Don't talk to me about patience LOLOL, bugbear of my trading...

Don't talk to me about patience LOLOL, bugbear of my trading life :)

Re reading and stuff, n Bmer no offence meant not teaching you how to suck eggs or nuffink and fer all I know you are a whizz bang trader with a decade and a half of 'sperience under yer belt.. and my "advice" is in that case disrespectful... but just in case yer a novice like me...

ultimately this is what I have found after 5+ years of being a novice trader...

there are two things that are similar yet remarkably different... analysis and trading.

Analysis is kinda a prerequisite to being a good trader but I reckon ultimately its about 10 percent of the components that make up being a good trader.

Trading... in my mind and many other apparently successful traders consists of:

Find/creat/make your own trading system or set of trade plans
( t/a (tech analysis) here helps create this system or set of plans... eg specific triggers (maybe a 5 period ma cross over an 8 period ma at points of historical resistance or support) that have been shown/you have observed/Lots of traders use that gives you "setups" or signals which give a reasonable edge or probability in your favour for entry n exit.)

As part of the system include

Money management principles (for example, you may beleive your system gives you an edge that enables you to predict price movement 70% of the time.. that means that at least 30% of the time you will lose... ensure your money management gives you room to lose without wiping out your account)

Time n range factors (you may be better as a trader with positions for multiple weeks looking for hundreds of pips per trade, or you may prefer the hunt for 15+ pip trades intraday) Time meaning, when is best to trade, range meaning what kind of movement can you expect in a certain pair over a specific time.

Trade the system

Practise Trading the system (pref with a demo account or such) and see if you can consistantly make money.

Until you can consistantly make money (funny money in terms of a demo account) resist committing real or significant dosh.

Understand your own emotions and how you are affected by loss and gain and keep those emotions under control. Incorporate emotional control within your trading system (eg for me, I get stoopidly Frustrated by poor entries... and past experience has seen me lose control and start revenge trading... now, affter three losing trades in a row, that's it for the day)

Trade small initially and as you prove yourself, increase size but take this step cautiously... It is easy to get lost in initial small size success and then get freaked out by the first loss when you increase position size...

Stick with it

For at least 5 years

( you need a couple of cycles Bull markets n Bear markets or consistant up trends n consistant down trends n maybe a few bits of sideways action as well to build and maintain confidence in yer skillz)

Then take over the world :)

I is back here for at least a little while (I wil tough it out for a week and see if i can handle my likely desire to spend all my time here to the detriment of real life)

So if'n you or any other heads might want a bit of a helping hand in terms of info on FX trading, fer gosh sakes start popping questions, nd I will dedicate time to providing "general" answers that MAY boost the learning curve.

I specifically say "general" answers cos I must confess I am of the very strong opinion now that as a trader we each must find our own "way" and as such what works for me (Technical based intraday to swing trading on forex) may not be everyone's cup of tea.)

;)