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Hey @Fripi I appreciate you sharing your story your trading journey. It seems like you've been through the ringer of life recently but have a good attitude about things. That is very admirable!
I wanted to chime in about what you can expect from the trading journey over the next few years. You can EXPECT these things but maybe keep in mind that there are outlier people. But it seems to me the vast vast vast majority of people can expect these things as they walk down the trading path:
* Don't expect to withdrawal profit from your trading account for many many years.
* Expect to make time sacrifices on a multiple of 3-5 times of what you are currently anticipating.
* Expect to lose money, maybe alot before you make anything.
* Expect to lose lots of trades.
* Expect to be demoralized frequently. .
* Expect to sacrifice time with your wife and friends learning to trade.
* In the beginning you can expect to be 'on the verge of profitability' often...and then get demoralized.
* Expect to sacrifice at least a small amount of peacefulness or ease of mind in your life until you figure it out or quit.
* Expect trading to consume a fairly good amount of mental real estate. I've found this to be troubling in social situations because when I could be thinking about and pursuing more relatable endeavors I've sometimes found myself bereft of things about my life to share with other people. Seems silly, but the struggle is real. Come to think of it, it might be one of the reasons I've stuck to my FIO journal. .
This is not an all encompassing list, but there are some things there that I (sort of) anticipated, and there are some things there that I was blindsided by. There is a BIG commitment here. Please understand that I'm not trying to discourage you. To be honest, I was a little bored () and hoping to help someone get a good idea of the path they are starting down. I wish you the best! Happy trails!
2000 trades in 1 month, sim and real is crazy.
Do you have a system? You need to build a real good system, one that works for you. If you see a system that works in the control of another trader does not means that it will work for you. So Your system should work for you and building one takes times, a lot of time.
Let the trade come to you and never run behind a trade that you missed Another trade will come to you. Be patient!
Screentime with charts is really the key. It will tell you what the next candle / pattern will be….
A word of caution’ in Belgium you need to tell the national bank that you have an account in another country. As banks / countrys exchange accounts between countrys ( if there is an agreement between those countrys ) the Belgian fiscal authorities will know you have one ….talk to your advisor for help.
thank you for your tips / warnings, I expect many of those things, in fact being a freelance for over 25 years I can tell that I've been thought many of those already in my actual activity, making lots sacrifices is a natural path for freelancers.
I'll see if my wife accepts my isolation moments in my office
well yes it is crazy but needed to test the software, see what every button does, adding indicators, removing them, testing al type of charts, different timeframes, ...
Also it was needed for me to see if it's something I could like, now I know that I feel "excited" or "happy" when I start the software and charts are loading.
Now i've had that crazy month with wins and losses, I know it can be something for me, and I think I wouldn't know if I had only done sims.
The system, as I read my book in FR and the forum in EN I must figure out what you mean by system. It's not the same as strategy.
- I choose to open 3 charts in 1M, 15M, 4H, I trade on the 1M
- After launching the program I look at the opening price and if I can see support / resistance levels.
- I avoid trading for 10-20 minutes, to get the excitation down and feel zen.
- Trade only Futures for tax reasons.
- Focus only ES or MES to start learning reading the candles, discovering the rhythm, and the best timeframe for me.
- Just setup an automatic trailing stop loss -1Ot and a take profit fixed at +8t, if I see high movements I could try to move it 4t higher, but I avoid to move anything.
- 1 contract at the time on round points, for better readability.
- I'm looking at the risk management implemented in ninjatrader, but isn't active for the sims, so I will need to check this when I go back to live.
But now, pretty important I think, I try to learn and see basic patterns, I've no precise entry trigger yet, I tested with some succes the confirmation of a rebounce on rsistance/support but that's all.
Actually I have my ninjatrader account but not any bank account in another country, I told everything to my new tax expert accountant.
There won't be much trading this week, or even this month.
As I told now I've experienced it with some real money to get the feeling, I switch to simulation to continue my learning process.
I concentrate on reading, watching charts and learning, also on the setup of NT8, to feel comfortable with it, placing the windows right, calm colours, trying out some simple indicators in simulation, does it tell me something...
I get curious about forex as I see many people talking about it and I should take a look at it, but I don't know how yet in NT8, I must link a data feed... will be my objective the coming week I think
A few suggestions on trading that could SAVE your LIFE:
*** Before all suggestions I will start probably with the most IMPORANT ONE: Do NOT trade under the STRESS of NEEDING to make Money $$$ ....if you have a "sword on yuor neck" you will FORCE TRADES / OVER LEVERAGE and will most likely BLOW UP your account.
1. DO NOT do any MARTINGALE (Doubling) against a trade going against you (I have blown an account or TWO on this method alone!!!!)
2. Do not BELIVE A THING anyone is telling you until you TESTED it yourself!!!!
3. Screen time...Screen time..scren time (Did I mention screen time?)
4. SIM trade for a while
Wish I knew these things in advance when I went into this world...always remember ...at the end of the day we are CHASING BARS of info...and not really contributing anything meaningful to society (such as developing a product and/or a service)....there is a whole world out there besides trading...so PLEASE - don't get "lost" in this endeavor and don't let it CONSUME you!
If I was you ...I would continue to work in my field - and do this slowly on the side without meaningful pressure.
I continue working in my field but advertising isn't always so exciting, and right now I have nothing to do at all... so I'm studying trading a part of the day.
I want to prepare if someday I don't have any work anymore, a lot get automated, nice pictures rendered by AI, nice texts, even animations...
Also advertising isn't really contributing anything meaningful to society neither, I'm used to that.
Fun fact: a lot of advise/warnings I see on the forum and even on YT are pretty similar to the ones I could give to someone who wants to become a freelance, what I did when I was 21: difficult, a lot of work, not enough sleep, lose money, loneliness, screentime, social sacrifice... I did all that for the last 25 years
Welcome ....after reading your post - felt like both of us are in an episode of BLACK MIRROR Tv show...haha
Well...I also run a startup....the ups and downs are like a roller coaster and resemble somewhat trading as well....HOWEVER...I learned to enjoy the JOURNEY not the DESTINATION. (Though sometimes I course the journey as it is sooooo long and painful )
I have a couple suggestions that haven't been mentioned yet. These helped me immensely when I started.
Firstly is to have a written trading plan. You are more likely to follow a written plan than if you just have the plan ib your head. The plan should be more than where to buy and sell. I should answer the question "What do I do now?".
Secondly I suggest you take or rather make the time to study why traders fail. Then don't do any of that stuff.
Thirdly take advantage of the Forum. Post what you plan to do, what you're next trade will be, why you are going to take it and how you plan to manage it. You'll get lots of feedback that you will have to sort through but some of it will be valuable.
FWIW: I swing trade equities and manage to fund my lifestyle doing so.
"The days when I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations, I have really good days" RW Hubbard
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) and hoping to help someone get a good idea of the path they are starting down. I wish you the best! Happy trails!
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