New to this forum, introduction & some questions

[Rhody Trader]

Originally Posted by stuckinNY

It's been a long time since I've used Excel....can you elaborate on the best way to backtest via Excel? Sorry if this is a dumb question.

Get your hands on some historical data (search the threads for referrals to free or low cost data). Dump it in to Excel. Then apply whatever system you would like. There are some plug-ins out there which will allow you do easily calculate some of the common indicators. I can't speak to them. I normally just program them in myself. Excel has a lot of strong functions which give you a great deal of flexibility and power in analyzing data in lots of different ways. Make good use of the help functionality.

[pipzilla]

stuckinNY,

I'm just getting started in trading, too, but I recommend getting that job--whatever it may end up being.

Keep improving your forex knowledge and skills, but also work a job to bring in the capital that will finance your (trading) business. This will 1) of course, give you the money you need to get started (skip the credit card purchases and put your earnings to good use), and 2) take some of the pressure off your trading.

I also recommend the book _The New Market Wizards_ by Jack Schwager for more about this (cheaper on Half.com--that's where I bought it), but the basic message is that for trading to be successful it should be boring and routine, and one way to accomplish this is to trade only a small percentage of your account, for example, in the 1-5% range.

As future successful traders (!), forex is our business and capital is the lifeblood of any business.

And if you don't mind me saying so, make sure you finish yer damn degree! Yer gonna need that thing!

Good luck to us all.

[stuckinNY]

Thanks for the responses guys. I'm about to start some backtesting on Excel after being away from the computer for the weekend.

My biggest problem is deciding on a single TA indicator to work with and master for the time being. I realize the best TA system will incorporate a few different indicators but I think mastering one at a time would best facilitate my learning curve. I've been jumping around between MACD, Slow Stochastic, EMA and Bollinger Bands. I realize I need to figure this out on my own - but can anyone suggest a single indicator to start working with, tweaking & backtesting to start off with? I plan on taking painstaking care to develop a profitable system I am confident in BEFORE I jump into a live account...my goal is that by the time I open a live account, I'll only need to worry about mastering the psychological aspect of trading and not the technical aspect.

[fxscalper90]

Originally Posted by pipzilla

stuckinNY,

I'm just getting started in trading, too, but I recommend getting that job--whatever it may end up being.

Keep improving your forex knowledge and skills, but also work a job to bring in the capital that will finance your (trading) business. This will 1) of course, give you the money you need to get started (skip the credit card purchases and put your earnings to good use), and 2) take some of the pressure off your trading.

I also recommend the book _The New Market Wizards_ by Jack Schwager for more about this (cheaper on Half.com--that's where I bought it), but the basic message is that for trading to be successful it should be boring and routine, and one way to accomplish this is to trade only a small percentage of your account, for example, in the 1-5% range.

As future successful traders (!), forex is our business and capital is the lifeblood of any business.

And if you don't mind me saying so, make sure you finish yer damn degree! Yer gonna need that thing!

Good luck to us all.

Wow, good link, pipzilla! Half.com even smokes walmart books! Thanks!

fxs

[stuckinNY]

Started working with Fibs and I LOVE'EM. They definitely seem more in line with my personality as a trader. They seem to work pretty well on most of the time charts....

Any general advice on these? I seem to have a pretty good handle on the basics right now. Any indicators that tend to complement the Fibonaccis pretty well?

[doragio]

Originally Posted by stuckinNY

My biggest problem is deciding on a single TA indicator to work with and master for the time being. I realize the best TA system will incorporate a few different indicators but I think mastering one at a time would best facilitate my learning curve. I've been jumping around between MACD, Slow Stochastic, EMA and Bollinger Bands. I realize I need to figure this out on my own - but can anyone suggest a single indicator to start working with, tweaking & backtesting to start off with? I plan on taking painstaking care to develop a profitable system I am confident in BEFORE I jump into a live account...my goal is that by the time I open a live account, I'll only need to worry about mastering the psychological aspect of trading and not the technical aspect.

From personal experience, there is no best indicator. Having said that, what I suggest is looking at the various indicators and find one that makes sense to you. That is, the indicator that makes the most sense to you, the easiest to understand, is the one you should focus on. It varies with individuals, but some indicators click better than others. I, for the life of me, can't use bollinger bands while others swear by it. Then learn all the ins and outs of the indicator that you can. How it acts, how it reacts, and most importantly, what causes it to act / react in certain ways. Knowing this helps you with the lag that indicators experience, as you can learn to anticipate the changes in the indicator before they register.

Also, don't go overboard with how many indicators that you have at one time up on your screen. Too many indicators, too many things you need to process, leading to uncertainty and hesitation when it comes time to pull the trigger on your trades.

In the beginning don't focus on how much you can make, but just try to contain your losses. Make sure your losses are small enough so that a good trade and trend can make it up plus some.

Good luck.

[stuckinNY]

Thanks doragio. I was getting caught up in the "need" to use 5 different indicators simultaneously which quite frankly was counterproductive.

I really like these Fibonacci lines. It just makes a lot of sense to me as it seems to be more visually geared - rather than mathematically geared, which suits my style a lot better.

Picked up a cool 126 pips today going long on EUR/USD and short on USD/JPY. Using purely Fibonacci lines (did use the Slow Stochastic to confirm on the Euro trade). I'm sure it's not going to be this easy, but it was certainly encouraging.

[stuckinNY]

Thanks fxscalper. As far as I'm concerned, it ain't bragging if it's true. In fact I appreciate you mentioning your success, it's encouraging to read about others achieving success through Forex.

I definitely don't plan on solely relying on the Fibonacci lines...but it's provided a nice starting point to build with.

If you don't mind me asking, what are the basics of your system? Don't go into any great depth but I would be curious to see what kind of indicators & strategies you are using, particularly since I am interested in incorporating scalping (along with longer intraday & position trades).

I'm already done searching for the "Holy Grail" (in fact I never really searched for it to begin with). I'd much rather pick up hints here and there and develop & master my own system.