Thanks Bobo,
IMHO
Take your $7k and hide it, quickly. !!
Now ... let's learn how to trade.
Take $100 and open an Oanda account. While your account is being approved, paper trade
the Eur / usd , usd / jpy or aud / usd ... just one ... eur / usd is most popular probably and moves most like
the equity index futures
YOU MUST LEARN ...
Support and Resistance
"Looking Left" to find the above.
Learn how price looks when it arrives at SR and weakens, signaling reversal .
Japanese Candlesticks are the best for this ... imho , of course.
Later in you trading career, you may wish to reduce noise if you become a trend trader and use
range or renko bars ..
You must learn to lose!!
Put your stops at a reasonable level above / below SR (20 / 50 ticks) and NEVER MOVE THEM OUT!
NEVER
SCALE IN / ADD TO A LOSER ... this is the quickest way to ruin . .
Learn to take the tight stop losses. Then forget it - next trade please.
Think Pro QB ... 2 INT's ... no worries ... you come back in the the 4th quarter and toss 3 TD's to win.
Never let past performance affect the current trade.
PnL is not a factor .
Each trade is it's own game.
OK .. the second you learn how price behaves around SR and you think you have a feel for trend or
leg reversals. Take your $100 account you just opened and trade the nano
lots like you have a $1000
account.
You will literally be trading pennies, but believe me, losing $5 still irks when starting, because you were wrong -
you lost. You will feel irritated and feel your skin get hot. This is the feeling you must lose ... Quickly.
I made the big mistake of working in SIM too long. My technique was ready years before my emotions were.
My large
drawdown days have always been because of Emotions .. Chasing, adding to losers, predicting
tops and bottoms.... boom... I'm down a $grand.
Learn to win
Learn to lose
Stay even emotionally - constantly marking notes in your journal (review your trades / journal every week )
Don't look for holy grail indicators - the only thing that matters in the markets are support and resistance levels.
Learn how Volume works around these area's. (When you get to futures)
Do not go straight to the futures markets to learn to control your emotions and how to trade. It's foolish.
___________________________
One key to look for as you start out with the candlesticks is wicks. You will notice large "rejection" wicks
at a level if it is being rejected. Place an order up among these wicks and wait for a retest. It's a good
feeling to instantly be in the money as price reverses and you're on your way. Initially, simply target the
other side of the immediate range you are in. Avoid
momentum entries until you are better. Most are
traps to catch the amateurs. Always make sure your
limit order is placed with your "back against something"
like major SR... don't diddle in the middle ... wait for the swing edges.
______________________
Time frames.
You must learn to examine and place trades based on the larger time frames.
Begin with a daily , hourly and 15 min charts for forex. ... Anything smaller is noise.
Trade with the trend of the daily and hourly - use the 15min for entry only ( the hourly would be better to
make sure your stop is clear of the immediate PA.... learn to stay in trades a while. Let them work ...
and be
flat at major news reports for your instrument. Use the Forex factory calendar and just get
flat for all the "red" one's ... you will learn which ones are truly dangerous. You must check the news
reports everyday... this is just part of the job.
________________________________
RR
Try to keep you Risk / Reward (RR) ratio at least one to two. So... examine the trade. If you need a
twenty tick stop to get clear of the immediate PA edge, you want to make sure there is a viable target
40 ticks away, (range targets are best) ....get it!!??? you must win more than you lose. That way, with
1 : 2 RR, you can lose half your trades and still make money ... THIS IS CRITICAL !!!
____________________________________________
OK ... you're on you're way !!!
The two things you must master quickly -
Emotions ( learn to lose and stay cool) (learn to win and stay cool)
and
your
Risk ( cut the losers short as soon as price is telling you you're wrong)
Keep the targets tight and logical - not fixed, just across the range you are currently in.
Learn to scale in / out later.