I started trading Forex with a micro account after spending considerable time evaluating 3 or 4 platforms on practice accounts. Starting with $525 I was over confident based on my demo account results. The first day I made all the rookie mistakes and did not do what had been working successfully on the practice accounts. I over-leveraged my trade size, did not enter trades based on support and resistance levels, and traded a different time of day (daytime instead of evening (I work during the day)). The result was that I was down 62% at the end of the first day. With the $204 left in my account I went back to what I had been doing, much humbled but determined to make a go of this thing. Well it took about 5 or 6 weeks, some nights making less than a dollar, but I grew my account back to over $700. Not much money but it gave me a needed confidence boost that just maybe I might have a knack for Forex. Other than the 1st day's disaster, I only had one losing day---and that was when I exited a position that I was building prematurely when I clicked the 'Close all positions' button by mistake. Goal #1, hopefully by the end of June, is to to grow the micro account to $1000 before adding any additional funds. Reaching that goal will validate my system, at least to me. Around the time I opened the micro account I also opened a mini account with at a different Forex broker. I have not traded that account yet and will not until I reach goal #1; but I am using their practice account to fine tune strategies in the meantime. Goal #2 will be to use the mini account as follows: I find that entering trades based on support and resistence levels means that I often get in too early. If I enter a trade with the micro and if that trade continues below support or above resistence by some to-be-determined factor (say 15 pips or more) that's when I will kick off the first trades in the mini account. Also, to-be-determined is how much actual risk to take before closing out all open positions for those infrequent times when the the pair drops or pops 60, 80 or 100 pips below or above the initial entry point. So far I haven't actually been in a trade when this happens but realize it can happen; so yes I know a losing day(s) will come and am not trying to say what I'm doing now is completely without risks. Hopefully, I will have a follow up report on reaching goal #1 in the near future. Also, if there is any interest out there in what I've shared I will be happy to pass along, at least in general terms, what and how I'm trading. Good trading to all in the meantime.
That sounds great, you're doing extremely well if that first drawdown was the worst it gets in percentage terms! I think there's a correlation between the larger your account becomes, the more tempted you'll be to stray from your trading and money management rules, psychology is a real bitch. It may never happen to you but forewarned is forearmed as they say! Good luck!
Which broker did you choose? I'm still looking for a good broker. I'm currently with FxPro...they're pretty good, but they make withdrawing a pain in the butt. Thanks
I am currently using two brokers, FXCM and Forex.com. I know they get a lot of bad press on message boards but I like both of them for my purposes and for different reasons. Obviously, I haven't tried to get any money out yet (what kind of problem did you have?). When I first started looking into Forex trading I viewed several 5 minute instructional videos by David Waring and he was using FXCM to demo how to trade; so that's the first one I downloaded for a practice account and later as a micro account. IMO they have some of the best and most powerful charts which are included as part of the platform (not an add on extra feature like many other brokers). I downloaded several other platforms for testing and finally settled on Forex.com for my mini account. They have some features that seem to fit my trading style very well. Like their Forex Insider news feature which gives a technician like me a little feel for the fundamental side of what's happening. I also like the fact that their open positions window displays the average price for the currency pair, since I tend to build on my initial position. Their charts, while not powerful, shows a line where, once penetrated, you start to see profits. Gives you a nice perspective on your target.