the empty can rattles the most

New traders and some "experienced" traders alike remind me of an old Metallica song.  "The empty can rattles the most".  If you don't know that one, then you may have heard the saying "the squeaky wheel gets the most grease" or "all bark and no bite".

Just the other day I encountered a scenario of missing a TP by half a pip.  I laughed because this used to happen to me all the time and I have been using Phantom Auto TP and SL's (undetectable by brokers) but on that day I happened to try a new strategy and used a manual TP and SL.  

 

So I posted a picture on my facebook and instagram, thinking this would draw some LOLs and ROFLMAOs but instead just got newbie trader responses, words of "wisdom", and the like.  That's the thing about Forex.  Not many people will share your mindset and a lot of people just rattle a lot because they are new to trading or think they know it all. 

 

That is why I stopped frequenting forums and bothering to share or exchange Forex strategies, it's difficult finding (successful) traders with a similar mind set.  I also took a break from coaching Forex because it's just painful when newbies always think they know it all when they should be paying attention.

 

Alot of (newbie) traders...

say their trading is going great... but they aren't profitable yet

want a system... but aren't prepared to follow a system

want to make pips... but count dollars

want financial freedom...  but talk about money non stop

want to make money... without spending any time, money, or effort

Key Performance Indicators

If you have ever run a business you will know KPIs are where it's at.

Key Performance Indicators (KPI) are must have statistics you need to get a true view into your business's profitability.  You can run a seemingly successful business, produce lots of sales, always have line ups at your till, and sell out BUT if you're not profitable then what is it all good for?

Same goes for Forex.  You need to do an inventory of your weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly profits, number of positive trades, negative trades, consecutive wins/losses, average drawdown, and put your trading performance in the hot seat.   You can make all the great trades you want if just one or two trades wipe out your account.

It's about PIPs and KPIs, not dollars!

Don't get stuck on the almighty dollar.  That's just a newbie mistake.  Everyone's chasing the holy grail and making x amount of dollars every month and they forget about what matters.  Pips.  If you aren't making pips consistently then you won't be profitable in the long run.  Sure, it's not exciting to trade with 0.01 or even 0.1 lots but that's not the point.  If you're not making profits at 0.01 lots then you aren't making profits with 1.0 and you just saved yourself a bundle.

When you are consistently making pips, then only then can you scale your lots.  Slowly increase your lot size, week after week.  And when you are hitting a losing streak, you go back to a small lot size and figure out your mistake or what changes you need in your strategy.

It takes discipline.  Otherwise you're just gambling and beginner's luck always runs out.