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How to place the first trade from the Trading Panel using DhanHi Community 👋 We are delighted to be the first Indian broker on TradingView! What gives us even more joy is that close to 14,000 Indians are already trading from tradingview.com with Dhan 🥳 Since this is one of our first posts, we’d like to help new users understand how simple it is to place their first trade from the Trading Panel using Dhan. Here’s the flow: 1. Open TradingView.com Navigate to tradingview.com and sign in with your credentials. If you don’t have an account yet, create one using the blue button that says “Get Started”. 2. Choose Dhan from the Trading Panel After signing in, you’ll be taken to a random scrip from the US (you can avoid this by landing on in.tradingview.com). But that’s not what you’re interested in - you want to connect to Dhan. On the Trading Panel in the lower half of the screen, you’ll see a list of brokers - including Dhan. Tap on the button that says “Connect”. 3. Login to Dhan Using QR Open your Dhan App and click on your profile picture - it’ll open a navigation pane. Over there, you’ll see an option that says “Login to Desktop”. Click on it and scan the QR that you see on your desktop. That’s it - you’ve connected Dhan to TradingView! 4. Select the Scrip You Want to Trade By now you will be able to see TradingView charts. On the top left, there’s an option called “Symbol Search”. Click on it to search for the scrips you want. P.S: Connecting to TradingView will allow you to buy and sell equity via Dhan (not F&O, currency, or commodity). 5. Place Orders from the Trading Panel You’re on the final step! Place your first trade from the Trading Panel using: Charts: Use the blue and red buttons to buy or sell scrips from charts Order Panel: Available on the navigation pane to the right (looks like two up & down arrows) DOM: Place trades from the Depth of Market option on the navigation pane to the right + button near price scale: Hover on charts to get the + button & create new orders Those who are already using tv.dhan.co know how easy it is to trade from charts. The process is more or less the same with certain exceptions. We hope you enjoy the experience and if you have any questions, feel free to write to us in the comments below. Until next time! Regards, Team Dhan
NSE:NIFTYEducation
by Dhan
8
The unknown obvious: equity controlIt's easy to get a mili a year if you trade 100M account, that'll be 1% a year. A lil bit harder but still easy af to get a mili of you have 10M capital, that'll be 10% a year. That's how many of "skilled" and famous market participants earn dem money. You might say, "Wait, but that's really not a lot, markets can give much more for these capitals". Yes but given what they have it's all they can do. They been running very shitty bots for decades, they don't really understand how the market works & how to operate. It's especially widespread in cryptos, a lot of people got rich by accident and now they tryna run a business xD Anyways, there's a tool that helps dem all to get that 10%/y for investors money, a very obvious thing that is called equity control. Look at the chart here, is this an equity chart of some1 who've bought TSLA stock during IPO or is it price chart of TSLA stock? If you think deeper, you don't really care about the price of an asset, you care about your equity. If you buy an asset and then look at your account equity after a while, these two charts will be the same. Every strategy can be viewed as a response modifier, it takes an asset chart, for example, IBM stock, and transform it into a different equity chart, with the ultimate goal of having constant always rising equity chart. Market is fractal, the same principles propagate through all the resolutions, they also propagate to your equity chart. How can you affect an asset chart? You can buy or sell, 2 actions. How can you affect equity chart? You can reduce size (down to zero) or increase size, 2 actions. So what these "skilled" and famous participants do, they stop sending they orders to the real market when a shitty bot/trader/manager starts to loose money, but continue trading on a simulator. When this entity starts to earn money again, it gets "connected" to the real market again. How do they define earning/loosing money? They apply the same strategy/quantitative method they use on asset charts. It could be an SMA, I won't be surprised. Thing is, you can use the same concept in the right way, you can apply a good method on your equity chart to boost the performance in certain times.
NASDAQ:TSLAEducation
by gorx1
2
10 Lessons To Learn In Forex10 Lessons To Learn In Forex: 1) Learn All Basic Terminology - Pip, Lot, Margin, Spread, Leverage, Base currency, Rollover etc... 2) Demo Trade For At least 1 Year - Then Trade Low Lot Size To Start Real Trading With, When you are ready. 3) Risk Management Is #1- Always Control Risk/Reward (keep all trades to 1% to 2% of your total account). 4) Always Have A Strategy/Plan- If Serious Follow It always. You want to demo trade until you find one which has a positive win rate over 100 or 1000 trades. 5) Try Price Action Only Charts- Naked Charts Tell You Everything. Start learning and even real trading with money on just price action charts. You can add Fib retracements & extensions, trend lines, support, resistance, etc. over them as needed. 6) Journaling Trades To Learn- To Find An Edge & Answer Q's. You want to put things like the following in a forex journal: pair trades, buy or sell, price entered, stop loss, exit price, loss or profit, reason whey you took trade, etc... 7) All Indicators Are Lagging-They Tell You Past Not Future. Yes, you can use indicators & some are useful in trading, but depend on time frame, etc.. but they are unnecessary in forex trading. 8) Scalp/Day trade On Higher TF's-Easier Using 1Hr, 4Hr or Daily. Any timeframes under 1 hour should be used to get a better entry into a trades and also to use a tighter stop loss, but using 1hr, 4hr & daily should be used to find quality setups that match up with your strategy and/or plan. 9) Learn Candlestick Language-They Give You A lot Of Info. Look at naked or just price action charts on any timeframes, what do you see? Candlestick bodies and wicks/shadows, reversals, times when same pairs tend to have trending or sideways price action. Buying/Selling pressure & trading patterns, etc... 10) Forex Trading Is A Marathon - Not A Sprint Race. Trading Forex can be a full time job, if you are serious and treat it like a business. The slow approach is best one to trade with- let your account slowly build up, using compound interest, by controlling risk and reward per trade to 1% to 2%, with a winning strategy/plan or having a profitable win rate in trading, your account will go higher then you think- have no fear, no greed & have patience.
Education
by Anbat
11
The unknown obvious: when to use log-scaleThere's a semi-wide-spread snake oil "wisdom" in near-quant circles that you need to use log-charts/log-scale/log-transform all the time. No, you need to use it only when the range of the data been processed exceeds one order of magnitude (data maximum at least 10 times data minimum). Before dat, no-no! Please, don't stabilize the variance unless it'll asks you to. Now bringing your attention to the important detail -> data 'being processed'. It means that you don't push the log button when your chart's arbitrary time range is 456-986755. You push dat button when the particular domain (part of the chart) you analyze does exceed one order of magnitude. P.S.: disregard the studies applied, it's all R&D
NYMEX:NG1!Education
by gorx1
Imaginary levels: fair price aka valueIntro So called "value" or fair price is like limits in math, can be infinitely approached but never reached. We can model it, anticipate it, imagine it , but it doesn't make it real. In double/dual auctions fair price is an idea. We can surely say that some prices are too cheap and too expensive, these are real levels that can proved with evidence. The only thing we can surely say about value is that it's somewhere in middle between these 2, everything else ain't better than just making projections or extrapolations. Neither time nor volume profile won't magically calculate you a fair price buy finding mode of the distribution, it's not better (and probably worse) than just taking an average. None can prove a price to be fair for both buyers and sellers. It cannot even consistently exist due to the nature of double/dual auction. We have bid & asks, not just bids. A simple illustration is GE futures, that can trade at 2 neighboring ticks for ages, in order for a fair price to even appear for a second, bid should move one tick down or ask should move one tick up, so a free space will be created, only at this point a fair price starts to exist. But guess what? You can't make a trade at this price while it's fair, because in in order for a trade to happen there some1 should place a bid or ask at this free space, at this point the fair price disappears. You're automatically quoting CL futures at 19:00 Chicago time, BBO is 89.56-89.57. An imaginary fair price of 89.565 can't neither exist nor be traded due to tick size of 0.01. There's a buy action and a sell action, there's no action in the middle. You can place either bid or ask, the're no "in the middle". We can go for ages logically proving that fair price is always imaginary, but what we know 2 things: it's in the middle between cheap & expensive, and it appears when there's widening of prices. The same principle applies to all the resolutions due to the fact that recorded trading activity is quasi-fractal (quasi because fractals go infinitely in both directions, it's not our case exactly). Howto After an exhaustion/overexertion a wave should stop and produce another wave in the opposite direction, whatever the size. Sometimes due to other factors it does not happen, and an already overextended/exhausted wave continues to go much further. This wave can be called an overridden wave because this kind of event happens due to an exogenous (not in the data analyzed) event. This event "overrides" the exhausted wave and fuels it to continue. In every overridden wave, its middle aka fair price aka value is an imaginary level that can be used. A wave that started at 337.89 became overextended/exhausted in both price and time when it reached ~450. After hitting 450 it didn't stop but continued and went really far. It has finally stopped in year 2000 and a sell wave emerged. Knowing that we witness an overridden wave, we start to consider value as a temporary legit level. Imaginary, but still a level, ain't no options aye? And again, we use imaginary levels when there's nothing else, but a decision has to be made. Statistically, overridden waves are the structural breaks. A serious change. Fair price is supposed to become new cheap or new expensive.
SP:SPXEducation
by gorx1
Imaginary levels: wave exhaustion priceCan't explain this 4 real until I explain how to properly locate levels & distinguish buying & selling waves. I KNOW I'M MESSING UP WITH ORDER OF INFO SUPPLY, SORRY. Still... Pretty soon you'll understand that 3393.52 and 2191.86 are the levels, and there's one buying wave between em. Point 1 is the wave start. Point 2 is the wave end. When 3393.52 get cleared, another buying wave starts originating @ 3393.52 & point 2. All the details & questions will be explained & answered later. Now just focus on the wave exhaustion prices. Every wave becomes exhausted in terms of price when it's range exceeds the range of the previous wave in the same direction. Not a lil bit before, exclusively past the threshold value. So after getting past this level and considering the other conditions that would be explained later the current wave becomes prone to end and consequent start of another wave in the opposite direction. Just as with partition levels (that are imaginary as well), these levels don't make much use any more when the real price activity start to emerge there. Imaginary levels are used when there's no alternative, but a decision has to be made.
SP:SPXEducation
by gorx1
Imaginary levels: partitionsImaginary levels are used when there’s no alternative, but a decision has to be made. We need something to "snap" to. No, these are not the binary levels like 512, 8912 or 65536 that I'm sure a lot of funny people are hiding or present as super secret, lol no. When there's truly nothing else and just the empty medium, we take partition function, give her all the integers, and get the levels around which the long-term order flow might change direction. Dem are already calculated, called Sequence A000041 , more info there . That's the natural way how to find level in the emptiness. After having the real trading activity at these levels we can forget dem partition levels, ain't no reason to use em anymore. Since the start of 20th century, mainstream text book science seem to forget about the concept of aether (tldr the emptiness is an object itself, and it's not uniform, 'everything' exists in a medium including waves & light, totally obvious if you use your own head for thinking). As usually, the lovely market, as a sub-universe in our universe, is the same, teaching the real stuff & proving fakies wrong.
SP:SPXEducation
by gorx1
Learn Pros & Cons of Trading on Demo Account Hey traders, In this article, we will discuss demo account trading. We will discuss its importance for newbie traders and its flaws. ➕Pros: Demo account is the best tool to get familiar with the financial markets. It gives you instant access to hundreds of different financial instruments. With a demo account, you can learn how the trading terminal works. You can execute the trading orders freely and get familiar with its types. You can get acquainted with leverage, spreads and volatility. Trading on paper money, you do not incur any risks, while you can see the real impact of your actions on your account balance. Demo account is the best instrument for developing and testing a trading strategy, not risking any penny. The absence of risk makes demo trading absolutely stress-free. ➖Cons: The incurred losses have no real impact, not causing real emotions and pressure, which you always experience trading on a real account. Your performance (positive or negative) does not influence your future decisions. Real market conditions are tougher. Demo accounts execute the orders a bit differently than the real ones. That is clearly felt during the moments of high volatility, with the order slippage occurring less often and trade execution being longer. Trading with paper money allows you to trade with the sums being unaffordable in a real life, misrepresenting your real potential gains and providing a false confidence in success. Even though we spotted multiple negative elements of demo trading, I want you to realize that it still remains the essential part of your trading journey and one of the main training tools. You should spend as much time on demo trading as you need to build confidence in your actions, only then you can gradually switch to real account trading. ❤️If you have any questions, please, ask me in the comment section. Please, support my work with like, thank you!❤️
OANDA:XAUUSDEducation
by VasilyTrader
3
4 Signs that Say You’re Ready for Full-Time Trading For forex traders, nothing embodies freedom more than those who trade full-time. After all, full-time traders enjoy freedom from their box-type offices, freedom of time, and freedom to choose which trading opportunities to take. Unfortunately, this brand of independence isn’t for everyone. Just like too much freedom can do more harm than good for some economies, not all traders are ready to trade full-time. So how do you know when you’re ready for full-time trading? From what we’ve seen from online forex communities, we can narrow it down to four signs: 1. You have enough capital Trading full time means that you’ll be quitting your job, your primary source of income. And, because you’re realistic, you know that you probably won’t be making any serious trading money in your first few months. 2. You have tried and tested other methods and strategies Not only do you need to have a strategy that has proven to be profitable for you, but you also have to have other equally qualified methods that would work for other trading conditions. After all, you never know when and for how long the market trends will shift! 3. You have spent a considerable amount of time trading LIVE Trading a live account brings forth trading psychology hurdles that you wouldn’t get from trading demo accounts. In addition, you have to have a fairly good grasp of your trading strengths and weaknesses, and, more importantly, you should know how to stick to a trading plan before you make trading your full-time job. 4. Trading is your passion Trading currencies is what motivates you to get up and get busy every morning. Remember that while full-time trading would provide you more opportunities to catch market movements, you don’t need to be a full-time trader to be consistently profitable. What do you want to learn in the next post?
OANDA:XAUUSDEducation
by UnitedSignals
8
The 5 Outcomes Of a Trade | How not to blow your account Successful traders know there are 5 outcomes that can come out of a trading position. When managed well these outcomes can lead to great success. However, when manage badly can cause disaster to a trader’s account. Below I’ll highlight and discuss the possible 5 outcomes of a trade and how you can manage them. 1. Small Profit This is when a position ends in a very small profit, for trend traders, this is usually the case. However, in this situation, there is no loss. 2. Small Loss This is when you lose a small amount at the close of your position. This is part of normal and good trading. In fact, you should cut your losses early. Taking small losses or cutting your losses early will help you stay in this business long term. 3. Breakeven This is a position where you really didn’t make or lose any money. They’ll come too, they are not necessarily bad trades. These types of trades may just mean you should find re-entry to the position or may just be a quick exit without a loss or profit. 4. Big Profit This is when a position ends in a very big profit. This type of trade does not come too often but when they do come they are the trades that move your general account return for the period to the next level. As a trader, these are the type of trades you should look forward to. 5. Big Loss This is when a position ends up closing at a very big loss. This type of trade should never happen on your trading account as a pro-trader. This is the type of trade that can blow your trading account. It’s why you should know how to cut your losses quickly and take a small loss. I’m glad I’ve been able to share with you the possible outcomes of a trade and how you can manage them properly. A simple knowledge like this can suddenly turn your trading account to become profitable. Please, like this post and subscribe to our tradingview page!👍
Education
by EliteTradingSignals
7
SK Chart OverlaySK Chart Overlay by Stephen Kalayjian and TradeEZ is advertised as a "cutting edge proprietary chart overlay, with built-in predictive analytics for trading" . The same set of indicators and similar chart setups were used by Stephen Kalayjian in his previous failed projects KnowVera and Ticker Tocker . A closer look into these projects reveals that these indicators are just rebranded well known indicators with a little bit of lipstick. Trade EZ MA - Welles MA (10) / EMA (19) Trade EZ 1 - MACD(12, 26, 9) Trade EZ 2 - DMI (14, 14) Trade EZ 3 - Stochastic (5, 3, 3) Trade EZ 4 - ATR Supertrend (52, 2.5) + Welles MA (5) / EMA (9) - previously known as KnowVera Trend Channel and later Ticker Tocker Trend Channel Chart setup is available at www.tradingview.com
CME_MINI:ES1!Education
by fktrdr
9
Forex Market: Who Trades Currencies & Why The foreign exchange or forex market is the largest financial market in the world – larger even than the stock market, with a daily volume of $6.6 trillion. The forex market not only has many players but many types of players. Here we go through some of the major types of institutions and traders in forex markets: Commercial & Investment Banks The greatest volume of currency is traded in the interbank market. This is where banks of all sizes trade currency with each other and through electronic networks. Big banks account for a large percentage of total currency volume trades. Central Banks Central banks, which represent their nation's government, are extremely important players in the forex market. Open market operations and interest rate policies of central banks influence currency rates to a very large extent. A central bank is responsible for fixing the price of its native currency on forex. This is the exchange rate regime by which its currency will trade in the open market. Exchange rate regimes are divided into floating, fixed and pegged types. Investment Managers and Hedge Funds Portfolio managers, pooled funds and hedge funds make up the second-biggest collection of players in the forex market next to banks and central banks. Investment managers trade currencies for large accounts such as pension funds and foundations. Multinational Corporations Firms engaged in importing and exporting conduct forex transactions to pay for goods and services. Individual Investors The volume of forex trades made by retail investors is extremely low compared to financial institutions and companies. However, it is growing rapidly in popularity. There is a reason why forex is the largest market in the world: It empowers everyone from central banks to retail investors to potentially see profits from currency fluctuations related to the global economy. What do you want to learn in the next post?
OANDA:XAUUSDEducation
by UnitedSignals
7
Learn How to Apply a Position Size Calculator Hey traders, In this educational article, I will teach you how to apply a position size calculator and calculate a lot size for your trades depending on a desired risk. First of all, let's briefly discuss why do you need a position size calculator. Even though, most of the newbie traders trade with the fixed lot, the truth is that fixed lot trading is considered to be very risky. Depending on the trading instrument, time frame and a desired stop loss, the risks from one trade to another are constantly floating. With the constant fluctuations of losses per trade, it is very complicated to control your risks and drawdowns. A lot size calculation, however, allows you to risk the desired percentage of your capital per trade, limiting the maximum you can potentially lose. A lot size is calculated with a position size calculator. It is integrated in some trading platforms like cTrader. If it is absent in yours, there are a lot of free ones available on the internet. Step 1: Measure a pip value of your stop loss. It is the distance from your entry level to your stop loss level. In the example on the picture, the stop loss is 290 pips. Step 2: Open a position size calculator Step 3: Fill the form. Inputs: Account currency, account balance, desired risk %, stop loss in pips, currency pair. In the example, we are trading with USD account. Its value is $20000. Trading instrument is EURUSD. Step 4: Calculate a lot size The system will calculate a lot size for your trade. 0.069 standard lot in our example. Taking a trade on EURUSD with $20000 deposit and 290 pips stop loss, you will need 0.069 lot size to risk 1% of your trading account. Learn to apply a position size calculator. That is the must-use tool for a proper risk management. ❤️If you have any questions, please, ask me in the comment section. Please, support my work with like, thank you!❤️
Education
by VasilyTrader
5
7 Stages to Financial Freedom and How You Can Get There Today we will discuss the stages you go through to reach freedom and how you can achieve it with awesome thinking models. The journey to financial freedom includes seven stages. 1. Clarity This is the stage where you are clear about your current financial position and where you want to be. 2. Self-sufficiency This is the stage where you can bear all your expenses by yourself. You are not dependent on anyone for your survival. This also means you earn enough to sustain your expenses. 3. Breathing room This is the stage where you have saved enough to sustain yourself for a couple of months, even if you lose your source of income right now. 4. Stability This is the stage where you have paid off all your debts and you also have a saving to sustain you for at least 6 months in advance. 5. Flexibility This is the stage where you have saved enough money to sustain yourself for two years in advance. 6. Financial independence This is the stage where your money earns more for you. It’s when you have enough investments and savings that the return you get is enough to sustain your expenses without working. At this point, you work on something because it’s your hobby, and not to earn money. 7. Abundant wealth This is the stage where you have accumulated so much money that you would not be able to spend all in your lifetime. But how do you progress through these stages and achieve financial freedom? Here are some awesome thinking models you can use to head towards financial freedom. 1. Time is more valuable than money. 2. Compounding can help you achieve it earlier 3. Make money with a side business 4. Learn to sell stuff As it should be your ultimate financial goal, it is never enough to talk about achieving financial freedom. I wish you luck, dear traders. Hey traders, let me know what subject do you want to dive in in the next post?
OANDA:XAUUSDEducation
by TopTradingSignals
7
The Iceberg Illusion: The hidden logic of success We often get mesmerized by someone’s above the surface success and don’t factor in all the below the surface opportunity-costs they paid to achieve that success. This is the ‘iceberg illusion’. It’s been a fav analogy of mine for years. And yet, this just might be a better visual for sport than the ‘iceberg illusion’. You see… the hyper focus on outcomes is one of the biggest failings (or façades) that comes from social media. It creates a false impression of what leads to success. We see the success, but not the work that went into it… The unseen hours, necessary failures, setbacks, crises of confidence, the not-now’s (to the countless asks), the loneliness, the late nights and early mornings; and, all the wobbling that comes before the walking—much less running. There are no shortcuts. There are no overnight successes. The iceberg doesn’t move quickly. It’s not sped up. It just moves consistently; at often a barely discernible speed. What do you want to learn in the next post?
OANDA:XAUUSDEducation
by UnitedSignals
4
What Every Trader Should Know About Margin Margin can be a powerful tool to leverage your investment returns or to finance purchases apart from your portfolio. Margin is an extension of credit from a brokerage firm using your own eligible securities as collateral. Most traders typically use margin as a means to purchase additional securities, but there are other uses too. Interest is charged on the borrowed funds for the period of time that the loan is outstanding. Benefits of a Margin Trading Account: Use the cash or securities in your account as leverage to increase your buying power. Get the lowest market margin loan interest rates of any broker. Diversify trading strategies with short selling, options and futures contracts, or currency trading. Borrow against a margin account at any time and repay the loan on your own schedule. Margin borrowing is only for experienced investors with high risk tolerance. You may lose more than your initial investment. Before trading on margin, understand the following risks: Trading losses may be greater than the value of the initial investment Leveraged investments create a greater potential risk of loss Additional costs from margin interest charges Potential margin calls or liquidation of securities Hey traders, let me know what subject do you want to dive in in the next post?
OANDA:XAUUSDEducation
by TopTradingSignals
14
If You're Thinking About Giving Up On TradingHello to you TradingView traders, All the below are based on my preferences, I don't give any financial recommendations and I have nothing to sell you with this article. I'm sharing content because I see a lot of traders being/becoming broke and I don't want you to be one of them. If you're thinking of giving up on trading read this 👇 A long time before becoming profitable Trading is one of the most difficult tasks in the world It sucks you in and takes your money within minutes But if you're seriously trying to change your life around, here's why you should stick with it: I've been trading for 10 years now For the first 2 years I lost money The first account I funded with $10,000 I lost in 6 days The trading journey is mentally tough. Not only did I lose a lot of money, but I lost a lot of confidence I had devoted 2 years of my life to trading and still could not get consistent profits. It was mentally draining. The light at the end of the tunnel But sticking with it was the best decision I have EVER made I get to wake up every day now feeling fulfilled. Feeling like all those years of hard work and sacrifice were worth it Trading turned me into the person I am today. Before I had ZERO: - Confidence - Sense of accomplishment - Happiness And now I have all of those things AND... I also learned a lot about myself. I learned what it takes for me to become disciplined I learned that in some scenarios I'm not very patient, in others I am I learned about how I learn and the best way for me to educate myself Yes the trading journey was financially and mentally tough but it was also fun. The process was fun. At the end of the day, that's what makes people happy: Setting a goal, working towards it, and achieving it There is no better feeling than that in my opinion But here's the kicker: If you don't give up, you can't lose It's LITERALLY a waiting game It's impossible to spend 10,000 hours on something and NOT be successful at it Don't compare your journey to someone else It took me 3.5 years to become profitable, and one more year to trade full-time For some, it took 6 months For others, it took 7 years But I can say for every successful trader out there that it was totally worth it So if you're considering giving up, take a step back Think. Are you a quitter? How bad do you want this? Sleep on it and see what happens tomorrow :) I'll keep bringing a few articles like this every week because it helps me clarifying my thoughts AND giving back to the community makes me feel good about myself somehow :) I want to teach you guys every aspects of what makes a great trader and how to get there. This is the most challenging and the most rewarding job at the same time Thank you for reading Dave
Education
by Daveatt
17
Why Your Backtest Results May Not Give Realistic ResultsHello traders, All the below are based on my preferences, I don't give any financial recommendations and I have nothing to sell you with this article. I'm sharing content because I see a lot of traders being/becoming broke and I don't want you to be one of them. Timeframes A lot of models work on high timeframes on the charts. They work visually at least and that's why many are only sharing with high timeframes charts greater than 4H. We all built a backtest based on a moving average cross and got a shooting 95%+ win-rate when running the backtest engine for the very first time. We all thought we were geniuses right :) "Way too easy" we all thought There is a caveat though... For derivatives trading (CFDs, options, futures, ..) backtests always account for real trading fees. Let me explain... We all heard/saw those rollover fees that we need to pay overnight. This is basically how the brokers are forcing the overnight/over weekend traders to pay more fees. While the explanation longs to pay for the shorts, and shorts to pay for the longs is poetic - those fees could eat out your position capital way before the price action has even moved. Imagine a range during days/weeks. You'll end up paying a lot of fees and might end up with a very negative position size way before anything interesting (from a trading perspective) ever happened. I saw many trades being minus double digits percent PnL only because of fees. Then, imagine trading contracts with an expiration date - this adds another challenge - and most of backtests don't even account for that either. Leverage Leverage increases disproportionally the risk compared to the opportunity. Leverage 2 does increase the risk by 2 but the opportunity won't be multiplied by 2. Well.... it would be in case the analysis is good in the first place. (assuming the risk/entry/exit plan is correctly calculated). Assuming those analyses are made by experienced traders, then using leverage makes sense - otherwise I'd stay away from it. I surely sound like a broken record with this... But, I know what you're thinking You calculated already how many trades and pips you need to earn $1M and you concluded it won't be possible without leverage. This statement is true if you want to get rich quick which anyway always lead to get poor quick. "Past performance doesn't guarantee future performance" Probably the quote we hear the most in trading guys... Generally in trading, what worked before has a probability to not work anymore the more time has been elapsed. I don't mean it won't work anymore. This only means we should be cautious when trading setups valid from a while ago on a specific market. A way to not get that burden on our psychology is to indeed reduce the position sizing. Until we are comfortable and not stressed anymore. That's the sweet spot you guys have to find. For some, it might be a few hundreds per trade, for others a few thousands. There IS NOT a well-formulated generic universal valid answer for what's the best position sizing. Apart of course from starting with tiny baby positions and scaling up from there But for sure, once we get comfortable with one position size range level, we should go to the upper level direct above. Direct above means, if we trade 100 USD position sizes, the next one could be in the 110-150 USD range. (and not 1K right off the bat...) We wouldn't lift 100 kg after getting used to only 10 kg. Trading isn't different than any skill requiring training and dedication The challenge is to not change our goals midway after a few wins or a few losses. And to stick with them for a few months at least. Literally takes me weeks of training to add a few kg to my chest press barbell or biceps curls. That's how much it took me also to increase the average position sizing by 10% or so. Thus the more I increase it, the more time I need to get comfortable with it. And it gets increasingly difficult from a psychological perspective the bigger the position size gets Applies in a lot of areas in life, sport, career also. It takes time! The worst thing for new traders is getting early very lucky and rewarding trades. That's what happened with many crypto traders in 2017 and 2021 They got too cocky and made that money too quickly and too easily. Then, when the market turned bearish... they gave all it back because their experience/backtest/psychology/beliefs weren't ready for a market shift. We're at a time where markets change constantly. And perhaps that's why the patterns used by our predecessors 20 years ago aren't relevant anymore. My father told me that trading 40 years ago was as "easy" stealing a candy from a baby.

Now it’s a lot more complicated due to the noise, trading bots, etc.. Often orders aren't filled In paper trading or with a backtest, when a Take Profit is hit... well we make profit and that's cool. But those LIVE trading know that sometimes... the limit orders aren't filled and no one can give us a logical explanation why the F... they weren't filled. Even though the charts clearly show we should have been filled... Your broker will say slippage. Your guru will say "I got a nice 1000% profit - Hope you all exited when I told you so" You will say "But my backtest claimed that an order should always be filled..." I'm saying blaming the casino isn't useful and won't bring you anywhere And that's why trades need to be managed because we're playing against the house (exchange) & competition (i.e. SMART-MONEY - understand bankers/funds with real advanced financial education) that want us liquidated. I'll keep bringing a few articles like this every week because it helps me clarifying my thoughts AND giving back to the community makes me feel good about myself somehow :) I want to teach you guys every aspects of what makes a great trader and how to get there. This is the most challenging and the most rewarding job at the same time Thank you for reading Dave
Education
by Daveatt
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Cognitive Biases in Forex Trading This article explores the cognitive biases in forex trading. The biases discussed in this article can play a significant role in any form of speculative trading and investing, not just forex trading. A cognitive bias is a systematic flaw in how we think. Cognitive biases are present in every decision we face. Anchoring Bias. People rely too much on reference points from the past when making a decision for the future - they are "anchored" to the past. Loss Aversion. This is when people go to great lengths to avoid losses because the pain of loss is twice as impactful as the pleasure received from a win. Confirmation Bias. The confirmation trap is when traders seek out information that validates their opinions and ignore any theories that invalidate them. Superiority Trap. Many traders in the past have lost large sums of money simply because they have fallen prey to the mentality of overconfidence. Herding. Many traders in the past have lost large sums of money simply because they have fallen prey to the mentality of overconfidence. Pay close attention to your decision making to spot the fallacies. What do you want to learn in the next post?
OANDA:XAUUSDEducation
by UnitedSignals
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