Thread: Level up to trade forex successfully

Most trading books i read tells me to remove greed and fear from my trading. The authors forgot one thing. Emotions are mental issues, not physical.

It is not like going for a surgical operation, where the doctor can cut out dangerous lumps from your physical body. However, emotions are all residing in my mind.
How do you propose to a neuro-surgeon to cut out greed and fear from our brains? Maybe there is a ala-carte menu on the neuro-surgeon's desk. Click "A" if you would like to remove greed and fear. Click "B" if you would like to insert more love and joy. Thank you for the selection. Your operation will be completed in 3 hours. Thank you and have a nice day. But hey?! In another 100 years, it could be as common as going for a cosmetic surgery.

Therefore i am proposing a new way. The tai-chi master way. What do a taichi master do when he is facing a opponent who is stronger and bigger than him? The opponent comes in with a strong punch, yet the taichi master does not block it directly. What he does is to deflect the energy of the punch by guiding the opponent's hands to hit elsewhere. Not hit him. Then the taichi master wallops him with his shadow kick when the opponent is temporarily out of balance.



When we trade, greed and fear will always be with us. We cannot control when they come. We cannot brute block them. These emotions are inside of us and stronger than us, like the giant opponent. So this is what we can do. We mimic the taichi master. We deflect and guide these emotions to our advantage. We need to feel these emotions, then channel these emotions and use them. Write down in your trading journal what you feel when you enter and exit trades. Observe for any recurring patterns. Are there any repeating emotions that causes me to make money or lose money? Identify these emotions. Use emotions to your advantage. Be like the taichi master.

Level 06 - Understand your personality profile

What are you? Are you a feeler or a thinker? Are you an extrovert or introvert? Do you like to do things slowly and steadily as a turtle? Or you talk and whiz about like a busy bee?



Are you able to answer the questions above? If you wish to succeed in trading, you have to understand yourself. You have to find a market and trading lifestyle that is compatible with you. Think about this. There are over 6 billion people on this planet. And no one has the exact same personality as you. In other words, you are unique. Thus your approach to trading will also be unique. The market, on the same hand, is also infinite (almost). And because the market is infinite, it can also be able to accommodate any infinite number of trading styles. Therefore, the market can accommodate you.

So the next question is, can you accommodate yourself to the market? How can you do that? Simple. Find out everything about yourself by taking personality profile tests. There are many different types of personality profiling methods. To start off, i will suggest you to take a look at these 3 types of personality profiling.

Go and google
1) DISC personality test
2) MBTI (Myer Briggs Type Indicator)
3) OCEAN personality test

You may have spend some money to do these tests. But if you do, you should get some form of professional feedback after answering the test questions. Such as a description of your personality type, your strengths and weaknesses, your ideal career and others.

Or if you wish, just type "personality profile test" into google.

There are some free ones. I have listed a few below to help you begin. Please note again that i am not affiliated to these websites in any way. Have fun!!!

Learning Center Home | PersonalityDesk

Free, Scientific Personality Tests Online | Truity

The Big Five Personality Test

Level 07 - Tennis in trading



What does tennis got anything to do with trading? Plenty of similarities, apparently. Yesterday, i was watching the Wimbledon Men Singles Final 2012 between Roger Federer and Andy Murray. Wimbledon is played in England, and Murray being a English homeboy, got the loudest support from the home crowd.

Here are 2 highlights from the game which showed how champions win.

1) During the second set, when Federer was 1 shot away from winning it, he produced a most exquisite drop shot near the net. The true stuff of champions. Champions produce the goods when it is needed most.

2) During the fourth set, Federer is up 5-4. He is only 1 point away from winning the Finals, and he is serving the ball. He served up 2 aces to get 2 quick and easy points. Just as champions do when it is needed most.



Below are the edges that tennis champions possessed and showed when it is most needed to win titles. These edges are the same edges we need to become champion traders.

1) Never lose your cool. Federer lost the first set but he remained calmed. Even if you lost the first set. Get up and win the remaining sets.

2) Never shout at yourself. Federer did not shout at himself. But Murray started to shout at himself from the second set onwards. From then on, he lost control of the game. Even if the game did not go your way, and the opponent forces you to the point of brink, never reprimand yourself.

3) Never doubt yourself. At one point in the second set, i saw doubts on Murray's face. He began to doubt himself. Every mistake he made, every stroke that did not go his way, he was doubting his playing ability. Federer believed in himself and his confidence never wavered.



These 3 edges are how exactly what we need to become champion traders. Do you have those?

There seems to be a potential sell off of US dollars if USDX resistance holds

Here are the 4 M's i have mentioned earlier:

1) money
2) mind
3) method
4) myself



Out of these 4 M's, the one that i feel that is of least importance to long term trading success is method. Why do i say? Think of it this way. There are millions of ways to make money trading. I did a google search on "trading systems", and it showed 113,000,000 hits. Some of these trading systems claim to have been "back-tested" and "proven" to make money in trading. Then they show you charts stating that if you have followed their proprietary indicator, you would have make money if you buy at the green arrows and sell at the red arrows. All these amazing indicators, for a low low price of $49.95 per month. But wait, if you order now, we offer you a 20% discount.

I am repeating myself but i will say it again. There are millions of ways to make money trading. You only need to learn 3 methods. One for a bull market, one for a bear market and one for a sideways market. If MACD above 0 and RSI above 80 is your buy signal, and you make tons of money trading off this signal, stick with it. . There is no one size fits all approach. There are 6 billion humans on this planet. All 6 billions are unique. You are unique. And because you are unique, your approach to trading will also be unique.

The key is this. Find whatever that works for you. It could take you months. It could take you years. For my case, i personally took about 2 years before i find a profitable trading system that works for me. It is a trading system that works for me because it fits snugly into my lifestyle and my personality.

What is your profitable trading system? Find it and you may be rewarded in your trading career.

Review 1 - SHORT GBPUSD

In my trade previews, i posted a potential setup to short GBPUSD. According to scenario 2, there is a strong resistance zone from 1.5540-60. See link below.

http://forexforums.dailyfx.com/my-tr...ml#post1230856 (Level up to trade forex successfully)

I plan my trade, and trade my plan. I went SHORT GBPUSD @ 1.5560 on 11th July Wed, in accordance to my pre-identified resistance zone.




Review 2 - LONG NZDUSD

This trade is one of my bad trades. It is a bad trade because i traded with my gut. I went in because i expected NZDUSD to rebound up. I did not follow my trading indicators. This is a well deserved loss and i gain valuable experience. Trading is a mind game. Repeat the good stuffs, learn from and avoid the bad stuffs.

Preview 1 - SHORT EURJPY

I have identified another long term resistance zone on the EURJPY. This resistance zone is from 98.30-50. When it retraces to this level, i will looking on the intraday charts for a good opportunity to go short.

SHORT EURJPY 98.30-50
Stop loss above 98.80
Final target profit 95.50-00





Preview 2 - SHORT GBPAUD

For this month of July, GBPAUD has been unable to break above the resistance zone of 1.5270-00. Will it continue to stay below this level? If it does, go short.

SHORT GBPAUD 1.5270-00
Stop loss above 1.5340
Final target profit 1.5000

From the 4hr chart, it is in a clear 1000pips downtrend.

Preview 3 - SHORT NZDUSD

On the daily chart, we see 4 lower highs and a downtrend line.



On the 4hr chart, there is a potential forming of a head & shoulders pattern. In classical technical analysis, a head & shoulders pattern is consider as a bearish reversal pattern. If this pattern is formed, find a suitable price to go short. However, if price breaks above 80.60, this pattern will be invalidated.

This topic we will talk about the fourth M. In my opinion, this M is the most important M of all. I am going to show you a series of photos. And after you have seen each photo, you are going to answer a YES or a NO. YES if you think the person in the photo can trade. NO if you think the person in the photo cannot trade.

Photo 1


Photo 2


Photo 3 (Pistorius, the blade runner)


Photo 4 (Nick Vujicic)






Photo 5


If you answer YES to photo 5, congratulations to you. You have climbed and conquered the highest mountain in trading. The mountain called "Myself". The monkey and baby cannot be traders, because their mental faculty is not developed. Pistorius the blade runner and Nick Vujicic can trade, if they want to, even though they have missing arms and legs.

What is the criteria to be a successful trader? Criteria number one is the ability to think. Trading is a mind game. If you think you can, you are halfway there on the journey to trading success.

I do enjoy your effort

Here are my trade setups.

LONG USDCAD @ 1.0030-1.0050
Stop loss 30pips
1st target profit @ 1.0200 (+150pips)
2nd target profit @ 1.0400 (+350pips)

Level 10 - Myself Part 2

In level 09, what is the key to trading success? Yes, it is the person in the mirror. If you have not done so, look into a mirror and ask the person in the mirror. Am i really ready to be a trader? Am i prepared to be a profitable trader and not a losing trader?



Trading statistics show that 90% of traders lose money and the 10% makes the money. In trading, it is a zero sum game. For every $1000 you win, you won it from someone else who lost it to you. And that person who lost it to you, he did not intend to lose it to you. On the contrary, he wanted to win it from you and take your $1000. Every trader wants to win. But if everyone wins in trading, where is your winning money coming from? Think about that.

Therefore, what is the determining factor to successful trading? Answer, it is me. Myself. If you have a winning mindset, your chances of taking away other people's money will increase. If you don't, you may be the 90% who gives the money to the 10%. Understand this well and you have level up one more level to trade successfully.

"Wealth awaits those who can play this game [of trading] well." - The Money Game

Originally Posted by lady.forex72

I do enjoy your effort

Thank you for reading

This week is a good week for me. I made a number of green pips. If you had followed my trading call to SHORT GBPAUD posted on the weekend, you would have made more than +200pips easily with minimum risk. A high reward, low risk trade.

http://forexforums.dailyfx.com/my-tr...ml#post1240889 (Level up to trade forex successfully)

The SHORT GBPAUD trade was filled on 16th July monday. And as of 20th July friday, i am still holding the remaining 33% of my position. Let the profits run!

EURUSD has been in a 200pips sideways consolidation for the past 2 weeks.



For this week, i was trading the range and i did 2 trades. One was to attempt to long at the bottom of the range. The other was to try to short at the top of the range.

TRADE #1

The result for longing at the bottom was a loss. Although the trade was filled quite close to the bottom, and my stop loss was triggered 14pips away from the bottom.




TRADE #2

The short at the top was a moderate win. I shorted almost at the exact top for that day, which was only 10pips away from that day's high. This is a low risk, high reward trade. I am still holding onto the remaining 33% of my position for next week. Got to let my profits run!