Exploring Leverage in Gold and Forex Trading 💰
Leverage is an essential tool in trading gold and forex. It enables traders to control larger positions with minimum initial capital. However, it also carries a high degree of risk as one can experience significant losses if the market moves against them. Here are some things to consider about leverage in trading gold and forex:
• Leverage is the ratio of the amount one can borrow and the amount of capital invested. For instance, if a trader chooses a 50:1 leverage, then they can trade up to 50 times more than their initial capital.
• While leverage allows traders to profit immensely from small market moves, it also magnifies losses if the market goes in the opposite direction.
• Even experienced traders can fall prey to leverage's pitfalls, so it's crucial to understand the risks and manage them effectively.
• Traders must calculate their risk-reward ratio before initiating a trade that involves leverage to help minimize losses and improve returns.
• Stop-loss orders can help traders to manage their risk in case of unexpected market movements.
• It is essential to have a solid trading plan that includes entry and exit strategies, trading goals, and risk management strategies.
• Traders should choose a broker that offers favorable margin requirements and instant trade execution.
In conclusion, leverage can be a useful tool in trading gold and forex, but it is not suitable for everyone. Traders must carefully evaluate their risk tolerance and have a well-defined trading plan before employing leverage.
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Trading Psychology
BAD trading habits and How to Overcome themAs a professional trader, I've observed that 99% of traders experience losses not because of their skills or knowledge, but due to their bad trading habits. Today, we'll address some of these habits and propose effective fixes to overcome them.
1) FOMO (Fear of Missing Out):
Problem: The fear of missing out on potential gains prompts traders to enter trades impulsively.
Fix: To combat FOMO, it's crucial to close social media platforms like Twitter during trading sessions. Avoid getting caught up in unnecessary information that triggers FOMO habits.
2) Fixing Consistency:
Problem: The temptation to increase risk after a series of wins in pursuit of larger profits driven by greed.
Fix: Establish a consistent approach by risking a predefined dollar amount on every single trade. This consistency is key to long-term success and helps avoid irrational decision-making.
3) Invalidations:
Problem: Switching between hard and soft stop losses, hesitating to close trades quickly when using a soft stop loss.
Fix: Keep track of 100 trades and note the type of stop loss used for each. Evaluate and analyze which type yields the best results, allowing you to refine your strategy accordingly.
4) Hoping:
Problem: Placing limit orders at support/resistance levels, hoping for a reversal without a systematic method of execution.
Fix: Develop a systematic approach to trade execution based on statistical analysis. Enter trades with confidence, relying on your well-defined strategy rather than relying on hope.
5) Trading without Stop Loss:
Problem: Holding losing trades with the hope that the price will eventually recover.
Fix: Cut losses early by implementing proper stop loss levels. Focus on trades with good risk-reward setups, aiming for higher profits. Remember, the trend is your friend, and it's best not to go against it.
22 trading rulesThe market rewards discipline and requires you to fulfill your specific role. For instance, as a tattoo artist, your responsibility is to provide quality tattoo, while as a trader, your task is to exercise discipline in decision-making. If you remain disciplined, any reasonable strategy can yield profits in the long term. However, even the most flawless strategy will fail to generate income if you lack self-control.
Here are some guidelines to follow:
1.Maintain discipline consistently. Trading demands unwavering discipline at all times. Save extreme emotions, excitement, and other non-work-related feelings for your personal hours. While working, stay focused and determined, adhering to your plan and experience.
2.Always reduce the risk of failed trades. If you experience a series of unprofitable transactions, decrease the volume or percentage of risk from your deposit, rather than increasing it. Some individuals mistakenly believe that if they have had three consecutive losses, the fourth trade is bound to be profitable and will make up for the previous losses. However, the chances of profit or loss in the fourth trade remain the same. Relying on luck is unnecessary.
3.Avoid turning profitable trades into losing ones. Close positions promptly when you recognize the risk of holding them further. If there are signs of market weakness and continuing to hold the position jeopardizes your profit, either take your existing profit or exit with a small loss. In most cases, you will have the opportunity to find another entry point that is equally good or even better.
4.Ensure that your highest loss does not exceed your highest profit. Keep a record of your trades to determine the mathematical ratio of profit to loss and the ratio of profitable to losing trades. If your losses surpass your profits, you need to optimize your system; otherwise, it may become unprofitable in the long run.
5.Develop a trading system and stick to it. Avoid constantly switching from one system to another. If you decide to become a trader, select a specific approach and commit to it. Over time, you will gain a deep understanding of the system and develop your own market perspective.
6.Be true to yourself; don't try to imitate others. If you find that scalping is not suitable for you, consider intraday or swing trading instead. Just because someone excels at intraday trading while you excel at swing trading doesn't mean you should abandon your preferred style. Each individual has their own trading style, and there is a style that matches every personality. Some traders earn substantial profits by only opening ten trades per year, while others achieve the same level of success by opening ten trades per day. Moreover, someone may be comfortable opening a trade with a large lot size, while you prefer a maximum of one lot. This doesn't imply that you are a poor trader; it simply indicates that everyone has their own comfort zone. Discomfort in trading can only be detrimental. Stay true to yourself and find your own style.
7.Remember that there will always be another day to trade, so don't risk too much. Some beginners risk 20-50% or even more of their deposit, only to find themselves with nothing when a profitable entry point arises. Such risks often shatter one's psychology, and it can be difficult to recover. However, if you make a few mistakes with standard and small risks, you will always have the next day to learn from and correct your errors.
8.Earn the privilege to trade in high volumes. Even if you have tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in your account, it doesn't mean you should immediately start trading, for example, 10 lots. Begin by trading with the minimum volume allocated for your deposit. Only when you close ten consecutive sessions in profit should you consider increasing the volume.
9.The first conscious loss you encounter is the most valuable. It is during this moment that you understand the significance of stop-loss orders as part of your system. A stop-loss serves as a mechanism to exit a position when the trade is no longer favorable. By recognizing this and reacting appropriately, you are able to protect your account from significant losses. Understand that a stop-loss order is a benefit. See point 15.
10.Avoid relying on hope or prayer. If you catch yourself hoping for a positive outcome in a trade, it likely means that the trade is no longer profitable. Avoid concealing this fact from yourself as a trader. This psychological inclination to hope shields us from emotional distress and difficult decisions. However, as a trader, you must objectively assess the situation. If you realize that you are starting to rely on hope, reevaluate the facts and conduct a thorough analysis of your trade. It may no longer be as favorable as you initially thought.
11.Don't overly concern yourself with news. While trading the news is a separate strategy that may work for some traders, most try to avoid it. If the news is already known in advance, the market will react to it beforehand. However, if the information becomes clear only during the news release, it becomes challenging to trade based on such inputs. News that is widely broadcasted on TV or the internet tends to be outdated information when it comes to the market.
12.Choose a trading style that suits your circumstances. If you have a small account and can only afford short stop-loss levels, you may need to start with scalping or intraday trading. If you possess patience and adequate capital, swing trading could be an option. Long-term trading generally requires significant capital.
13.Embrace your losses. It doesn't mean you have to enjoy losing money. However, during your trading journey, you will inevitably experience losses. If you have a negative mindset towards losses, it will hinder your overall performance. Recognize that by exiting trades promptly and accepting short-term losses, you safeguard your account from larger losses in the long run. Learn to appreciate the importance of managing losses effectively.
14.Avoid setting excessively large stop-loss levels. Doing so will erode your profits from small trades. Consequently, instead of achieving a small profit, you may end up at breakeven or a slight loss, even if your trade initially showed promise.
15.Take consistent actions each day or week. Set a goal to capture a certain number of pips or points daily if you are a scalper or weekly if you trade intraday (the specific numbers provided here are for illustrative purposes and should not be taken as objectively evaluated results). By accumulating small gains over time, you can earn a significant amount by the end of the year.
16.Don't rely on a single trade for salvation. Some traders mistakenly believe that a single trade has the potential to generate substantial profits, recover previous losses, or significantly impact their overall performance. However, trading revolves around a series of transactions. No single trade can dictate your success. Instead, your behavior across ten or twenty trades holds tremendous importance in surviving and thriving in the market.
17.Consistency breeds confidence and control. Starting each morning with the knowledge that following your rules will result in profitable trades instills a sense of assurance. Similar to other traders, begin your day by reviewing the charts you trade and gathering the necessary information—perform top-down analysis, assess points of interest, liquidity, order flow, and more. Maintain this ritual consistently, as repeated actions are essential for earning profits in trading.
18.Master the art of position management. If you find yourself in a trade that is progressing favorably, consider partially closing your position to protect your profits in case the price suddenly reverses. Being flexible in managing your positions can lead to increased profitability and emotional balance in the market.
19.Execute the same trades repeatedly. Focus on specific trade setups that have proven successful for you. Avoid trying to trade multiple patterns simultaneously. Instead, identify two or three formations that work well for you and trade them consistently. Become an expert in those setups and execute them confidently and precisely. Avoid spreading yourself too thin.
20.Avoid excessive doubt and overanalysis. During the execution of a trade, trust your analysis and decision-making process. Doubts and unnecessary analysis during a trade can lead to detrimental outcomes. Overthinking can consume you and make it challenging to differentiate between the right and wrong decisions. Leave fluctuations and excessive analysis to the market. Conduct trade analysis before or after trades, not during them.
21.In the eyes of the market, all trades are equal. At the start of each trading day, everyone is on an equal footing. You haven't made any profits or losses yet. Your earnings depend solely on your actions. If you adhere to discipline and follow your predetermined rules, you will generate profits.
22.The market is an impartial judge of your trades. The market doesn't play favorites; it remains indifferent to your presence. Respect the market's authority and refrain from attempting to defy it. Engaging in a battle against the market is akin to fighting your reflection in a mirror. Instead, focus on understanding and following the market's rules.
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Forex Trading IdeologyIn Forex trading, understanding price movements is essential for success.
This article presenteds a conceptual ideology that metaphorically interprets price movements in Forex.
We explored range trading as breakfast and conversation, where traders analyze overbought and oversold levels on a RSI 4 for potential breakouts.
Trends were attributed to buyers and sellers, with uptrends indicating bullish sentiment and downtrends reflecting bearish sentiment.
Breakouts were seen as pivotal decisions made during breakfast, confirmed through technical indicators like the RSI.
Correlation and retesting allowed traders to analyze market relationships and make informed decisions.
Trend continuation or reversal required careful analysis of price patterns and indicators.
Finally , the closing and opening of trading sessions marked the end of one day and the start of another.
By applying this kind of ideology, traders can gain insights into market dynamics, improve their strategies, and make informed decisions in Forex trading.
♧J
The balance of thinking of modern tradersIf you have made the decision to pursue a career as a trader and are on the path to mastering this profession, it doesn't matter which trading direction you prefer—whether it's intraday crypto trading, Forex trading, or stock trading on the stock market—you will inevitably face a choice:
Option 1: Freedom To be a free trader means being someone who learns from others, gains knowledge and insights from their experiences, and studies other people's trading strategies. However, based on the acquired knowledge, a free trader creates and develops their own trading methods, taking personal responsibility for their successes and failures.
Option 2: Dependence To be a dependent trader means relying on others instead of learning to trade independently. This type of trader solely depends on trading signal providers or advice from various specialists. They blindly copy other people's methods and systems, hoping to discover a secret formula for success, which can take a significant amount of time to find.
Why are we willing to give away our money so easily? In my opinion, choosing personal responsibility goes beyond just trading. It's a fundamental decision that extends beyond selecting a trading style and method. Embracing personal responsibility means making our own choices, taking independent action, and fully accepting the consequences of those decisions.
Think honestly and ask yourself: Would you be willing to entrust your own funds to a complete stranger for investment purposes? Would you willingly hand over a substantial amount of money, hoping that they would generate profits and return your investment with decent interest? Most likely not. Perhaps even the thought of it evokes a sarcastic smile.
Now, let's examine the situation from a different perspective. Isn't relying on someone else's trading signals and recommendations essentially the same? By executing trade operations based on the advice of an unknown person, you are essentially granting them control over your trading capital. Isn't that a high level of risk?
Therefore, in this article, I'm addressing those individuals who are interested in trading but are unsure whether they should completely forgo learning the trade and instead rely on subscribing to other people's trading recommendations, signals, or purchasing trading robots.
The choice is yours: either educate yourself, gain knowledge, and be in control of your trading decisions, taking personal responsibility for your outcomes, or rely on others and relinquish a significant degree of control. Of course, you can always choose to discontinue the services of a trading signal provider, but often it's too late when the majority of your deposit is already lost, and there is no one to hold accountable since you voluntarily used the signals. Isn't that true?
Consider which thinking style resonates more with you personally. After reading about each trading thought style, ask yourself which one you lean toward.
Dependent Trader A dependent trader seeks shortcuts. They desire wealth but are unwilling to put in substantial effort to achieve it. They live in a world of dreams.
These individuals are often those who wish for great things in life but instead of attempting to create something on their own, they resort to buying lottery tickets, gambling, or investing in dubious projects that so-called "financial advisors" assure will yield fantastic profits. In exchange for a slice of the pie (which is unlikely to materialize), such individuals are willing to risk money that could have been invested in their own education to acquire at least basic financial literacy.
A dependent trader tends to follow the crowd in the market, which often makes irrational and emotion-driven decisions. They rely on "hot signals" to make trading decisions, seek out automated trading programs, and pay attention to all the news and so-called experts. Often, they place trades blindly without a trading plan, acting recklessly without understanding the rationale behind their actions.
As a result, such actions inevitably lead to losses, which cause disappointment, emotional breakdowns, and bitterness towards everyone except themselves. The trader starts blaming others for their troubles and misfortunes, whether it's the broker, the provider of trading signals, the stock analyst, or the mythical "puppet master" who supposedly manipulates the market and takes money from honest traders.
This inability to accept responsibility for one's decisions and the inclination to blame others perpetuate a behavioral pattern that leads to repeated failures, making any success short-lived, if it ever occurs. Unless this pattern of behavior is consciously changed, it will continue to repeat itself.
Free-Thinking Trader At the other end of the spectrum is the free-thinking trader. This type of trader seeks to control their financial future. They want to understand how markets work, explore different trading approaches, and assert their own trading decisions without relying on external advice.
An independent trader recognizes that they alone can maximize their chances of success and achieve their financial and life goals. They actively seek opportunities to learn from successful traders, study and learn from their own failures and the failures of others, and gain experience.
Can you perceive the difference in mindset and approach to trading? Becoming a profitable trader takes time, but an independent trader is willing to invest in learning, leverage the experiences of others, and ultimately be in control of their decisions. They don't rely on others to make trading decisions for them.
While a dependent trader blindly trusts the advice and recommendations of others, an independent trader tests hypotheses, seeks to understand how a particular method works and why it works.
At the beginning of their trading journey, an independent trader may utilize the services of a mentor or rely on other reliable sources of education. However, as their knowledge and experience grow, they begin to implement what they have learned independently. A dependent trader would never do this.
4 Steps to Trader Independence What can you do to develop the qualities of an independent trader?
1.Seek information. Read extensively, conduct research, and test any ideas that you believe have merit. Seek assistance, but understand that no single article, book, or forum can provide all the information you need. You must piece together the information puzzle. If you can seek the help of others, it will significantly expedite the process.
2.Clearly define what you want from the market and identify your preferred trading style and orientation. Are you a day trader, swing trader, or long-term investor? Determine what aligns best with your temperament and psychological suitability. Assess the amount of discretionary funds you have available. Once you have answers to these questions, you can begin developing a basic trading plan.
3.Start implementing your trading plan in the market. It's ideal to begin with a demo account. This allows you to evaluate how well your chosen trading strategy performs in real-time and how effectively you can adhere to the established methods and rules.
The decision of when to transition to real money trading is up to you. There's no universal solution here. Some traders switch to real accounts after several months of consistent profits, while others may require at least six months or longer. This is normal since every individual is different and has their own perception of reality.
The transition to real money trading is typically challenging. Only when you face the possibility of losing real money and experiencing actual profits will you truly understand the psychological stress involved. Therefore, start with a small real account so that any losses won't cause significant financial or emotional harm. Only after gaining confidence and psychological stability should you consider increasing your trading capital.
Continuous improvement is crucial. You must constantly strive to enhance your trading skills, learn new concepts, and apply acquired knowledge in practice. There's much to understand and absorb. Becoming a trader is a long journey that requires time, financial resources, and emotional and psychological commitment. Consider these as tuition fees.
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It’s Not That You’re Not ProfitableI've made this serious mistake when I started out trading.
I skipped from strategy to strategy, methodology to methodology.
I've tried almost everything. Signals, account management, mentorships, PAMM, expert advisors, bots and paid indicators.
Everything seems to be profitable, until I put my hands onto it. Many times, I found some profitability. After depositing a bit more capital, I encountered large losses.
Why?
95% of the traders will not be profitable. Will I be in this statistic? I don't think so. I'm pretty sure I'm better than others!
Realization Of The Issue
The big issue I was facing at the beginning was searching for the holy grail. I don't have a plan. I switched from A to B within a few months of losing money. I was so fixated on getting rich quick through trading. Everything on the marketing material targeted at my desires. Survival, enjoying life, comfort and the perceived status of being rich and successful.
I was invested in the topic of personal development and personal finance at that time. While I was doing my goal settings, I realized that I have been losing close to 5 figures over a course of 2 years. This is bad for me because of 2 key problems.
I wasn't growing my net worth.
I was losing net worth.
At the rate I'm going, I will be working till I'm 65 before I can retire.
I gave myself another chance to do things properly. I read a lot of trading books, joined mentorships and watched a lot of YouTube videos.
I decided to give myself one last chance and one more year.
I started to see changes.
Human Are Emotional
We are all emotional. You are greedy. You fear drawdowns. Did you look at the posts people are posting on social media? Consistent high RR trades that yield them thousands of dollars a day. You aspire to be like them. You want that kind of strategy. You want to learn from them. But have you think about this. If they can produce such consistent high return results, why would they want to teach you how to trade? They can simply trade for big institutional players who will pay them large amount of money. They don't need to pitch to you to buy their courses and mentorship for a mere $99. This doesn't add up.
Trading Plan
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
The more I think about this, the more I got attracted to this quote. This is true in life, and even more relatable to traders. If you have a trading plan that gives you 3 RR per trade, stick to it. I know that it feels good to hit a homerun trade. Your trading plan says 3 RR per trade, but you dragged your TP to 10 RR. When the trade ends up in a loss, you scold the market. You could have taken the full profit at 3 RR if you followed your rules.
You deviate from your trading plan. You don't trade based on your backtesting results. You then say that your trading strategy doesn't work. Sounds logical?
Without a plan, you're just going in circles like what I did at the beginning. Circling from strategy to strategy, and methodology to methodology.
Without a plan, you're going to encounter losses after losses. You won't be getting your 6 figure income. You won't get to enjoy life. You won't get to live comfortably. You won't get to be seen as a successful person. What you will get to do is to work for a 9 - 5 until you're 65.
Achieve Consistency
You have to follow your trading plan. But before you even have your trading plan, you have to backtest. You have to have a least 100 trades to say that your trade can give you a certain result. The below tells you what's the win rate needed to be at least break even. If your strategy has a RRR of 1:3, aim for at least 30% win rate. Anything above 30% is a very profitable strategy.
When you follow your plan step by step, you take all the same trades. You leave no room for emotions and irrational behaviors. You wait for the same confirmation and set up every single time.
You don't need to care what other people say. You don't have to care about what people's analysis are. You do you own analysis. Different people view the market differently. You can be trading on the lower timeframe, but they are trading on the higher timeframe. We see different things.
Remember that anything can happen in the market. It take just one big institutional player to take you out, or to swing your trade to your target.
Profitability
Increasing your profitability comes from 2 angles.
1. Increasing your win rate
2. Don't take bad trades
It seems counter-intuitive to say that you can achieve more by doing less. With a trading plan and a trading journal, you are able to see the pattern over large number of trades. Analyze them and see why do some trades go wrong. Are there similar conditions that happened to your losing trades?
You must be thinking. "But I don't want a strategy that gives me 2 RR. That's not enough. I need higher RR strategy.".
Assuming you're risking 1% a trade, with an above breakeven win rate, you will profit 2% for a winning trade. If you're trading a $200,000 account, that is a $4,000 profit. Is that not enough? Not many people earns this much money in a month.
This is what I'm aiming to achieve. If I can scale my accounts even more, I need even lesser profits a month to achieve a $4,000 target per month.
Holy Grail
I gave myself one last chance to trading. You can call it luck, I call it perseverance. It was a really good mentorship. I learnt a lot from someone who has been there done that and is trading for a living.
I had my profitable trading strategy, but it requires me to trade on the 1 minute timeframe. It’s profitable but I haven't got my consistency in the live market. It was a low win rate and higher RR strategy. I traded live account straight away. Attempted prop firm, got a 200k funded account and blew it before I got my first payout. I discarded it.
My mentor was scalping on the seconds chart. Thinking that sitting down in front of the chart for 1 to 2 hours, I can finish my trading day. I found consistency, but I was lazy and got distracted easily. I soon discarded it after trading live for awhile. (What was I thinking. Where did my motivation went to?)
Another member shared a strategy with decent win rate and high RR. I spent a lot of time backtesting, live trading and saw some results. However, my psychology wasn't good enough to handle the drawdown. it’s not a good strategy for prop firm challenges too. So I gave up AGAIN.
Went back and gave myself another try. I used my original trading strategy. I tweaked it such that I will be trading on the higher timeframe to accommodate my lifestyle. I backtest a lot of course. Finally traded live, and found consistency. This led to my first payout with decent looking equity curve.
I took a long route to come back to where I’ve started. I've finally found my holy grail.
Framework
This is the framework of how I trade.
1. Markup your chart. Find the area of liquidity, point of interests, liquidity grab, direction of the market and demand and supply zones. Do your multi-timeframe analysis here. Higher probability trade is to buy at discount levels, and sell at premium levels.
2. Set alert at your point of interests (Where to buy and sell)
3. Write down your analysis on the chart. If the price hits your point of interest, I would expect X to happen. When X happens, I will do Y.
4. When the alert goes off, go back to your chart and see if your analysis in step 3 still holds.
5a. If yes, mark out roughly where your stop loss and profit target will be. See if the RR is decent enough. If yes, then wait for the price to give you a confirmation. If no, either wait for a refined entry on the lower timeframe, or to wait for another confirmation.
5b. If not, repeat step 1.
6. Wait for price to give you a confirmation. Calculate the lot size you need to open based on your risk management and place your order.
7. Once you're in the trade, you can either forget about your trade and let it hit TP or SL, or actively manage your position. This will depend on how you backtested your strategy.
8. Once your trade hits the TP or SL, journal it. Record your entry, take profit and stop loss. Take screenshots. Record your emotions and feelings before, during and after the trade.
This is how a trading plan should look like. A clear plan of action and train of thought. There should be actions taken before, during and after the trade.
Do not follow strictly if your trading strategy is different from me. You need to change it to fit your strategy and lifestyle.
Mentorship
Having someone who has been there done that before is important. A mentor can provide valuable advice that can define and reach your goals faster. A mentor will provide feedback and support you. A mentor will remove all the unnecessary information that you don't need.
A mentor must be able to look at any strategy and tell you what's not working and what you should stop. A mentor should not force you to use his strategy. He must be able share his mistakes. He must be able to show you solid trading results via 3rd party verification. 3rd party verification should be Myfxbook or Fxblue, not screenshots or excel worksheet. He should walk you through development as a person outside of trading.
Stay consistent. Stay safe. Success is just around the corner.
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Qualities of a BAD Trader1) Does not Journal
They do NOT journal and proceed to continuously do the SAME thing day in day out expecting different results each time
2) FOMO
Proceeds to see someones open position on social media
Form a bias from that and open a trade based upon the individuals setup without any research
3) NO reasoning
Proceeds to stutter and talk nonsense if asked about reasoning for entering their trade
4) Does not know Risk management
Basis their risk off hunch and does not have consistent risk management within their trading
They always go "all in" with max leverage
5) Too attached
They are extremely attached to the $ figure , now this is a little more subjective
I tend to find that the less attached you are to the actual $ figure the better you generally will be as a trader
6) Worry about the wrong things
One question you should ask yourself is simply.
Is this going to help me make more money and become a better trader?
If the answer is NO, then don't focus on it
Ive seen too many times people worrying about DRAMA and being a journalist
If you do any of one of these try to stop them
It won't be easy but incremental changes are easier than changing everything at once
Try knock off one of these bad habits per week or even month and the incremental changes overtime will add up to something larger
Stay Tuned and See you next Time!
4 tips to make trading less stressful RIGHT AWAY1. Reduce position size
The biggest stressor for traders is losing money.
If you're worried about how much you could potentially lose then using smaller position sizes can help you stay level headed
Even the best traders don't have a 100% hit rate. Losses will happen
2. Find high quality set ups
If nothing jumps out at you the first 10 seconds you look at a chart then there's likely nothing there
Rather than force it, map out and/or set some alerts at key areas and come back to it later
Search for another chart that's more clear
3. Stop phone trading when you're busy with other things
When you're out with friends/family, at a wedding or in the middle of something is not a good time to be trading
Trading is hard enough already. Don't handicap yourself by only being 30% focused
Bad things will happen
4. Reduce your leverage
High leverage causes losses to happen fast & liquidations even faster
ESPECIALLY ON ALTCOINS
100x liqs on alts are only a 0.75% move which can happen rapidly
Trading isn't gambling
Reduce leverage + widen stops to reduce likelihood of stop outs
What Should Be Inside Your Trading Plan
Find out why you should have a trade plan—and the five elements that may help you put it to work successfully.
Element 1: Your time horizon
How long do you plan to hold a position? This will depend on your trading strategy. Generally, traders fit into one of three categories:
Single-session traders are very active and look to gain from small price variations over very short time periods (minutes or hours) throughout the trading day.
Swing traders target trades that can be completed in a few days to a few weeks.
Position traders seek larger gains and recognize that it often takes longer than a few weeks to achieve them.
Element 2: Your entry strategy
Look for entry signals—for instance, divergences from trend lines and support levels—to help you place your trades. The signals you employ and the orders you use to make good on them hinge on your trading style and preferences.
Element 3: Your exit plan
When it comes to an exit strategy, plan for two types of trades: those that go in your favor and those that don’t. You might be tempted to let favorable trades run, but don’t ignore opportunities to take some profits.
Element 4: Your position size
Trading is risky. A good trade plan establishes ground rules for how much you’re willing to risk on any single trade. Say, for example, you don’t want to risk losing more than 2%–3% of your account on a single trade. You could consider exercising portion control, or sizing positions, to fit your budget.
Element 5: Your trade performance
Look over your trading history to calculate your theoretical trade expectancy, meaning your average gain (or loss) per trade. You start by determining the percentage of your trades that have been profitable versus those that haven’t. This is known as your win/loss ratio.
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Things I wish I knew my first year of tradingI breakdown some common trading misconceptions and how I conquered them
1) There is no "best strategy"
Strategy is one relatively small part of trading success, most strategies can be profitable other variables such as discipline and emotional control will determine whether you see success.
2) Get comfortable losing
If you are comfortable losing (within the set rules/parameters of your strategy) it will make the aim of becoming more consistent much easier. Your next trade is less likely to be destroyed by PTSD of losing and have less clouded judgment.
3) More trades = More money = False
More time than not taking fewer trades (depending on your strategy and general frequency of trades) will mean you are likely to be more selective and thus make more money. Aim for quality over quantity.
4) Focus on controlling emotions
How I solved this was by journalling, evaluating where I was wrong or making any errors generally made it easier for me to put actions and steps into place to stop them from happening again.
5) Learning proper risk management
Simple enough, without this you will lose all of your money.
Your Trading Plan Is Everything You NeedImagine yourself having the perfect trading plan. It suits your psychological needs and lifestyle. Yet, you're not confident in your strategy. Do you follow your trading plan? Or do you close winners early and take a full 1R loss on losers? This is what happened to me.
Why Trading?
I took up trading because it sounds like a very lucrative side hustle. Learning how to achieve a 1% profit can scale my earnings. A 1% gain on a $1,000 account is $10, but the same 1% gain on a $100,000 account is $1,000. This offers significant leverage of my time. This means that if I succeed in building trading as a career, I do not have to survive on a 9 - 5 job, paying me for 8 hours of my day. I can enjoy life wherever and whenever I want. I can take a day trip to Japan for some sushi and be back home at night in my bed to sleep. I want to be a very successful person, having everything I want, not worrying if I can afford to buy the latest iPhone.
The Plan
So my career plan is to build up my prop firm funded account into the 7 digits. Get consistent 4 digits payout per month. Build my personal trading account from the prop firms profits. I built my plan so that I will not deviate from what I want to achieve. I have to follow a step by step method to achieve what I want. There are also contingency plan. For example, if I do not succeed in trading, at least I have my day job as a safety net. Survival comes first. If you worry about putting food on the table or paying your bills, you should refocus your priorities.
This is exactly the same as a trading plan. Your trading plan is same as your career plan. You have your entry criteria. When price gives you confirmation, you take a trade. When price does X, you close the trade. When price does Y, you move your stop loss. When price does Z, you take partial profits. You have a step by step method to guide your trades.
Be honest with yourself. How many times have you broken your trading rules this month? How many times have you deviated from your trading plan this month? My number is 3 this month. Why? Greed. Overconfidence. Hopeful. I was greedy as my trades have tight stop losses and I was expecting price to do what I expected it to do. Everything lined up. Multi-timeframe directions, liquidity, and volume all pointed to a high probability trade. It's near a high-impact news event. My position was in a drawdown. 2 minutes before the news, my trading plan indicated that I should close the trade now. I closed 2 eyes. Went down to the 5 seconds chart. It's 08:29:50. The price is starting to turn volatile. My heart is pumping from all the adrenaline. 08:29:59.. 08:30:00. The price shot up taking me out. What happened next, is as you guessed it. Price went up too fast. Slippage occurred, resulting in a loss of -3% instead of the expected -0.5% if I had followed my trading plan. Yes I still do make mistakes.
Compounding Effect
This 3% loss might seem small to some of you. 1 or 2 winning trades can cover this loss. Imagine if I took 3 of such trades in a week. That's already close to a 10% loss. This will be a huge deal to your trading psychology. The risk of these high-risk trades might seem worthy to you. But they can't give you enough assurance that you will achieve positive results in the long term. There are a lot of uncertainty during red folder news release. Price moves very fast, and might take you out before moving in your direction. Spread increase and could take you out even before the price hits your stop loss.
You are not following your trading plan by taking such trades again and again. You are building very bad habits. You are developing your attitude and habit in a wrong way. You're training yourself to take trades based on gut feeling and emotions. You should be using a solid trading plan which has proven (I hope) to be profitable. You can only achieved this through many hours of backtesting.
Habits are hard to change. By developing your trading attitude in the wrong way, it will be hard for you to be profitable. You're relying on luck in trading, and luck is not a decent trading strategy nor trading plan. Bad trading habits can lead to serious consequences. You could over-risk, over-leverage and even over-trade. You will take on more losses than you wanted. All these compounds your trading account in the wrong direction. What you want is to compound positive actions and bring your account equity upwards. Without positive actions, you are reinforcing negative actions and attract losses.
Deviation From Your Trading Plan
Taking trades that deviate from your trading strategy is a no go, even if it ends up being a winner. This could be a lucky trade. Luck is not a sustainable trading strategy. What if you did this again and the trade turns out to be a winner again? It will inflate your ego and lead to more of such trades. When you luck runs out, you will find that you lose more than you win.
To be successful, you have to identify bad trades and cut them from your trade executions. Many times your trading results will improve by eliminating all the bad trades. Finding ways to improve your risk-to-reward ratio or your win rate is not the only way.
You build success through consistency and repetition. If you’re not putting in the work day in and day out, you will not succeed. To succeed, you have to do it even when no one is watching you. You have to follow strictly to your trading plans. You have to do it when you do not have an accountability partner. One day, you will get your “overnight success” because you’ve been putting in all the work consistently. No one says it’s going to be easy.
Transformation
The day that my trading changed was when I started to plan out what I want to do with my life. I'm 30 this year. How many more decades do I have left? I do not want to slog for another 30 years working in a 9 - 5. I do not want to squeeze in a crowded public transport every morning to go office to do work that I could have done at home.
I have my personal finance all planned out. Next, I planned out my trading career path. Knowing my personal finance ins and outs are the most important criteria in setting my path. I know on average how much do I need a month to survive and for entertainment. Let's say I need $3,000 a month to have a decent standard of living. I know my trading strategy can yield me an average of 2% a month. If I work backwards, I would need a $150,000 account. This can be done through funded prop firm accounts.
I gave myself 1 year to get a funded account, and to get my first payout. I started small. Started out with $10k challenges. The only rule I have, is to follow strictly to my trading plans that I've backtested for hundreds of hours. I gave myself permission to fail. I allocate enough budget for my challenges every month. I failed many challenges. I passed some, but did not manage to clear phase 2 challenges. I tried and tried again.
3 May 2023 is the day of my first prop firm payout. It's only $200 post-profit split. Yet, this shows me what I can achieve by following my trading plans. This shows me what I can achieve by taking the same trades over and over again. Again, I'm still doing the same things over and over again, following my trading plan. Happy to share that I have another profit split incoming in June next month.
Trading Psychology
“There are two kinds of people: Those who think they can, and those who think they can’t, and they’re both right.”
- Henry Ford
Things will never be easy. Think about it. If you want 6-pack abs, it’s going to take you hard work and consistency over a long period of time. People want it to be easy. They crave for instant gratification. The reason why 6-pack abs is so sought after is because it’s hard to get. If having 6-pack abs is easy to get, then everyone can get it. If everyone has it, then it will lose its prestige and value.
Same goes for trading. If trading was so easy like following a trading plan, then everyone will be able to be profitable. Remember that 95% of the traders lose money. Constructing your trading plan might be easy, but executing is hard. What will you do if you're on a losing streak? Will you have the mental strength to execute the same trades that fit your trading plan? Do you doubt your trading strategy?
How A Trading Plan Should Look Like
1. Markup your chart. Mark the areas such as liquidity zone, point of interests, liquidity grab, direction of the market and the demand and supply zones. Do your multi-timeframe analysis here. Remember that high probability trade is to buy at discount levels, and sell at premium levels.
2. Set alert at your point of interests (Where to buy and sell)
3. Write down your analysis on the chart. If the price hits your point of interest, I would expect X to happen. When X happens, I will do Y.
4. When the alert goes off, go back to your chart and see if your analysis in step 3 still holds.
5a. If yes, mark out roughly where your stop loss and profit target will be. See if the RR is decent enough. If yes, then wait for the price to give you a confirmation. If no, either wait for a refined entry on the lower timeframe, or to wait for another confirmation.
5b. If not, repeat step 1.
6. Once price gives you a confirmation, calculate the lot size based on your risk management.
7. Once you're in the trade, you can either forget about your trade and let it hit TP or SL, or actively manage your position. This will depend on how you backtested your strategy.
8. Once your trade hits the TP or SL, journal it. Record your entry, take profit and stop loss. Take screenshots. Record your emotions and feelings before, during and after the trade.
Mentor
Creating a trading plan is 1 part of the trading puzzle you need to piece together. Trading strategy and psychology are other important components. They will make or break you, and your trading account. I have various mentors at different stages of my trading career. They helped me in their own ways, and shaping who I am today. I can confidently say that without either one of my mentors, I will not have found any successes in trading yet. I'd still drift around, looking for the next holy grail.
Stay consistent. Stay safe. Success is just around the corner.
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Secret of Success in Trading: Patience, Emotions, Psychology
I vividly remember how I started to trade 8 years ago, how I was learning, and the things that I was doing.
Contemplating my old self, I notice a dramatic shift in my mindset in regard to trading.
Staring at the charts and desiring to make money on price action, I wanted to become a consistently profitable trader. Making the priorities, I decided to sacrifice my time on studying technical analysis, totally neglecting trading psychology and risk management.
Learning different trading strategies, I always came to the same result: the account went blown and nothing seemed to work.
Strategies of fancy traders on YouTube, strategies from best-selling books on Amazon, nothing could produce any penny.
Not giving up and pursuing my ultimate goal, I came to the conclusion that I set my priorities absolutely incorrectly.
To be honest, I always thought that trading psychology (like psychology in general) is s*cks. Moreover, I considered risk management to be kind of obvious, banal topic not deserving much attention.
Learning risk management techniques, applying them in day trading, I finally saw a glimmer of hope.
Reading a dozen of books on trading psychology, contemplating my mistakes, and observing my behavior I noticed so many wrong, incorrect things that I did on a daily basis.
With time and practice, my mindset shifted.
I realized that most of the strategies that I applied and that seemed losing to me, in fact, were decent.
It turned out that mastery of technical analysis is not enough for profitable trading. Instead, that is just a tiny part of what must be learned.
Now, when my students ask me about the most important things to learn & study in trading, I always say:
trading psychology and risk management go first, technical analysis is the secondary.
❗️ Do not neglect these topics and give them due attention. They are an essential part of your success in trading.
🤔 Do you agree with the pyramid that I drew?
What is an "R"? Discover the Most Popular Way to Manage RiskUsing R multiples is one of the most widely used strategies by professional traders for managing risk and tracking results. The R multiple concept is extremely easy to use and implement into your own strategy. With this simple idea, money management will become a breeze! If you have any questions or comments I would love to hear them!
3 Essentials to Start TradingA very warm welcome to this video which is all about the 3 Essentials to Start Trading .
This is for all of you out there that may be new to trading, that haven’t got a feel for the market yet and haven’t got started and maybe you’re asking yourself ‘What is it I need to do now to get myself up and running?’ We found out of the 20,000 plus traders that we’ve mentored over the time that we’ve been running live trading seminars and running these start up basecamps, what generally tends to happen is you get traders who want to get up and running, want to start now and want to know what they need to do?
So we broke it down into three essential things that you need. The first one is knowledge . You need some knowledge of what you’re going to be doing in the market. In a nutshell, what that means is you’re going to need to know exactly what to do, when to do it, what the pips pricing means, when to buy and sell, you need a profitable trading strategy – all of these things are knowledge. Knowledge can be acquired in many different ways. One of the things that we recommend strongly is reading the right kind of books. There is a fantastic list of books that you can get and these are available on our Facebook page. You’ll be able to see the types of books that we recommend you read. The other thing to be very careful of is the wealth of information out there on the Internet. What I would strongly recommend is to find a trading mentor that can guide you through on a step by step basis in a custom environment that is suited around you, ideally on a one to one basis. That would be the best way to learn and be mentored in the financial markets. You need to have the right knowledge but don’t get immersed in all of the knowledge available on the Internet because there is so much junk out there. Having seen 20 years in the markets between myself and Thiru we’ve seen all of these traders that have come to us and they’ve got all of these deeply ingrained habits in them which are so hard to shift and they think that they’ve accumulated so much knowledge but actually a lot of it is just completely useless. So you really need to work with someone who can give you the guidance that you need. That’s very important and I strongly recommend that. So that’s knowledge. Get around the right people, the right guidance and the right types of books.
The second thing that you need is a broker account . With a broker account what you need there is a facility to be able to buy and sell the market. Let’s say, for example, you have invested already £15,000 into a trading account. That trading account needs to be with a broker, ideally regulated in the country in which you’re trading. If you’re not sure about how to select a broker account, check out my video on how to select a broker where we talk about three essential things that you should look for personally when a selecting a broker. That will give you the facility to be able to hit the trades, to be able to enter the market, and buy when your strategy and your set up gives you that signal to do so. Once you’ve accumulated the right knowledge you need the right type of broker account.
The final thing that you need on your journey is a mentor . This is so critical and I can’t overemphasise how important it is to have the right trading mentor because the right trading mentor will make the difference between being hugely successful and just feeling demotivated. A mentor is someone who has been there, done that and got the T-shirt! That is, they have an established track record, they’re transparent in their dealings, and they’ve got logs that can verify everything and you’re comfortable working with them that they will push you to get you to the next level of goals. It is really important to work with a mentor. There are two things actually that have a deep impact on our lives. One is the books that we read, this falls under knowledge, and the second is the people that we associate ourselves with or the company we keep. In this case, that’s your mentor. You need to have someone around you who has been there, done that and who is actually living the knowledge and not just talking about it. Look for people who walk the walk.
If you have these three things, you have all the tools you need to get up and running and to be successful in the markets and ingrain the right types of habits and that’s what we’d love to see for you.
So give us your comments, give us your feedback and keep in touch. Until the next time, as we always say, stay disciplined, follow your plan and Trade Like a Master.
Team at MastertheMarkets
Learn Why Most of the Traders Fail
The evidence suggests that only a very small proportion of day traders makes money year over year.
There are certain patterns which may separate profitable traders from those who ultimately lose money. And indeed, there is one particular mistake that in our experience gets repeated time and time again. What is the single most important mistake that led to traders losing money?
Here is a hint – it has to do with how we as humans relate to winning and losing.
Our own human psychology makes it difficult to navigate financial markets, which are filled with uncertainty and risk, and as a result the most common mistakes traders make have to do with poor risk management strategies.
Traders are often correct on the direction of a market, but where the problem lies is in how much profit is made when they are right versus how much they lose when wrong.
Bottom line, traders tend to make less on winning trades than they lose on losing trades.
Humans aren’t machines, and working against our natural biases requires effort. Once you have a trading plan that uses a proper reward/risk ratio, the next challenge is to stick to the plan. Remember, it is natural for humans to want to hold on to losses and take profits early, but it makes for bad trading. We must overcome this natural tendency and remove our emotions from trading.
That will help you to be a consistently profitable trader.
✅LIKE AND COMMENT MY IDEAS✅
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Learn How to Improve Your Forex Trading 🔝
Whether you're new to Currency Trading or a seasoned trader, you can always improve your trading skills. Education is fundamental to successful trading. Here are some tips that will help hone your Currency trading skills.
⭐️Plan How You Will Trade
You may have heard the adage, "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail." This is particularly true in Forex speculation.
Successful traders start with a sound strategy and they stick to it at all times.
⭐️Most traders fail because they make the same mistakes over and over. A diary can help by keeping track of what works for you and what doesn't. Used consistently, a well-kept diary is your best friend.
⭐️Patience
Once you know what to expect from your system, have the patience to wait for the price to reach the levels that your system indicates for either the point of entry or exit. If your system indicates an entry at a certain level but the market never reaches it, then move on to the next opportunity. There will always be another trade.
⭐️Discipline
Discipline is the ability to be patient—to sit on your hands until your system triggers an action point. Sometimes, the price action won't reach your anticipated price point. At this time, you must have the discipline to believe in your system and not to second-guess it. Discipline is also the ability to pull the trigger when your system indicates to do so. This is especially true for stop losses.
⭐️Realistic Expectations
Even though the market can sometimes make a much bigger move than you anticipate, being realistic means that you cannot expect to invest $250 in your trading account and make $1,000 each trade. Although there is no such thing as a "safe" trading time frame, a short-term mindset may involve smaller risks if the trader exercises discipline in picking trades. This is also known as the trade-off between risk and reward.
Trading is nuanced and requires as much art as science to execute successfully, which means that there is only a profit-making trade or a loss-making trade. Warren Buffet said that there are two rules in trading: Rule 1: Never lose money. Rule 2: Remember Rule 1.
Stick a note on your computer that will remind you to take small losses often and quickly rather than wait for the big losses.
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How To Trade For A Living?Have you ever thought what is it like to be living life without a day job?
I'm sure many of you have the same experiences as me. Let's take a trip down the memory lane.
A life without a day job. That's nice. You don't have to wake up at 7am to prepare your day, dragging your feet to the washroom to washup. 7.45am you're out of your house, getting ready to squeeze in the public transport. Looking around you are people similar to you, scrolling through their phone, watching Netflix, or closing their eyes trying to get some last minute rest before the 9 - 5 grind begin. I sure think about it every time I need to go office instead of working from home. I have a dream of enjoying a life without day job, and I don't want to leave it as a dream.
When I found out about trading on YouTube, I thought how easy trading was. I just need to draw some demand and supply, some trendlines and wait for breakout. Take a long or short based on the confirmations given and I'll be rich.
Next moment, I'm in the live market with my $500 account buying and selling 10 lots of forex pairs. I got lucky on my first few trades, turning that $500 into $1,000. I feel like a god. This is so easy. I'm gona quit my day job in a few months time. What happened next is as you guessed it. I blew up the account with a few losses.
Over the next few months, I tried to take trading seriously. Absorbing all the content on YouTube every single day. Time and time again, I blew my accounts. Maybe trading isn't so easy after all. Think about how many times have you blown your accounts so far?
I tried looking around, from Babypips to Reddit to Forexfactory. I was introduced to copy trading, signals, expert advisors and account management services. I tried them all, losing 5 figures of money in total in a span of 2 years. That's a story for another day.
I took trading really seriously a few years back after signing up for a mentorship which took me to profitability eventually.
Time To See Success?
I worked hard and eventually came up with a strategy with a win rate of 34% and average return of 2.6R. I thought of borrowing money to fund my trading "career", or even just trade full-time without a safety net. My backtest results showed me an average return of 10% every single month. In my mind, I thought that I could be really rich by compounding all these profits. I can't remember why, but I realized it wasn't a good idea.
It was a good decision I didn't go ahead with my plan. What I failed to considered was that a period of drawdown and losing streak can damage my trading psychology. I did not have any live experience back then. On paper it sounded nice, having an average return of 10% every month, I could literally double my account once every few months.
The problem here is that like many of you, I was overly optimistic with my backtest results. You have to understand that a trading strategy accounts for only 30% of your trading career. There are actually many profitable trading strategy out there that are very simple. However, as simple as they might seem, we just like to think that the grass is greener on the other side, always wanting to find the next holy grail with high win rate and high returns strategy.
Meat Of Your Trading Career
If a trading strategy only accounts for 30% of your trading career, where do the other 70% go to? If you've been reading attentively, you will know that the answer is trading psychology.
Trading psychology is an underrated skill that many traders and investors ignore. Even if I give you a profitable strategy, if you do not have a trained trading psychology, you will turn it into an unprofitable one and call me a scammer.
Do you remember how do you feel when you lose a trade? Do you feel sad, angry, and demoralized? How do you feel when you lose 3 trades in a row? Let me ask you again, how do you feel when you lose 5 trades in a row? You start to deviate from your trading plan and start taking bigger positions, hoping that the next trade will help to cover the losses you've made. I don't have to remind you that this is a recipe for disaster.
Without getting your trading psychology in tip-top condition, you are unlikely to survive trading for a living for long.
Trading For A Living
Trading as a full-time trader is very different compared to when you're trading with a full-time employment income. Without your day job, you do not have a steady stream of income. Let's say your monthly expenditure is $2,000 and your day job gives you a steady income of $5,000. You have nothing to worry about. You are not afraid of not able to pay your bills on time, you do not need to be afraid of not having enough money for groceries. You still have leftover money to have fun and invest.
You don't stress over having a steady stream of $5,000 monthly. As long as you don't screw up, you are unlikely to get fired from your day job.
Trading for a living is different. First, you have to ensure that your strategy is profitable. Second, you have to ensure that your trading psychology is strong enough for you to survive in the live market. Third, you have to ensure that your capital is large enough for you to make constant withdrawal, AND compound your trading account at the same time.
Before you say "this is easy" and submit your resignation letter, please take a few moment to understand the importance of this. Are you already trading live at least for a few years? You must ensure that your trading strategy can survive all kinds of market condition - a year is a good gauge to begin with.
Personal Finances
Aside from your trading, it's good that you make sure you have your personal finances in order. Jumping to trading live means that you will forgo your monthly recurring income and solely relying on trading for income, which is not consistent. This is even worse if you are in a period of drawdown.
Imagine you have bills to pay, mouths to feed and debt to pay off. Without any income for a few months, you will feel the stress and pressure start to kick in. This will inevitably affect your trading psychology, leading you to overtrade or even taking trades that don't fit your trading plan.
The most important thing is to ensure you have at least 1 year's worth of your living expenses saved up. Of course if you can save more, it will be better. This is to cover your basic necessities and to pay off mortgage, bills and potentially any medical needs that might arise in the future. Having this stash of money in your savings account will take pressure off your back as you do not have to worry about not profiting from the market. During period of drawdowns, you will be less affected and pressured to make the "right" and "profitable" trades.
Taking It "Slower"
I know it's very exciting wanting to trade for a living by ditching the 9 - 5. You don't have to report to anyone. You don't have to wake up early and squeeze on the public transport. You don't have to adhere to a working culture that you don't like.
I don't like to take too much risk. What I'm doing right now is on top of my 9 - 5 job, I trade. To fit my current lifestyle, I'm trading on the higher timeframe instead of scalping on the seconds or 1 minute timeframes. This allow me to still have a consistent monthly cash inflow while allowing me to trade and build my account size. At the same time, I'm also tackling funded account challenges and have been consistently getting payouts. I want to make sure that I have a decent safety net before transitioning into a full-time trader. It might take me a few more years, but I would rather not having stress and pressure which might screw up years of my progress. It is the time and freedom I will have while trading full-time that I value. If trading full-time means feeling stressed out everyday, I'd rather not do it.
Taking Accountability
While it's easy to say that you will be accountable for your own actions and trades, how many of you are actually taking accountability? Look at your trading journals (if you even have one), look at how many times have you deviate from your trading rules? It is not easy following your own rules when you're alone. No one is watching you. No one is there to look out for you. No one is there to encourage you. No one is there to punish you. You have to do it yourself. It is a lonely path.
Having an accountability partner or a trading mentor changes everything. Not only do you have someone to talk to, but you have someone to be responsible for. Trading can be a lonely journey as you're the only one clicking on the buy and sell buttons. Talking to your mentor can help you discover flaws in your personality or habits that you never knew you had.
Now, imagine you have a habit of taking trades without confirmation but you're oblivious to this. By explaining your thought process of taking a trade to a mentor, you will realize this is a problem that you didn't know you had. Just by eliminating this habit, you see your win rate increase. Profitability doesn't comes from winning more trades. Sometimes, all it takes is just to take fewer losing trades.
I'm currently coaching a mentee - let's call him Andy. Andy has been trading for a few years in the indices and forex markets. Often times, he will make quite a sum of money, only to lose them all back into the market. Why? A doesn't make use of stop losses. He knows that this not a good way to trade. He knows. But no one is there to keep him accountable for not using a stop loss. He does not have a concrete trading plan to follow.
Before the start of our mentorship, Andy admits that he has a gambling mindset which made him lost a lot. This is close to 7 figures of losses, which is really A LOT. Friends and families asked him to stop with his nonsense and stop dreaming about achieving financial freedom through trading. Right now, Andy has a solid grasp of technical analysis skills, as well as risk management. His trading psychology improved greatly from when I first get to know him. He is currently backtesting a profitable trading strategy with a guided trading plan. He will be trading live once he has all the necessary backtested data for him to be confident in trading the live market.
Stay consistent. Stay safe. Success is just around the corner.
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Let me know what are your thoughts and learning points in the comments below so others can learn from you too!
Please let me know what kind of topic you would like to read next :)
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Swing | Intraday | Scalp: pros and cons of three trading stylesAs we all know, the three most popular trading styles are the following: Swing trading, Day trading, and Scalping.
This educational post is concentrated on highlighting some of the pros and cons of all three techniques.
When it comes to Swing Trading (middle to long-term trading), some of the advantages are less screen time, less anxiety, less risk, and less candle noise. This style of trading is beneficial for those individuals that do not have enough time to sit in front of the charts and execute positions on a daily basis. However, some drawbacks should be mentioned as well. In order to be a swing trader, one needs to master the skill of remaining patient, disciplined and cold-blooded. Swing trades can run from one day up to a week, and hence, it is crucial to know how to sit on your hands and do nothing upon witnessing slow price action, indecision, drawdown and so forth.
Moving to intraday trading, no overnight and over-the-weekend risks can be associated with this style as executed positions are usually closed within a couple of hours when trading the H1 and lower-timeframe graphs. On the negative side, in order to make a living off day trading, a strong psychological temperament is needed along with a sufficient trading capital. If swing trading requires a minimum of a risk of 1-2% per trade, the number is lower for day trading. Hence, a bigger input (capital) is required in order to be able to make decent returns.
Last but not least: Scalping. The fans of this style of trading usually dedicate their focus on timeframes as low as the M5 and M1. Aiming towards capturing 5-10 pip movements, scalpers use smaller lot sizes in comparison to swing and day traders. Nevertheless, this trading style comprises of drawbacks such as indecision and a high degree of emotional state. Since the main purpose of scalping is capturing small price movements identified on lower-timeframe graphics, the noise and confusion is relatively high.
While all trading strategies have their own benefits and drawbacks, choosing a trading style that suits your goals and interests the most is highly linked with your personality. If you are a patient and, at the same time, a busy person, swing trading might be the best option for you. On the other hand, if you have enough time and patience to sit in front of the charts and execute trades on a daily and hourly bases, then either day trading or scalping might be the best variants to opt for.
Either way, it all narrows down to patience, long-term vision, discipline, persistence, and risk management. Choose one or two securities that you like trading the most, do not get discouraged while experiencing losses and moments of hardship, remain cold blooded and long-run oriented.
Investroy
Learn The Iceberg Illusion | The Fallacies & Reality
We often get mesmerized by someone’s above the surface success and don’t factor in all the below the surface opportunity-costs they paid to achieve that success.
This is the ‘iceberg illusion’. It’s been a fav analogy of mine for years. And yet, this just might be a better visual for sport than the ‘iceberg illusion’.
You see… the hyper focus on outcomes is one of the biggest failings (or façades) that comes from social media. It creates a false impression of what leads to success.
We see the success, but not the work that went into it… The unseen hours, necessary failures, setbacks, crises of confidence, the not-now’s (to the countless asks), the loneliness, the late nights and early mornings; and, all the wobbling that comes before the walking—much less running.
There are no shortcuts. There are no overnight successes.
The iceberg doesn’t move quickly. It’s not sped up. It just moves consistently; at often a barely discernible speed.
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Top 5 Tips to Increase Your Profits in Trading 📈
In this educational article, I will share with you very useful tips how to improve your profitability in trading the financial markets.
1. Decrease the number of financial instruments in your watch list. ⬇️
Remember that each individual instrument in your watch list requires attention. The more of them you monitor on a daily basics, the harder it is to keep focus on them.
In order to not miss early confirmation signals and triggers, it is highly recommendable to reduce the size of your watch list and pay closer attention to the remaining instruments.
2. Avoid taking too many positions. ❌
For some reason, newbie traders are convinced that they should constantly trade and keep many trading positions.
Firstly, I want to remind you that the management of an active position is a quite tedious process that requires time and attention.
Therefore, more positions are opened, more time and effort is required.
Secondly, if the newbies can not spot a good setup, they assume that they are obliged to open some positions and they start forcing the setups.
Remember, that in trading, the quality of the trading setup beats the quantity. I advise taking less trades, but the better ones.
3. Let winners run if the market is going in the desired direction. 📈
Once you caught a good trade and the market is moving where you predicted, do not let your emotions close the trade preliminary.
Try to get maximum from your trade, closing that only after the desired level is reached.
4. Open a trade after multiple confirmations.✅
Analyzing a certain setup remember, that more confirmations you spot, higher is the accuracy of the trade that you take. In order to increase your win rate, it is recommendable to wait for at least 2 confirmations.
5. Don't trade on your cellphone. 📱
A good trade always requires a sophisticated analysis that is impossible to execute on the small screen of the cellphone.
A lot of elements and nuances simply will not be noticed. For that reason, trade only from a computer with a wide screen.
Relying on these tips, you will substantially increase your profits.
Take them into the consideration and good luck to you in your trading journey.
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Unleashing the Power of Sentiment Indicators in TradingChapter 1: Introduction to Sentiment Indicators
In the world of trading and investment, understanding market sentiment is essential for making informed decisions. Market sentiment refers to the overall attitude, emotions, and opinions of market participants towards a particular financial instrument, sector, or the market as a whole. It is a key factor that influences price movements and can provide valuable insights for traders.
The role of emotions in trading is also crucial. Emotions such as fear, greed, optimism, and pessimism can significantly impact trading decisions and market behavior. Understanding and analyzing these emotions can help traders gauge market sentiment and identify potential trading opportunities.
Sentiment analysis is the approach used to measure and quantify market sentiment. It involves extracting subjective information from various sources such as social media, news articles, and options markets to determine the prevailing sentiment. The goal is to understand and interpret the collective emotions of market participants.
Sentiment indicators play a vital role in sentiment analysis. These indicators are tools and metrics that provide quantifiable measures of market sentiment. By incorporating sentiment indicators into their analysis, traders can gain a deeper understanding of market psychology and make more informed trading decisions.
In the following chapters, we will explore different types of sentiment indicators and their applications in trading. We will delve into social media sentiment analysis, news sentiment analysis, options market sentiment, and more. Through real-life case studies and examples, we will demonstrate how traders can effectively leverage sentiment indicators to enhance their trading strategies and navigate the markets with greater confidence.
So let's dive into the exciting world of sentiment indicators and discover how they can empower traders to make smarter trading decisions in various market conditions.
Chapter 2: Social Media Sentiment Analysis
Social media has become a powerful platform for expressing opinions and sharing information, making it an invaluable source for understanding market sentiment. Platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit provide real-time insights into the thoughts and emotions of a wide range of market participants.
Traders can harness the power of social media by analyzing sentiment expressed in posts, comments, and discussions related to financial instruments or markets. This can be done through the use of sentiment analysis tools and platforms. These tools employ natural language processing and machine learning algorithms to analyze and quantify sentiment.
When analyzing social media sentiment, it is crucial to identify the influential platforms for each specific market. Different financial instruments and markets have unique social media platforms where participants share their views and opinions. For example, Twitter might be the primary platform for discussions related to cryptocurrencies, while LinkedIn could be more relevant for the stock market. By focusing on the platforms that hold more influence, traders can gain more accurate insights into market sentiment.
Real-time sentiment analysis of social media involves monitoring conversations, identifying relevant keywords, and applying sentiment analysis algorithms. This process enables traders to gauge the sentiment as positive, negative, or neutral. By tracking sentiment shifts in real-time, traders can make timely trading decisions and take advantage of emerging trends or sentiment-driven price movements.
To illustrate the effectiveness of social media sentiment analysis, let's explore some case studies. In one example, a trader monitors sentiment on Twitter for a particular cryptocurrency. By analyzing the sentiment expressed in tweets, the trader identifies a surge in positive sentiment accompanied by an increase in trading volume. This information serves as a signal to enter a long position, anticipating a price increase driven by bullish sentiment. The trader successfully profits from the sentiment-driven rally.
In another case, a trader uses sentiment analysis of social media discussions to identify a sudden increase in negative sentiment towards a stock. Recognizing this shift in sentiment, the trader decides to exit their position or tighten their stop-loss level to protect their profits, anticipating a potential price decline. This proactive risk management based on sentiment analysis helps the trader avoid potential losses.
By incorporating social media sentiment analysis into their trading strategies, traders can gain a deeper understanding of market sentiment and improve their decision-making process. However, it is important to remember that social media sentiment analysis should be used as one piece of the puzzle alongside other forms of analysis to build a comprehensive trading strategy.
Chapter 3: News Sentiment Analysis
News plays a significant role in shaping market sentiment. Positive news such as strong earnings reports, positive economic indicators, or favorable regulatory developments can create a bullish sentiment, leading to increased buying interest. Conversely, negative news such as poor economic data, geopolitical tensions, or negative corporate announcements can generate a bearish sentiment, resulting in selling pressure.
News sentiment analysis involves analyzing the sentiment expressed in news articles, press releases, and other sources of financial news. The goal is to extract the overall sentiment conveyed by the news and understand its potential impact on market sentiment and price movements.
There are various tools and techniques available for news sentiment analysis. These tools employ natural language processing and machine learning algorithms to analyze the sentiment of individual news pieces. They assign sentiment scores, such as positive, negative, or neutral, to quantify the sentiment expressed in the news.
Financial news headlines are particularly important as they often convey the key sentiment of an article. Traders can focus on analyzing sentiment in news headlines to quickly gauge the overall sentiment without delving into the complete article. This allows for efficient scanning of multiple news sources and provides traders with timely insights into market sentiment.
Incorporating news sentiment analysis into trading strategies can be done in several ways. Traders can use sentiment-triggered trade entries, where they initiate trades based on significant shifts in news sentiment. For example, a trader might enter a long position in response to overwhelmingly positive news sentiment regarding a particular stock, anticipating a price increase. Alternatively, news sentiment can serve as a confirming factor for technical analysis. If technical indicators suggest a bullish trend, positive news sentiment can provide additional confidence in the trade.
Let's examine a case study to further illustrate the application of news sentiment analysis. Suppose a trader is analyzing the sentiment surrounding a company's earnings announcement. Through news sentiment analysis, the trader identifies a strong positive sentiment across various financial news sources. This positive sentiment indicates high market expectations for the company's earnings results. Based on this analysis, the trader decides to enter a long position before the earnings release, anticipating a favorable outcome. When the company exceeds expectations and reports stellar earnings, the positive sentiment is reinforced, resulting in a significant price increase. The trader profits from the sentiment-driven rally by making a well-timed trade based on news sentiment analysis.
Chapter 4: Options Market Sentiment
Options trading provides valuable insights into market sentiment as it reflects investors' expectations and sentiment towards the underlying asset. By analyzing options market sentiment, traders can gain a deeper understanding of market sentiment and potential price movements.
One commonly used sentiment indicator in options trading is the put/call ratio. The put/call ratio compares the volume of put options, which give traders the right to sell an asset, to the volume of call options, which give traders the right to buy an asset. A high put/call ratio suggests bearish sentiment, indicating that more traders are betting on a price decline. Conversely, a low put/call ratio indicates bullish sentiment, with more traders anticipating a price increase.
Another important indicator is implied volatility. Implied volatility is derived from options prices and reflects the market's expectation of future price volatility. Higher implied volatility suggests increased market uncertainty and potentially heightened bearish sentiment, while lower implied volatility indicates lower expected volatility and potential bullish sentiment.
Traders can also analyze options-related metrics such as open interest, the skew index, and the volatility skew to gauge market sentiment. Open interest represents the total number of outstanding options contracts, providing insights into trader positioning and sentiment. The skew index measures the perceived risk of extreme price moves, while the volatility skew indicates the difference in implied volatility between options with different strike prices.
To illustrate the application of options market sentiment, let's consider a case study. Suppose a trader observes a high put/call ratio in a particular stock, indicating bearish sentiment. This signals a potential price decline. The trader combines this information with other technical indicators pointing towards a bearish trend and decides to enter a short position. As the market sentiment unfolds, the stock experiences a significant price drop, validating the initial bearish sentiment and resulting in a profitable trade for the trader.
Chapter 5: Fear and Greed Index
The Fear and Greed Index is a sentiment indicator that measures market sentiment on a scale of extreme fear to extreme greed. It combines various factors, such as stock price momentum, market volatility, junk bond demand, and safe-haven flows, to gauge overall market sentiment.
The components and calculation of the Fear and Greed Index can vary, but the index generally assigns a numerical value or category to represent the prevailing sentiment. Extreme fear levels suggest a highly pessimistic sentiment, often associated with market downturns or significant price declines. On the other hand, extreme greed levels indicate excessive optimism and potentially overbought conditions, signaling a potential market correction.
Traders can incorporate the Fear and Greed Index into their trading strategies in several ways. It can serve as a confirming factor for technical analysis, where extreme fear or greed levels align with other indicators pointing towards a potential trend reversal. Additionally, contrarian traders may use extreme sentiment levels as a signal to consider taking opposite positions, capitalizing on potential market reversals.
Let's explore a case study to demonstrate the practical application of the Fear and Greed Index. Suppose the Fear and Greed Index reaches an extreme greed level, indicating excessive optimism and potentially overbought conditions in the market. A trader who closely monitors the index recognizes this as a warning sign and starts analyzing other technical indicators. They observe overextended price levels, declining trading volume, and bearish divergence on oscillators. Taking all these factors into consideration, the trader decides to exit their long positions or initiate short positions, anticipating a potential market correction. As the market sentiment shifts from extreme greed to fear, the market experiences a significant decline, validating the trader's decision and resulting in profitable trades.
Chapter 6: Conclusion and Future Outlook
In conclusion, sentiment indicators provide valuable insights into market psychology and can significantly enhance trading decisions. By understanding market sentiment through sentiment analysis tools, traders can gain an edge in their strategies. Social media sentiment analysis allows traders to tap into the real-time opinions and emotions of market participants, while news sentiment analysis helps traders assess the impact of news events on market sentiment. Options market sentiment and sentiment indicators such as the Fear and Greed Index provide additional perspectives on investor expectations and sentiment towards the market.
As technology and data analysis techniques continue to advance, sentiment analysis is expected to evolve further. Integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms can enhance sentiment predictions and improve the accuracy of sentiment analysis tools. This will empower traders with even more robust insights into market sentiment.
To harness the power of sentiment indicators effectively, it is essential to integrate them with other forms of analysis, such as technical analysis and fundamental analysis. By combining multiple perspectives, traders can make well-informed trading decisions and increase their chances of success.
In the ever-changing landscape of financial markets, sentiment indicators will continue to play a crucial role in understanding market dynamics. By staying abreast of emerging trends and advancements in sentiment analysis, traders can adapt their strategies and stay ahead of the curve. Ultimately, by leveraging sentiment indicators, traders can enhance their trading success and capitalize on market opportunities.
Learn The Only Proven Way to Become Rich
1. Money mindset is everything
You need to have a positive money mindset when it comes to creating wealth. Everyone carries a money story and it’s your job to understand what yours is and if it’s holding you back. Reframing your story to a millionaire’s mindset is essential for success because rich people think differently. How to get rich can’t be a passing phase in your life; it takes work and commitment.
2. Millionaires still budget
Hard to believe, but it’s true. Even millionaires follow a budget. The biggest secret on how to get rich and stay rich is spending less than you bring in. There will always be wants that exceed budget limits, even for millionaires, because there is not an unlimited supply of money.
3. Money management is key
Good money management is so important to get rich and stay rich. Money management is a behavior and habit. You need to be mindful of where you are investing and spending your money. There is a specific strategy to growing your wealth and maintaining it and you must follow it like you do a workout regime.
4. Invest your money for growth
Investing in assets that will appreciate over time and provide you with a return on your investment such as dividend or interest payments is smart. The goal is to build your asset portfolio and make it so strong that you can live off the passive income in your retirement.
5. Build your business around your personal financial goals
As a business owner you have more control over the money you make versus being an employee with a set salary. If you want more money in your pockets, you can increase your revenue and your profit margins to ensure you are taking home more money. The more profits you have in your business the more you can pay yourself a dividend or bonus, depending on the legal structure of your business.
6. Create multiple income streams
Smart business owners create more than one income streamas it protects them from fluctuations in the market. That means if one source of revenue dries up due to market conditions, other sources of income can protect you from a loss.
7. CONCLUSION:
The bottom line is that knowing how to get rich is something that is learned. There are no guarantees that if you start a business that you will get rich because even the best business ideas fail due to poor execution. But if you educate yourself and get help in making your business a success, you will increase your chances of success.
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Learn What Will Really Make You Profitable in Trading
What brings the consistent profits in trading?
Talking to hundreds of struggling traders from different parts of the globe, I realized that there are the common misconceptions concerning that subject.
In this educational article, we will discuss what really will make you profitable in trading.
🔔The first thing that 99% of struggling traders are looking for is signals.
Why damn learn if you can simply follow the trades of a pro trader and make money?!
The truth is, however, is that in order to repeat the performance of a signal provider you have to open all your trading positions in the same exact moment he does. (And I would not even mention the fact that there will be a delay between the moment the provider opens the trade and the moment he sends you the signal)
Because the signal can be sent at a random moment, quite often it will take time for you to reach your trading terminal and open the position.
Just a 1-minute delay may dramatically change the risk to reward ration of the trade and, hence, the final result.
🤖The second thing that really attracts the struggling traders is trading robots (EA). The systems that trade automatically and aimed to generate consistent profits.
You simply start the program and wait for the money.
The main problem with EA is the fact that it requires constant monitoring. It can stop or freeze in a random moment and may require a reboot.
Moreover, due to changing market conditions, the EA should be regularly updated. Without the updates, at some moment it may blow your account.
Trading robot is the work: trading with the robots means their constant development, monitoring and improvement. And that work requires a high level of experience: both in coding and in trading.
📈The third thing that struggling traders are seeking is the "magic" indicator. The one that will accurately identify the safe points to buy and sell. You add the indicator on the chart, and you simply wait for the signal to open the trade.
The fact is that magic indicators do not exist. Indicator is the tool that can be applied as the extra confirmation. It should be applied strictly in a combination with something else, and its proper application requires a high level of expertise in trading.
🍀The fourth thing that newbie traders seek is luck. They open the trade, and then they pray the God, Powell, Fed or someone else to move the market in their favor.
And yes, occasionally, luck will be on your side. But relying on luck on a long-term basis, you are doomed to fail.
But what will make you profitable then?
What is the secret ingredient.
Remember, that secret ingredient does not exist.
In order to become a consistently profitable traders, you should rely on 4 crucial elements: trading plan, risk management, discipline and correct mindset.
🧠What is correct mindset in trading?
It simply means setting REALISTIC goals and having REALISTIC expectations from the market and from your trading.
📝A trading plan is the set of rules and conditions that you apply for the search of a trading setup and the management of the opened position.
Trading plan will be considered to be good if it is back tested on historical data and then tested on demo account for at least 3 consequent months.
✔️In order to follow the plan consistently, you need to be disciplined. You should be prepared for losing streaks, and you should be strong enough to not break once your trading account will be in a drawdown.
💰Risk management is one of the most important elements of your trading plan. It defines your risk per trade and your set of actions in case of losses. Even the best trading strategies may fail because of poor risk management.
Combining these 4 elements, you will become a consistently profitable trader. Remember, that there is no easy way, no shortcut. Trading is a hard work to be done.
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