Hi Steemit, I just came to the end of my first month trading a live forex account and I'd like to share my experience.
I've been trading forex on demo accounts for the last seven months or so. At first I was primarily interested in trading shares, being inspired by my Dad who is really good at it. I started reading up and listening to podcasts about trading, and decided to try a forex demo account for fun and experience. I really enjoyed it. As you can imagine, I did really really badly at first. I blew up so many demo accounts it isn't even funny! But eventually, things clicked for me and I started learning how to do technical analysis and manage my money instead of basically just wildly pressing buttons based on what I thought might happen.
As I learned and practiced more, I really came to love forex and determined that this is a path I'm going to stick to, and become a really good trader no matter how long it takes.
After several months of trading profitably on my demo accounts, at the start of June I decided it was time to try trading with real money. I spent a couple of days picking out a broker, then took the plunge and opened a very small live account.
Although I felt I'd prepared myself quite well, I was a bit nervous. Everyone knows that more than 90% of new traders lose all their money fairly quickly, so I firmly resolved to do my very best not to become a statistic. When I've had serious losses on my demo accounts, it has just about always been because for some reason I did something stupid, which I totally know better than to do. I promised myself I won't let myself do anything really stupid. Hopefully I can keep that promise!
So trading my live account, I found it to be like and unlike trading on a demo account at the same time. I spent a lot more time second guessing myself because I had something real on the line this time, and at times it was hard to tear my eyes away from the charts. Most of my trades lasted a few hours, but some went on for a couple of days. There were a few times when I struggled to keep myself from doing stupid things like revenge trading after a loss or just taking positions that were too big.
As the month went on, I started adjusting to live trading better. I realised that in my excitement to be trading with real money, I had been taking just about every opportunity I saw, and that the less great ones often weren't working out, and that I wasn't managing my money as well as I should have been, and struggling with things like where to place my stop loss, when to take profits etc. So I tried to be more patient and just wait for opportunities that were really good and I could feel very confident would work out. I focused more tightly on my money management and thought more about things like how bad a worst case scenario would make me feel before opening a trade. This lead to a few less trades and some smaller positions, but to more confidence and good feelings and profits.
Overall, I have to say I really had so much fun! I wake up excited to see whats happened on the charts and looking forward to trading. In the end, I came to the end of my first month with a 15% profit, which I am super proud of and happy with. It feels really great to have not failed! I'm excited to keep trading, and keep learning and getting better at it!
Thanks for reading! I know there are quite a few experienced traders on steemit as well as novices like myself, I'd be really happy to hear everyone's experiences and advice.
Previously I am very grateful to you who have made me one of your friends, hopefully keep awake.
and I also say success always with what you post, trading in forex as you describe above something that is very motivated for every trader, I myself have run it, but all stopped because of lack of motivation in me.
Thanks for sharing @turtler this useful post.
"Good luck"
Hi @turtler!
I am a forex trader as well.
It is not easy to survive in forex.
Keep fighting!
And good luck will come and find you.
Its not easy to trade the markets, whether it be stocks, commodities or forex. I was taught amateurs open the market professionals close the market. As long as you are enjoying it, then keep doing it. When you start loosing, don't keep doubling down. Just put the mouse down and walk away from the computer, as all the trading done in those markets, its greed and fear that runs them.
Very interesting read. I have just started trading albeit with a demo account with Etoro. Keep udating your progress. Good luck.
thankyou very much :) I have a demo account on Etoro too, I like how it has lots of markets and copy trading
Nice work man
the hardest part of forex trading is physc not entries or exits through my exp
im a pattern trader who loves sing trading in volatile markets.
ill start a post soon as this post is run on my other RIG not my tading PC
my twitter handle is @zigzagfx send me a chart or ask me to chart it :)
i have a diploma in TA from 2001 and some old style trix i love to implement
trough the major points in trading is TRENDS ,PATTERNS and SUPP/RESIS
I love Big Long trades in excess of 500 pips and strive to close the 1000+ pips trades
plenty of examples from the past to show keep ur eyes peeled and follow me for your Hit of FX soon to come
thanks for the great response! 500+ pips, wow. i'm definitely looking forward to your posts.
@zigzagfx here is by far one of the best traders on Twitter during the Asian session (if not the outright best?). Guy seriously knows his stuff.
15% is a great result for any month, let alone your first. What was your drawdown in the period if you don't mind me asking? If you don't know how to get that, hook your account up at myfxbook, it will tell you your drawdown and a bunch of other useful stats to gain insight into your trading and where you need to improve.
Also which broker are you trading with? I'm an IB for the biggest ECN broker in the world by volume (who just happen to be based in Australia) and my clients get a 20% discount on commissions. Give me a shout if you want to start trading with pro conditions. Min deposit only 200 AUD too - ECN very accessible in this day and age.
I've been considering joining twitter even though i'm not a fan of most social media just because there seem to be a lot of really good traders on there. i'll definitely be following him there if i do!
I haven't connected my live account to myfxbook just yet, I want to give it a bit more time because I know i'll be looking at my stats constantly, but I have used it with my demo accounts and really found it helpful. I think my drawdown was about 30-35% though, which i didn't like at all, hopefully I can manage lower in the coming month.
My broker is pepperstone and i'm really happy with them so far :)
Yeah twitter is great, there are a ton of good traders on there and can't beat it for timely economic news.
Cool, yes that puts your returns in perspective. As you already identified, you were trading too aggressively this led to excessive drawdown. Either way, you are showing a lot more insight than your average new trader and I think you have a real shot in this game.
Nice work on the broker selection too! Though Pepperstone aren't the cheapest or the biggest, they are the second best broker in Aus IMO and it's rare a new trader hunts out a broker of that calibre at the start of their journey. I'm an IB for them too so I can still get you a discount. I'm sending you a little SBD with a link to the rebate section on my website and you can use the contact form there to get me via email.
Check this post to see some of the feedback from my clients and a little from me on the way I do business.
awesome, thanks so much!!
picking a broker was pretty hard, since there seem to be so many shady ones out there i spent a lot of time looking through reviews etc.
i'd been thinking i should look into rebates, checking out your website now :)
No worries mate, yeah some rebate outfits will pay into your brokerage account the next day, but I try to work it out with the broker so it just comes right off your commission charge to begin with.
There are definitley a lot of shady ones out there and they are often big firms so it's very hard to navigate. Look at FXCM, they banged on about their No Dealing Desk (ECN) accounts and then it comes out they just set up a shell company to take the other side of their client's trades. That got them a whopping fine and banned from the US, though they are still operating around the globe and probably still up to the same old dirty tricks.
Hey turtler,
Great to hear your experiences. I remember those feelings of excitement and being proud I was disciplined enough to stick to my system and not make mistakes.
Just wait until you're so in the groove that you're emotionless whether you wake up to plus or a minus. That's when you know you've made it ;)
thanks for the encouragement :) i will get to that point one day, and it will be truly awesome!
No, it will be truly boring! ;)
Good post. I also understand these feelings!
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