[azukar]

Hi Chris,

Comments inserted.

"Knowing that no one that has a winning strategy would ever share their secret, I am just looking for you to share just a basic strategy without compromising what took you years to develop!"

I don't believe this is true. Sure there are some who wouldn't, but it's what you do after you get your fill that determines your success or lack thereof, and methods only play a small role in this aspect of learning how to trade. As a result, anyone who truly understands trading isn't likely to be reluctant in sharing his/her methods - the question is whether they want to devote their time to do so.

For example do you:
>only trade one pair?

I know you asked specifically about Forex but let me throw a different approach at you. Volatility = opportunities to profit, and the more the better. We can never know where the volatility will occur each day, if any, so in my experience the best approach is to watch a basket of markets that cover the different segments, e.g. a bond, a currency or two, a commodity or two and a stock index or equivalent. Personally I like Bund, BP & Euro, QM/C and YM/Dax, but regardless of which ones you choose this will put you in a position to take advantage of whatever volatility occurs on a given day.


>use no indicators?
>use many indicators?
>only trade on pure price action?

I only use Price action and would never consider putting an indicator on any chart, but this is one of those "left/right" or "discretionary/mechanical" black holes so I'm reluctant to comment any further. Most people use indicators but most traders lose too.....

>look for chart patterns?

Yes, but I think using the term 'patterns' is flawed. It's better to think in terms of structure. A particular 'pattern', or structure can put you in a trade or take you out of a trade, but this is the easy part. The hard part is knowing how to manage the "in between" and that has little to do with patterns and much to do with structure and proper stop placement.

For example, a retracement/bull-bear flag/continuation pattern or whatever you want to call it (and there are many colorful terms out there) can take on many different shapes/sizes and can take minutes to hours to days to complete. However, the 'pattern' is irrelevant as is the amount of time it takes to form. All that matters is whether or not the structure remains intact....if so you stay with it, if not you close it.

>have a favorite time frame?

Yes, but this depends on the market and on a traders personal preferences. I believe this is an improper way to look at it though. All timeframe does is determine frequency of trades, nothing more, and there isn't anything magical about any particular timeframe. IMO you should avoid the small timeframes (scalping) and focus on trading less on a higher timeframe, but most people are going to disagree with me on this. However, over 90% of people who try their hand at trading lose.....

Hope you find this helpful.

B.

Also, who or what has been your greatest mentor or influence?

I have been trading for a couple years now and I desperately want to become profitable I appreciate any feedback!

-thread from FXStreet[/quote]