It has been a year and a half since I opened my Forex account on Forex.com. This post will be about Forex trading for beginners. I will show you how I doubled my account from $2,000 to $4,000. It will be the journey I have experienced so far and how I busted my first account but have learned from it.
My goal was to double the account in a year’s time but it took longer than that. But that isn’t a big deal. The goal is to stay in the game and continue making consistent profits even if it doesn’t fit my self imposed timeline.
Above is the screenshot of the date of my deposit on February 27, 2018, for $2,000.00. That is when I opened my second Forex account.
Here is the link to my account on MyFxBook.com that keeps track of my overall gains/losses so you can see my results: https://www.myfxbook.com/members/Curt_Hennig/million-dollar-man/2538859
If you clicked on the link above you will notice I can’t get the “track record verified” but that is because Forex.com won’t let me change the Investor Password. I contacted Forex.com’s support team and they confirmed they don’t let you change the Investor Password so there isn’t a solution I have found.
My 1st Forex Account and How I Busted It
As mentioned a bit ago, this is my 2nd Forex account. So this post won’t be all good news. In everything I write I try to show the good, the bad, and the ugly. So we will start with the bad and the ugly.
My first one and the results can be found here:
https://www.myfxbook.com/members/Curt_Hennig/mr-perfect/2141046
You can see how at the peak I had almost made $16,000 in profit where I started with only around $4,000. I did this in about a year and a half.
But I was a victim of my own success. I had created monthly goals of the profit I wanted to achieve. This Forex account was through Tallinex which was not a US-based broker so I could use a 400:1 leverage that enabled me to trade more lots and therefore make more money.
I now use Forex.com which is a US-based broker but thanks to the US government (sarcasm) they only allow you to trade using a 50:1 leverage so obviously the growth is much slower.
That was one of the reasons that led to me busting the account but it wasn’t the primary reason. The primary reason was that I allowed greed to overtake my trading and started making bad decisions that compounded until it was too late.
Greed and fear are two emotions I fight in every trade. I wish I could tell you that I have mastered them but the truth is I haven’t. Now, I have gotten a whole lot better at managing them but I still feel the battle of greed vs fear tug at me just about for every trade that I am in.
What happened with this account is when I started having consistent success in trading I put on self-imposed profit targets that I wanted to achieve each month. I had a 5-year plan set up where if I hit these targets then I would be a millionaire and could live off of my Forex profits.
So when a month wasn’t as successful as I wanted even though it was still a profitable month, I began trading, even more, to make up for my profits not being as large as I wanted.
I started taking trades within trades. If I was trading off of a 4-hour time frame but saw another setup in the 1-hour time frame then I would take that trade as well.
As you can see when you have a move go against you then this adds up extremely fast. Add in the fact that I was doing this for multiple Forex pairs and I had soon maxed out my leverage. It wasn’t long until it all came crashing down when I had a big move go against me.
The way I trade this isn’t uncommon. I normally was good at making sure I had enough margin to handle the swings of trading but since I was trading within trades I now did not have enough leverage to withstand the big move.
So I was margin called and lost almost all of my profits.
But I wasn’t out of it yet. I still had around $1,000 left so I started trading again. Within about 8 months I had built the $800 left to over $3,000 but then the same thing happened to me again which is totally my fault.
I again gave in to greed and started over-leveraging myself again because now I felt even further behind the 8-ball and wanted to make up for lost time.
So as you can see I finally busted that account for good and took some time off to reflect.
I was so close but yet so far. This was my first taste of consistent success but I still had much to learn.
What is the Key to Trading Success in Forex Trading for Beginners?
In my opinion, the biggest key to trading success is trusting yourself and your setups. To do this you have to meditate to tap into your subconscious mind to show you what setups and trading style works for you.
I wrote an in-depth article on how I do this and you can to: https://evancarthey.com/how-to-become-a-profitable-trader-using-meditation/
In the article above it covers the exact steps I use when I meditate to discover new trading setups. Later in this post, I will link to other articles I wrote that show specific setups I have used and other tools I recommend to assist you on your trading journey.
For over 10 years I read dozens of trading books, watched countless hours of trading videos, spent hundreds of hours analyzing charts, and tens of thousands of dollars trying to learn from “trading gurus.”
The only consistency I had was that I consistently lost money trading.
It wasn’t until a trading friend showed me how meditation turned his trading career around and how it can do the same for me.
That is when everything changed. I began having new setups and trading styles come into my head that I would test out. Almost all of them didn’t work for me but each failure meant I was one step closer to figuring out the 1st trading setup that would work for me.
I was determined not to give up. I knew this was how I would finally become a profitable trader.
It wasn’t instantaneous. It still took around 6 months of consistently meditating, trying new setups that came to me, and getting rid of what didn’t work before I discovered the first setup that worked for me which was the Bread and Butter Setup.
The Evolution of My Trading Style
One key to growth is consistently evolving your trading style or system. This is one thing I have noticed as the years have gone by. From the first trading setup that worked for me (the Bread and Butter Setup) to my 78.6% setup that I am currently using, my trading style continues to evolve as it should.
Each time I find a setup that works for me it is a little bit more profitable than the last one. A year from now I may not even be using the 78.6% setup, I may have discovered something better through my meditation. But one main point of emphasis is that as we grow our trading style will evolve and change over time.
This is growth and is to be expected so embrace the evolution of change.
My trading focuses on using Fibonacci retracement and extensions. I’ve been drawn to the Fibonacci sequence for a long time. Also, I was looking for a set of parameters to take out as much subjectivity in my trading as possible.
Fibonacci retracement and extensions helped me do just that.
In the past I’ve tried trend lines, moving averages, oscillators, etc. but the Fibonacci retracements and extensions are what works best for me. I also incorporate trend lines and Pitchforks but they are used as a secondary item in my trading.
All of my trading setups revolve around Fibonacci retracements and extensions.
You might be the opposite, you may hate Fibonacci retracements and extensions. That is perfectly fine. The goal is to find out what works for you and then craft your setups around that.
No two people have the same psychological makeup so therefore no two people will trade exactly the same way. We are all created uniquely and there has never been someone like you before and there never will be after. So although you may trade similarly as someone, you will never trade exactly the same as someone.
You have to find out what works for you and tweak it to maximize your profits. Do this through meditation.
Small Consistent Actions are What to Focus On
Small consistent actions lead to big gains. Whichever path you are most consistent with, that is the one you end up taking. The video below describes what I am talking about.
In just about everything worthwhile in life, consistency is the key. The more consistent you are in the choices that benefit your life then the better, more successful, and more productive your life will be.
The choices we make dictate the lives we lead. – William Shakespeare or Danny DeVito.
The consistent choices you make determine your habits .Your habits determine what you overall will choose to do each day. So from the video above you can see how small consistent good choices over time can add up to big positive changes in your life.
So today, consider taking 1 minute out of your day to sit quietly, close your eyes and focus on whatever thoughts come into your head. Don’t try to make them go away. Just simply observe them. Eventually that thought will dissipate and another one might come into your head.
Simply observe that thought until it is gone. Eventually you will get to a point where there aren’t any thoughts running through your mind.
When you get to that point then simply observe the quiet and peace in your mind where there is stillness with no thoughts.
When a thought does come back into your mind, simply observe it until it is gone.
Do this for only 1-minute per day. If you can do more than 1-minute then awesome! But set aside at least 1-minute to observe your thoughts. If you go for 38 minutes, 27 minutes, 64 minutes, or any amount of time than 1-minute then consider it money in the bank.
But what I want for you to do is start creating the habit of meditating everyday for at least 1-minute per day. This is how you build habits that can positively impact your life in a big way over time.
Tools to Help You in Your Forex Trading for Beginners Journey
I’ve created several posts that go over the exact products and services I have used to help me in my trading journey. A lot of them are meditation focused because I fully believe that meditation has been the process that has helped me the most in trading.
Some of the setups I have written about I am not currently using anymore. But I want to provide them so you can see if they may help you craft your own trading style. Whether you are looking for info on Forex trading for beginners, stocks trading, futures, trading or anything that is trade-able, this info below can assist in cultivating your quest for valuable information:
- How to become a profitable trader using meditation
- Isochronic Tones for Traders to Improve Trading Performance
- How to Improve Your Meditation with the Brain Evolution System
- Best Meditation Books for Traders
- Trend Trading – A New and Easy Way to Spot the Trend in Any Market
- The 61B Trade Setup – A Setup That is Extremely Profitable
- 2 Intraday Trading Strategies You Can Use Today
- Andrews Pitchfork: A Beginner’s Guide On How to Use It With Your Trading
- Day Trading Setups for Maximum Profits: The 78.6% Trade
Conclusion to Forex Trading for Beginners
There is not one right way to trade. If you make money trading a certain way then that is the right way. Hopefully this article that focused on Forex trading for beginners helped show you that successful trading is dependent upon the psychology of the person trading.
Do not listen to anyone try to tell you that your trading style isn’t good and you have to follow a certain set of rules. Pretty much all of those people are trying to sell you their course or trading room.
Trading is such an individual project and no two people will trade exactly the same which is why you never see anyone who can show proof they became a millionaire by following some “gurus” trading system or trade signals.
You have to discover what works for you.
Verify by testing.
Yes, you need to study and practice the setups you discover through meditation. You have to do this. This is how I discover my setups.
So it is good to read trading books, watch trading videos, and see how others trade. Then try to incorporate it into how you want to trade.
You will know how you want to trade by what you are attracted to. The only right answer is which trading style makes money for you. The only wrong answer is the trading styles that cost you money when you trade.
But whatever you do: DO NOT SPEND THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS ON TRADING COURSES OR ROOMS FROM PEOPLE WHO WILL NOT SHOW VERIFIED PROOF THEY ARE A PROFITABLE TRADER!
Providing proof of profitability is one of the easiest things to do but no one does it who is selling a course or system. They’ll give you reasons why you should trust them and even tell you why providing proof of profitability is not worth it.
If they were profitable then they would be showing anyone and everyone because it would be the easiest way to sell their programs and courses. And to justify the high cost of it.
But sadly, none of them do because they don’t make money trading.
So don’t be like them. Start meditating to discover the trading style and setups that work for you.
