Learning To Be A Forex Trader

Waiting for MT5 for Android...

2011-10-08T05:32:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time between posts I've realised and the reason for that is that when I bought my Android phone, I didn't realise that I wouldn't be able to get a trading platform!

My broker doesn't have their own trading platform for Android as some others do. I did try installing MT4 Remote, and spent two days trying to set it up before giving up in frustration.

So, I've decided to wait it out. I'm waiting as are a lot of people, for MetaTrader 5 for Android. It's been promised for quite some time now, but still hasn't happened. It can't be too far away!

Mean time, my hubby is playing with the trading as he's home during the day. I've got too much on my plate anyway right now between my online business and work and so I'm happy to wait it out.

I'm sure MT5 will be worth it when it gets here!

I'll be back.....

2011-02-05T14:14:00.000-08:00

I just thought I'd put a quick post on here to explain why there has been no posts for the past 4 months or more. Well, we moved once again to a new area and then I started a new job. I've been working pretty much full time and I just was finding when I started this job that I couldn't focus on the trading while I'm working - I tried but it just wasn't working for me so I decided to take a break from it until I either had less time at work OR until I could check on my trades at work.

That will be happening some time in the next few weeks - the being able to trade at work bit that is.

I've just ordered an Android mobile phone so I'll be able to install Meta Trader and keep an eye on my trades while I'm at work. That will definitely help!

That way I can set up trades at home, but keep an eye on them at work and even take new trades while at work if I choose to.

Part of my problem when I started this job also, was that there was just so much to learn and I was so tired when I got home, that to even think about trading (which of course I am still learning - being VERY much a beginner) was stressing my out and my trading wasn't working at the time. But I think that I should be able to get back into it once I get my new phone. I'm really looking forward to it.

Also, my working hours may not be as full on soon and I should start having a bit more time to focus on my future - rather than my job!

Forex trading really is something that we can all do (if we choose to and if we choose to put in the time to learn) to create a more abundant future for ourselves and our family and I'm still excited by the prospect of getting good at it. So, Watch this space cos I'll be back.......

Some Forex Focus Required I think!

2010-09-22T05:45:00.000-07:00

Life has a habit of getting in the way or we let it get in the way of things we want to do, things we know we should be doing!

This is what's happening with my Forex trading. We're going to be moving in a week's time and I've got so many things on my mind. I've got things I want to get done on my websites because there's a very good chance we'll have to wait a couple of weeks for our internet connection to be relocated and blah, blah, blah....

So, I've not had my MT4 platform open since Monday morning when I checked for Pheonix trades, and obviously missed one in my scan through the currency pairs that everyone else seems to have found on one of the GBP pairs! Never mind.

I'll be opening my platform tomorrow tho, because I have is on good authority (from one of our trading mentors) that there might be some action going on with the USDJPY due to a public holiday in Japan and that meaning that the Japanese government won't be able to actively manipulate the Yen against the USD as they have been recently etc etc.

It sounds like it'll be worth looking at, so I will! But we've pretty much decided to leave the trading for the most part until we move and get settled. Then we're going to allocate an hour a day to learning! learning! learning!

No more procrastinating and playing and fluffing around. Time to treat our trading like a business and get serious - in a few weeks! I'll be back......

Forex Trading - Using Trailing Stops

2010-09-05T21:11:00.000-07:00

I just learned yesterday about using trailing stops. If you put on a trailing stop, you set the number of pips (the minimum is 15) that your stop will follow the price as it (hopefully) goes up.

This can be a good thing or a bad thing. Apparently some traders love using trailing stops, others don't use them at all.

What it means is that if you set for example a trailing stop of 20 pips, as the price moves up and reaches 21 pips from your original buy price, the stop loss will start to move up with the price. The stop loss will remain 20 pips behind the price, so as your profit goes higher, the most you can lose if it reverses and heads in the wrong direction is 20 pips.

The problem with this can be that as we find out when we start forex trading, the market can be pretty volatile and if you have your stop loss too close the the price point, it can go back, close your trade and then move on to where you originally had your take profit point.

This is something I'm going to play with however. As I said the lowest you can set a trailing stop is 15 pips, but you can set it higher - to where you want it. I think it will be a great thing when i can't watch the charts - which is often as it means I can secure some of my profit.

So often I put on trades and the almost reach my take profit point that I've set, and then they turn around and go the other way, stopping my out - which drives me nuts!

I'll be doing some testing with this probably on my demo account and live and I'll keep you posted.

I'm back with a new trading plan

2010-09-04T18:50:00.000-07:00

Ok, I haven't been here in a while. There's a lot going on in my life and even more in my mind of late so I've been otherwise preoccupied!

To be honest, I've been getting pissed off with the trading and my lack of success and have felt like quitting, but quitting isn't in my vocabulary - so here I am.

I've just sat and set up my trading platform and my charts again as I formatted my computer about 3 weeks ago, and have been procrastinating about setting everything back up again and that's been annoying me as I've not been able to really do any trading - not properly anyway.

What I've decided to do is to go back to the Zingo trade. We've got to re learn it as we've got new filters and specs that make our new Zingo trade a little more complicated than it was - that's another thing that's been causing the procrastination!

I'm going to forget about the Range trade for now and focus and really learn the Zingo trade and also do the Phoenix or Gap trade on a Monday morning. That way, I'm back to fixed times for putting on trades and I can set my alarm on my phone to remind me.

One of the things I'm really realising is that more trades is not better - in fact less trades can be a lot more profitable, so I just need to keep that in mind now and not let the 'more trades' instinct kick in as it has in the past. I think from what I've read of other new traders, it's pretty normal to assume that the more trades you put on the more money you'll make, but that's something that with a bit of time and learning the hard way, we eventually realise was an error!

Anyway, I will try to get back a bit more regularly and keep this up to date with how things are going.

Have a great day!

I've had enough of Forex!

2010-07-22T04:33:00.000-07:00

That's the way I feel right now. I'm pissed off and feel like quitting. The beginning of the month was going great and then the last week and a half or so has been dismal. We're down again to where we were a few weeks ago. It just feels like every trade I put on loses right now.

But I know that this like everything else is a process. A process that requires stickability. A process that requires learning. A process that requires guts.

It looks like it's easy you see. When we listen to those who've been at it a while and they're have success and they're doing it a making it work, we think that we can too - right from the start! What we don't realise (even though we think we do) is that it really does take time and learning. It's like an apprenticeship and none of those who are now successful knew success right from the start.

Nothing worth doing, will give success right from the start. There is always the learning process. Always the failures. The time where it feels like it's not working and not worth it. The time when you want to quit. That is when we mustn't quit!

Because that's why not everyone does this. That's why so many fail or quit. Because it looked like it was easy and then it wasn't and we think it's just us. That we're unique in our failure. That we're defective so we quit, not realising that it's part of the journey.

So, I'm not quitting even tho I feel like I've had enough right now. I feel like sitting and crying and feeling sorry for myself - but I'm not.

I know what I have to do - that I have to spend more time learning, more time in the trading room so that I can master my chosen trades and learn what I need to learn to be successful. We can all learn anything - anything we put our minds to. Anything we really commit to. So that's what I will do. I'll be back!

More Grid Trading

2010-07-13T22:57:00.000-07:00

I'm getting a little slack with posting to this blog - probably because I'm writing for so many other! I'm considering changing this to my Toxin Free site and just posting about my Forex adventures there - I don't know - but I'm thinking about it!

Anyway, I've finally gotten around to setting up a couple more 1 hour grids today. I now have four currency pairs set up for grid trading. They are EURUSD, USDCHF, USDJPY and EURJPY. I really like this trade and so does Ray. He's playing around with his demo account and doing really well!

I'm actually managing to gradually claw back what we lost in the first 6 weeks or so which is great. This month so far we're up by about 4% - I've regained what I lost last month plus a bit so going well!

It's funny that I've been putting off building new grids as it really doesn't take that long - procrastination! It's a curse. Anyway, that's it for this blog. Have a great day!

Patience is a virtue - especially in Forex trading!

2010-07-05T02:01:00.000-07:00

Well, it's Monday. I've been feeling really quite excited about our trading after our success last week and also learning this new grid trade - I just want to get into it!

I know it's not the way to be, but hey - when you've got a new toy you want to play with it.

But alas, almost all the currency pairs have started the week in a range - going sideways. Like a ball bouncing off two walls, they are going up and down and up and down and really going nowhere. So patient I must be.

My excitement for the day was downloading and installing a new Zigzag indicator. It's called the Gann Zigzag indicator and it's pretty cool! I changed the setting from a 2 to a 1 so it's nice and tight showing all the highs and lows really well, which is what I want for the Grid trades and also the Range trades so that I can really see where they are quickly.

So, I'm ready! Like a greyhound at the starting gate - just waiting.........

Forex Trades - choosing the right ones

2010-07-03T00:07:00.000-07:00

Apparently there are lots of different types of Forex trades - I'm talking about the different patterns on the charts that you can learn and use to tell you when to get in and out of a trade. Because I'm new to all of this I only know of a handful of these trades and I'm now trading three different types of trades (as of yesterday - so I guess that means I'd better update my trading plan!).

It seems that some people think that they need to find that one magic trade - the one that is always successful and that will make them rich! I don't think that trade exists and those who are looking for it will be doomed to looking and not really learning.

We've learned to go with the types of trades that we feel comfortable with - those that suit out lifestyle and the way we like to trade. To pick the trade or trades that we like and stick with them, master them and plug away through a gradual process to mastery and profit and then wealth. The problem is that in the very beginning it's all brand new and we have no idea what we might like - or not. We're now, however, starting to get some idea.

I've learned to think of this and other areas that I'm pursuing right now, as apprenticeships - time that must be served before success can be assured. Anything that is going to bring the success to my life that I want is going to take time - there is no quick and easy road. The time that must be taken and road that must be followed however, although seemingly difficult and feeling incredibly slow and frustrating at times, will be a much faster road when compared to the standard J.O.B. road to retirement at 65 or beyond with hopefully enough Super put away to make ends meet until D day!

Anyway, back to Forex - I'm really glad we learned the Zingo trade initially. It's easy to learn how the Zingo works and didn't take long to get a handle on it. Then for me when I heard about the Range trade, it just set off bells I guess, and I love it already. I've really only started using it live the last couple of weeks and I've still got a long way to go to master it, but I'm starting to get a lot better at recognising the Range Breakout trade on the charts.

Now we've just learned about Grid trades - and they're really cool! This apparently isn't just any old grid trade tho - no standard grids here! These are worked out for each currency pair individually and are calculated in a specific way to suit the currency pair that we're working on.

They take a bit of work to set up, but we did two currency pairs yesterday morning on the one hour charts and one of them on the four hour chart and I put a couple of trades on (on the one hour). They're quite a fast trade (can be) and fun and they happen when the range trade isn't happening which is perfect!

So now we've got three types for forex trade to focus on and the grid trade will help to relieve the boredom when nothing else is happening! Cool.

All in all a good week. We learned some really cool stuff and our account is up close to 6% for the week which included a bit over 2% just in the first two days of this month! The plan is to keep the rest of the month on the same track.

My Forex learning process thus far

2010-06-30T18:18:00.000-07:00

I've watched a few videos from the learning centre over the past couple of days and I'm really getting into these Range Breakout trades. I've got a couple of trades on at the moment and the week's been going well so far - it's Friday so not much of the week to go! We're up about 5% for the week which is pretty good, but still down for the month overall at this point.

One of the videos I watched this morning was on Grid trading. It looks really interesting and we're going to set up our grids on the currency pairs that we decide to use them on and do some Grid trading as well because the grid trading is done when there is no Range trades happening - so it will fit my trading plan really well.

It's funny - I've only been doing this for a few weeks, but what I've learned in that time is amazing. While I was watching the video this morning, I was thinking about when we first started to learn - it was all so overwhelming. Lots of terms and words that we had no idea what they meant! Outside of the comfort zone for definite - it can be pretty scary spending money on something you know nothing about and then realising that you know even less than you thought!

But it doesn't take long to get a little comfortable as you learn the terminology and learn to place the trades and use the trading platform. I was thinking that with only a few weeks trading under my belt, I'm already starting (we both are) to get more familiar with the charts and what to look for.

I was thinking as I was watching and listening to the video, that as we learn different types of trades and indicators and patterns and the 'seeing' them on the charts becomes second nature - as all things do when you do them repeatedly - how that must affect trading success.

Listening to Lorrie (the teacher/trader) in the video this morning, I was thinking about how these traders that have been trading for years must see a chart in comparison to those of us who have just started - how they would have so much more idea from what they're seeing as to whether to place a trade or not and it's likelihood of success.

At the moment, we are going only on specific indicators that we have learned for one or two trades, but when you have the knowledge and experience of several trades and use that knowledge together for each different type of trade, then it builds layer upon layer to ensure much more success.

For example when a Zingo trade forms, we've got two or three candles going one way and then another larger candle heading in the opposite direction, the learning and understanding of Grids will help us to make the decision on whether to actually place that trade because the Grids will give more of an indication of the trade's probable success or failure.

It's exciting. I've (we both have) got so much to learn but it's a good feeling knowing that we will and we are. It will be interesting reading back on this in a couple of years.

Learning to follow my instincts

2010-06-29T17:33:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post this morning. Our forex account is looking a little healthier so far this week - yah! I've had a few winning trades because I'm being much more calm in my trading. It's as though a switch has gone off in my head.

However, this morning I had a short range trade on the AUDUSD pair and when I got up, it had been not far off the profit target but was moving back up. I made the decision to close the trade as I felt it might go back further and I was only missing out on about 20 or 30 pips (I think).

I then logged into the trading room and caught the end of a session with one of the traders from the USA - the lady that gave us the Range trade! She's an amazing teacher and a very smart lady who from what I can gather, spends most of her time looking at charts and analysing them and has been doing so for many years. She's currently writing a book that I will have to read once it's published.

Anyway, she said that the trade that I had closed was (in her opinion) definitely going to continue down to the profit margin and at that point it was once again heading that way. So, I took another trade to try to pick up the pips that I'd missed out on by closing early.

My lesson? Make my decisions and stick to them! Whilst she is very successful at what she does and knows a million times more about forex trading than I do, she was wrong in this case (as can happen) and I received an SMS from the trading room to say to trade out as there was strong support and the trade was moving the wrong way!

I only lost a couple of dollars, because I'm only trading small micro lots. But that's not the point. If I had a much bigger trading account, the loss would have been much more and I need to learn not to be influenced once I've made a decision on a trade.

If I've made a genuine 'mistake or error' then that's a different matter, but when it's a decision based on what I think is right at the time, I need to stick with it and not be influenced.

So, not such a short post after all!

Forex Trading - trials and tribulations

2010-06-22T04:51:00.000-07:00

I've been a bit down about our trading over the last week or so. We're down a bit over 10% of our account and I can't help thinking we're doing something wrong. However, I would say it's a common problem in the beginning and it's really hard not to be emotional about it.

The emotion comes naturally I guess, when something's new and you don't know if what's happening is normal. It's the same in network marketing - Artemis Limpert who is a very successful network marketer and trainer, talks about educating your expectations which means learning what's normal so that you know what to expect - so that you know that it's not just you and that you're not deficient in some way or uniquely defective.

That's the way we feel though in this sort of situation. Like we're the only ones that can't succeed at this and that it must be just 'me'. This is the point where a lot of people give up (I'm not only talking about trading here in case you've not realised - it goes for lots of things).

This is the point where many people will say 'oh, I tried that, but it didn't work' or 'that's a scam/mugs game' or whatever, because they didn't succeed. The thing that I've learned with all these things tho is that the only way to fail, is to give up. If I persevere and decide that I'm going to master this, then I will succeed or die trying!

I just spent an hour listening to a live webinar by the CEO of our forex trading company, and he talked again about how it took him 12 months to figure this out - to actually start making money consistently. He also spoke about another of the trainers, and she was the same. It took her a year to get it sussed, and now she supports her family on a six figure income from currency trading from home.

If they can learn this, I can learn this. I do however, need make more of a commitment, to put more time into watching the videos, spending time in the trading room and attending the live lessons so that I can learn more and ask questions at the time when they come up.The more time I spend, the faster I'll learn what I need to know!

Fumbling with Forex?

2010-06-18T05:25:00.000-07:00

Oh dear. I feel like I'm failing at this Forex thing, but it's only been four weeks! We've had another crap week with our trading and this week we've done everything right (I think?). We've followed our plan. We've not had any more than 3 trades on at a time. We've traded mainly Zingo's and a couple of Range trades and managed to lose another 5 or 6% on our account!

That sucks! I've got another 3 trades on at the present time, but I'm not holding my breath after the way this weeks been. I don't think we'll be entering the trader of the month competition again this month somehow.

Never mind, next week will be another week and another beginning. I've got to get into watching more of the videos and lessons so that I know more and understand more.

Ho, hum. Well that's it for today! Nothing really exciting - just more of the same really.....

And another Forex week......

2010-06-15T05:52:00.000-07:00

Well, it's the beginning of another week (or actually yesterday was!) and I'm back checking out the forex charts and keeping an eye on the time again - checking for 4 hour Zingo trades!

Yesterday there were no Zingo's, but I still had a Range trade on the USDCHF (that's the US dollare and Swiss Franc pair) from Friday. Monday morning came, the markets opened and within a few hours my trade had gone the wrong way - again! Fortunately I'd moved my stop loss to break even so didn't lose any money at least.

However, I did realise on looking back that the other two Range trades that I'd had on on Friday, that I would have taken profit if I'd had my stop loss at 50% as recommended. Hmmmmm I had it at about 15% on both. Now hang on, I know - why?

Well it was because the trainer who has been doing the training videos for the Range trade (and has been trading Ranges for about 10 years very successfully) said that she often stops them at about 10% if they go inside the Range and I remembered that when I looked at how many pips it was back to the 50% level! I got scared and set my stop loss at the closer point just in case - and just in case happened. But only because I got scared!

Now there's a lesson learned - again. Man, this is so not easy!

A sad week for our Forex account......

2010-06-12T18:05:00.000-07:00

Well, week number four (I think - losing track) is over and we're back down to the same level in our Forex trading account that we were in week two! It's a bit frustrating and it's hard not to be impatient.

I'm learning to be patient via my obsession with my internet marketing, but Ray's having a bit more trouble I think! I just keep saying to him, it's an apprenticeship and we've got to be patient with ourselves and with the process as it takes time. That's the reason that most people fail at these things is that we have a tendency to overestimate what we can achieve in the short term and underestimate what we can achieve over the long term.

I'm hanging in and hanging out for the long term. As long as we have money in our trading account we have the ability to make this work!! Ha ha.

We're only down about 5% on our original account again - so next week is another week. Wish us luck ;0)

Currency Trading Challenges

2010-06-10T17:25:00.000-07:00

Well, another week is almost over and it's been another sad one for us as reflected in our trading account!

The amount that we were up last week is almost all gone again this week, BUT I realised yesterday that we had the Moving Average indicator set up wrong. That could explain a bit of our difficulty over the past three weeks that we've been trading live.

When trading Zingo trades, the Moving Average is the main indicator that we use! So to have it set up incorrectly is a real problem. Doh! We use the Moving Average to ascertain whether we should be looking for short trades or long trades and also to see if a Zingo setup is happening.

There are two settings that have to be changed on the MA when trading Zingo trades and we only had one setting changed - I'd missed the other one obviously when watching the video on how to set it up. There's something to be said for watching these lessons several times I'm realising.

Apart from that, we've been trading only Zingos, but we've been trading them on all currency pairs and have realised that that also may be a problem. I kind of knew that we'd been told only to trade five of the JPY currency pairs, but hey, I thought we'd give it a go with the others. After looking at our results and that actual risk to profit on the new risk calculator, we've decided to only trade the zingos on those five currency pairs that we've been advised to and see how things go.

I've also just started trading the new Range trades that I'm learning. I've got three on a the present time - my first Range trades! Cool.

So, that's all for now and I'd like to say that at least our account is still up a little. This whole currency trading thing is a real roller coaster - to start with anyway. Never a dull moment! We'll see how these Range trades go huh.......

Forex frustrations

2010-06-08T06:54:00.000-07:00

After a non event in the Zingo arena on Monday, we finally got some action today! Zingo's came up on 5 currency pairs - all JPY pairs. This causes a bit of a problem however because we shouldn't really put trades on all of them as it's taking us over the amount we should be risking in one day from our account. Hmmmm

This was made all the more obvious by the use of the new risk calculator that we've been provided with. Because we have a small trading account, the old calculator wasn't actually accurate in letting us know how much we were risking - the new one does! It also tells us how much we will gain as well as how much we may lose.

So when it came to looking at these five trades - dilemma! Do we put them all on? It seems such a shame to waste them...... and how do we know which ones to put on?

I put them all on.

Three went to the stop loss this evening Grrrrrrrr - so a loss of about 4% of our account and the other trades were looking like doing the same - but they've turned around Yay!

In amongst all this the GBPJPY went about 1 pip from my profit target when I wasn't looking before retreating back almost to the break even point where it would have stopped out if it had gone slightly further. That's why I'm still sitting here so late - waiting for that sucker to come down so I can take it out before I go to bed if necessary. I'm not letting it do it a second time!

I also put another trade on at 10pm so I've currently got three on and all doing well - for now!

Forex Trading - The end of week 3

2010-06-04T15:29:00.000-07:00

Well, the plan appears to be working. We traded only Zingo trades (as tempting as it was to put others on!) and had a very successful week as a result. We made 9.8% ROI (return on investment) for the week which is just brilliant!

We've been trading the zingos on all currency pairs this week and trying to decide whether to keep doing that. We're fully aware that our teachers only trade the JPY pairs with Zingo trades, as the return on the others is not worth their time. However our point of view at the moment, in our current situation and with our current goals, is that we are more than happy to see small returns - any return for now is great to build up our trading account.

The only question that I have is whether some of the trades are worth it or not as we are sometimes risking more if the trade is an unsuccessful one, than the value of the reward if it is successful. At least I think that's what is happening. We are apparently getting a new Risk Calculator this week (I think?) that will give us accurate information even on smaller accounts (the one we currently have is not 100% accurate unless you have a large trading account). So once I get that, I will be able to really see what is the risk to reward with each trade and make a decision from there.

We have also been asked to send in our trading plans to be assessed, so that will be great! I'll get to it voer the weekend. We'll find out if there are any holes in what we're doing and if there's anything that needs to be improved.

I started to learn the Range trades this week and I'm going to love this trade. I can tell. While I think Ray will probably still prefer the Zingo trade because of it's simplicity, I know that the Range is going to suit me. It can be traded on all time frames and although the smaller time frames take more work for smaller reward, as I said earlier, at this point in time that's fine with me. I'm happy to put in as much work as I need to at this point in time to get our trading account growing as quickly as possible so that we can get the results that we're after in our life.

Our trading plan is going to include both of these trades once I'm ready to start trading Ranges. I will probably start this week - maybe only on one currency pair and work my way up!

This is really exciting!

Back on track with our Forex trading

2010-06-02T22:43:00.000-07:00

We're certainly back on track with our forex trading. Only Zingo trades are being traded. It's really hard sometimes to resist putting other trades on! It's quite amazing how the mind works, but I'm determined to stick with the plan.

Speaking of which the plan appears to be working so far. Our account is back in the black again and we have trades on that are doing well as I write this. We're putting Zingo trades on all currency pairs even tho we've been told that the ones to trade are the JPY currency pairs as they are the most profitable. For us at the moment, any profit is good! If we make $5, that's $5 extra in our trading account is the way we look at it.

As for the rest of the plan, I am learning to trade Range trades. They are a little more complicated than the Zingo trade, but not hard. When I first saw the info on the Range trade at the seminar we went to a few weeks ago, it just resonated with me.

Range trades can be traded on a number of time frames and when done correctly are very successful from what I gather. So I've got to watch the videos again and set up my template for my charts in MetaTrader4 (the trading platform or software we use for trading). Range trades require the use of a few indicators on the chart, so best to set them up as a template.

It's pretty exciting, this whole trading thing. The possibilities for the future and my picture of where we'll be in five years time (not only from this but other areas as well that I'm working on) are motivation enough for me to work hard and get really good at what I'm doing.

Jim Rohn (RIP) said this and I love it:

From testimonials and personal experience, we have enough evidence to conclude that it is possible to design and live an extraordinary life.

He was a smart man Jim Rohn, and I now know that what he said is true as I've seen it repeatedly with my own eyes in the lives of people that are now my mentors in various areas and I know that I'm doing exactly that right now even tho you can't see it yet.

My Forex trading plan

2010-05-30T23:49:00.000-07:00

Ok, over the weekend we had a think and a discussion and we've decided to go with our original plan and only trade 4 hour zingo's at this point in time.

What I realised when I thought about it is this - if we put every zingo trade on that we can, which will be most of them, then we will have the 60-70% success rate that is indicated via backtesting the trade over a period of time. (What this means is that if we were to go back over the charts for say a 12 month period and look at all the zingo trades, the success rate will be somewhere between 60 - 70% apparently. I have yet to do it myself, but that's what we've been told.).

However, if we also trade the various SMS trades being sent to us, that we don't understand yet, that's all very well but because we can't put all of those types of trades on due to our not understanding them, then that changes the success ratio - ie we could be just being unlucky and putting on the unsuccessful trades!

So Zingo trades it is and I'm also going to still learn either wave trades or range trades and choose one of those to trade also along with the zingos - but only once I understand them and can put them all (or a majority) on also.

It's tempting to put on as many trades as possible thinking that it will automatically improve return, but that is not necessarily so. I am understanding that now, much more than I did when first told a few weeks ago!

The end of week two of live Forex Trading

2010-05-28T16:46:00.000-07:00

Well, this week has definitely been all down. Our account is down about 5%. We changed our plan again and I'm thinking maybe we shouldn't have done that. We also put on a couple of trades that we shouldn't have and lost a few dollars on those. Stupid move, but something I think everyone would try at the start. If we'd not done that we'd be down about 4% I think.

The reason for the couple of stupid trades was when we lost on trades that had been doing well to start, but went the other way, we put trades on going the other way hoping that they'd keep going for while so we could make the money back. The problem with that is that's gambling. It's what people do on Pokie machines - lose money and so put another $20 (or more) in hoping to make back what they've lost. Dumb.

Last week we had decided we were only going to trade on 4 hour Zingo trades. This week we decided that's a bit boring and decided to include the trades that are being sent to us via SMS which include Trend trades and 123 trades. I don't know if we're doing something wrong, or if doing that the trading is just too scattered perhaps? Because we're not doing all of the trend and 123 trades - only those being sent to us and also the fact that we don't understand the indicators for them.

I don't know. I guess this is what comes with a bit of time and experience and working out what works for you as an individual. All of the professional traders we listened to at the seminar a couple of weeks ago have their specific trade that they focus on - the one that they like the best, understand and that resonates with them I guess. I know we'd be down less money this week if we'd stuck to our original plan so that's something to consider.

We're being sent out a form to fill in and send back with our trading plan so that it can be checked by our mentors. That will be great, but we need to decide before then exactly what our plan is because it's still mixed up in our minds - that's obvious.

We listened to a webinar this week where concern was expressed at the lack of members using the Risk Calculator that's provided for us. At least we're doing that right - we do use it and I wouldn't consider trading without it. It's an absolute must so that you know how much you are risking on a trade. When people don't use a risk calculator, they're just asking to fail. I'm glad we have been taught that and had it made available to us or we could be down a lot more than 5% of our account!

Oh, well it's the weekend. No trading until Monday so I'll have to have a think and we'll have to have a talk about what we are going to do.

My Forex account is down!

2010-05-27T15:49:00.000-07:00

Ok, this isn't feeling like fun right now. Our account is actually down - we've lost a whole $30 (approx!) I know we've only been trading live for a week and a half, but it's scary! I'm so glad we've got experienced people to teach us and let us know what's normal otherwise I personally would be having second thoughts at this point and probably bailing or alternatively doing something silly to try to make up for the loss.

That's the great thing about having mentors. What I'm learning (in many areas not just Forex trading) is that a mentor will teach you what to expect before it happens. When things go pear shaped and I feel like it's all wrong, I know it's really all right because they've been through it all before you and told me that what I'm experiencing and feeling is normal.

In Forex trading there's ups and downs and sometimes runs either way, but I'm told if we follow the plan we'll succeed in the long term so I keep that in mind.

I'm very thankful that we've got mentors that have told us to start off trading small amounts, because that will teach us over time that it all works out in the end. It will allow us to build that trust in what we're doing, so we know that when the account goes down and trades aren't working out that that is ok - more will succeed than fail over time.

I know that a big problem for me is my emotions and my fear regarding money and lack of money. I think it's probably the same for many people, but I'm just realising how much it has controlled my life in the past and I'm consciously working to change my thoughts regarding money. This forex trading will help - it won't be easy I don't think, but I'm determined to change my behavior.

I have the saying 'Be like water' written on a note book that I use every day on my desk because that is the way I endeavor to be - with everything. Water just flows. If something gets in its way, it just finds a way to go around it. It can be strong and break through almost any obstacle, or it can be gentle and just trickle along and around things. It just flows.

Be like water.

Is Forex fickle?

2010-05-25T16:35:00.000-07:00

Well, after all the frenzy yesterday afternoon, our five trades were doing great. All short trades (ie there were more sellers than buyers and the price was going down). I considered trading out of them before we went to bed, but decided no - we're told to follow the rules and not trade out early or mess with things, so off to bed we went.

I got up this morning and they've all gone the other way! Four trades have hit the stop loss which we had moved to the break even point, so at least there's no loss - but no gain either, which sucks when they were doing so well last night. There's one trade still on that hadn't had the stop loss moved and its down about 80 or 90 points as we speak. (For those reading this not familiar with 'trading talk' a stop loss is put on a trade to minimise risk. It means that if your trade goes the wrong way and you're in bed asleep for instance, it will stop the trade before it goes too far in the opposite direction from where you want it to go. I had moved these stop losses to the price we'd started the trades on because they were doing so well and not far off take profit which is where they would close at the other end - the profitable end!).

Anyway, it's hard not to get emotional over this. Seems silly, but I was pissed this morning (to put it politely) when I got up and looked at our trades - I expected them to have gone the other way. Should I have closed them before I went to bed? Maybe that should be another rule - if a trade's up by a certain value or percentage when we're going to bed, we close it - just in case. At least that way we have a gain. It feels like this forex thing is just fickle, but I'm told that it's not and I do believe what I'm told because those telling me are successful at it, so the systems do work. Maybe we made an error by not closing. I think I might email support and ask what they think.

Did I say quiet? It's feeling like Forex fever!

2010-05-25T01:02:00.000-07:00

OMG! Did I say boring? Quiet even?

Ummmm, I think I spoke too soon. We decided this morning after our little indiscretion (or rule breaking) to go back to our original plan to take the trades sent to us via SMS and WOW! This after noon has been hectic.

We've got 5 trades on as I speak - Trend trades and 123 trades and they're all doing great so far.

It is quite exciting really. I'll be back in the morning with an update.

A very quiet Monday in the Forex Markets

2010-05-24T15:44:00.000-07:00

Well - not much to say yet for this week. There's not a lot happening so far really (as far as Zingo trades go anyway!). Looking at the charts is pretty boring as the currencies are almost flat-lining by the looks. We need something exciting to happen in the news!

Due to the boredom, we put on a trend trade this morning that was sent to us via SMS. We'd decided we weren't going to take them as we didn't understand them, but just obviously reneged on that decision this morning - never mind.

I think I'll have to watch some videos in the learning center and do some reading to see if we can't learn another type of trade - just for these boring times!

Maybe I should invest in a copy of this book hmmmm.......