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My Biggest New Trader Mistakes & Lessons LearnedI thought I'd share my experience with other New Traders (I'm still 'new', 2yrs in). I made all the classic mistakes and plenty more, my learning is only just beginning. Hopefully this educational post helps others new to trading. Use a Stop Loss So many times I didn't use a Stop Loss. One of the main reasons was I kept getting Stopped Out and then the price reversed, it made me paranoid. Also when the day changes at the start of the Asia session, or over the weekend with the gaps on market open, I thought I was better not having one. I've Learned: If you don't use a Stop Loss it's psychologically hard to get out of a losing trade and you can easily blow your account. I think it's OK to move the stops temporarily before the Asian open, but ideally the trade would only be left open if a) it's well in profit and b) the move looks likely to continue. Don't move your SL & TP I kept moving both of these stops, I either couldn't face the actual loss when a trade went bad (it seemed less real on paper and there was always 'the chance' it would come back in my favour) or I got greedy when the trade went in my favour and then before I knew it, it reversed and my profit was gone. I've Learned: Moving Stops and Targets risks profitable trades; it's psychologically damaging as it suggests lack of planning and strategy, this is gambling. On the other hand, having a plan and seeing it playout, however big or small is hugely satisfying and is the best confidence builder. Get In and Out I kept looking for the really big moves, and I had a few, but only a few. I believe the longer you're in a trade, the riskier it is due to the many factors that can affect price - Institutions, Fundamentals, Global Events, there are so many things that can turn a good strategy bad, and I lost money. I've Learned: There are so many trading pairs, so many options, there'll always be another trade. Staying in a trade for too long is leaving money on the table, when it could be in your account, getting out too early is annoying, but having profit on the trade is much more important. Leaving trades over a weekend I've left both winning and losing trades over a weekend, and many times previously winning trades went against me, and losing ones got worse. Price can be unpredictable due to fundamental changes over a weekend. I've Learned: On a Friday, unless 80% happy that your trade will continue in the right direction over the weekend, close it and review again after market open (you may lose a few but you will have banked profits or minimised losses in many cases). Keep Fundamentals in mind I follow some traders who don't seem to care about Fundamentals, but in that time I've seen many of their signals go bad because of big news. I think, that they think, that if the news is in their favour they reach target quicker. If it's not, they reach target slower, as the market has already decided future price regardless. I've seen fundamentals shape both shorter and longer term trends, they can easily cause reversals and commonly they cause spikes in the opposite direction from what you'd expect, before then moving as you'd expect, but this can be too late. I've Learned: Each pair / trade is different, however I've learned to take a pragmatic approach, often getting out of a trade before the news and waiting for the market to calm down before considering re-entering. This can mean missing out, but too many times I was on the wrong side of the news, I'm more profitable stepping back first. Have positive involvement in the TradingView community From time to time I see comments on Trader's ideas that are less than positive, as though the commentator can predict the future? As a community of retail traders we are up against the institutions and the big money movers who love to take retail traders' money, this means as retail traders we're all on the same team. The total value of all of our accounts is like comparing the size of an atom to a planet! I've Learned: If you don't like someone's idea, move past it, or discuss professionally. Be open-minded to ideas and celebrate success, 'like' ideas that you like and give positive comments where you agree, we're all in this together, and everyone is trying their best. Do your own research I signed up to loads of Telegrams and followed signals blindly, and it cost me a lot. It's too easy for people giving signals to only report on the successful ones. The community around trading, particularly TradingView is awesome but it can be confusing, for every chart, for every pair there is so much subjectivity. Previous price action does not dictate future price movement, if it did everyone would win. I've Learned: Don't put your destiny in the hands of others, read and learn as much as possible but create your own plan and strategy, it's much more rewarding, both psychologically and for me, financially. Take a Break I was watching the charts of my trades almost constantly, whether up or down I was watching them, but not doing anything. If losing (without a SL) I'd be watching hoping it would come back, if winning I'd often manually close too early, or leave it too long (FOMO) and it was too much and made no positive impact on my trading success, it just caused stress. I've Learned: To create my plan with all of these lessons in mind, and action it if the conditions are right. If I'm working on my personal trading development now, I'm looking for future trading opportunities, I'm setting alerts for future price action, I'm writing and publishing my ideas, and most importantly I'm taking a break to enjoy weekends, holidays and normal stuff! Writing and publishing this education article is really cathartic for me, it's helping me to keep embedding the lessons I have learned. The best lessons are the hardest ones, the expensive ones! I've just started publishing my ideas on here and I appreciate all the support I can get to becoming a better trader, hopefully one day I can be good enough to do this full-time. It'd be great to know if you've experienced these and other lessons as a new trader. Are there any more that you can share with me, and the rest of the TradingView community?
OANDA:XAUUSDEducation
by Finchcliffe
7
Where to place your STP LOSS is important & can be misleading Choosing your STP loss determines your risk, and is essential part of executing your trade. On this trade analysis, we are looking at ticker F (Ford Motors) using the weekly (W) chart as the active chart, the price is selling off & coming into a Demand Zone (DZ). This DZ is also the last higher Low HL of the long-term (M) monthly uptrend. my trading strategy; makes perfect sense of placing LNG entry, at this level. Order entered & waiting like a snipper in the DZ, surly enough the price penetrates into the DZ & the LNG order is executed at $12.90, now where to place your STP LOSS, meaning at which point do you determine the trade has gone against you & you need to exit & cut your losses short. There are many strategies for placing your stop loss, some of the common ones, are placing the stop loss below the DZ, some other strategies offer a margin as a buffer, for example if price violates the DZ by lets say 0.50 points, am out & the STP Loss is triggered. the stop loss placement strategy that i used in this trade required a close of a candle stick below the DZ, few days after, once that occurred I executed you my STP loss, and was out at 11.30 points loss, so 1.60 loss per share. that is within my Risk to Reward ratio Now, the trade was still a loss, yet it was not a bust; simply because I anticipated this risk within expected range of my trade plan. in other words, I followed my trading plan & rules; that really matters. Following a trading plan is how novice traders become trading sharks. Obviously it hurts the ego to witness price rallies to $15 and above; shortly after closing below the DZ & triggering my stop-loss; but thats life, you can't make sense of it all, the best we can do is learn how to navigate it. *Active Chart (W) *Long-term chart (M) *Enter timing chart (D)
NYSE:FLong
by greatful-me
USD/JPY facing daunting resistance ahead of 150Might be an idea to tighten up stops. We are approaching the top of two channels and the old 1998 high all around 144.85/148.60 Disclaimer: The information posted on Trading View and other media platforms is for informative purposes and is not intended to constitute advice in any form, including but not limited to investment, accounting, tax, legal or regulatory advice. The information therefore has no regard to the specific investment objectives, financial situation or particular needs of any specific recipient. Opinions expressed are our current opinions as of the date appearing on Trading View only. All illustrations, forecasts or hypothetical data are for illustrative purposes only. The Society of Technical Analysts Ltd does not make representation that the information provided is appropriate for use in all jurisdictions or by all Investors or other potential Investors. Parties are therefore responsible for compliance with applicable local laws and regulations. The Society of Technical Analysts will not be held liable for any loss or damage resulting directly or indirectly from the use of any information on this site.
by The_STA
#gameplan P3N Low-Risk Setup:Risk management is very crucial when you trade. Here is one of my mostly applied strategies for risk management. It's useful for people who trade in a very volatile market or fade. This method aims to limit the loss to zero by taking profit when reaching 1R. It's with less profit than expectation, but lower the risk. 1. Open the position and set how much $ you're going to risk for this gameplan. Then set the partial TP at the 1R and xR levels. (xR is your target.) 2. When price reaches 1R, it TP 1/2 position to keep the small profit. 3. If the trend is against our expectation and have a down move to -1R, at which our stop loss is, we close the position with 1/2 of the original with the same amount of loss as the profit. So this will keep our trade safe. However, if it goes up to 5R, which is out target, we can still keep 1/2 of our position to take the profit. Tips: You can use Fibonacci tools to predict how many xR in your gameplan.
by p3nchan
2
The Problem with Breakeven TradesThe issue with breakeven trading is that when enough people are joining the market at the same place, be it a demand area or an order block. Many traders like to secure their positions immediately. This, however, creates liquidity. Whenever a large group of people move stop losses to the same area, expect that area to be a target for the banks. In this example, we can see buy orders being activated at an order block, a sudden push to make buyers secure their position, followed by a stop hunt of risk-free trades before continuing to the upside. Do you ever get caught in situations like this?
Education
by AlkalineFX
5
Learning Parallel Channel TrapsSometimes we can get so caught up in the fear of missing out on the breakout that we forget it could be a trap. It is always crucial to listen to your intuition when you see these easy setups because more often than not they are more complex than they seem. In this example, a breakout occurred and buyers put stops below the last structure, a few days later this structure got raided for liquidity. Once the liquidity was gathered we began to see the true move to the upside. Do you see this often in the markets?
Education
by AlkalineFX
2
ATR Indicator - How to Avoid Getting Stopped out of TradesIn this post we can see how the stops were taken out beyond. the 26600 price level. For any setup that a noobie trader may place, the SL would be taken out at this level; However using the ATR indicator we can avoid getting stopped out and keep our trade. I recommend you watch some videos on this indicator to get a better understanding but the main jist of it is -> Take a sweep low/high of a range and add/minus the ATR value (on the sweep candle) to get more legroom for price to move (but it will miss your stop) I hope you find this useful.
Education
by faken
1
EURUSD - Liquidity TrapI see a potential Liquidity Trap above this high on EU. There's going to be a lot of stops above this high as It's a fair swing point and as we know retail traders love having their stops above/below swing points. If we can fail to close above this level I will short to the FTA highlighted by the horizontal line. "Why are you certain there will be a reaction here?" - you might ask. Well if short traders have their stops above this high, as price squeezes and stops them out they will have to buy their way out of the order which provides a mass of buy orders or liquidity to the institutional players who need that liquidity to get their full positions in the market. They will then enter short to squeeze out any long traders who have traded the breakout or predicted the change in trend. And that's why we're in and out of these trades and will only trade to the FTA because you often find once price hits the FTA it can go either way.
by Kieran_Duff
2
Dollar CAD - Manipulation TimeThe week of August 17, USDCAD had no high. Its open was its high. It then waterfalled down to under 1.30 before bouncing. That low was never revisited. After FOMC, I'd say everyone is expecting a quick return to bull and a quick return to dump town for the once-mighty USD. I'd say they're right, but not before we see some good ol' fashioned manipulation. Long a stop raid on anywhere around 1.312 for best results/RR. But we may not see such an opportunity since short sellers are trapped. Once the raid on 1.326 is complete, price will come down quickly and retail can quickly begin to buy the top on TSLA and APPL again, and that's where the real opportunities emerge. Not that a 100 pip "scalp" isn't enough of an opportunity...
Long
by LordWrymouth