my first year trading

moneymad

Here is what my first year of trading looks like. I traded mostly gold on forex using metatrader4.
Hope I improve in my second year.

BrokenArrows

The pic doesn't work.

freeze4real

Fair play for sticking yours up.I'm 6months into trading as well(2nd time giving it a go) and I'm in a loss. Hopefully by June I hope to reduce the deficit.

Out of interest what broker do you use ?

you said you trade gold, how do you trade it ?

big_joe_joyce

i had a horrible start to the year ( april ) , i bought in just as the sell in may and go away tradition began

then i bought some european banks , societe generale being the biggest loser , being a greenhorn , i bailed out and took a beating , pity as the stock has since doubled in price

i made up for this poor start in the summer by doing very well trading corn , made 8 k in the space of a few weeks , also done well with the french oil company total

my most successfull investments this year were irish , glanbia and kerry saw huge gains and it was because of those i ended the year with a 3 k gain , i also earned dividends which im not including

i used td investing , 15 euro for regular traders , much cheaper than the irish brokers

moneymad

I use ava fx broker. Most of my trades are done by just watching the price really. I'm only starting to get into the technical side of things now.

ixus

DO NOT make libelous comments on this forum.

ixus

Moneymad - your avator appears to fit perfectly. Just looking at those figures I would say you are mad in the head.

I think you need to explain a bit more about what you are/trying to do. What timeframes you are getting involved in, what your goals are.
Are you using real money at the moment?
Do you have a fundamental understanding of all these markets?

Do you understand volatility? Looking at the markets you've traded I would say you haven't a clue about the volatility or liquidity in any of those markets. 19 pips in Brent, 13 in CL? Probably happened within minutes of you putting on the trade. Cotton?!Gasoline? LOL

1300 trades in Gold losing 9000 pips. At what point do you say enough?

If that "Risk of Ruin" tab is working correctly, it should say 100%

I'm not attacking you for the craic or to hurt your ego. I fully understand the risks involved in the markets you've tried trading.

I really hope that it's only a sim account.

liammur

moneymad wrote: »

Here is what my first year of trading looks like. I traded mostly gold on forex using metatrader4.
Hope I improve in my second year.

Trade the S&P500 more is my advice!

moneymad

ixus wrote: »

Moneymad - your avator appears to fit perfectly. Just looking at those figures I would say you are mad in the head.

I think you need to explain a bit more about what you are/trying to do. What timeframes you are getting involved in, what your goals are.
Are you using real money at the moment?
Do you have a fundamental understanding of all these markets?

Do you understand volatility? Looking at the markets you've traded I would say you haven't a clue about the volatility or liquidity in any of those markets. 19 pips in Brent, 13 in CL? Probably happened within minutes of you putting on the trade. Cotton?!Gasoline? LOL

1300 trades in Gold losing 9000 pips. At what point do you say enough?

If that "Risk of Ruin" tab is working correctly, it should say 100%

I'm not attacking you for the craic or to hurt your ego. I fully understand the risks involved in the markets you've tried trading.

I really hope that it's only a sim account.

Looking back over my account you'd think I was mad in the head. Far from it.
I jumped straight into trading without knowing what I was looking at on the mt4 software. It was a buzz at the start trading a bit of this and a bit of that.
Fairly quickly I had no choice but to find out what margin was because as soon as I clicked the buy button , I couldn't figure out why I was down a fiver on one trade and down 20 on another. Both the same size but different instruments.
Looking back at what I just wrote I think you may be right about being mad in the head. But that was only at the start. And that's where I made most of my major mistakes. I bought too many lots of gold and couldn't close the trade that was losing me a Langer load of money.

Anyway I haven't had enough yet and I have a bit of a plan worked out for this year.

arrowloopboy

You seem to have only lost about 3 grand if i'm reading it right,not a huge amount of money,if youv'e learned from all:D your mistakes ,its **** all.
You need a plan,a set of criteria for each trade,you need to know when to get in,what % of your a/c to trade ,what s/l to set and where to get out,you need to have all this set down ever before taking a trade.
Trading on whims,notions,emotions ,revenge and just the need for action will put you in the poor house.
STOP trading until you have a system/plan.
Read trade your way to financial freedom by Van Tharp,and trading in the Zone by Mark Douglas,if you have time ,it will make things much easier.
You should know roughly how much profit each trade will return/or the return on each euro invested,before taking a trade.
Good luck.

freeze4real

You might want to stop trading for a while and learn about the fundamentals of trading first, then apply what you've learnt in your demo account.

Then familiarize your self with technical analysis, moving averages support and demand RSI etc.

The more you familiarize yourself you improve your skills and you'll be able to implement them on different financial instruments.


Definitely read trading in the zone.

aidanki

freeze4real wrote: »

You might want to stop trading for a while and learn about the fundamentals of trading first, then apply what you've learnt in your demo account.

Then familiarize your self with technical analysis, moving averages support and demand RSI etc.

The more you familiarize yourself you improve your skills and you'll be able to implement them on different financial instruments.


Definitely read trading in the zone.

Trading in the zone is that a worthwhile book to buy?

neil.p.b

Trading in the zone is a very good read. It's more based around the psychology of trading rather than techniques but a good read none the less. Most books are available online in .pdf format, not as nice to read as on paper but saves a few euros. Just google 'trading in the zone.pdf'

freeze4real

aidanki wrote: »

Trading in the zone is that a worthwhile book to buy?

neil.p.b is absolutely right

arrowloopboy

neil.p.b wrote: »

Trading in the zone is a very good read. It's more based around the psychology of trading rather than techniques but a good read none the less. Most books are available online in .pdf format, not as nice to read as on paper but saves a few euros. Just google 'trading in the zone.pdf'

The psychology is much much more important than any system/technique.

neil.p.b

Partly agree. But he needs to now how to trade before he tackles the psychology of it. Trading in the zone is a must read but for a beginner it is not first on the list IMO. I'd recommend Alexander Elders 'Trading For A Living' and/or 'Come Into My Trading Room' as a first book to read and study. 'Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets' by John J. Murphy is also a good introductory book, touches on a lot of things and would give a good basis though it side-tracks a bit into less important things that a beginner shouldn't be worrying himself with just yet.

arrowloopboy

Thats also true Neil,he seems to have about 1400 trades for the year,which is 4 or 5 a day,which is basicially day trading,which is madness for a novice,and also shows a need for action.It looks like he's only trading 5 or 10 cent a pipp.
Maybe more quality less quantity,and possibly more equitys less fx/commodities

moneymad

I got trading in the zone and trading for a living audiobooks last summer. They are very good.

One of the problems I have with winning trades is when to take profits.
You are in a winning trade and when you think a bottom is in and you close out your trade only to find it goes a lot further in your favour. I've tried trailing stops and manually moving stops as the market moves in my favour. I've also taken profits in stages.


4 days into the trading year and it's going very well.
Gold is dropping like a rock.

arrowloopboy

moneymad wrote: »

I got trading in the zone and trading for a living audiobooks last summer. They are very good.

One of the problems I have with winning trades is when to take profits.
You are in a winning trade and when you think a bottom is in and you close out your trade only to find it goes a lot further in your favour. I've tried trailing stops and manually moving stops as the market moves in my favour. I've also taken profits in stages.


4 days into the trading year and it's going very well.
Gold is dropping like a rock.

You will never get all of the profit mm,a % trailing stop is 1 method you might use or an atr multiple s/l ,you will have to weigh up the volatility of the different instruments your trading,and what type of s/l would be sensible.Too big and it will adversely effect your profits,too small and whipsaw will kill you.
Dont feel too bad,its the hardist part of the trade.

moneymad

First quarter update.


I started 2013 with €894 balance from an original €3449, down €2555.00 in total.
After the first quarter here is what my account looks like.
As of today my balance is €2982.17.

The way I trade is working for me but I think I could be doing a lot better than I am at present. My win ratio is 33%.

delux

Cool
How come it says commissions €0 though? is it a simulation or the real thing?

moneymad

delux wrote: »

Cool
How come it says commissions €0 though? is it a simulation or the real thing?

The site is www.myfxbook.com. You connect your trading software with this site and it gives you all the charts and gadgets to keep track of your trading.
My account is verified.It's a real trading account, with real money.

delux

oh right i see... was just curious. I'm obsessed with commissions
If anyone ever adds up all the commissions they pay it can surprise you!

moneymad

delux wrote: »

oh right i see... was just curious. I'm obsessed with commissions
If anyone ever adds up all the commissions they pay it can surprise you!

I don't blame you. They make a good profit.

arrowloopboy

delux wrote: »

oh right i see... was just curious. I'm obsessed with commissions
If anyone ever adds up all the commissions they pay it can surprise you!

Its a killer Delux,but just look at it as an expense of your business.
You wouldn't expect to run any business with zero expenses ,office space phone bills etc etc.Thats the way I look at spreads /comms.

moneymad

Sunday night i knew there would be fireworks.

Just got my account into profit.




This is the last update till the 2nd quarter.