Hi, I am new to trading and would be grateful if someone could help me get going in the right direction. I have read a few guides and bought a few things to help. Currently trading demo for 1 month now but gonna throw some money at this. What is the best time frame to trade intraday? Currently using 5m but maybe look to shorten this. What lot size should I start on, was thinking of depositing £5k to start with but not sure whether to start on 1 lot or smaller? What is a good days trading? How many pips taken? I hope someone can help. Thanks
Dont trade live until you are making money on sim. London and NYC sessions are good for intraday. When you do go live, use low leverage and take it slow. Remember trading is a marathon, not a sprint. Good luck and welcome.
If you have 5k for your account, my advice would be to start with the sim account to learn the basics of your trading platform. When you feel comfortable with that start with micro-lots or (better yet) find a broker like Oanda where you can trade as small as you like. This allows you to experience the psychological pressure of having real money on the line without risking too much. Concentrate on developing discipline and learning about risk management rather than on making profits right away (you won't...and if you do, it's luck and not sustainable). Learn the ropes at the casino playing penny slots before you take a seat at $50 min bet black jack table and watch your account go towards some experienced player's Ferrari down payment.
First off...I would say start smaller. £5k is just over $8k I would start off with maybe £500 to 1,000. You can trade the $10,000 lots with that and get into 1 or 2 trades at a time. I would not start off big. If you lose the the first 1k, you have 4k more to keep trying. If you cant make money in forex with 1k you are not going to make it with 5k.
I have been trading for over 30 years and am now teaching my youngest daughter (25 years old) to trade. I am documenting the things I am teaching her and posting a daily summary of my trades, mostly ES and Dow Euro 50. The blog may help you put some much needed structure into your quest. Nothing for sale, no ads, just info.
Read up on money management as that tends to be the last thing most people focus on when they start out (it was for me). Tharp's book "Trade Your Way To Financial Freedom" has a good introduction on risk management. I also found John Carter's book "Mastering the Trade" a good read. These are good starting points as you learn and figure out what style of trading works for you. A good thread on ET to show you how a simple system can be used is one by Anekdoten (do a search for his username). It's a long thread, but the first few pages give a good introduction on how a basic system works. Even though he uses it on the futures markets, the concepts are easily transferable to forex. As far as a good coach, I don't know of any, or know where to find one. The good thing is that you can learn tons on your own (and by asking questions on the forum). I'm sure they are out, I just don't know where (and guess they'd cost a pretty penny).