Lets face it most of have started out on the lower timeframe charts thinking that we can make x pips per day and minimize our downside because we are really involved in our trades etc etc. If you had the same experiences I did you would win big and loose bigger and never really make those pips. Let me clue you in its the same reason you won't be successful in the bigger timeframes, it is not that you can't trade the smaller timeframes and be successful you can and people do it every day but you need to walk before you can run.
There are 2 real keys in trading and they are patience and consistency. Getting these 2 things down is your secret to success, its not the system. Trading and golf are very similiar in that they both require you play against yourself, not your broker not anyone but you. Yes before everyone get all hot and bothered money management is important but not nearly as important as patience and consistency.
So lets start with consistency. You have to have a documented system and trade the system religously, and I mean every day day in day out, if that means you have to write your system on post it notes and put them all around your monitor(s) DO IT and then read the notes before you place a trade. This means you can't spend time tweaking your system after you have a looser, this is why you demo trade to test your system and get comfortable with it. You also have to only trade what you see and what you know. Ignore the crap news feeds from your broker that xyz is happening, or what Joe Bob on some other thread thinks the euro is going to do, screw Joe Bob, its your money and your trade don't allow some clown to mess with your future. Now with that said stay out of trades around key news events like the NFP, and for god sakes don't trade the dam news right now. At some point I will show/tell you how to make pips around news events that is brain dead simple with almost no risk to your account.
The other piece to success is patience. Let the trade come to you, again trade only what you see and know and not what you think is going to happen. If you miss a big run up, don't worry I can assure you there will be others. Successful trading is NOT about the number of entries you have but in the pips you walk away with. The same holds true for exits, trade your system. So for example you are using ma crosses as you system you enter at a cross in one direction and you exit the trade when the ma's cross in the opposite direction, don't jump out of the trade to early, there is usually a pretty good chance that trade is going to keep going and net you more pips.
There are 2 real keys in trading and they are patience and consistency. Getting these 2 things down is your secret to success, its not the system. Trading and golf are very similiar in that they both require you play against yourself, not your broker not anyone but you. Yes before everyone get all hot and bothered money management is important but not nearly as important as patience and consistency.
So lets start with consistency. You have to have a documented system and trade the system religously, and I mean every day day in day out, if that means you have to write your system on post it notes and put them all around your monitor(s) DO IT and then read the notes before you place a trade. This means you can't spend time tweaking your system after you have a looser, this is why you demo trade to test your system and get comfortable with it. You also have to only trade what you see and what you know. Ignore the crap news feeds from your broker that xyz is happening, or what Joe Bob on some other thread thinks the euro is going to do, screw Joe Bob, its your money and your trade don't allow some clown to mess with your future. Now with that said stay out of trades around key news events like the NFP, and for god sakes don't trade the dam news right now. At some point I will show/tell you how to make pips around news events that is brain dead simple with almost no risk to your account.
The other piece to success is patience. Let the trade come to you, again trade only what you see and know and not what you think is going to happen. If you miss a big run up, don't worry I can assure you there will be others. Successful trading is NOT about the number of entries you have but in the pips you walk away with. The same holds true for exits, trade your system. So for example you are using ma crosses as you system you enter at a cross in one direction and you exit the trade when the ma's cross in the opposite direction, don't jump out of the trade to early, there is usually a pretty good chance that trade is going to keep going and net you more pips.