Hi, I've been trading with Oanda (real cash) for a couple of months. I am exclusively using technical analysis and risk 0.5% per trade. My planned holding period is just a few days. I do all charting on Sunday, place my orders, and then let the trades go. The problem is that I'm down 2% and keep on losing. What would be the next best step in my education? Should I start learning fundamentals/economics? If so, could anyone recommend any good books or websites? Thanks in advance, Mauzj.
vhehn, I'm attempting to master the art of Swing Trading the Forex markets. I don't trade stocks. Mauzj.
While paper trading is not the same as real trading (the emotions are different), you need to turn a profit on paper before you can do it with real money.. have you done this? A monthly paper profit?
I think peter has a solid suggestion, I would go so far as to say make sure you are fantastically profitable on paper with very minimal risk and drawdown before moving into real money trading with forex. The real tricky part to forex which will not show up in paper trades is the leverage, you see once you get greedy you'll be likely to run a hand with some ludicrous (200:1 anyone?) leverage, and the hand will go cold. Then the true test of your abilities will come to light. I don't want to discourage you too much, but as a beginner, the odds are solidly stacked that you will blow out with that much leverage on tap. I also think vhehn's comment is quite valid. I've been trading for a long time, everything from futures, options, stocks, and even traditional commodities. I've continued to watch the forex market, occasionally trying out some strategies in a fictional account. I like the idea of trading hours an easy hedging, and hence I tend to keep an eye on this market for potential future opportunities. That said, at the present time I wouldn't personally touch the forex market with a ten foot pole. I'm out-gunned in analysis, capital resources, and critical information flow. This is a closed game (although it's just now starting to open up), the interbank market is/was like an old boy's club. It does not act like a normal auction market should act according to my studies, it is a unique environment and will require some interesting tactics to make it work. All that said I wish you the best of luck. I know how it is for people to tell you that you can't do something, or that you'll fail. Generally that just makes a trader more bull-headed about their approach. Just keep in mind that ego will destroy, and so will leverage. My suggestion is work a low leverage instrument, or if you have the capital... no leverage at all. Goodluck,
If you risk .5% per trade and you are down 2%, I don't see a problem. That is only 4 losers in a row. I definitely agree with the previous post regarding becomming profitable on paper before going live. It's common sense to me.
or consider setting up tradestation and systematically backtesting your theories. i had to lose 12% of my account before I figured out the potentials of mechanical trading and started making a living. also, if you're not doing this already, save yourself some major time and set and adhere to a rock SOLID stop loss.