Are you really making money in the Forex market? - page 6
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You are using EA, Indicator, method, all the things that can help you make money from Forex. But when you look back at that process. How many times have you deposited money into your account, how many times have you sat in front of the screen watching your account gradually disappear. Maybe you earn a few thousand dollars in a few days. But just 15 minutes against the trend and you lose everything.
Couldn’t agree more. I’ve seen traders blow months of gains in one emotional move. Risk management isn’t sexy, but it’s what separates professionals from hopefuls.
Yeah, I’ve definitely struggled with that, and honestly, the hardest part hasn’t been technical skills or strategies. It’s the psychological side of trading that gets me.
One big issue I have is overconfidence. When I find a strategy that works and I spend months making consistent profits, I unconsciously start believing I’ve “figured out” the market. That’s when things start going wrong, not because the strategy stops working, but because I begin thinking I know better. I start taking shortcuts, entering or exiting trades outside of the plan… or sometimes the market just shifts a bit and things stop playing out as expected. Instead of taking a break or reassessing, I keep forcing something that “was working.” Usually, I only realize what I did wrong after I abandon the strategy and analyze everything.
Another problem is fear. I’ve had solid strategies that made money slowly but steadily. But no one wants to trade the same small lot sizes forever, so I start increasing the position sizes. Eventually, I hit a point where bigger numbers give me anxiety. Seeing a trade down -$100 is fine if it’s part of the plan. But seeing -$1,500? Even if it’s still within the expected range, it messes with my head. I start closing trades too early out of fear, or I cut profits short because I’m scared to watch $3,000 drop to $2,000, $1,500… even though that fluctuation is totally normal for the strategy. Then of course, the price moves back in my favor after I close, and I realize I could’ve hit $5,000 or $6,000 if I’d just followed the plan.
These psychological issues are way harder to fix than any technical skill. Anyone can learn setups and indicators over time, but controlling your mind? That’s a whole different game.
Lately, I’ve been working on tools and indicators to help me stick to more rigid strategies. So far, it’s helping, let’s see how long I can keep that consistency.
I agree with @Conor Mcnamara and would like to add the following, in response to posts by @Ryan L Johnson ...
Most of the strategies that are discussed online or in books, are usually directed at manual trading, where the trader's own discretion comes into play. Most of these strategies will fail when completely automated.
Strategies that are good for full automation or quantitative trading, are usually not discussed as readily, because there is a much smaller audience for them. A much higher level of knowledge and skill is required for such strategies, especially in mathematics, statistics and programming, but sometimes also in economics and finance.
Most truely active retail traders do not fall into this category. It is a small subset of retail traders, and even less if you only consider the successful ones. So, these types of automated or quantitative strategies are usually not so openly discussed, and it is up to the individual retail trader/programmer to come up with their own.
Also, as clarification, I am not a manual trader. I only use EAs to trade, but I have to give credit where it is due, and consistently successful manual traders deserve my respect.
Good points!!
I agree totally - especially as if with pure EA trading - your time is free to do other things. :-)
Which EA's have you found to work?
What I’m sure of is this: the guys selling their EAs on MQL5 are making way more money than the poor souls actually trading with them. So yeah, your “best investment” isn’t chasing the holy grail strategy… it’s polishing your coding skills and, above all, learning how to sell dreams.