What is your biggest forex trading weakness?

daniellefr · #1 (**permalink**) 03-03-2009, 01:05 PM

Hello all!

Yes, it is me again with monthly poll! The question this month is "What is your biggest forex trading weakness?"

Possible answers include:

a)I lose control over trades.
b)I struggle with emotions over losses and lost "potential profits".
c)Indecision is my greatest weakness. I hesitate too much.
d)I am not focused as much as I should be!
e)I do not stick to my trading rules and not always apply my trading plan.
f)I still haven't defined a good money management system.
g)I believe that I have magical powers and can predict the future.

If you feel that you have some other weakness (not mentioned above) please share Thank you for your votes.

teamrecon · #2 (**permalink**) 03-03-2009, 01:28 PM

All of the above

daniellefr · #3 (**permalink**) 03-05-2009, 01:31 PM

Thank you for sharing, that option has been added to the poll. And I am sorry that the weaknesses are taking advantage of you. It will get better!!!!

miskec · #4 (**permalink**) 03-16-2009, 05:16 PM

e)I do not stick to my trading rules and not always apply my trading plan.

this must be the worst one, although a bit of everything.

nicesurf · #5 (**permalink**) 03-18-2009, 04:41 AM

The biggest weaknis is the chart is the realibility of the broker chart is quesionable and stii suspicious.

- Never stick to one strategy.
- Emotion.

daniellefr · #6 (**permalink**) 03-19-2009, 01:45 PM

Great posts, thank you for sharing your opinion. Very interesting to read!

mrwobbles · #7 (**permalink**) 03-19-2009, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daniellefr

a)I lose control over trades.

Not so much, I always set trailing stops and take profits automatically so I don't have to worry so much about managing a trade all the way.

Quote:

b)I struggle with emotions over losses and lost "potential profits".

Not so much struggling with the emotion, at the end of the day its risk capital, I'm not too concerned with losing it all, hence the risk capital malarky... But I do have a problem in closing trades earlier than I should.

Quote:

c)Indecision is my greatest weakness. I hesitate too much.

Again not so much I make decisions quite quickly and usually they are right and if they aren't then I have systems in place to deal with that. I think if anyone does have this weakness then they shouldn't be trading forex.

Quote:

d)I am not focused as much as I should be!

Oh yeah! = ) I don't focus my attention fully on one strategy. I usually develeop two or more strategies at the same time.

Quote:

e)I do not stick to my trading rules and not always apply my trading plan.

I do stick to the rules more often than not, but the rules can change depending on what strategy I think is working best. This makes it difficult to analyse the results.

Quote:

f)I still haven't defined a good money management system.

No I've got two fairly standard money management systems that work well for me. One based on risking a fixed percentage of my capital and another that selects the fixed percentage to risk depending on how well I'm doing

Quote:

g)I believe that I have magical powers and can predict the future.

I do have magical powers but shhh don't let anyone know...

mikkom · #8 (**permalink**) 03-19-2009, 05:16 PM

In past it used to be too tight stoplosses with too much risk on too small timeframes.

1Dave7 · #9 (**permalink**) 03-19-2009, 06:07 PM

Not ever finding an EA or creating an EA that works more than a few days without ending up getting hammered by changes in the market condition.

Dave

la_maya_k · #10 (**permalink**) 03-21-2009, 02:56 PM

Here's my input.

a)I lose control over trades.
I no longer do. I follow a plan of what time to trade, where to enter, and if I lose that trade, where to reenter. I never trade more than 2 times in a day. I define when I move my stop to breakeven, and I define where I take profit for each of my lots. I define my first lot to take profit at 100 pips, second at 200 pips, and last one to let run. The more I define things, the easier I find to follow the rules. If I let too many factors hanging in the air, as people say 'use your own discretion', to me those are words of disaster. Emotions and stupidity comes into play, and that's when I'll lose.

b)I struggle with emotions over losses and lost "potential profits".
I don't have much of a problem over stop outs anymore. Doesn't affect me as much as it did in the beginning. But after a string of losses, although expected in my trading plan, it affected me in the sense that I am scared to trade the supposed amount of lots. For example, I'm supposed to add one lot every 2 times I lose. I always start with 3 lots. Sometimes when I get to 5, I get scared, jittery, and place 4 lots instead. Then I win, and make back just enough to recover the losses before that. One week's effort went to waste. I've since told myself to get over that fear, and my account has moved forward greatly ever since. For example, I've increased my account by $1500 in these 2 weeks based on this realisation alone. (ps I'm trading minilots, not yet standard lots)

c)Indecision is my greatest weakness. I hesitate too much.
No hesitating. I set a p&c (parent & contingencies) order. Where to enter, where to place the stoploss, and where to take profits. It happens automatically even when I'm not looking at the computer, so there's no chance to hesitate even. I set price alarms to message me on my phone when my stoploss is hit, when it's +50 pips so that I'll move my stop to breakeven, when its 100 pips and when its 200 pips.

d)I am not focused as much as I should be!
I set an alarm on my phone when it's time to trade. I do not look at the charts before it's time to trade, for fear of being tempted to enter. I try to keep as emotionless as possible, and that keeps me focused on the task at hand. Do what you have to do.

e)I do not stick to my trading rules and not always apply my trading plan.
Killer mistake. That was how I lost my first account. You only need to get burnt once to know not to ever play with fire. I play strictly by the rules.

f)I still haven't defined a good money management system.
I trade under 2% risk. My stop loss is 27 pips. My take profit is either 100 pips, 200 pips, or beyond (I move the stop of the last remaining lot to follow the latest pullback). I increase a lot for every 2 losses. Having this MM plan puts my mind at ease when there's a string of losses.

g)I believe that I have magical powers and can predict the future.
I wish.