WHEN DOES YOUR TRADE END
What a nice image I am using here, I came across it as I was browsing the net, but be careful , do not be misled not even by me, it is not as easy as it looks. Coffee and laptop alone won’t make you any dollars, but education, patience and hard work will definitely do. I love this image though. Warm welcome to all new readers and to the regular ones, thank you for your support. It is good to know you follow.
Strange question with obvious answer I know, relax give yourself time to read and you will understand very well why I ask such question in the first place. But remember, whatever you read from my post, you don’t have to swallow everything that I ”feed you” but only if you feel it is of great use to you. DEAL…
Back to my question. When you open your position, it is when your trade starts, but it doesn’t end when you close it. This is when it should all begin, at closing, now I sound like I’m contradicting myself, be patient and keep reading. I say the closing is the beginning because this is where i think you should sit back and look at the trade that you just closed. Few things that you can do to post analyze you trade:
- Was it a good trade?
- Why did you enter that trade?
- Which indicators (if you use them) did you use for that particular trade and were they reliable?
- If you used the stop loss ( which I personally think it’s always good to use), was it too close or too far, do you think you could have moved it closer?, those type of questions you know.
- Again if you used a take profit do you think it was too close or too far, try to see if there is anything you could have changed if you were to take the same trade again.
- Which time frame did you use for that trade?
Sounds too much hey, I know, maybe you are reading and even asking yourself why so much admin it is just trading, NO it is not just trading, it is a business, at least to me, I’m not sure about everybody else though. But the intelligent post analysis that you do will help you in a long run to develop the strategy that really works for you as an individual, not the strategy that everyone is promoting. I don’t believe in one size fits all mentality, besides, it will help you more to master your skills instead of gloating about profits made. It is not wrong to gloat, but I’m just saying rather do the post analysis on your trades in order to keep getting that beautiful statement of profits. Keep the BEFORE and AFTER journal. Now that I’m writing about all this, it gets me thinking again and again about how on earth would the software do all this for me? but anyway this post is not about whether the so overly praised holy grail software works or not. I just get so irked though whenever I see one of those making false promises and taking advantage of people who are really interested in trading, let me not get started about it, but rather share my trading plan for 2015, thanks to my mentor, I now have this beautiful plan in place for next year, you can use it in making your own and even add-on it or subtract, it is entirely up to you.
FOREX TRADING PLAN:
1.Which currency pairs will I be trading
2.Which CFD’s will I be trading
3.Which days of the week will i be trading
4.How many hours will I be trading
5.Which time frames will I be trading
6.Which days will I not trade
7.Which economic news will I be trading
8.At what point will my stop losses be placed at
9.What would be my profit target
10.How much will I be risking per trade (max)
11.How many trades will I take per day
12.What will I do if I encounter a number of losses in a row
13.What would be my maximum risk exposure at any one time.
14.What percentage will I be looking at making per week/month
15.What will I do if I reach my percentage early
That was just my thoughts, as much as you might be admiring my writing, but bear in mind that what I write is what works for me, you decide whether you think it is good to ”SWALLOW” everything, alter it to suit you, it is your choice. I will make sure to keep the statistics of the trades that I take and I will also have to decide under which circumstances will I use the take profit. This is my last post for the year 2014 , thank you all for your support and constantly reading my posts. Happy new year to you all , till next year..CHEERS…
What will I do if I reach my percentage early ? – very good question indeed my friend. Having a solid answer for this can be the difference between keeping your profits or giving them back to the market. We tend to get drunk with big profits only to act in “not so wise” ways afterwards.
Yes exactly
haha @ getting drunk, yes keeping what you already have is key, but it is not always the case with many, they tend to make it and give it back to Mr markets as if they are running an NPO.
Hi Ntombi ,m new in the trading world ,I am still on my demo account ,what books can you recommend
Hi Don
I suggest you practive even more, remember Forex is more doing than theory. Stay tuned to what the central bank is saying, know the right times to trade and when to stay away. I have read lots of books in the past but books are not really meant to perfect your skill (so I have realised) at this point, Alexander Elder has written few books that you can read, but again, if you feel you are still not getting it, just find a mentor, a mentor is that person who will be available for you always and hold your hand while you learn.
Thank you ,can you be my mentor. ….pretty please,mscared to start coz I don’t feel confident enough , I mean live not demo
I’ll have to talk to you further, contact me via email admin@learnfxtrading.net and we can take it from there, thank you.
Whooow, ive been running on a demo acc. for 3 months now yet all the articles i’m reading sound as if they were suppose to be my first steps before boarding the demo boat. i guess the bling bling gang shaded my view.
I’m gonna do a throwback readings on every piece uve left on the page.
Thanks again and again and again
Hello Olwethu
Thank you for your comment. I am glad you find most of my posts valuable. It is encouraging to get such a positive feedback from my readers. All the best on your trading journey. Don’t forget to subscribe for future posts to be delivered to your email. Thank you.
Mean to say, how much capital will i need to start trading also what forex account would you recomend?
Hi Brian
Please Whatsapp me for instant chat: +27 64 510 4132 / +27 76 966 9392