Is mindset holding you back 🤔Trading can be a rollercoaster of emotions.
Many traders are unaware of when their state of mind leads to underperforming trades and why it happens.
We are all different and unique when it comes to trading, and understanding the type of trader you are is essential to your success.
Traders can spend a lot of time studying technical indicators and strategies, but understanding the psychology driving your trading decisions is just as important.
The first starting point of getting on the right path in regards to trading psychology and emotions is by having the right one of two mindset choices.
There's two mindsets which will effect your trading results and progress massively.
They are 'Growth mindset' and 'Fixed mindset'
Of those two mindsets there is only a place for one when it comes to trading and that is 'GROWTH MINDSET'
The graphic on chart shows the difference between the two mindsets.
If you can't ditch the 'Fixed mindset ' you will never be able to progress in trading.
No matter how great of a trader you think you are, or how well you think you handle your emotions.
It's impossible to remove them from the equation completely when trading.
When emotions are combined with a 'Fixed mindset' mentality however you are going to feel emotional pain and loss of money when it comes to your trading.
Once you have learned to recognise your mindset, you can then begin the next important step of switching to the ' Growth mindset '
People with a ' Fixed mindset ' believe they are born with a certain amount of intelligence and that it is fixed for the rest of their lives.
People with a 'Growth mindset ' however know that intelligence is not fixed and that you can in effect grow your brain.
They see their traits as just a starting point and know that these can be developed by hard work, effort, dedication and challenge.
Having a growth mindset can improve your progress and attainment and this is crucial in being successful as a trader.
The brain can be developed like a muscle, changing and growing stronger the more it is used.
Your abilities are also very much like muscles they need training in order to perform at their peak.
You can learn how to do anything you want to do and you can get better at whatever that is with time and consistent practice.
Even if you have what you perceive to be a talent or ability for something, if you never practice that talent or ability you simply will never improve.
Applying this theory to your trading game will help you grow not just your accounts but as a person also.
Get that 'Growth mindset' and start believing in your ability to change.
Thanks for looking.
Darren 🙌
Trading Plan
Trading Hours and Market ClockTime Zone: UTC + 4:30
01. Wellington NZX: 02:30 am - 09:15 am
02. Sydney ASX: 04:30 am - 10:30 am
03. Tokyo JPX: 04:30 am - 10:30 am
04. Singapore SGX: 05:30 am - 01:30 pm
05. Hong Kong HKEx: 06:00 am - 12:30 pm
06. Shanghai SSE: 06:00 am - 11:30 am
07. Mumbai NSE: 08:15 am - 02:30 pm
08. Dubai DFM: 10:30 am - 03:15 pm
09. London LSE: 11:30 am - 08:00 pm
10. Zurich SIX: 11:30 am - 08:00 pm
11. Frankfurt FWB: 11:30 am - 08:00 pm
12. New York NYSE NASDAQ: 06:00 pm - 12:30 am
13. Toronto TSX: 06:00 pm - 12:30 am
Motivation Is Not A Superpower - The Power of Not Giving UpI think most people overweight the word "motivation"
Motivation only gives you the sudden thrust to initiate, continue or terminate a certain behaviour at a given time, it is not lasting.
Without a good attitude, mental and physical toughness, effort, passion, and focus, motivation is nothing but a booster.
You do not need motivation to succeed as it only gets you started.
The power of not giving up is what determine our achievement.
The same goes into trading, I've coached/ talked to more than 30 Traders in the past, most of them have extreme level of interest in the beginning.
But as time goes by, I saw almost every of them walk away from this business, not because they do not know trading will probably bring them financial freedom, but because their fear of failure has overweighted their motivation to succeed.
Probably because they have blown up multiple accounts, instead of digging into the root of cause and finding solutions, they give up after several failure.
Trading is just like any business, it requires time, energy, effort, tear, money, ongoing passion, high level of discipline and consistency to outperform the 90 - 95% of losing Traders.
The more you are able to become a problem-solvers, the higher the chance you may succeed.
What I always suggest to inconsistent Traders, is to become a specialist. Specialize in certain markets, certain timeframe, certain currency pairs, don't try to have your eyes all over the place.
If you're constantly shifting your focus, you will never get anything done. You only need to master in one specific asset/ pair to become consistently profitable.
Think about it and let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Becoming A Flexible TraderTo become a flexible Trader might sounds like an easy thing to do, but to become a consistently profitable Trader in the market takes lots of internal growth.
In this video I'll be sharing some of my personal experiences and advice into becoming all-rounded 'good ' Trader.
If you like the content make sure you click the like button and share it with anyone else who needs to watch this.
Trade safe and take care.
All the content I've posted are for educational purposes, please perform your own research and only take it as a reference.
Never Try To Hide Your Mistakes By Making More MistakesOne of the common patterns amongst Traders that's really causing them to unable to achieve consistency, is the fact that they do not own up/ admit their mistakes.
We're all humans, and we're bound to make errors every day, week, or month.
There's nothing wrong with making mistakes, and certainly making mistakes don't make you look stupid. It is the way that you refuse to admit that you've made mistakes that makes you look stupid.
Imagine today you've taken trades you're not supposed to take. During your self-reflection, you clearly knew you've over-traded, but you try to comfort yourself by putting the blame onto the markets, "the market condition was bad today, etc...".
Look.. Now you've made two mistakes.
1. Over-traded
2. Not being honest to yourself that you over-traded
Lying to yourself is one of the worst lies you can ever make. Overtime, It transforms and convinces you into accepting lies because it'd probably turned into a bad habit. It prevents you from growth, advance, and achieve.
Some of you probably have experienced lying to others. Ask yourself honestly, how many lies do you have to make up afterwards JUST TO cover up the first lie?
It's the same goes to yourself, your mind. The willingness to have complete transparency within your mind will boost your personal growth.
Sometimes, if you're experiencing some horrible trading days or months, make it a habit of sharing your mistakes with someone else. Trust me, the more you're willing to own up your errors, the better you perform.
Because now that you knew your problems, then you can always find solutions around it, if not, seek for help!
"Stop it, Picasso! Trading should be kept simple."Quick question: which of the two illustrations portrayed on the graph do you enjoy more?
If your preference is the one on the right, then you should have definitely continued the legacy of the Renaissance era artists. On the contrary, if you prefer the one on the left-hand side of the screen, let’s become friends.
Starting with the portrait (let’s put it that way) on the left, we can observe how everyhting is illustrated in a crystal clear way. Firstly, no indicators have been used, which makes it easier for us to read the chart. Second, it has been shown that with as few as 2-3 confluences, a trade has been executed.
On the opposite side of the road, we have the portrait which is depicted on the right side of the screen. We can see how blurry, messed up and confusing it all looks. Two random EMA’s crossing each other, ABCD patterns, Elliott Waves, tens of thousands of Fibonacci retracement levels, random Support&Resistance levels and many other indicators have been added into the chart with zero purpose. Yes, indicators could and should be used as confluences. However, by adding tens of indicators into your charts, you are not beating the market. Just like in real life, everything should be utilised in moderation.
The purpose of this idea is not trying to damage the reputation of indicator trading, but to show that pure price action will always be the king. Many beginning traders get tricked into believing that by adding multiple indicators into their charts, they will have a high win rate, a successful trading journey, long-term profitability. Little do they know that many indicators contradict to each other and perplex novices into entering random positions.
Of course, as we always say, if it works for you, then go for it. Chart analysis is only a part of your trading plan. There is also psychology, risk management, discipline and so forth.
Self-Reflection Is The Key To GrowthHi Traders, in the previous mindset sharing I talked about the simple equation that has helped me to progress faster
"Pain + Reflection = Process"
But you could be thinking "How do i reflect?" OR "I do reflect a lot, but I don't see myself going anywhere."
I believe it all comes down to the way you perform your self-reflection & self-reviewing process.
If you're not digging into the root of problems, you'll never get rid of it.
Let's assume today you've taken 5 trades. Now the market has closed, you're performing your daily reflection.
First thing first, is to write down a list of what you think you've done right, and what you've done wrong.
Maybe your entry was perfect, but you did not manage the trade well, whether you size in too big/ aggressively or you did not manage your exits well.
Be very real to yourself when you're doing your self-reflection, do not try to hide things or blame things just because it makes you feel good.
I've seen quite some numbers of Traders not admitting their own mistakes, trying to put the blame to the market or any external factors.
Being true to yourself is the first step to changes, if you can't even be honest to yourself, there's no way you can improve.
After you've written down the list, now question yourself:
"Is there anything that could be improved?" OR "Is there anything that I could eliminate because they're impeding your overall performance?"
Most of the times, Traders are not achieving consistency mainly because of the ONE mistake that they've been repeating, and it turned into a habit.
After you've performed your self-reflection, make sure you write down your conclusion and make sure you do not repeat the same mistakes again tomorrow.
One step at a time, repeat this process every day.
53 pip profit + Horizon wins yet again! + New Horizon tradeIf these ranges lasted forever, I wouldn't mind at all.
I took 53 pips this morning long, this was something I posted 2 times about last night and this morning, so check those out for a more in depth look at the signals that lead to that move. It's really important in this market to be in before the move happens, you miss out on a lot of money, and your exposure almost triples when you chase the market. Remember that.
Horizon took 76 pip profit today from last Friday. That's nearly 50 pips net, since the beginning of this range. It took a 60 pip loss after being up almost 80 pips on Thursday. It couldn't find a valid exit, which is annoying considering that this strategy could have produced over 140 pips in profit last week. Trust me I've played with trailing stops and static profit targets with this strategy and they just don't work nearly as well as just letting trades run and waiting for a strong exit signal. Trade number 3 was the worst loss Horizon has taken to date, I mentioned earlier that Horizon assesses stop losses on bar close and not in real time, so the strategy is exposed adversely to large break out candles like the one in the picture below. This is a risk that I'm willing to accept though because A. Horizon mitigates that risk using multiple confirmation protocols and B. the RR is 3-4 times the losses. This strategy is designed to take 30-50 pips on average, with occasional 100-200 pip trend. As things stand, Horizon's average loss is only about 20-30 pips. Plus Horizon's wining 6-7/10 at this point so it's all good! Plus I'm adding some logic this week that I'm hoping will boost performance even further. So far it's 2/3 and currently 30 pips up on it's 4th live trade. That said if I DID find a better alternative to this stop loss strategy, I would more than likely cut my max draw down in half. It's sitting at about 8-9 right now, which I would love to get down to about 5% using the same risk. Horizon's current exposure is 1.7% per trade because of the draw down rules that FTMO and other prop firms put in place. With my own capital, I could easily raise that to 2-3%, I don't really want to though (yes I do)
Horizon , like I mentioned has pyramided a short trade which has been as high as 35 pips profit, so far, so this one's looking like a winner as well.
Overall that's 150 pips taken between me and the machine in the last 4-5 days, so very happy, and I'm praying for even further success in the coming weeks. I'll link each post so you can audit my trades. I post these trades well before the moves actually happen.
Trading Sessions in Forex | Trading Basics 🕰🌎
Hey traders,
In this post, we will discuss trading sessions in Forex.
Let's start with the definition:
Trading session is daytime trading hours in a certain location.
The opening and closing hours match with business hours.
For that reason, trading hours are varying in different countries because of contrasting timezones.
❗️Please, note that different markets may have different trading hours.
Also, some markets have pre-market and after-hours trading sessions.
In this post, we are discussing only forex trading hours.
The forex market opens on Sunday at 21:00 GMT
and closes on Friday at 21:00 pm GMT.
There are 4 main trading sessions in Forex:
🇦🇺 Australian (Sydney) Session Opens at 21:00 GMT and closes at 06:00 GMT
🇯🇵 Asian (Tokyo) Session Opens at 12:00 GMT and closes at 9:00 GMT.
🇬🇧 UK (London) Session Opens at 7:00 GMT and closes at 16:00 GMT.
🇺🇸 US (New York) Session Opens at 12:00 GMT and closes at 21:00 GMT.
Asian trading session is usually categorized by low trading volumes
while UK and US sessions are categorized by high trading volumes.
Personally, I trade the entire UK session and US opening and usually skip Australian and Asian sessions.
What trading sessions do you trade?
❤️If you have any questions, please, ask me in the comment section.
Please, support my work with like, thank you!❤️
Pain + Reflection = ProgressHi Traders, welcome back to another mindset sharing video.
Whenever I go through some obstacles or failures, I always go back to this simple equation by Ray Dalio,
"Pain + Reflection = Progress"
In life, the only way to not experience any failures is to avoid them, which could be very detrimental to your personal growth.
To grow, one need to experience certain levels of pain.
To transform, one need to have a high pain threshold and tolerance.
For whatever you're going through right now, just remind yourself to not give up, and things will eventually come.
This is why patient traders are profitable and consistent"Cut the losers only, let the winners run". One of the quotes that are pretty popular among beginning and experienced traders. Sounds pretty simple, but let's take a look at it in practice.
On the left-hand side, we have illustrated the recent trading history of a patient trader, and on the right side, that of an impatient one. Taking a close look at the recent trades of the patient trader, we can observe that he has a solid trading plan, rock-solid psychology and discipline, and a very good risk management plan. Out of 5 trades, he has only won 3 of them. But due to the fact that he risks only 1% of his trading capital per trade and sets realistically-positive Take Profit levels that vary depending on the market, he makes really appetising returns.
On the contrary, the impatient trader has everything to fail. If we take a look at the recent trade history, we can notice that this trader neither has a well-defined risk management strategy nor any discipline or patience (well, the name says it all).
There is a common misconception in the world of trading that states: "the higher your win rate is, the more profitable you will be in the markets". This statement is absurd and totally incorrect. No matter how high your win rate is, if you are not risk tolerant and you put all of your eggs in the same basket, you will be far away from reaching the doors of consistency and profitability.
To add, patience and a strong psychology are heavily linked and cannot exist without each other. Hence, once you teach your mental state the importance of the ability of sitting on your hands and waiting, your trading journey will head towards the correct direction.
Enjoy the read!
Investroy.
Types of Orders In Trading | Trading Basics 🤝💱
Hey traders,
In this post, we will discuss types of orders that we use in Forex trading.
➖ Market order.
Trading position is opened at a current price level.
Buying the asset, you will open a trading position at a current ask price.
Selling the asset, you will open a trading position at a current bid price.
Even though market order is the most preferable type of orders among newbie traders, I highly recommend not to use that, especially if you are a day trader.
❗️The main problem is that prices constantly fluctuate and there is a certain delay between order execution and position opening. For these reasons, the position will be opened from a random price level within the range where the market is currently staying, affecting a risk to reward ratio.
➖ Limit order.
Trading position will be opened only from a desired price level.
With buy limit, you will buy the asset from a certain level.
(current price remains above the order)
With buy stop order, you will buy the asset from a certain level.
(current price remains below the order)
With sell limit, you will sell the asset from a certain level.
(current price remains below the order)
With sell stop, you will sell the asset from a certain level.
(current price remains above the order)
That is the order type that I prefer. Limit order helps you to trade from a desirable level, automatically executing the order once it is reached, letting you preliminary set it.
❗️However, remember that there is one big disadvantage of that order type: there is no guarantee that the price will reach the desired price level to activate a trading position. For that reason, occasionally you will miss the trades.
Try these order types on a demo account to learn how they work in practice.
Which order type do you prefer?
❤️If you have any questions, please, ask me in the comment section.
Please, support my work with like, thank you!❤️
Does Trading More = More Profits?Seems like most of the Traders think that by trading more = more profits.
The answer to this can be two-dimensional.
Yes, theoretically the more you trade means you could make more money. If we simply do the math, day trader should be making more than swing trader/ long-term investor right?
But why the failure rate of short-term Trader is much higher than swing Trader & long-term value investors?
The key element here is emotions.
Let me share some examples here:
• Trader A is a swing Trader. On average he takes about maximum 5-10 positions per month
• Trader B is a day Trader. On average he takes about 5-10 positions per day
In this case, let's put performance asides, but who do you think will have less emotions involved in their decision making process? Definitely Trader A.
When you're taking less trades, means each time before you get involved in any position, you spend more time on your planning process, you are aiming for quality rather than quantity.
When you have more involvement in the market, you have a higher probability of over-trading, over-thinking, and over-reacting.
I'm not here trying to blast daytrading isn't profitable, it is in fact profitable. But most retail Traders take large numbers of unnecessary trades which elevate their risks, causing them not able to achieve profitability over the long-run.
When you lose a trade, you have a tendency of revenge trading. The more trades you lose, your irrational thoughts creates hope and ego, believing that you cannot be wrong.
The devil behind all these bad trading habits is purely illusion, the illusion of "This is going to be the best trade" OR "What if i don't take this and it turns out to be a winning trade?"
CEOs', Hedge Fund Manager, etc... They are all paid generously to make a small quantity of quality decisions, not to take large numbers of poor decisions. The same goes to trading, market will reward Traders who understand Risk Control and Trade Management.
The lesson here is to never rely on luck & hope in your trading. Instead, put more focus on your discipline and planning process. The more you are able to disregard the market noises, the better you perform.
100% win rate strategy is possible!! Technically[ ]100% win rate is not possible but 100% no loss is possible. I know what you guys are saying right now,"What the hell,isn't both of these are the same thing".Well you're not wrong. What about 100% profit and 100% no loss,is it still the same? No they are not the same.
[ ]100% profit means 100% no loss but 100% no loss is not always 100% profit. With 100% no loss you can still have 0% profit.
[ ]Suppose you have 66.66% win rate strategy means you will win 66.66 and lose 33.33 out of 100 trades. So if we can do something about those 33.33 trades we can actually achieve 100% profit and that's where no loss strategy comes in. So technically we can achieve 100% win rate Holy-Grale strategy.
[ ]Another example of the importance of no loss strategy is:
Suppose,Sam who is a new trader has a normal strategy of 66.66% win rate.In first session of 100 trades he wins 66 trades in row and next 33 trades he loses in a row. In next session of 100 trades he first loses 33 trades in a row, as of now he is back to square one. But that's not possible, that's why trading is not gambling.Even if it's not possible suppose now he has the no loss strategy he will never go back to square one.He will now have constant profits like the 5% of traders who makes profits.
[ ]I have already found my own 100% win rate/Holy-Grale/100% no loss strategy.Well not 100% but 99.99% no loss strategy because of price spread, fat finger mistake etc. The name of my strategy is SSS-Grade Strategy v888.088. I made it for 5 minutes timeframe and improved over 2 years,so yeah it can work in any higher time frame.My strategy works in range or trending market but only in crypto.I have combined 3 strategies into one strategy.
[ ]One is for support and resistance zones which act as support of my SSS-Grade Strategy just like human leg support weights.You can see how accurate these support and resistance zones in my previous ideas and below.Few days ago I posted my idea about ethereum short 1hr TF, after a few minutes someone named ****amer69 also posted a Idea about ethereum long 1hr TF.Because we both are support and resistance traders it was fun and exiting experience. If this idea gets 10000 likes and 10000 followers I will post few tips and tricks about support and resistance and his support and resistance mistake.Well joke aside I may do it in the near future.
[ ]The heart of the SSS-Grade Strategy is my confirmation strategy. It consists of 7+ plus rules. So its easy to make fat finger mistake in my phone cause I don't have a pc.
[ ]Lastly the brain of my SSS-Grade Strategy is no loss strategy.As the name applies, it takes me out of the losing trade with no loss.Sometimes with very very small profit or very very small loss.It's also work great for dynamic take profit like supertrend, atr stoploss etc
[ ]As for the proof of my SSS-Grade Strategy you will see as I write more ideas with my strategy.
[ ]So what I am trying to say is,its not technically impossible to make 100% win rate strategy. So all the traders, youtubers please make some videos or post about it and that can be great help for the trading community cause I didn't see any no loss strategy as of yet.
[ ]P.S: You will not find my SSS-Grade Strategy anywhere in the Internet.
Unraveling the bitter truth about compounding in trading"I'll start with $100 and flip it to $10k" is one of the lies we tell ourselves when we first start trading. Although compounding can do some wonders, without realistic expectations and targets, you will not reach your goal.
Illustrated on the chart, we can see a sincere and a deceitful statistical representation of a compounding system based on a year-long tracking. All numbers depicted in percentage-based returns are for example purposes. For both cases, we will have a $5000 beginning capital to work with.
Looking at the left hand-side of the screen where the realistic statistics are, we can observe that the ROE (return on investment) numbers differ from one month to another. Some months result in a small loss, some are in deep profits and so on. Just like every single trade, every single month should result in the following:
- A big win
- A small win
- A small loss
- A breakeven
On the contrary, looking at the table portrayed on the right side of the screen, we can see a blurry image of compounding. Expecting to make a fixed return of 10% every single month is nice, but unrealistic. No matter how well-backtested your trading strategy is, in the world of business and finance, nothing is 100%. Plus, there are several factors influencing our trading life: changing market conditions, negative impact of the surrounding environment on our everyday lives and so on. What we are trying to emphasise is that mentally and psychologically, it is impossible to make huge returns consistently on a monthly basis.
The bottom line: have a trading plan that fits your lifestyle the most, be disciplined, risk-tolerant, cold-blooded. And most importantly do not rush the process, as good things come to those who wait.
The Fine Line Between Trading VS Gambling - Important LessonHi Traders. This is the video edition of yesterday's workshop.
I genuinely believe this is one of the very important topic that we MUST all learn - identifying the distinct differences between trading VS gambling.
Recap
Most Traders put way too much attention on indicators.
Indicators are supposed to assist us with our decision making process, but if at any point you feel like some of the indicators are burdening OR paralyzing the way you make effective decision, then its probably time for you to eliminate them,
At certain of your trading journey, you'll need to focus on subtraction, rather than addition.
Novice Traders come into the market with the mindset of "I want to learn and know as many things as possible" , all they're trying to do is to absorb like a sponge.
Experienced Traders understand that less is more.
The more you know what's not for you, the better you perform, and the better you're at avoiding distractions.
Do you really think anyone can be successful purely through knowledge and experience? and does knowing more means you're more knowledgeable?
What is the true definition of knowledge? The way i define a wise person is when they understand what's good for them and what's bad for them.
The secret of trading success lies in Principles.
The way you create a plan, rules and principles, then execute them relentlessly.
Remember: The fine line between a Gambler and a Trader, is a plan.
Gamblers gamble without a plan, while Traders gamble (anticipate the future) by having frameworks, plans, rules, and principles.
The Fine Line Between Trading VS GamblingMost Traders put way too much attention on indicators.
Indicators are supposed to assist us with our decision making process, but if at any point you feel like some of the indicators are burdening OR paralyzing the way you make effective decision, then its probably time for you to eliminate them,
At certain of your trading journey, you'll need to focus on subtraction, rather than addition.
Novice Traders come into the market with the mindset of "I want to learn and know as many things as possible" , all they're trying to do is to absorb like a sponge.
Experienced Traders understand that less is more.
The more you know what's not for you, the better you perform, and the better you're at avoiding distractions.
Do you really think anyone can be successful purely through knowledge and experience? and does knowing more means you're more knowledgeable?
What is the true definition of knowledge? The way i define a wise person is when they understand what's good for them and what's bad for them.
The secret of trading success lies in Principles.
The way you create a plan, rules and principles, then execute them relentlessly.
Remember: The fine line between a Gambler and a Trader, is a plan.
Gamblers gamble without a plan, while Traders gamble (anticipate the future) by having frameworks, plans, rules, and principles.
What is Forex and How Big It Is?💱
Forex - foreign exchange market, is a location where international currencies are bought and sold by economic participants at various exchange rates.
Forex market is the biggest market in the world, reaching on average 6 trillion dollars trading volumes daily.
Forex market is a vital element for a global economy because it provides capital exchanges between the countries.
The main market participants of forex market are central banks, commercial banks, commercial companies, hedge funds and investors.
🕰In order to grasp how big is that market, take a look what is happening on that just in 60 seconds:
📎Total transactions value reaches 3.52 billion US dollars.
📎 1.15 billion dollars of spot transactions.
📎 1.65 billion dollar of exchange swaps.
📎 Total transactions value involving USD reaches 3 billion US dollars.
📎 Total transactions value involving EURO reaches 1.1 billion US dollars.
📎 Just one single EUR/USD pair accumulates 812 million US dollars transactions value.
It is hard to imagine how such big amounts are rolling with such a frequency and how insignificant are the orders of individual traders.
❤️If you have any questions, please, ask me in the comment section.
Please, support my work with like, thank you!❤️
Become a better trader by just answering these questions!Hey Traders!
Most people think that trading success is found within a system... yet a successful trading system could be something as simple as 2 or 3 basic combinations, knowledge of price action and a sprinkle of instinct.
To me successful trading is a completely different path, I believe that real trading success falls into one sentence which is "Constant and never-ending improvement",
self-improvement that is, and in today's post, since it is the weekend, I want to go over this core improvement process with you so you too can become a better trader next week!
First to make it clear, I believe that out of the 100% required for trading success the system part falls into the low 10%, while the other 90%+ is within you, it is your knowledge, knowhow, instinct, mindset and everything else that makes you... you. The system is something you learn once and all you have to do is follow it forever with consistency and focus, sounds simple right? It kind of is but we humans tend to make it complicated.
Anyway, its Saturday the 9th of July and I want to give you 6 questions that if you answer will make you better by at least 1% right away, but if you continue to answer these questions each time you will, guaranteed no matter what (as long as you are honest) get better by 1% each time, how much better you become in entirely up to you, and by that I mean how honest you are and how consistent you are in answering these questions!
So, without anymore delays, here are the 6 questions that can make you a better trader:
What was my biggest loss and why?
What was my biggest profit and how?
What was the best thing I did this week?
What am I most excited about for the upcoming week?
Did I follow my system on every trade?
Was I in control of my trading, mentally, every time I traded?
BONUS QUESTIONS:
What prevented me from doing better?
What motivated me most?
What will I not repeat next week?
What will I repeat next week?
What do I want to remember it for?
What is the best highlight?
What do I regret not doing?
Do you have any of your own questions that could help other traders? - Do share in the comments!
Boredom Trading Could Be a Killer To Your ProfitabilityMost of the retail Traders are mainly day trading. And one of the trickiest part about short-term trading, is the amount of screen time we're putting in VS the amount of action we're taking.
On most days, i spend about 12-15 hours everyday sitting infront of the chart. only 15 - 30 mins of them are spent on clicking the buy & sell buttons. So if you do the math
30mins/ 720mins = 4.2%
Only 4.2% of my time is spent on taking action, the rest of 95.8% are spent on waiting, planning, testing, reviewing, assessing, studying, etc...
So now ask yourself a few questions:
1. How much of a portion of your time is spent on taking action?
2. How often do you over-trade OR revenge-trade?
3. How does impulsive trades affect your consistency?
I believe the best Traders have the highest ability to sit with their hands.
The ability to look at a high volatility market environment and say "no", and yet only focus on your plan should be the end goal of us as a day trader.
There are countless of market opportunities everyday, but how many of them are meant for you?
Risk:Reward Ratio. What is it?Risk to reward ratio. What is it? What does it mean and how do we use it?
Now, if you made it to the point where you're here on TradingView, there's a good chance that you have heard about Risk to Reward ratio. Today, I want to dive into what it really means and how to actually utilize it. I see so many beginners missing out on huge profits and opportunities because of their risk reward ratio and I want to share my knowledge of this tool and how to actually use it in the future.
Firstly, let's dive into what is the risk/reward ratio? The RR ratio is a tool that can accurately predict by expected returns based off of previous results. This tool measures how much reward you are estimated to gain based off of the dollar amount you risk. For example, if you have a risk to reward ratio of 1:3, it means for every $1 you risk, you will gain a return of $3 in the event of a positive trade. Using the same example in the FX market, let's say you're risking 10 pips on EURUSD, your take profit is at 30 pips. This means you gain 30 pips in the event of a win, lose 10 pips in the event of a loss, giving you a 1:3 risk/reward ratio.
This is a very powerful tool because compared with the win rate and in correlation, you can actually predict based off of your previous results, you're expected returns on investment. Being able to predict what you're expected returns are are great way of giving you milestone targets, but also when you're looking at getting funded with prop firms, you also know what you are actually able to achieve in what time frame.
Now, it goes without saying, the higher your risk to reward ratio, the less you need to win in order to maintain profitability. The opposite, the lower your risk reward ratio, the higher win rate is required to maintain profitability.
But this is where we get into where I find beginners struggle. A lot of people will base their strategies on their risk/reward ratios, which is understandable if you're building the strategy from scratch. If you're using a prebuilt strategy or something that doesn't really correlate with risk/reward ratio. Then it makes it obsolete and just confusing. Going back to my first point, risk to reward ratio is a tool that you can use to estimate future potential returns based off of previous results. Let's say you have 100 trades worth of data. You can accurately have a look at what is your risk to reward ratio is and compare that with your win rate. From there you can make a decision whether or not that is a profitable strategy. On top of that, you can then start to look to improve either your win rate and risk to reward ratio, knowing that that is an area that needs improvement.
When it comes to improving your risk to reward ratio, one thing that always grinds my gears with traders, is when they enter a trade, they'll set their stop loss and take profits based on their risk to reward ratio not based on the actual analytics of the trade. While I understand this and with some strategies, this can work. For most, they end up setting those take profits in areas that is just realistically is going to be really hard for the price to get to. What professionals do when trying to improve the risks of reward ratio is only take those setups where a good take profit is viable around that level of risk to reward.
For example, in this chart, we are looking at buying the USDCAD over the next couple of weeks. We like this setup. We've had our entry signal and we're going to place a stop loss below that recent low, which was created early last week. We are not happy with our risk to reward ratio. We think we're leaving too much profit on the table and want to increase our overall results. So I'm only taking trades that have close to a three to one risk to reward ratio. But as you can see by this chart that dotted lines are areas of resistance which we are going to have to break in order to achieve that level of profitability. There are 5 different zones we are going to have to get through in order for my take profit to be hit, it is fair to say the odds are not in my favor.
Now a beginner Trader will still enter this trade with the same take profit and the same stop loss and just hold on. The reason they'll do that is because they want the 1:3 risk reward ratio. They don't care where the profit target is. What matters is it is 3 times worth what they're risking. On the other hand, A professional trader will actually either let this trade go and not enter it, or look for another entry point later on on smaller timeframes to where you can fit that risk to reward ratio and you're not going to hit the high levels of resistance.
To sum up what my point is, risk to reward ratio is a very powerful tool to understand what you are capable of the trader and also where you can improve. It is not a valid take profit selection strategy. Yes, it can definitely help with guidelines on where to set your take profit, but it should not be the sole reason your take profit is set at a certain price just because it is X amount whatever you are risking. Have a look at what the chart is telling you and what your analysis is telling you. Then, only take the trades which coincide with the risk to reward ratio. You want to achieve.
I hope you enjoyed this insight and I hope it was beneficial to you. I recommend highly diving into your previous trading data. Have a look at your win rate. Have a look at your risk reward ratio and understand what your profitability expectation really is and base your future decisions off of that data. Have a fantastic trading we can I look forward to seeing your comments.
- Jordon
How to spot and avoid Stop Loss hunting: a complete guide Stop Loss hunting happens every trading day, and it's not something you would want to let fly under the radar.
We have carefully orchestrated some examples on the graph to give a clear picture of what this phenomenon really is, and listed some tips on how to avoid getting into this mouse trap.
In basic terms, Stop Loss hunting is the strategy of the price action spiking above/below key levels to enter the pool of Stop Loss orders and take the masses out of their positions before moving the price in the destined direction.
Looking at the first example, we can observe that a nice double top pattern has been formed. This is one of the clear indicators that the price might potentially drop after failing to rise above and forming a new top. Thus, a trader would most likely go short and set his Stop Loss a few pips above the freshly formed area of resistance. What happens next is obvious - a trader gets liquidated. Why? because him and tens of thousands of other market participants had set their Stop Losses at a very obvious key level - above the local zone of supply. After successfully spiking up and grabbing some liquidity, the price peacefully continues its bearish movements in the predetermined direction.
The second example is a similar one as well. "What a beautiful ranging market. Let's buy at support and sell at resistance." Only if it was that easy...
What happens next, the price spikes below the lower boundary of the sideways-moving range and grabs liquidity before moving in the upside direction.
Stop Loss hunting scenarios will always happen, and to be honest, we cannot really avoid them all. However, there are some tips that we can follow in order to evade these traps.
Firstly, you should never rush into entering positions. Eventually, the price will come to your levels and develop into some patterns (Double Top, Head&Shoulders etc.) before starting its big moves.
With that being said, no FOMO either. There will always be fish in the sea, just like there will always be opportunities in the market. Be patient, cold-blooded, and wait for your time.
Do not set a tight Stop Loss, because you will most likely get taken out immediately. Either set a wide one so you can escape hunting in case the price starts spiking up and down, or wait for cases of a fake breakout a.k.a liquidation before entering a position.
Last tip is a pretty smart one: set your entry orders at levels where masses would put obvious Stop Loss orders. Then, you will notice how many times the price goes in that direction.
Hope you enjoyed this Educational Post, dear TradingView community members! If you have any suggestions or recommendations for the next educational idea, feel free to let us know in the comment section below.
Are You Ready to Trade Full Time? 4 Essential Signs ⭐
Hey traders,
Once you mature in trading and become a consistently profitable trader, the question arises: are you ready to trade full time?
Becoming a full time trade is a very significant step and my things must be taken into consideration before you make it.
✨Becoming a full time trader implies that you quit your current job, that you give up a stable income - your salary.
In contrast to classic job, trading does not give guarantees. Please, realize that such a thing as stable income does not exist in trading.
Trading is a series of winning and losing trades, positive and negative periods. For that reasons, remember that in order to become a full time trader, your average monthly trading income must be at least twice as your monthly expenses.
✨Moreover, even if your trading income is sufficient to cover two months of your life, that is still not enough. You must have savings.
Trading for more than 8 years, I faced with quite prolonged negative periods. One time I was below zero for the entire quarter.
For that reason, supporting a family and living a decent life will require savings that will help you not to sink during the losing periods.
✨Another very important sign is your correct and objective view on your trading. Please, realize that if you bought Bitcoin one time and made a couple of thousands of dollars, it does not make you a consistently profitable trader. Please, do not confuse luck with the skill. Your trading must be proven by many years of trading.
✨You must be emotionally prepared for the living conditions that full time trading will bring you.
Being a full time trader implies that you are constantly at home,
you work from home from Monday to Friday.
You do not see your colleagues, your social life will change dramatically.
I know a lot of people who started to trade full time and then realized that they can not work from home for different reasons.
⭐So what are the necessary conditions for becoming a full time traders:
you should have savings that will cover the negative trading periods,
your average monthly trading income should be at least twice as your monthly expenses,
your trading efficiency must be proven by objective, consistent results,
and you must be psychologically prepared for working from home.
When these conditions are met, you can make a significant step and become a full-time trader.
Are you ready to become a full time trader?
❤️If you have any questions, please, ask me in the comment section.
Please, support my work with like, thank you!❤️