Advice on "Profiting Consistently"

QUESTION: Hello, I'm a novice in forex market and I'm still doing the demo account for like 11 months using a demo account. But the problem is I'm not consistently making profit. Can you give me some advice how to profit consistently? thanks


ANSWER:
Hello, I hope I can still offer some assistance.

To put it briefly, there is not really any fast route to trading profitably. There are of course some shortcuts. I didn't study under anyone or read any books when I first began trading because there was not really a lot out there and even less on technical analysis, so I essentially had to design my own form of analysis. Although I know now that there were in fact a few good places I could have started, at the time I didn't have a clue what they were. Now it seems there is the same problem in reverse. Instead of having too few, there are now too many, which leaves traders at a loss of what direction to even attempt to latch onto.

What I can offer in the form of advice is to keep things as simple as possible. You don't need to learn a lot of indicators, no matter what anyone tries to tell you. Instead of focusing on other people's systems, first learn how systems are created by learning to read the underlying building blocks of market analysis. These are the things I cover in the course at http://www.swingtrader.net. Although not covered in as much detail, can learn a few of the very basic components online: Things like support and resistance and volume.

Every single trader is going to be different, so strategies that work for one may not easily work for another. You need to figure out what time frames and types of setups you are not only the most comfortable with, but also that you show the greatest profitability with. The only real way to confirm your suspicions is to begin to keep a trading journal. This is not a spreadsheet, but rather something in which you actually print out and compare charts and data from each of your trades. Look for similarities and differences between your winning an losing positions. I would suggest keeping them in a loose leaf notebook so that you can take them out and spread them on the floor in front of you when you are looking at them. It can really help if you have someone who has been trading for awhile assist you in picking out these traits since they will have a better idea of what to look for, but if this is not possible, then just take extra time to put this into your schedule every day. You can do this with your demo trades just as easily as with real life trades.

When you move away from a demo account be sure to start small, risking only like $10-$20 for a few months. Trading live is much different from a demo. Many brokers are per share commissions, often $1 minimum, so you can easily trade 20-50 shares on liquid issues to practice with live positions. You cannot do this with forex, but you can if you trade ETFs based on the currency market.

I hope this helps!
All my best,
Toni