Buy what ever you want, it's all crap anyway. They key to success is uniqueness - if everyone did what you did then it wouldn't work effectively. So try everything you read about and keep the good stuff and toss the rest, from that develop your own approach. pneuma
If you want to trade, learn to trade. If you have a back up plan, more than likely you will fall back onto that plan and won't succeed as a trader. 99% of the people on this board are NOT profitable traders. So take anything they say with a grain of salt.
everyone on elite trader is in the 1%. just ask them, wait, you dont have to ask, they will tell you.
Absolutely. So far I`ve gotten great answers and I feel the path has become clearer. If you have anything else to add I would appreciate it a lot!
As another experienced opinion, the input in previous posts should be heeded basically. The challenges I've had with Forex are as follows... 1) Learning to trade dangerously(without a good system) and having to undo the bad habits formed. Solution? Find a good mentor who is trading consistantly with success or on the verge, or at least read material compiled by successfull traders. Personalize a good, proven system that fits your lifestyle. There are others that will teach even for little or no charge just to help their client base or in my case I share ideas to help become more practised with them. 2)Not being able to focus on trading due to distractions. Solution? Cut back on distractions and interuptions. Trading fulltime is a sensible goal because it's important to be able to focus but realistically, diversified income is more sensible while one learns. That's why I've survived long enough to learn how to trade well enough, by having other income streams to get through the learning/unlearning/relearning curve. 3) Impatience. Solution? Recognize the problem and don't try and get it done too fast. I prefer swing trading and find day trades while hunting for swings. I came from a background where working hard and fast made it happen. Trading is not like that. It's more like hunting where you have to wait for and stalk your quarry and when closing to the time you pull the entry/exit trigger sometimes move fast. 4)Trading as an individual and not spotting trades due to lack of focus, tiredness etc. Solution? Trade with other compatable traders if you can find them. I recommend using a chatroom or text messeging system. I personally contacted over 100 traders in different forums and in person, and now have two contacts that I compare notes with often during the week. We send one another trade alerts to examine which helps lessen the chance of missing good swing trade entries and exits. I still envision having a group of traders to correspond with in different time zones so if one is tired to think well then someone else isn't. This aspect of trading has been the most difficult though as traders are often too different in their analysis. If teamwork fails then a simple workable system that one can perform as an individual catching 3-5 day or swing trades per week is what to work for. Hope that helps. And in summary, if I had known at start what I know now in terms of how challenging it would be, I probably would not have started trading if I had to end it all today, however I anticipate it paying off well to make up for lack of progress in the initial months. Time spent? Just over 3.5 years. It's only for the last 2 that I've had a fair idea as to how to trade well. The last challenge has been to polish my system so that I do it by habit so even when tired or distracted the good habits are there. The Forex market has no mercy so don't expect any. It's kill or be killed, eat or be eaten. It's about redistribution of weath so if you have a good cause to support as well as youself, you will have sufficient motivation for taking from the big corporate interests to support your own local interests. If nothing else Forex Trading will help one understand themself and the world we live in better and if that is good or bad may be subject to debate. I think it's good despite the price many have to pay. All the best.
FX, great summation of what is needed and I totally concur. The only one thing that I wish I have done differently was find a good mentor. That would help any starting trader greatly!!! However, all the other aspects of learning Forex I wouldn't change, I truly believe becoming a good Forex trader is trial through fire. You will get burnt but the scares will remind you of what to do and not do moving foward and you will be all the more profitable for it. Happy Pip Hunting!!!