yes of course I see your point, I just had to pinpoint your angle a bit. And I admit I agree with you completely. There were a few times I was reaching 30 hours per week such as last summer and winter, but I'm but I'm not even committed enough to work that hard anymore. In fact trading is one of many individual hobbies I've had (I've written a novel before, studied astronomy hours on end, and several others). The truth is I've never committed myself to anything as much as I hear the truly successful traders have to get where they are. For example I only spent maybe 2 hours per day on the novel and never looked at it again after editing chapters 1 and 2. What I'm dealing with now is that my heart really isn't into trying to re-commit to trading. In fact the only thing I've ever committed to is self-improvement, experimentation and trying to find my thing (my other hobbies this summer have been dancing, Spanish, applying for a semester abroad). Even so, I've only spent a relatively half-assed amount of time on each. Unfortunately it seems now that I'm unsure if I am unable to commit and work hard, if I just haven't found my niche, or maybe if that niche really is learning and self-improvement - but I guess that is my problem to deal with. As for trading I think I just want to swing trade for a while. I've found that the lack of patience and hard work in my recent trading has been more a result of me not caring than mental weakness - my longest trading session in the last three months was three hours long, and I used to roll through 6-8 like it was nothing. I'm just not into doing that right now. Thank you asiaprop your concern is opening my mind to new things. Thankfully I'm not too stubborn to listen like I was when I first started trading; the market taught me that.
thanks for your honest reply, probably more honest than 99% posts here, you should pride yourself with that. You mentioned at one point trading being one of your many "hobbies". The only recommendation I can give you is to stop trading right away unless you are ok with losing money. You may be able to place a lucky punt here or there but over time it is guaranteed that you will lose money if you treat this endevour as a hobby. Simple as that. I dont think you get any better advice than this in regards to your current situation but feel free to take it or leave it. Good luck!!!
hey TGreg... Q1-are you trading real $$$ or still demo? Q2-standard or mini lots? Q3-in either case, what cross rates are you currently trading?
Thank you. Trading really can't be anything more than a hobby to me based on the time and capital I have, but yes I know there is a lot of truth in what you're saying. I'm only risking $20 to start (4x my risk per trade of $5 is my account drawdown), and I am okay with losing that much. My risk management system is very strict and very good for me. I appreciate your concern.
Haha I knew this reply was coming! 1. I've been back and forth between live and paper this year. I'm live for now. 2. My risk per trade is set at just a few dollars per trade. My lots were small before but much small now that I'm swing. 3. I haven't finished my list of pairs. I went back through my old work and got all the ones I used to trade (both intraday and when I decided to try a 3 hr intraday acct). I'm toying with a few others as well.
let me get this straight...this is TWENTY DOLLARS and not TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS...correct? ...I think you are saying it was $20.00...and NOT...$20,000.00 if really $20.00...are you trading at FXCM micro or IBFX?...where?
haha yes I'm with Oanda. There's pretty much no use in me trading for money right now because I have little (and dwindling...) to start, it's just a hobby and good experience if I find myself in the field. I noticed you are trading better as you stated in your thread. Keep up the good work!
you are right on TraderGreg...I think it is great that there are mini, micro accounts where you can trade...yea, those are my for real trades...the good, bad and ugly...for real...best 2 U
At the moment I don't plan to actively trade or update this journal for a long time. However, I was considering going through and uploading several of my personal charts that had helped me considerably and sharing some of what I found about the market to others who might be looking for that little something. I don't plan to waste my time though, either. If you had been interested in my work and my images in the past please tell me why, what had helped you in particular if anything, and what you want to do with trading. I don't pretend like my images are anything great, but if any of them have been at all valuable I would like to give a bit more back to the forum. All the best.