New trader trying to put a trading plan together

One must always attempt to failure in hypothesis to prove it's valid*

I would say for the first 6 months just watch videos, read, look at stuff, take trades with the smallest amounts possible if you want to.
Spend time backtesting ideas. 6 months is rather short really. Even the shortest formations (haircutter etc) take longer right?
Also depends if you are full time or not. I think 2 years is required for people to have a diploma to bake bread and make cakes.
People think trading is easier than baing bread? C'mon.
Just spend a couple thousands of hours accumulating info and trying to understand 'why did the market move in that direction rather than that one' and 'why did this strategy stop working' etc.
Honestly it's going to take years imo. If you full time 16 hours a day, maybe it'll only take 1 year lol idk.

Then eventually when you have some solid background & understanding, I think you would find it useful to stick to these rules:

1- Preserve capital.
2- Preserve mental capital.
3- Build a bias.
4- Have systems to enter and (more importantly?) exit.
5- Find ideas to enter.

Etc, those are the main 5 ones. We are all different but I think having this way of seeing things help. Being organised and having a solid set routine/set of rules is just too awesome not to do.

You need experience to know what to do in different scenarios.
I am pretty sure there is no simple no brainer strategy you can just apply... Makes no sense to think there is.

Great tips. I am new to trading too and will focus on your top 5 tips. I really want to make it

Hi. I started about six weeks ago and just got straight into it. You can go demo if you like but I've overcome a lot of stress in a short while and now I'm settling down an can start to really put it together. On a small account I've been trading 0.01 lot sizes and a maximum of 0.03. I've looked at fx and stocks. I've had winners and losers at about 40/60. The thing is you need to test your stress level to be able to see what kind of trading suits your personality. I've been frustrated and jubilant. Wanted to pack it in totally and then felt the desire to get knowledgeable and succeed. And all these emotions within a short time and now I'm ready to continue. Now it's time to start doing the real job of using strategy, a journal and learning more by the day, week , month. In these past months I've spent over six hours a day Monday to Sunday reading watching videos, studying charts and making stupid mistakes. Even if it's just e few Euro's that you're losing or winning it is different to being a spectator on demo.
So maybe what I'm saying in a nutshell is just give it a go and get used to losing some of your money and feel all the emotions that come with trading.. Then go back to the drawing board and figure out how to make it work in for yourself.
Obviously I'm not trying to say that this is the only way to go about it but I've overcome all the strange ideas I had about trading and can now start to make a plan that suit my personality and is realistic.

MrRenev posted:
I would say for the first 6 months just watch videos, read, look at stuff, take trades with the smallest amounts possible if you want to.
Spend time backtesting ideas. 6 months is rather short really. Even the shortest formations (haircutter etc) take longer right?
Also depends if you are full time or not. I think 2 years is required for people to have a diploma to bake bread and make cakes.
People think trading is easier than baing bread? C'mon.
Just spend a couple thousands of hours accumulating info and trying to understand 'why did the market move in that direction rather than that one' and 'why did this strategy stop working' etc.
Honestly it's going to take years imo. If you full time 16 hours a day, maybe it'll only take 1 year lol idk.

Then eventually when you have some solid background & understanding, I think you would find it useful to stick to these rules:

1- Preserve capital.
2- Preserve mental capital.
3- Build a bias.
4- Have systems to enter and (more importantly?) exit.
5- Find ideas to enter.

Etc, those are the main 5 ones. We are all different but I think having this way of seeing things help. Being organised and having a solid set routine/set of rules is just too awesome not to do.

You need experience to know what to do in different scenarios.
I am pretty sure there is no simple no brainer strategy you can just apply... Makes no sense to think there is.

Speaking some sense here!

walpants posted:
Ok so I'm looking for some help in creating my trading plan, what should I be thinking about when putting it together? what kind of things do I need to have in it? do I even need one at all?
Any help anyone can give would be very much appreciated as I'm feeling a little overwhelmed.

Don't buy commerical EA or Bots. They're a waste of money. Ask yourself... If it works so great why are they selling it?
If they worked, they'd be infinitely wealthy.

Don't buy expensive lessons and such for 'elite trading secrets'.... There are no 'elite secrets'. And the only people getting rich from such scams are the people selling the 'secrets'. Ask yourself, if this secret is 'so elite' as advertised, why is it going to only cost you $19.95? If it was such a good 'elite secret', would YOU sell it for $19.95? NO? Of course not, you'd be infinitely wealthy and you certainly wouldn't be telling anyone about your 'elite secrets'.... That's the whole point of it being a 'secret' right? No one else knows about it.... And most certainly not for a one time low cost of $19.95


Don't pay for trading signals..... Do you really think it's a good idea to PAY a complete stranger on the internet without actually meeting them face to face to trade for you?


Consider this for a moment.
Say you have $10,000.00 USD cash in an envelope, would you just hand all that cash in the envelope to a complete stranger on the street and ask them to invest it for you? NO? WHY NOT? Think about it. It's basically the same thing that you are doing when you pay for a signal or to have someone manage your investment accounts for you.

The market is ALWAYS right.

If your trade is bad, it's because your trade is bad.
Kill that trade and wait for the next set up.

If your trade is good, good job, you made a profit.
Close it out and wait for the next set up.

Learn how to read your charts naked, and NO I don't mean without clothing, I mean just a plain chart with just your candles and nothing extra added to it.

Learn what support and resistance levels are, how you get them, and what they mean.

Trade as small of lot sizes as possible.

It is better to make a small profit over time, than to make a HUGE profit over night just to lose it all on your next trade.

Never trade when tired, sick, intoxicated or otherwise not performing 100%.

The markets can only do 1 of 3 things.

1) It can go up. --> go long.
2) It isn't doing anything, or it's just ranging at the moment. ---> don't trade until you get a valid setup
3) It can go down. --> go short

Use REASONABLE stoploss levels.
Use REASONABLE takeprofit levels.

Never trade with emotions.

And most importantly.... MONEY MANAGEMENT. Protect your investment capital at all times.
Losses happen to everyone, it's how you handled those losses and manage those risks which will determine how well you will do as an investor in the markets.

The list goes on....

Professional4X posted:

Learn how to read your charts naked, and NO I don't mean without clothing, I mean just a plain chart with just your candles and nothing extra added to it.

Learn what support and resistance levels are, how you get them, and what they mean.

quote]

Where can I learn this if I you say I should not pay for a trading course. All the free information online just seems too basic and can't really explain how to trade.

Saying 'Learn how to read your charts' is like saying ' learn how to make money' .. but how exactly

AhTai posted:

Professional4X posted:
Learn how to read your charts naked, and NO I don't mean without clothing, I mean just a plain chart with just your candles and nothing extra added to it.
Learn what support and resistance levels are, how you get them, and what they mean.

Where can I learn this if I you say I should not pay for a trading course. All the free information online just seems too basic and can't really explain how to trade.

Saying 'Learn how to read your charts' is like saying ' learn how to make money' .. but how exactly

We aren't going to just spoon feed you the answers, you have to do some of the work too.

Go to youtube.com and type in: how to read an investment chart

There are numerous helpful videos on how to read a chart.

Looking back at my newbie days, the most precious advice I had would be : There's no such thing as a holy grail, you are the creator of your holy grail. Steer clear of martingales (debatable, but not to me) But the most important thing: You see many systems that give ludicrous returns. The world's top hedge funds, managing millions of dollars aim for realistic returns. A figure you can count with your fingers. If they are extremely lucky their toes as well.

There are many retail, traders who want to make trading performance as per their trading plan. Creating trading plan is always a better alternative but if you are a novice trader then please try to keep these fundamental issues in mind when you are sitting for crafting your trading plans. Such as: plan should be rational and possible to implement according to your capital position and abilities to handle trading risks.

trendfollowers posted:
Looking back at my newbie days, the most precious advice I had would be : There's no such thing as a holy grail, you are the creator of your holy grail. Steer clear of martingales (debatable, but not to me) But the most important thing: You see many systems that give ludicrous returns. The world's top hedge funds, managing millions of dollars aim for realistic returns. A figure you can count with your fingers. If they are extremely lucky their toes as well.

EXACTLY. Well said.

thank you for all your comments

So is 10-20% a year considered a good return? That seems very low to me. Or is that 10-20% per month? That would be better for me

Mulberry posted:
So is 10-20% a year considered a good return? That seems very low to me. Or is that 10-20% per month? That would be better for me

25% annual ROI is a very good return.

25% annual ROI only requires approximately 2.1% profits per month.

Consider if you have a live trading account with $400,000.00 USD investment capital.

A flat 25% return would give you an annual profit of $100,000.00 USD.

While I do understand that an account balance of $400,000.00 USD is a considerable amount of money, it isn't an impossible investment amount to build up to over time. T

With a $100,000.00 USD per year a person can live a fairly comfortable life regardless of where they live.

walpants posted:
Ok so I'm looking for some help in creating my trading plan, what should I be thinking about when putting it together? what kind of things do I need to have in it? do I even need one at all?
Any help anyone can give would be very much appreciated as I'm feeling a little overwhelmed.

Definitely you need a trading plan!
With a sound trading plan you will be able to understand when to take profit , stop losses ,how much to trade and what other opportunities you can take advantage of. Most importantly it will tell you when to trade and when not to. Some things that you must include in your trading plan are :
      
    • Decide on capital – Decide how much you want or you can invest in trading. Never risk more than you can afford to lose.
      
    • Time commitment – Decide how much and which time you can devote to trading whether during the day , at work ,after work, evenings or at night.
      
    • Determine your goals – You must have SMART goals . They must be specific, measurable,attainable, relevant and time bound.
      
    • Risk – reward ratio – Next your plan must include how much risk you are willing to take for a specific investment. Calculate risk reward ratios for possible investment opportunities.
      
    • Markets to trade – Which are the markets you can invest in say forex, commodities , stocks etc.
      
    • Entry and Exit rules – Traders should never miss out on formulating rules for entry and exit . These rules may save you from a loss bearing trade.
      
    • Maintain records – a trader must maintain records of the trades placed , the date time, profits and losses.

walpants posted:
Ok so I'm looking for some help in creating my trading plan, what should I be thinking about when putting it together? what kind of things do I need to have in it? do I even need one at all?
Any help anyone can give would be very much appreciated as I'm feeling a little overwhelmed.

Following

Professional4X posted:

Mulberry posted:
So is 10-20% a year considered a good return? That seems very low to me. Or is that 10-20% per month? That would be better for me

25% annual ROI is a very good return.

25% annual ROI only requires approximately 2.1% profits per month.

Consider if you have a live trading account with $400,000.00 USD investment capital.

A flat 25% return would give you an annual profit of $100,000.00 USD.

While I do understand that an account balance of $400,000.00 USD is a considerable amount of money, it isn't an impossible investment amount to build up to over time. T

With a $100,000.00 USD per year a person can live a fairly comfortable life regardless of where they live.

What if you are only starting with say £3000 though?

I have seen people quote 10-20% a month as a realistic aim?

Madalyn posted:

Professional4X posted:

Mulberry posted:
So is 10-20% a year considered a good return? That seems very low to me. Or is that 10-20% per month? That would be better for me

25% annual ROI is a very good return.

25% annual ROI only requires approximately 2.1% profits per month.

Consider if you have a live trading account with $400,000.00 USD investment capital.

A flat 25% return would give you an annual profit of $100,000.00 USD.

While I do understand that an account balance of $400,000.00 USD is a considerable amount of money, it isn't an impossible investment amount to build up to over time. T

With a $100,000.00 USD per year a person can live a fairly comfortable life regardless of where they live.

What if you are only starting with say £3000 though?

If you make a flat annual 25% ROI on your investment then it's simple math.

25% ROI on $400,000.00 is $100,000.00 ROI profit.

25% ROI on $4000.00 is $1000.00 annual ROI profit.

To be more specific in answer to your question, a flat 25% ROI on £3000.00 is £750.00 ROI profit.