What I learned after 3 years of forex trading.

in forex •  3 years ago  (edited)

Forex trading is simple but not easy.

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Truth to be told, trading forex is indeed very simple. All you got to do is to predict if the price is going up or going down.. right? BUT why are there still about 90% of traders who are still losing money every day? And even after 3 years of trading, I still belong to the losing team from time to time.

Hopefully, by sharing my experience, we can learn from each other mistakes and become better traders altogether. I do highly recommend for the new trader read this article before venturing into the forex world. So here are 5 things that I learn from these 3 years of trading forex.

1) Find Your Own Forex Strategy

Although there are lots of trading strategies for you to copy/use from this guru/mentor. However, most of them out there will not fit your schedule or your lifestyle. Because this “so-called” best strategy out there has already fit their lifestyle which is working really well for them. What you are doing is forcing yourself to fit their lifestyle so that you can earn together with them.
This is a very crucial step, you have found your own trading style that not only fit your lifestyle and you must be comfortable with it when applying it to the real market. I spent 2 years trying to find my own trading style, I went from 1 mentor to another, before finally settling down by combining and tweaking to fit my style.

2) Every Forex Strategy Works

There are many ways to trade the forex market, from scalping/swing trading to breakout/retest strategy. The truth is every strategy works. Different trader perceives the market differently, and all of them uses a different strategy to approach the market. The only thing that is common among the more successful and profitable traders is consistency. Once you found your own strategy, try to be consistent and stick with the strategy for at least 3 months or more.
However, bear in mind that there is no “Holy Grail” in forex trading, there is no strategy that has a 100% win rate. The best trading strategy out there has only a 40 to 50% win rate, and that is considered to be a really good strategy. If you are looking for a “get rich quick” scheme, I would like to recommend throwing your money in crypto, you have a better chance over there.

3) Cycle Of Doom Is Real

For those who don’t know what is the Cycle Of Doom. Just look at the image below.

This is the stage where almost all new traders will go through, including me!
It all starts by finding a new strategy, doing some backtest, deciding to test it in the actual market, gaining some good profit and life is good. However, when you face some losses or a losing streak, you dump the strategy immediately and start looking for a new strategy.
And the worst of all… you won’t even realise until your account is blown multiple times.
The only way to get out of this “Cycle Of Doom” is to stop changing the strategy, stick with it for at least 3 months or execute 100 trades with it. With this, you can truly test out the strategy to see whether if it really fit your lifestyle, and if you still lose money after 3 months. I would recommend changing the strategy.

4) You need tons of time to master trading.

Frankly speaking, there are not many trading terminologies out there, and all of them are fairly easy to understand. However, applying it to the market is the real challenge here. The most time-consuming thing is that you have to keep backtesting, learn the different chart patterns, candlestick patterns, trendlines, indicators and apply them in the actual market. You have to train your eyes to identify all the trading opportunities with just one glance.
Building a good foundation is the most important aspect to become a good trader. Once your foundation is solid enough, then it’s time to learn the strategy from your mentor/guru. Most importantly you have to understand the rationale behind the strategy. For example, how do the strategy work and the concept behind it, which is the best timeframe for this strategy and which entry/exit point to look out for?

5) Trading Psychology

Forex trading is also a mental game. You gotta control your emotion when comes to trading. Try not to be affected by the losing trades and also not to be greedy on the winning trades as well, else you will burst your account in no time.
On top of that, do not revenge trade or trade a large percentage of your account that will burst your account in 2 trades. Always keep the 2% rule to keep your emotion chill and also keep your account alive. Always stick to your strategy, and trust it will come around for you.

However, experience plays a huge part in your trading journey, I understand that new traders will be very excited to earn money. Mistakes will be made, regret will happen. But as long as you don’t give up, and continue to improve yourself, you will eventually get there. Forex trading is about the long game, the money will come in the long run. So if you are looking for fast money, I would highly recommend you to go to the crypto world and explore, it is way faster to earn money if you compare it to forex trading.

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