I think I've achieved another milestone in my Forex Trading career!
After having an excruciating time month after month suffering from loses and even wiping out my initial capital, I finally was able to finish a month in the green! I've managed to finish not only at break even but actually earn a few dollars as well.
I opened 2 accounts:
1. Account for Mirror Trader - FXCM's online platform where you can automate / copy the signals from other traders.
2. Regular account with Trading Platform - for my own style of trading matched with some recommendations from Mark So.
Mirror Trader Notes
- Mirror Trader really worked well for me. My account was up 40 USD or 8% in just 2 weeks.
- I just automated the trades - I had success following these strategies: TrendMacD, Breakout2, Glimspy.
- Even the automated trades are not a guarantee for success though. You still definitely have to watch out for the trades. It might be better to just monitor the signals live and just copy those that are in line with your trading strategy for the week.
- I had success when every time the trades would be in the positive already, about 15 pips, I would move the trailing stop to a gain of 3 to 5 pips. This ensured a little profit even when the price action would reverse later on. There is a downside to this strategy though. Some trades that could have earned more apparently got stopped out by a shallow correction before the big move.
Mark So and Trading Station
- To be honest, this is still a struggle. The first 3 weeks of the month my portfolio was down about 20%! or about 100 USD. I only managed to gain everything back and a little more on the last week of the month when I was able to ride the weakness in the EUR, then the weakness in the GBP followed by the NZD.
- It was definitely a see-sawing month. I simply can't resist the temptation not to trade. This is the part where I have to work on the next month.
- The only reason why I survived is because of position sizing. I've reduced my lot sizes to just to 2k instead of 5k or 10k. This allowed me to be still part of the game even when I had a lot of losing trades at the start of the month.
- Another thing I noticed is that when you look at price action, for some reason, there will be those that your gut will tell you to follow. More often than not, your gut will be correct. If you are able to spot a currency that is trading strongly or weakly then it is time to buy a CURRENCY BASKET! Trade that currency and just trust the price action. This is the moment when I confidently increase my lot sizes. Instead of just 2k, I might trade 4k, 5k, or maybe even 10k when I'm really confident. This is how I was able to gain back all my loses for the month. It is beneficial to patiently wait for these moves! These normally happen after a big announcement or news event.
- Lastly, to maximize profit and minimize getting stopped out prematurely. Trusting the round / whole numbers might help. I found success placing my stops and limits just below or above these numbers. Example, 93, 93.50,94. These are normally in the 50 pips range. And I wouldn't want to bet on further movement unless these numbers were surpassed convincingly - in technical terms, there was a break out.
- As for Mark So's strategy, if it works then it definitely works. There's still an element of luck involved though as the analysis could be wrong at times. And when your trade is on the wrong side of price action then you can definitely lose a lot of money as well. If you get it right then well and good. If you are using his strategy I would definitely consider managing your position sizes so that when the trade goes bad it's not so devastating to your portfolio - you live another day to trade.
I don't know if Mark has ever conducted a survey among his students asking whether they are successful in trading forex for the long term. If he did, I bet he'd get a very small percentage that's doing well long term. Yes, he'd definitely get some astounding reviews short term but what good is short term if you want to trade Forex for a living right? Like at the end of May, Mark posted a message in the group asking for feedback from the group on how they are doing. He knows there are bound to be some who are doing well, especially those who just started recently. And he would then be able to use those in marketing his classes / services. Case in point, is Mr. Fitz Villafuerte of Ready To Be Rich. I remember a Forex Club banner that featured Mr. Villafuerte as saying how impressed he was with the result of his Unlitrader trade. I think he was quoted as saying something like 'wow! 800 pips!" But behind that message, we never know how he actually did in real life. For all we know it was a one time trade. And my suspicions might be true because I remember seeing him when I took my complete Forex trading class. He was there to take the refresher class, part of the incentive of being a lifetime member of Forex Club Asia. If he was doing well, why go back to take a refresher class, right?
But regardless of this all, Mark's complete Forex trading course is still worth it, I think. Go there to learn from him. Learn his system and apply it in your own trading. If you listen intently, you would actually be able to make your own Unlitrader system. You wouldn't need to sign up and pay for that additional fee. What's good about him is the fact that he actually teaches the system that he uses. At times hist trades might deviate from what he teaches but I guess this is where experience comes in. There are times when the news and the technical setups are not that clear and this is when he uses his experience to come up with a strategy for the week. If Mark makes the effort then these are valuable info that you can use as well. However, if you're just looking for a get rich system of some sort, I suggest you don't take the course, you will only be disappointed and you will only be wasting money.
That's It.
I hope June would be kind to me and to all Forex Traders out there.
Pips Be With You!
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