This week while spending time in the chat room, I met quite a few struggling traders. I knew Forex was tough but it is surprising just how many people are falling at the first hurdle.
So in this post I want you to do one thing…. answer the question below.
Are there any road blocks in your Forex trading that are keeping you from being consistently profitable? Leave a comment below and let me know.
I will read and reply to every comment personally. So if you want my advice, now’s the time to let me know what problems you are having with your trading.
Ross House
A starting capital. My dream is to be a full-time trader and to be able to support myself and my fiancee. However, without a starting captial, I can’t get started with that dream. I know that isn’t Forex related exactly, but that’s my road block.
Nick
Ross, you are right, without a decent starting capital you can’t get trade full time. However, I have to ask, are you at the point that you need capital?
Becoming a full time trader should be done in stages. Here is a basic step by step:
1. Learn the basics. (what is a pip?)
2. Find a strategy that suits you.
3. Demo trade the strategy to get a feel for it.
4. Write a money management plan and trading plan.
5. Start your first account with money you can afford to lose. Even if it is only a few hundred dollars.
After step five, if you feel confident are trading successfully, you can start to add more capital to your account in small quantities monthly. You might want to add $200 a month until you have a decent starting capital.
Do you feel you are at the final stage already?
If you aren’t I suggest you get to that stage first. When you get there you can slowly start to build your capital. Even if you add only $100 a month you will be able to build up a decent capital with time.
Alex
Love the topic for this blog post, Nick.
If I may add to the sound advice from Nick: many people want to start trading with X amount of capital and that’s the biggest mistake they can make.
Imagine if you had that capital right now and end up blowing the account. What do you then?
If you’re finding it difficult to start because of your capital requirement, wouldn’t you be out of the game entirely if you blew that money? Not to mention the emotional tilt you’d go on which would affect your trading in the future, or even worse, your life.
Here’s something to consider: a pro trader can start out with $100 (or w/e) and grow that account to $50,000 (or w/e).
Why is that?
Because the pros don’t trade their P&L; they trade the charts. As a byproduct of doing this, their account will grow until they can increase their lot size, which will compound their account growth in the future.
My challenge to anyone whose followed Nick’s advice and is thinking of going live is to start with $100 and PROVE to yourself that you are a pro by growing that account. A goal would be doubling the $100 (without using high leverage). At .01, that’ll be around 1,000 pips. With the Forex4Noobs method along with how good of a trader you are, you can achieve that anywhere from as quickly as 5 weeks (200pips a week) or at the very least 20 weeks (50pips a week).
If you can’t turn $100 into a $200, you are not ready to go live. Even then, I’d suggest going for $300 (twice as fast as reaching $200 because you’ll increment your lot size to .02). Save your money in the mean time.
If you do manage to meet this challenge and perhaps grow that $100 even further (hopefully to the capital you wish to start with), you will have proven to yourself that you are a pro trader.
Nick
This is not a bad idea. However, did you calculate losses into your compounding On average a newbie would lose 30%-40% of trades so I think reaching $1,000 would take a little longer.
Andrew
I’m using the daily chart to set up some S&R zones, then using the hourly chart to trade with. I’m finding that I’m placing setups/entries (for breakthroughs of price more often than not) and most of the time the trade turns into a reversal. Not sure if this is a psychological thing that I keep looking out for breakthroughs versus reversals.
Also having issues with when to move the stop to break-even once the trade is entered. Am finding S&R to be a bit less reliable on the hourly chart. Any advice would be great Nick, thanks for your help.
Andrew
Nick
Andrew, your trades turn in to reversals because price doesn’t have the power to push through support and resistance areas these days.
Break out trading does not work as well today as it did in 2008 through to 2010. I no longer trade break outs as most pairs do not range enough each day to make breakout trading viable.
Back in 2010 we saw a major shift in many pips pairs ranged. GBP/JPY for example went from ranging 300 pips per day to about 100 pips. This shift in price ranges resulted in breakout trading become far less profitable. In 2009 price would break an area of support and resistance and then move a few hundred pips. Today, price cannot do that, it simply no longer has that ability to make large moves, so breakout trading does work as well.
I wrote about this in 2010 and at the time I wrote that I would no longer concentrate on breakout trading.
Falling average daily ranges in Forex
Are you trading my strategy Andrew? If so, throw away the eBook, it is old and outdated. The updated version of my strategy is pretty much the same but there have been a few minor changes to support and resistance. So check out the new verson of my trading strategy.push through support and resistance areas these days.
The one hour chart is a small time frame so you will tend to find price is choppier on it. If you are having trouble with on hour charts jump up to four and eight hour. I trade these time frames and they are much better than one hour.
Hope this helps.
Andrew
Thanks Nick. I’ll persevere. I need to shift my mindset to be looking for reversals I think. At the moment I’m waiting at significant S&R areas, waiting for a reversal candle (or sign of a reversal), but the pairs seem to stop me out.
Is that old chestnut of stop size/risk versus profit/greed. Will keep at it though, thanks for your reply.
Andrew
Nick
Entering a reversal before a reversal candle forms is risky. Even if the candle has formed entering before the trade triggers is risky. The attached image shows a trade that a guy in the chat room took on EUR/USD 4hr last Friday.
I hate the term ‘reversal candle’ because it is not really a reversal candle. It is an indecision candle. You should not enter the market during indecision. This is why I use an entry trigger. The entry trigger helps me identify the spot at which indecision becomes decision. Hope that makes sense.
Andrew
Thanks Nick. I’ve just finished watching the free course videos again. You mention scalp lines, master candles and breakthroughs (although you’ve already mentioned breakthroughs aren’t in the picture anymore) as part of your strategy.
Is this still the case with regards to scalp lines & master candles) or have they taken a back seat in leui of trading only reversals?
Nick
No scalps and no master candles…. I purely trade simple, stress free reversals.
Wheeliekegman
4 hr chart – When the indecision candle forms, and the entry point is hit (below the indecision candles low for short for eg) and then the price doesn’t move and ranges inbetween the stop loss and your entry point for 2 or three candles (8 or 12 hrs), do I hang in there or cut and run?
Nick
Wheelie. Good question, it depends on the situation.
If I am in a 4hr reversal that has stalled before taking off I usually jump up to the 8hr chart to see if the set up looks good on there. If it does I start trading the set up on the 8hr instead.
If the set up doesn’t look good on the 8hr and it has stalled for 12 hours I would probably exit.
Remember, the key to trading a reversal is identifying a transition of power. So it would go something like this…
buyer controlled market > indecision > seller controlled market
If price has stalled it is a sign that you entered too early. This is because the transition of power hasn’t really occurred.
buyer controlled market > indecision > indecision > indecision > indecision >
See what I mean? So at this point staying in the trade would not be the best idea. You haven’t actually got that transition you need. So the trade isn’t even really a reversal trade!
Andrew
Keeping the discussion on the transition of power going, so if we’re looking to get in once the indecision is over, is this at the low (or high) of the indecision candles, or is it more of an intuitive entry?
Nick
Low/high of indecision is often the best entry but sometime the low/high is too close. In this case I would look for a psychological level or a minor level of support and resistance. I might even use the low/high of the candle that came before the indecision candle.
scott
Nick, I’d have to say I’ve probably spread myself too thin…meaning I’m looking at too many systems. I kind of convinced myself I should have one system besides yours, to confirm the signals…and I’m a bit gunshy after taking heavy losses several years ago. I’m stubborn and don’t want to give up so I keep studying and presently I’m getting ready to paper trade once I learn TradeStation’s platform. I’m trying to get comfortable with all the order types, hope to have a pretty good handle on it within the week and then diving in. I’m guilty of not reviewing your material enough…and I’ve promised myself to go thru your material several times more…so you’re doing a great job and service helping us newbies…thank you for all you do!! Your chat room is an excellent source of info and ideas.
Nick
It sounds like you know the answer to your problem already. You should not use more than one strategy at a time. You need to take a look at both strategies and decide which one suits you best.
Scott, I see so many traders fail. One thing that is almost constant among failed traders is that they spread themselves too thin. Some use too many strategies, others trade too many pairs, and some trade too many time frames. It is almost like the old saying “jack of all trades, master of none”….
You need to pick a strategy pick one or two pairs and pick one or two time frames. Once you master all that…. you can do whatever you want!
Picapu
When the price get a level (S or R), it’s have been very hard to identify the right signal from the candle in order to go short or long (the price has more probability to reverse or break?).
Nick
Price is more likely to reverse. I do not trade breaks anymore Picapu. I have not trades a breakout in over one year.
Here is a copy and paste of my reply to Andrew below.
You should try not to trade breakouts at all. They are very risky in current market conditions.
Picapu are you trading my strategy from my old eBook? If so, the eBook is outdated. For an up to date version of my strategy please visit this page.
John
Hi Nick, my biggest roadblock is jumping into trades that dont fit my Trading Plan. Of course, these are the ones that usually fail and eat into my (small micro) account. Sitting on my hands is difficult when so many “good looking” setups come along. I need to learn to wait patiently for the correct setup that fits my plan.
Nick
You suffer from an issue that kills many traders careers. You think that you need to trade the market often. The truth is successful traders do not need to be in the market daily. I only take one or two trades each week and I have been trading Forex for eight years now.
You need to understand that Forex trading is very much quality over quantity. You only need to take a few good trades each week to be successful.
The good news is I have helped plenty of traders fix this issue. So here is a quick two step guide.
1. Limit your trading days. It is easy to over trade if you are looking at your charts every day. Pick three trading days each week and only trade those days. Find another activity to consume your non-trading days.
2. Trade less pairs and larger time frames. You said that you see a lot of great trade opportunities. So if you limit the amount of pairs you trade to three and you only look at the 4H+ charts you will likely see much fewer trades.
Do you think you could give this a try?
You do not even have to commit to it all out. Just give it a show for a few weeks and see if it makes a difference…. what have you got to lose?
John
Nick, thanks for taking the time to reply to mine and all the other Noob questions.
Yes, I think I suffer from information overload and therefore get too confused on what to really focus on. Secondly I need to shutdown and walk away from the charts once weekly profit reached. Too many times I have made my target on day 1 or 2 of the week and lose it all on day 3, 4 and 5 – dumb, dumb, dumb.
Because you have taken the time to reply, I will give you respect and take the time to follow your advice. I have the rest of my live trading account to lose if I dont.
I like the idea of limiting trading to less than 5 days a week and will cut my pairs down from 8 to 3 (G/U, E/U & A/U).
As my broker does not have 8 hour charts, I will concentrate on 4hr and daily, but if you can suggest a good 8 hr chart Broker with Demo accounts then please reply.
Thanks again, John
Nick
I use GFT Forex but if you are on MT4 there is a plugin that can create 8hr charts. I will need to ask somebody else but I will get back to you with a link for the indicator.
Guvernor
I’d like to get my hands on that indicator! I’m with GFT as well and found dealbook annoying to use so i’m on their MT4 platform. But I’d definitely like to get some 8 hr charts going there.
Julius
Nick, if we talk just about your system, my first issue is deciding how far away is the target and how close is the stop loss. The way you trade in general seems very promising. I know you mentioned that for EURUSD you would use +20 pips SL and +35 pips TP. If on H4 timeframe I use 20 pips SL, even 30 it often gets hit before reaching the target. How do you decide when to choose 20, 30, 35 pips stop loss? Because not always we can put it above/below the S/R or long candle wick.
Nick
The best stops are dynamic. Below is a stop loss check list I use.
– Beyond the wick of the indecision candle.
– Beyond the area of support or resistance the reversal has formed on.
– Beyond a psychological level or an area of minor support and resistance.
– In the middle of the area of support or resistance the reversal has formed on.
– Beyond the wick of another recent candle.
– 20-40 pips from entry.
The check list is in order from best type of stop to worse. When I enter a trade first I try to place the stop beyond the wick of the indecision candle. If this results in a stop that is too big the next thing I try is beyond the area of support or resistance the trade formed on.
So I work my way down this list until i can find a suitable stop loss.
As for targets I usually split them into two. Target two is almost always the next area of support or resistance. For target one I have a similar check list.
– Closest psychological level provided it is more than 30 pips way but less than 60 pips.
– Closest minor support or resistance provided it is more than 30 pips way but less than 60 pips.
– 30-60 pips away from my entry depending on momentum and how fast the pair has moved recently.
Again this check list goes from best target to worst.
Does this make sense? If you need any further clarification let me know.
Julius
Thank you, Nick, this is what I needed and it is very helpful. That was my biggest issue (or I considered it as a biggest issue) when trading your price action strategy.
Nick
No problem Julius, glad I could help. If you have any other questions let me know.
Bobby
Hi Nick, I think one of the problems i am having is with my timing entering a trade.
Nick
Bobby, I can probably help you with this but I need to know what kind of strategy you are trading first. What pairs, time frames and type of analysis are you using?
Bobby
I trade mainly the AUD/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY and sometimes the USD/CAD. Between 7am to 4pm eastern and sometimes after 7pm in the evenings. I trade using resistance and supports lines, trading on significant highs and lows of the indecision candles and also on strong support and resistance break through. But my timing seems to be a bit off.
Nick
Bobby, I need to know the time frames you are trading too. As in, 15min chart, 1hr, 4hr, daily?
Bobby
I trade the 4 hour chart.
Nick
Alright, so the problem you have is you don’t know exactly when to enter. Does this mean you do not know how to select proper entry triggers for your trades?
Osmin
My road block is the fear of losing and the desire to be “right”. When I am about to be stopped out. Most of the time I cancel my Stop Loss to avoid take the loss.
Nick
I was just like you and it caused me a lot of problems. I was able to put a plan in place to stop myself from screwing up my trades. If I wasn’t able to do this I doubt I would be trading Forex today.
The way to avoid this is easy, so easy that you might not bother trying it.
AUTOMATE YOUR TRADING.
I rarely recommend that traders use limit and stop order for all their trades. However, in this case you need to do it.
When you enter a trade, set a limit order and a stop, then shut your platform and don’t check back for several hours. The fact is, if you have a good strategy your trades will work out most of the time. Once you do this for a few months you will start to realize that you do not need to monitor trades like you do.
Many of my students have this problem and this has worked for them. Try it for a few weeks…. take a trade, shut your platform, go do something else.
Alex
Hi Nick, can you offer any advice on not second guessing a signal to enter the market? I’ve missed some great trades because of this and I’ve been stopped on a few others when I did force myself to take the signal. I would really appreciate if you can talk about what helped you overcome this problem when you started out.
Nick
I can probably help you out but I need to know a little more about how you trade. What strategy are you using? What pairs are you trading? What time frames?
If you give me this info I should be able to give you some accurate advice.
Jack Reijven
Hi Nick.
I am sure that I am not alone in stating that my major hurdle is my ‘tinkering’ with my entries and looking for entries that are really not there (in other words, making an entry fit my trading plan). In reality, I still struggle with my trading psychology. Having said this, I am profitable, but only marginally. So, I am looking for improvement in my mental state, but not a change in strategies. The strategy (I use price action) is fine, I just need to learn to ‘set and forget’.
Regards,
Jack.
Nick
Jack, I need a little more information.
Do you have a proper trading plan? I mean a plan that covers everything from the pairs you trade, to money management, and to what your entry triggers are.
Let me know if you have a proper trading plan in place and then I can give you a proper reply.
randy
I have a habbit of buying tops and selling bottoms. Also, my biggest issue is where does the pullback end and the trend resume?
Nick
Randy, this is a huge mistake but it is very common.
Most people think that “the trend is your friend” is useful advice in Forex. The truth is that the trend is not your friend. The mistake you are making is that you are buying into resistance and selling into support.
I do the complete opposite. I do not trade break outs, I trade reversals. My goal when I trade is to buy at bottoms and sell at tops.
Have you checked out my free strategy? This is not the same as the old and outdated eBook.
If your problem is that you buy at tops and sell at bottom then doing the opposite (what I do) should help.
https://bullrushacademy.com/forex-trading-strategy/
If you need me to clarify anything about my strategy comment back here, email me, skype me or catch me in the chat room. My Skype is nickbencino and you can email me using the contact tab on the top right.
Matt K
Nick,
I’d have to say my biggest issue seems to be finding the right times to trade. I seem to enter when good price action signals are available but it always seems to be at the end of NY or the middle end of Asia. Then when a new market opens it often pushes in the opposite direction, taking me out of my trade. Do you set certain times that you won’t enter a trade, do you adjust entry’s or is it business as usual. Am I best served by setting up a “shift” such as London open to London close as to hit both London and NY?
Nick
I don’t think time is the whole issue, I think the problem is you are not taking good trades. I find that my trades work well regardless of what time they are opened. Back when I traded breakouts this was different but these days times do not matter.
I think I need a little more information before I can give you any advice.
What strategy, pairs and time frames are you trading?
Demotivated
Demotivated
I’ve just lost the will. Been trading about 3 years now and find I’m trading less and less, don’t even bother some days. So my problem is the need to get motivated again.
Nick
Are you demotivated because you are not trading successfully Or are you trading successively but getting demotivated anyway?
YM
Hi Nick, For each trade I usually set two profit targets based on support/resistance or round/whole numbers. Say for example that my profit target for a trade is $1200. I’ll watch price move in my direction and my P&L grow to say… $500. Then price will start reversing on me. In the past, I would get scared and jump out of the trade just to watch price continue in its previous direction for a much larger profit. I have stopped doing that and tend to think that price is simply retracing, but it frequently doesn’t. I end up jumping out of the trade with maybe a $40 profit or sometimes price moves against me so fast that I end up taking a small loss and there are many occasions when I just refuse to be wrong and let my losses grow to large amounts. I need to stop letting my winning trades turn into losers, and learn how to be wrong. It’s easier for me to jump out of a trade with a $40 profit than to accept that when my P&L drops from $500 to $200 that it still isn’t going to reach my $1200 profit target. I know that I should use stop losses, but get tired of price spikes stopping me out plus the added slippage. By the way, I’ve been trading stocks for about 7 months and started paper trading Forex a few weeks ago. Thanks, Nick!
Nick
It sounds like you have no structure to your trading man. Have you put together a trading plan and a money management plan? Answer this first and then I will be able to give you some more advice.
YM
Yes, I have both a trading plan and money management plan. Everything is ok when I follow them. My issue seems to be with taking news/alert driven trades that on’t fit my plan. Thanks, Nick! BTW I’m a woman :-)
Nick
Sorry YM. I use the expression ‘man’ way too much.
Ok, well you have your answer YM! You have a structured plan but when you stray the plan you lose…..
STOP STRAYING FROM THE PLAN
Also, news/alert driven trades do not work too well these days. They were an easy way to make a lot of pips up until 2007. These days they are hit and miss. Stick to a sensible trading plan, you should not trade economic releases.
Wanelad
I started trading live about 4 weeks ago, in a short time I was 30% up. At that time I was aiming for 20-30 pips each trade. I did not use a stop but if trade started to look ugly was closing out.
Since then I have been on a a downward spiral and now account is down 35%. Changes I made was to try for a larger move and then the trade would go against me and after being up say 20-30 pips ended up taking losses. Should have closed break even but stubbornness would not allow. Stops were also starting to be used and as they were pretty wide it seemed as soon as my stop got hit the market would turn, unbelievable.
I am going to wait out the market for a ‘Nicks’ trade opportunity and move away from 5,15 min trade opps. I am also going to decrease exposure eg move back to 1 lot instead of 2.
Nick
Wanelad, I am going to ask you the same question I asked YM below….Have you put together a trading plan and a money management plan?
You should not be making 30% in less than a month. Alarm bells are going off in my head and they tell me that you either do not have a money management plan or if you have one it is wrong.
YM
Wanelad, you and I have similar experiences. After trading for a few months I started making a lot each day. I was taking several trades each day and had not had a single loss for 10 consecutive days. What i was doing suddenly stopped working for me and I lost almost all of it. I got very comfortable with being repeatedly right and had a hard time dealing with losses and let them run for too long.
kwonkicker
There are 100s of systems out there that can be mastered without paying a penny. Even finding the right one is not the issue. The main obstacle is self-discipline. This includes sticking to rules, using steady lots, not chasing a trade unless thats your strategy etc. And those things need time to master. Unless one gives it time and effort there is nothing else to do. Trading can not be learned from book or a video or two. Trading is not a knowledge, its a skill or even a habit. And should be treated as one.
Nick
Agreed kwonkicker. Thanks for the comment!
candleman
Patience. waiting for the proper setup as well as exiting a trade (whether profitable or not). I am getting much better at it now. I follow you on this site as well as another australian px action trader. Honestly, px action has been a wonderful experience. Tx for sharing. Funny how many of my buddies think i am using the “Force” when they notice I dont use indicators anymore
Nick
Hahaha, you should invite your friends to the chat room. I would love to convert a few indicator newbies to the dark side!
Thanks for the comment candleman.
Colin
I think the biggest road block is being distracted by emails, the telephone, kids, or working intensely on your computer while waiting for a trade to setup. Time goes by, the trade has past the setup, you can see you have missed the trade and don’t put the trade on.
One has to focus on waiting for the setups, enter the trade, with one click, with no hesitation, with alot of confidence and see it pan out. This is hard to do, sometimes.
Nick
Colin, I do not fully agree. There are weeks where I check my charts once or twice per day and I still catch trades.
My guess is you are trading small time frames. Small time frames do require a lot of concentration.
It sounds like you are the type of person that would be better off trading 8hr and Daily charts.
What strategy, time frames and pairs are you currently trading?
Colin
Yes, I do trade small time frames, normally the 15 minute. My entry point is, price position, within the second previous and previous candles. My exit depends on the current candle length related to the chart time frame.
I like to make my money early in the morning before my wife and kids get up for the day.
I like to be in and out, get it over with, then go about my day.
I find trading at night time, after say 10pm, tiredness is the enemy so I don’t trade at night time.
Sometimes I will have an early lunch and trade before and after the au or jpy opening times . I trade nzd/usd, aud/usd but I sometimes trade wti which can be, very fast.
I have looked at longer time frame charts but have concluded they don’t suit my trading style.
Nick
Fair enough, well if you find that small time frames do not work well for you in the long run feel free to come back. If it works, and you can make consistent profits, than keep on doing what you are doing.
Nihal Bhat
i have this same problem as colin. getting distracted smaller timeframe. if u use a smaller time frame, use 1 chart and set an alarm. that way u will be 100% committed. if you use larger timeframe like 8h or daily, this wont be an issue.
manish
multi time frame analysis and choosing correct time frames to trade 6.30 am -9.30am UK time is my main weakness including stop loss placement to cater for volatility during that time
Nick
Manish, maybe you would benefit from the daily time frame. You only need to check your charts on daily once or twice a day. Most people with limited time want to pack all the action in to the few hours they can trade. I think it is much better selecting a low maintenance time frame like the daily…..
May
Hi Nick,
I have been trading for 4 years full time and have almost lost all my money. I see the signals but I just don’t take it and always want to do the reversal. I can tell my friends clearly what to do but I just can’t do it myself. Can you help?
Thanks,
May
Nick
May, I think I can help. First I need to know if you have a trading plan and a money management plan? It sounds like you lack structure so I want to make sure you are not missing the basics.
sunq
I find when I enter trades the large ones with ~35pip stops and ~50 pip targets are the ones that fail, whereas ones with 25 pip target and 15-20pip stops are succeeding. Leaving my trading luckily breaking even but would like to improve this. Not sure how to
Nick
What time frames are you trading and how many hours each day can you monitor your charts?
Frank C
Thanks for doing this Nick it is greatly appreciated.
My main problem is identifying Supply and Demand on the charts and how to come up with stop levels for these type of trades. The other part of this is also making sure I am trading with the dominant trend for the time frame being traded.
Because I spend most of my day at a computer for work I am able to watch my charts a good part of the day. I tend to gravitate to the 30 min and 1 hour charts.
Thanks
Frank
Nick
I do not use supply and demand so I cannot help you there. However, I do use support and resistance. Have you checked out the support and resistance section of my strategy? I show you how to place support and resistance.
https://bullrushacademy.com/forex-trading-strategy/support-and-resistance-lines/
Also you can see my actual support and resistance here.
https://bullrushacademy.com/price-action-course/current-support-and-resistance-areas/
I think you are making a mistake trading small time frames. Did you see the recent survey I did? It showed that traders using small time frames are generally less successful.
Just because you can watch your charts most of the day it doesn’t mean you need to trade small time frames. This is actually one of the biggest misconceptions in Forex. People think that they need to take several trades per day on small time frames.
I can monitor my charts all day too but I trader 4hr, 8hr and Daily charts. Large time frames are much less choppy but they still give you a lot of great trade opportunities.
I think you should look at trading larger time frames. You won’t need to worry about dominate trends and you will find them more accurate.
Andy Barnett
Time , I am a self employed electrician and am trying to figure out how to set up and trade when not in the office. need to figure out the alerts, using a phone and a tablet. Physically I do not have a whole lot left of crawling thru attics left in me and am trying to get to trading.Trades trigger and I seem to be else where. Thanks a Bunch!!!!!!
Nick
Andy, are you saying that you don’t know how to set up alerts on a phone/tablet trading platform If so, I can help you with that.
Also, what strategy, time frames and pairs are you currently trading?
Andy
Nick,
That is correct, I need to learn to set these up and use them with confidence. Trading the same pairs as as most everyone else, eur, gpd, aus, and yen. Have been trading the shorter time frames where we have to be tethered to a computer, now I am heading towards the longer time frames that you have been teaching. Thanks a bunch!!
Nick
Good to see you are moving to larger time frames. If you need help setting up chart alarms on your phone let me know. I use Trade Interceptor as my mobile platform and I set alarms on it almost daily.
Lenny
Hi Nick,
I have been trading for a number of years and have been following your blog for almost as long. I take reversal trades like you. However, I still have a few issues with my trading. I find myself needing lots of screens to be able to see lots of charts at once. I know you can trade your method on any time frame and any pair at any time. This gives me so many options that I find myself getting easily distracted.
There are so many pairs to choose from and then mulitply that by time frames and the next thing you know I can have 10 or more charts open. This leds to me missing great trades or entering too many trades at once, since the currency pairs tend to behave in a similar way – I think it’s called correlation. Then I get in a mess trying to figure out where or when to exit and which trades are more important. Or I get stuck in this bubble where my brain is like “Yeah, yeah it’s going up. It’s going up, it’s going up!!” Or “Oh no, it’s going down, it’s going down! sh*t!!”. The direction is irrelevant it’s just to show that when I’m “winning” all my brain can think is yes and when I’m “losing” all it can think is no. I can’t seem to think logically or figure out what to do while in a trade. It’s like all my emotions take over.
I have tried to trade just one pair and one time frame, but then I get really bored and either the trades don’t happen on that time frame or that pair. Or the trades happen in the session that I’m not trading such as the Asian session or the later part of the American session. Or I get distracted and go and do something else because watching a single 4 hour chart is like watching paint dry. I have to admit to having fell asleep at the computer too.
On a side note: On top of that, my friends and family really suck. They seem to think that since I do this Forex thing (they don’t really get it) that I am free for whatever duties they need me to do at the drop of a hat. They don’t seem to get why I have to sit infront of this screen for hours to make money. I end up only tradng and then getting called away. There’s always some duty that only I can help with. I really don;t understand how to make them understand that I am trying to work and make money.
I know your strategy works, because when I actually catch a trade I make good pips. Do you have any advice on what I should in these types of situations?
Nick
Lenny, I have the perfect solution for you.
Start trading the daily charts exclusively and trade around eight to ten pairs. This should solve most of your problems.
How?
The first issue you have is that you have too many charts open so you miss great trades. This happens because you trade small time frames and the charts need constant monitoring. If you have ten daily charts open they require much less monitoring.
The second issue you mentioned is that you get too excited when in a trade or you panic and you forget about your exits. With daily charts moves are much slower so you have a lot of time to think. It sounds like small time frames are too fast paced for you (don’t worry I am the same).
The third issue you mentioned is that you get border with a single pair and a single time frame. Well with daily you will have a single time frame but you can trade a whole lot of pairs. Since daily charts require so little maintenance you can trade ten pairs without a problem…. would this be enough to cure your boredom?
The fourth issue was that trades do not happen when your monitor your charts. Using daily charts means you can spot trade set ups at least 24 hours before the trigger. So you should be able to see the set ups regardless of the times you trade.
You mentioned that watching a single four hour chart is like watching paint dry. Well, with ten daily charts there is still plenty of action.
Finally you mention that your friends and family get in the way of your trading. Using daily charts you can step away from your computer for 23.5 hours a day and still catch most trades.
So in conclusion. If you like my strategy open up ten daily charts and start using my strategy on the dailys.
Lenny
Hey Nick, that’s a great solution! Thanks so much. I will have to try this out!
Nick
No problem, glad I could help.
bigapple
remove all your monitors and trade with a laptop. This is what I have done some years ago.Less is more and less trades means more money. Ask yourself what is your target.
To have action (adrenalin rush) and if you want to sit all day in front of your ten monitors with red eyes unable for normal social life, or trade daily (or 4 h) charts and check daily for max 1h. Perhaps you find something with higher value to spend your limited life time
Gary Lippmann
I have a question regarding order entry. when using the four-hour charts do you drop down to the 15 min or some other time frame to try to get the best order entry? I recall sometime ago you discussed using the 15 minute chart to monitor trades that had already been entered. I’m trying to determine if it makes sense to do this PRIOR to entering the trade and looking for reversals on the 15 minute chart to get the best entry price. Thanks for all your good work.
Nick
Gary, I use to do that when I traded breakouts. Since I only trade reversals these days there is no need. A trigger on a reversal trade is exact so when it breaks by three to five pips I get in.
I usually watch price action closely though and I will try to enter on slight pull backs. I do not drop down to smaller time frames for this. However, I do not see any downside to dropping to smaller time frames for entries.
If you feel the 15 min will give you better entries, go for it!
Jeremy T
Hey Nick,
I would say that my biggest problem is trusting myself, and seeing trades out to the end. For example, you may remember that on Thursday in the chat room I said that I was taking an AUD/USD short. I entered at 1.0380 and my target was 1.0340 – so 40 pips.The trade went in my favor quite quickly and got all the way down to the 1.0350 level and stalled just for a moment. Instead of trusting myself and waiting til it got to my intended TP level (which it did very shortly after), I exited the trade, only banking 30 some odd pips instead of the full 40 I targeted.
I’m finding that I get antsy once my trade is very green and I tend to take my pips and run, rather than fulling seeing out the trade. You may say set an automatic exit, but I dont like letting my broker decide when I exit if I can help it. A lot of the times, the price action wont be telling me to exit, but I guess the fear of having a good trade go bad overwhelms me and I leave pips on the table. I know this isnt the worst problem to have, but I would say that about 80-90% of the trades I exit early end up hitting the original TP level and it sucks that i miss out on those pips.
Nick
This is a tough one if you are not willing to set automatic exits.
I have a question though… are you already consistently profitable? Answer this question as I think I might have a few ideas that could help.
Jeremy T
I am consistently profitable, but this has only been for the last 4-5 months. I have been trading for two years, but in the first year and a half I was not very disciplined and I often over-traded, and was sloppy with monitoring trades. Recently, I have developed more discipine in the regards to the trades I take. I have weaned myself from trying to recoup losses after bad trades, and I’ve done my best to not look for setups that arent there just because I’m coming off of a string of wins.
Nick
My girlfriend had a similar issue to this and she was able to get over it. Not sure if this will help but she simply accepted that she would close our early. She now closes 1/4 of her trade our early and the rest our at target.
bigapple
this is a good aproach and did also help me
bigapple
I had the same problem and forced myself to set and forget. If your R/R is ok and you are selective it works out.
Dan
Hi Nick
I have been trading off and on now for
two years and to date the biggest hurdle I face in trading is knowing
when to pull the trigger and when not to do so.
It seems like every good trade I plan I
hesitate and miss the whole move but on the other hand with bad
trades I dont hesitate.
I seem to go around in circules get
frustrated and give it all a break, but I still have a passion to learn
how to trade, any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
P.S.
Thanks for all the great stuff you have
been doing for people like myself.
Nick
Dan, I need a little more info. What startegy, pairs, and time frames are you trading?
Noob4ever
Hi NIck,
My biggest hurdle at this time is getting a written trading plan completed, and I feel I cannot begin to trade without one. Any help or sort of template would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Nick
Have you checked out my free course?
https://bullrushacademy.com/free-course/
It is 100% free and I give you a video guide to writing a trading plan. I also give you some PDF and word templates so you can write your own.
Gerardo Frances
Hi Nick; I strated to know about trading in 2009, but take more seriously last year…I started trading real 5 min chart and lost my money (i did not have any plan neither Money M..etc) so I moved to demo to learn how to do it better. I did not arrive where I wanted, I mean I did’t feel confortable whit that chart I think, so I move to 1hr charts and currently is going better (demo)….I will go to real by 2013 if thing go well….
My problem is that I dont feel 100% sure (or cnfidence) of my system and think is because the time I have trading it. I am trading it since may 2012, by december I will have 8 month whit 5 trades per month average. do you think is enought to go to real ?? should I test more time? how much time??
I have a target of 3% monthly.
thank you very much
Gerardo.-
Nick
Gerado, honestly, I think you can go live right now. However, you should go live with a very small account. If you can afford to lose $200 then start with that. I always think live trading is better than demo trading and there is nothing wrong with trading live if you are using small amounts.
If your strategy works live for three to six months then you can start to slowly add more money. You could add $100 or so each month.
How does this sound?
Gerardo Frances
Thanks Nick, it sounds good. I am working on that (decition to go real), I had a bad experience when I started the first time being imprudent and that is what I have to overcome I guess.
I will tell you how is my trading going.
Question: how much trades you do per month ??
sorry for my english
Regards
Nick
Sure, let me know how it’s going. Add me to Skype if you have it. Skype name is nickbencino.
Gerardo Frances
How much will you risk of that $200 ?? I put on risk 2 % of account in each trade.
should you modify that ?
Nick
Sorry about the late reply. I never saw this response. 2%-5% is reasonable on such a small amount. However, when you build your account bring the risk down to 1%.
Violet
I am not doing very well trading, I watch the candle-sticks moving up and down and then predict, sometimes I win and sometimes I loose. Even I tried my own strategy by trading small pips like 1 or 2, I first was doing very well, but suddenly I started loosing in that too. Please do help me how to trade or any trading indicator which will make me consistent profits.
Nick
Violet, it sounds like you are trading very small time frames. I need some more information on how you trade. Can you tell me what strategy, pairs, and time frames are you trading?
Nihal Bhat
candlesticks at what levels violet. nick mentioned S&R levels(or even use fibs) as crucial. just trading candlesticks alone is certain loser no matter what timeframe.
Charlie
Hi nick i’ve been having trouble knowing when to enter trades, i’m currently only trading the euro/usd on a 15 min chart. my first couple of weeks were really good but recently i seem to have done nothing commit to bad trades losing 10 plus pips each time
Nick
Maybe you are not suited to trading small time frames, most people aren’t. Have you seen the recent forex4noobs survey I held? You can check out the results
https://bullrushacademy.com/forex-blog/forex-tips/the-1-profit-killer-in-your-trading-and-how-you-can-change-it-today/
The vast majority of people trading time frames smaller than 1hr were failing.
I think you should try to jump up to larger time frames. Perhaps the 4hr, 8hr and Daily will suit you better.
Let me know what you think about this.
Charlie
Thanks Nick took your advice last night started using 4hr chart seem’s to suit me much better will be staying away form those small time frames from now on, managed to be profitable on 4 out of 5 trades
Nick
You already took five trades? not sure how you saw so many set ups so quick but I am glad you feel more comfortable with 4hr.
free2lark
i dont have time to practice trading in trending periods becuase of my job
Nick
Have you considered trading large time frames like the daily? They require very little maintenance.
victor
Hi Nick
I try to find signs of indecision on different platforms ( that use different server time ), i was watching 3 different platforms. Should i watch only one platform ? Sometimes o good indecision candle on one platform does not appear on another.
Thx
Nick
Victor, you do not need to catch every trade that triggers in Forex. Just look at a single platform and a few pairs. If you miss a trade or two it shouldn’t bother you.
Also, if you suspect indecision it is much easier to drop to a lower time frame to spot it. For example I recently saw possible indecision on a 4hr chart so I dropped to the 2hr to confirm it was indecision. I entered the trade on the 4hr and it worked out.
On my 4hr chart it did not look like a great set up but on other 4hr charts it did. So I used the 2hr to confirm. Much easier than monitoring three platforms!!!
ram
Hi Nick
The problem i face is buy low and sell high. I think it is low and buy.Then market proves me wrong.
The qustion comes buy lw sell high is ok but how low is ok to buy and how high is ok to sell-Ram
Nick
Sounds like you are having trouble spotting indecision. What time frames are you trading?
Al
Hi Nick,
Have been following your method with a bit of modification for more than a year,It works most of the time but what bothers me most are the daily news that are mostly spread along most of the trading time which I find usually affect the trading signals and I personally find that what moves the market is the fundamentals most of the time.Please try to arrange a short video pointing out your method of how to avoid the news or how to go around them as most of the week days has at least two significant effective news event.
Thanks
Al
Nick
I will write an article on avoiding news in the coming weeks. I will include a video in the article. Thanks for the suggestion.
Eleen
Nick, thank you for your generosity ,until now I still don’t know which broker is good.what hold me back is I enter when i did not conform it.when it down trend ,it will not move down smoothly,this will hit my stop loss .before going down.what kind of strategy do I need to apply.how long should we wait for a setup.sometime the trade goes without me.
Nick
For a broker I recommend GFT Forex or if you want an ECN I recommend MB Trading or Dukascopy.
As for a trade strategy… check out my one, it is free.
https://bullrushacademy.com/forex-trading-strategy/
Davep
I have been learning to trade currencies for about two years now, I
mainly use 4 hour charts and I take things week by week – I close any
remaining positions last thing before I tuck myself into bed or pass out
on Friday night. I have been working hard recently trying to get the
hang of your support & resistance/price action methods as I think
it’s to way to go. I’ve had some success but if I look at my long term
balance it is clear that I have not learnt to be a profitable trader
yet. My issue is consistency, I am not consistently profitable, I will
have 1-4 weeks where a make some good pips or break even and then I can
have 1-4 weeks in a row where I either don’t make any pips or loose a
fair few.
My main question is this: Is it normal to have a
couple of flat weeks IN A ROW where good traders don’t make any pips and
I maybe loose a few? Also, I know I should have known that this was
going to be one of those weeks due to the Wall street weather issues…
but is there generally any way of telling that the week is going to be
laden with ominous trading conditions before it’s too late?.. And what
is the best way to handle it? I.e Stay out of the market and not trade. I
think this blog is great and would really appreciate your insight.
Nick
Dave, It is not normal to have a few good weeks and a few bad. You are probably not taking the right trades. What pairs and time frames are you trading?
Davep
Hi Nick, you are probably right – I try to pick my trades wisely but I don’t think I’ve worked out exactly how. I generally trade EUR/USD, GBP/JPY and USD/CAD when it’s moving. I live and work in Sydney so I place entry or market orders and mostly watch the 4 hour charts from 7-11am and 8-9pm GMT time.
puga
Hello Nick,
I’ve been on demo for last 2 months and basically i trade your strategy (Thanks). Since I am working full time i am able to trade on daily charts. 1 setup average per week that i was able to identify, My question is what are your suggestions on the stop loss and profit target that i could use?. As right now, I am using risk:reward 1;1.5, where else the stop (if sell) is at the highest of of indecision candle.
Thanks,
Nick
1:2 or 1:1.5 is about what I use. This really cannot be explained in a blog comment. I am adding a note to my whiteboard and I will write an article on this soon.
tony
I am having trouble with my trading after andrew barnett sends me trade alerts they cut off when they reach the price level and not he profit level thanks Tony