Forex Trading

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone else trades forex like me to support themselves while here? Occasionally I trot back to the homeland for a short term contract, but when here I trade forex on a daily basis.

I traded shares originally but gave that up because when the price goes down, I'm losing - and I did lose! With forex if it goes up or down I can make some $. I've been trading forex for about 3 years now and I'm still learning. However results are getting better and better all the time.

August resulted with a gain of 65.29% and so far this month from 1st Sept I've a gain of 31.49%. Anyone else trading forex and getting good results? I'm happy to give some tips/advice on fx trading, where to go and learn some things etc.

Cheers
Phil

I have met a few expats that trade Forex and claim success!Good for them.

I am an experienced stock daytrader,actually had some schooling and professional training!A couple of years of losses until I ''perfected my system'',learning that not many people can copy another persons trading ''system''

Since in my experience,public traders usually don't know enough about themselves , their trading ''system'' ,the power of the markets or the advantages that the ''professionals'' have over them and their trades,I consider it pure gambling where some can be lucky when the market is trending in one direction!

I have 15 years experience in the World of gambling also and my experience is that,except for cheats,all gamblers eventually wind up as losers.The worst ones are those that started out on a big win or win streak!

A good trader,IMO,has much experience,only trades with they are able to be emotionally stable and can remain objective in their trades.Have a plan before the make the trade,based on on sound fundamental research and experience and stick to the plan at all times.Real direct access to the market for trades,getting instant confirmations is a paramount feature for me.If a broker handles your order,IMO and experience you have put yourself in jeopardy!

I agree 100% with what you said there!

Like everyone else, I had some bad losses at first and it really does take time to understand the markets and develop a method of your own that you're comfortable with and is profitable over the long term. It's been worth the haul though - once you get a method that works for you, you'll always be able to trade and normally make some money. Throw in the internet, fast platforms, straight through processing and you can live anywhere in the world and trade.

The biggest part for me was learning to trade calmly, accepting losses and gains as emotionless as possible. And not messing around with a trade once it's in play. It took a while, but now I enter trades (after research) and let them run.

That, plus developing my own method have meant the turnaround in performance has been terrific. I can highly recommend that people put the time in to learn it, after all, making say $100 a day here in Udon pays for everything and more. Whereas back home I'd be trying to make $500 a day or so and still be wondering where all the pennies went!

Cheers
Phil

Hey Phil,

Im just about to start, well maybe in one more month and Im wondering what platform you are using plus what currency pairing do you trade the most?

Ha ha,I enjoyed reading your post!

Yes,greed is a big factor for me also.I find that it was more about feeling ''more successful'' than about the money,until the money was gone.

Certainly a system that allows natural responses rather than ''learned'' or in the process of learning response,is beneficial.It is like the difference between speaking your native language versus conversing in a second language.That part of my schooling cost me to make $350,000 in initial losses before recovering those losses from switching back to ''Natural'' ,while using the other tools I had learned from my schooling and training!

Then I came to Thailand,lost 5M baht trying to trade the USA stock markets w/o direct order access with instant confirmation!With new family responsibilities,plus the non-conducive trading hours,I decided to pass.I still ''paper trade'' almost daily as I enjoy it and like to hone my research skills as a hobby,but don't trade anymore.

I played around with a few free Forex 50K accounts,using some of those ''learned charting patterns,recognizing and playing trends'' tools from my schooling.Had initial success,but ,over time I hit the loss column from,IMO lack of real access to the market dynamics , greed(attempting to make big successes )and a lot of guessing from News events reported and my perception of World economics.

How does one do diligent research when trading the Forex from a public forum?

Hi,

I'm using several platforms. My advice there is to try a few out first as a demo account. Don't spend to long on them though as a demo account lulls you into a false sense of security.

Currently I'm experimenting with a Stp broker (straight through processing), Oanda MT4 and FXCM (their own platform). I've looked at several others but am happy using MT4 for now. Check out http://www.100forexbrokers.com/ to get an idea of the wide variety available. As part of choosing, think about how you want to move money around. For example if you choose a broker that can receive and send funds via paypal, that's an easy and cheap way to do things. Otherwise it's normally credit card or Swift bank transfer.

As for pairs, that varies as well. As part of my method, I normally choose the most volatile pairs over the past month. For that I go to http://www.mataf.net/#en and check out the volatility page under "Forex Volatility" - there you can put in the time frame you're after and check movement on many popular pairs. As I generally hold my trades for at least a day, I'm not really bothered about spread. Many scalpers trade eurusd as the spread on that pair tends to be the lowest, but don't be caught up in the scalping side of things. Very difficult to do and you tend to lose everything. I've done that before!

When you first start, start with a small amount of money with the aim of not losing any. Don't worry about gains, just try not to lose. That's the first goal. Find some good fx news websites (bloomberg, Daily FX etc) and use a forex calendar something like http://www.forexfactory.com/calendar.php which will help you keep abreast of what's happening and when. Avoid trading when really important news is on (non-farm payroll from the USA for example) as prices can go nuts.

Cheers,
Phil

Hey Phil,

Thanks for that excellent Info. Ill check everything out.

Much appreciated

Hi nkstan,

What I can say is to forget all the things you learned about stochastics, MACD, moving averages etc etc etc. Thousands of indicators that are useless. For some time now I trade just with candlesticks, support/resistance lines, trendlines and nothing else - basically a naked chart.

I'm really not sure why newbies get dragged into learning all those things. After all, they're all lagging, i.e. they tell you what has happened before and you can see that on a chart.

There are many methods that work really well. The big weakness is the trader himself and a lack of knowledge/expertise in money mgt and risk mgt. If people learn to manage the risk side of things and learn the discipline, the results will follow if the method is even half decent.

Cheers
Phil

Very sound advice ,IMO.All the best Phil

Ill probably have a bunch more questions once i get going Phil. Would it be ok if, from time to time, I sent you a PM?

Yep, no worries Aroy! Welcome to the scary world of fx trading!

Cheers talk to you soon Phil and good luck!