A lot of time and effort doing what though, that's the question. You can spend a lot of time and effort crossing the road but it's poinless if you're looking the wrong way when you get flattened by a f'kin great big 16-wheeler! Personally I think you're looking the wrong way, I don't think you understand the market, it's participants and their reasons for failure, or the essence of trading, and those are the very things you should be finding out about instead of spending all your energy looking for strategies.
Well isn't studying all about "learning"? Im planning to do all the reading,resarching in order to understand things, which i think is necessary to be able to set up a working strategy in the future.
lol, and this from the Oanda groupie who thinks there's a connection between widening spreads and guaranteed stops. I think you miss the whole point of the conversation, it's not about the sustainability or otherwise of scalping, or the longevity of a novice scalper who doesn't really have a clue about what he's doing!
Instead of trying to get the guy out of the business why doesn't someone explain the entire scheme of things? I'll try here. To the OP: Listen, there are 3 aspects to trading and they have been described in numerous books. I will paraphrase Dr Elder and say: MIND METHOD MONEY Mind means psychology. Think like a trader, think in probabilities, assume the risk and trade with discipline. Method means strategy, technique for identifying trade entries and exits. Money is capital or money management according to your strategy and risk profile. All of these are important. If you will focus on learning the market and not you as a human being and how much you are willing to risk and how much pain you can take, then your first 2 or 3 years will be in vain. Totally useless. So go read books but focus on all three aspects. And one advice that i personally think is useful: DO NOT RELY ON TECHNICAL INDICATORS. STUDY PRICE PATTERNS AND SUPPORT/RESISTANCE. If we are talking about strategy ... STUDY SCALING IN and OUT if we are talking about money management... STUDY YOURSELF and ANTICIPATE YOUR REACTIONS if we are talking psychology. Here, i saved you about a year and a half. You owe me a beer!
Good job, but sometimes the best advice for some people can be simply don't get into this business, period.