Forex Pips Tracker

Remember the card trick where someone is asked to pick a card, it’s placed back into the deck and the magician finds it even after a good shuffle.

Well, Forex trading is a lot like that for many. There are a number of techniques in the trading deck.  There’s techniques that are automated and will make you a millionaire for only $79 (they ARE tempting, aren’t they?).  And then there’s the books, lectures, webinars, webpages, seminars, and classes to name just a few. Then there’s the sites that evaluate those for you.

So let’s do a little magic here. Pick a technique, any technique. Ok, now give it a try.  Place it back in the deck of other tried techniques/robots.  Can you find the profitable ones?  Most likely, unless you’re a seasoned Forex trader, you wont have much luck.  Why not?  Where’s the magic when you need it?

I lied. There is no magic involved. There’s many techniques that will make a very good income for anyone in Forex.  Matter of fact, there’s many that will make a good income on equities, options and commodities.  There’s a few secrets that many of the successful players know.  And they’re not hard.

So if they’re not hard, why do so many people loose so much money in Forex, time after time until they wind up old and grey living in a cave somewhere eating moss for nutrition? 

One answer is that some people just give up way too soon. If a trade is unsuccessful, an unsuspecting new trader tries maybe a few more times and moves on.  What if there were 100 more Forex trades taken with this same technique?  Would 95 of them be successful?  What if only 70 of them were successful and those didn’t occur until after loosing the next 20 trades in a row?

Which brings us to another answer that is apparent for successful traders but boring for many. How can you find out if this will happen with that latest, greatest technique?  Wait for it…..it’s really boring….you’ll have to really push yourself to do it….here it comes….drum roll….testing.  Yep, testing. Some of you might think, “Oh, that sounds like fun”. Well, talk to me after 6 hours of testing when the bar charts start looking like real flaming candles. And it takes quite a bit of testing folks.  100’s, 1000’s of trades.   Talk about boring….

And those are just two items that successful traders are very aware of.  If you are in the bunch that is thinking “that’s obvious” right now, great.  Do you do it?  If you test and hang in there, cool.   If not, do the obvious first and try testing, do your homework and see if the technique works.

So how do I test, how do I know something works, what if I’m bad at math, what time zone am I in…..  Ok, that last one we wont be covering any time soon.  But the rest of them we’ll take a shot at in upcoming blogs. So just hang in here with me and we’ll go over some items to help turn your losses into those boring winning trades.

Another apology is in order.  I’ve been trading and learning quite a bit about the profession over the year and I’m going to share it coming up in these blogs.  So stay tuned and the blog will be updated on a monthly basis. Promise.

It’s been a long time since I have written on his blog mostly because I’ve taken some time to hone my skills as a Forex trader.  That got me thinking of where I started.

As I mentioned earlier it has been quite some time since I started my experience with Forex trading. Many people wonder where to start and are typically overwhelmed by the number of techniques and expert advisors available.  I took a look back over the past few months that where I started, what I’ve learned and what I would change. If I had to do over again I wouldn’t change the methods that I utilized to get myself up to speed in this dynamic environment.

I thought I would share with those people that are still hanging on to this blog exactly where I started and what I’ve learned.  One of the best introductions to works then I can recommend you to ForexMentor.  Not only does ForexMentor teach you what everyone needs to know to get started but also takes you down a path that creates a solid foundation for future learning.  I found this course to be very valuable.  I took in many years ago however it helped me develop a framework which I fill in with other courses and books.  The course is very comprehensive it starts with the basics and gets into very specific formations not only does it cover make the trend lines and that’s for managing levels but it also covers entries, exits and money management.

I’d love to continue with more information however it’s beginning to sound like a sales presentation more than just a recommendation.  I would like to avoid that.

Over the years I’ve purchased many books as well.  One of the best books I have purchased is entitled Forex Patterns and Probabilities by Ed Ponsi.  In this book Mr. Ponsi’s talks the reader through some very good technical methodologies as well as introductions to fundamentals.  I can’t say enough good things about this book.  It’s like having a successful Forex trader speaking to you directly.  I have always appreciated the style of writing and Mr. Ponsi does a good job of using it effectively.  Once you have a general understanding of the Forex market a few technical indicators this is an excellent book to assist in developing your own techniques.  And as I have stated before, developing your own techniques, good money management, and patients are the cornerstones of a successful Forex trader.

Over the past six months ending utilizing a tool that I have created to determine the effectiveness of various techniques.  I call it GoalTracker.  I’m going to be putting a few finishing touches on it and then releasing it to my readers.  That’s what we’ll focus on next time.

Until next time…  May all your trades be successful

Jerry

(www.pipstracker.com)

The words keep going in my head while I’m trading.  With the limited time to trade that I have, I open a chart and really want to dive right into a trade.  Majority of the time, when I ignore that voice in my head telling me to wait, the trade goes against me. Why?

Patience.

Let the trades come to you.

I’m sure you’ve heard it before.  I know with the courses I’ve taken it’s one of the most repeated phrases (there are others I’ll talk about later as well).  Yet the excitement of the market just draws me.  I want to make my money…NOW!!  Instead, I wind up giving it to someone else who probably listened to those wise words.

There’s probably a few hundred good plans out there and more that are not so good. It’s easy for me to think that after 3–4 years of part time floundering in the Forex market that the trade I’m about to make should go exactly as I thought. Of course time was not taken to appropriately gauge the market, see if the market is giving me the correct signals…matter or fact, in a rush it seems I lost sight of my methodology! 

So there’s the lesson I’ve learned in these slower summer months.  Thanks for everyone’s patience in my updates over the last few months.  Those that are still on board here have probably realized how important patience is.  And for those that are still having trades go against them, loosing more than gaining, a bit of rock solid advice: Pick a good system, study it, learn it, study it, watch the charts and wait. It will come to you.

Thanks for your patience. I’ve learned the importance and I hope others do as well.

Coming up I’ll be commenting on some courses that have been extremely helpful to me.  Courses from real people that are making real money.  More on that in a while. In the meantime, patience.