission due.

Heres the idea, I'll place several trades short on one account and long on the other, I'll lose for sure but I'll then have an account on record that I can prove to others that it really does work at close to 90%, I'll throw a couple of losing trades in for realism.

How much can I earn selling your system on your behalf?

On a serious note,(because thats how these things work) I wonder how many takers we'd get.

 

[gooseman]

For what it's worth:

stop trading. take a step off. also i'd say get to know your market before you go any further; it seems like you're trading massively volatile markets where short term trading is tough and you get stopped out quite easily, especially in these climates.

it's not going to happen overnight....

 

[shadowninja]

Calls cost just $5.99 a minute; calls should last no longer than 38 minutes.

Is it a £1.50 a minute premium rate number ?

The way the GBP/USD is moving these days, it won't be long before you're right.

 

[spanish89]

Um ok thanks everone for all your help and advice...

It has finally worked.


From now on im only demoing still get atleast 80% wins compared to losses.

 

[FXSCALPER2]

Um ok thanks everone for all your help and advice...

It has finally worked.


From now on im only demoing still get atleast 80% wins compared to losses.[/QUOTE

And you reckon that will happen? Too funny, Spanish.

 

[timsk]

Um ok thanks everone for all your help and advice...
It has finally worked.

Hola spanish89,
Yeah, it does 'work' for a while when you're starting out and then, all of a sudden and for no obvious reason, it stops working. It's a pain when it happens and, just so you're prepared, it will happen to you too. At that point, most of us go back to the drawing board, study our charts, read some books and do some research etc. But you don't have to bother with any of that. No, all you have to do is start a 3rd thread with the same title (and a 4th one and 5th one after that), safe in the knowledge that sooner or later someone will come along and tell you whatever it is that you want to hear.

Tim.

 

[spanish89]

When i said that it has worked i meant that everyone's help and advice has worked, and so now i am only demoing!!!


There are so many people on here who just think that because they are now rich and sucessful they can be all smug and try putting everyone else down who doesn't have the same amount money and sceruity that they have and that they had when they 1st started trading!!


Thankyou for all the people like shadowninja who have actually been supportive of me and are now assisting me while i practise and learn demo trading...,
but the people who have just been cocky and made sarcastic comments just because now they are sucessful and secure, you are simply pathetic lil snobs!!

 

[shadowninja]

Heres the idea, I'll place several trades short on one account and long on the other, I'll lose for sure but I'll then have an account on record that I can prove to others that it really does work at close to 90%, I'll throw a couple of losing trades in for realism.

So that's how they do it!

 

[0007]

but the people who have just been cocky and made sarcastic comments just because now they are sucessful and secure, you are simply pathetic lil snobs!!

Please oh! please, let's not descend into this kind of dialogue. It benefits no one. You are entitled to your opinions of others on this forum but why not keep them to yourself. As far as i can see, most people here have been very patient and helpful towards you; why not just be glad of that?

When you are as expert as some of the people here, you may understand better their reactions to your posts. Just remember that some of us were once like you - so we do know how you feel.

 

[shadowninja]

Spanish89, the perceived rude comments are there to make you think about what you're doing. If we just said, "It's ok, you'll be fine, don't worry about it." you'll continue to lose money.

We have all been there and know the pain you're going through, but that doesn't mean it is alright.

I like trading because in the world of trading, there is no NHS, no social security, no housing benefits, no child benefits. There is nothing there to pick you up when you make a bad decision and blow your account. It is survival of the fittest. Not in terms of muscles but in terms of mental fitness - being able to master the self, to overcome your weaknesses - greed, fear, excitement, sadness, joy, pride, arrogance; the market will take these facets and use them against you... or rather you will use them against yourself. Fascinating stuff. Get hold of Trading In The Zone by Mark Douglas.