Rock bottom, destitute, and desperate....well ok, that's a slight exaggeration, but it's nearly true. I think you reach a certain point when you say enough is enough, either you can do it or you can't, and one needs to be honest with oneself. I'll share a bit of my trading history in a minute....put away anything sharp, it makes depressive reading!
Thanks for condensing my post, I blame my longwinded replies on endless hours of listening to my wife who has made an art out of 'why say in one sentence what can be said in ten'!
I can't really suggest any books I'm afraid, I read everything I could find to read on the internet and that was enough to start with, although I wish I had got a few books now, it could have saved me a lot of time and money. In hindsight I didn't so much need help with the practical, but more with the psychological side of trading. The book you're reading certainly sounds interesting, although I don't totally agree with the edge philosophy, not for a day trader like me. Insider knowledge would be nice for trading shares, but for forex I don't believe there is very much inside info, unless you have access to inter-bank dealers who know where all the big orders are. The tricks marketmakers get up to are fairly well publicised, and with everything being totally automated on the trading platform it doesn't leave any room for dealer '(in)discretion'. Having said that, maybe I am living in blissful ignorance and there is in fact a way 'into' the forex markets. If anyone knows of one please email me (stuffed plain brown envelope awaits!)
(lol, just read the 'credible until proven not'!)
Mind-set and conditioning the mind to act in a certain way is difficult, and in some cases impossible, hence the majority who lose. I don't think there are many strategies that don't work, it's the way they are implemented by the trader that lets them down.
After a couple of succesful months paper trading on a
demo account I started live trading with a very positive attitude, fully equipped with the knowledge to place trades, a complete understanding of the indicators to show me which side of the market I should be on, an account with $20,000 that I could afford to lose (the disclaimer said only trade with money you can afford to lose, who are they kidding!), and a will to succeed....it wasn't enough.
In the first week I made over $2000, money for nothing, easy. In the next 2 months I lost $12,000. I'd had to spend hours and hours a day in front of a damn computer tearing my hair out and having palpitations, and it had cost me $12,000...what a loser, what an idiot! Undeterred and a glutton for punishment I plodded on, trying different strategies, different pairs, different sessions, following other peoples trades, losing a lot, gaining a little. I couldn't understand why I couldn't make any money. I had traded succesfully on a demo, what was the difference, in the first week of live trading I had made $2000, what was happening, what was I doing any differently, what the hell was going on.... until, demoralised, dejected, despondant, and nearly divorced (every cloud!) and nearly $16,500 poorer......
One day I sat in front of the computer and after unsurprisingly losing yet another trade I suddenly fell in, it wasn't anyone else's fault but my own, there was no conspiracy to part me from my money, there really were people making money at this game and I had to anylise why it wasn't me. I couldn't continue to blame my indicators or just bad luck, it was time to be honest with myself. Was I perhaps too stupid? Too greedy? Too stubborn? Was I really cut out to be a trader? Could I really manage to do this or was it just beyond my ability? If the idea of unbounded wealth through successful trading was just a pipe dream then now was the time to wake up before I wasted any more money and time, to hell with my bruised ego and dreams of wealth, not to mention the $16,500! Dismissing as inconceivable the idea that I was stupid, and I certainly wasn't greedy (chance would be a fine thing), stubborn nooo, hmmm....
Then I read an article similar to this one. It mentioned discipline. What? What was discipline to do with trading, that's rubbish? Ok, hang on a minute, you've tried every strategy, every indicator, every pair, more or less every connotation of trading known to man and you've managed to succesfully lose $16,500, maybe this isn't rubbish after all, at the very least it deserves a try before I hang up my mouse and take up polynesian basket weaving in a mental institution for burnt out ex wannabe forex traders.
Discipline....discipline to trade the plan...the rest is history. During the next few months I gingerly traded 50k and actually made some money, I still made mistakes and had to remind myself 'trade the plan', it kind of proved a point and I'd laugh and say to myself 'well what did you expect, you did your own thing and lost'. Over the following months I increased my trade size, the more I gained the more I regained my confidence and....well...here I am typing drivel claiming that forex trading hasn't affected my mental stability...what else can I say!
Ooops, nearly missed the 'which pair'....USD/CHF like you say is less $ value/loss per pip, EUR/USD less spread, GBP/USD is a typical female, unpredictable and moody, USD/JPY...no thank you! Whichever pair it doesn't really matter much, they can all produce a good return provided you have........discipline.
Cheers
Pete