Patience is a Virtue

Don’t force it!

I came to the FX market late in my career. In fact, I had a career before I ever walked into a bank dealing room. Because of this, I had developed what I would now laughingly call a work ethic. That meant that even if I wasn’t busy, I always gave the impression that I was, particularly when the boss was on the prowl!

However, this didn’t really help when I started trading. I learned very quickly that if the market is not moving there is nothing you can do. The nature of the spot market, which can be likened to scalping is that it happens in the here and now and the methodology is, or at least was, not conducive to doing any research. You lived by your wits, understood how the market was positioned and acted accordingly.

This is quite possibly an even more important lesson for today’s retail traders. It is not easy to follow what is actually happening in the interbank market and be constantly concerned that a major move is imminent. So, it becomes draining and a mistake can be easily made, particularly when there is a false break. Take a breath, bide your time, trust your strategy and learn as you go.

Psst., wanna buy a robot?

If a seminar is free, you will be expected to buy something if you attend. If a seminar is charged for, you will be given something to make you feel the experience was worth it.

Novice traders are often higher educated these days and so are used to attending a lecture of something similar in order for knowledge to be imparted to them This makes them easy pickings for those on the periphery of the market who make money from the greed and or gullibility of those “new to the game”. Before signing up for any course or lecture or seminar. ask yourself one vital question; “What am I expecting to get out of this?” or the even more fundamental one “will this fill the gaps in my knowledge?” If you hesitate about either answer don’t sign up. By using a dummy account most of what you will need to know can be tried and tested before risking a cent of “real” money.

In the retail world, successful traders are not created they are born to it. If it is not for you, unfortunately you will find out very quickly. But even if you are losing money it may not be you. They strategy may be wrong, the time period you trade may not suit your personality.

Little and often is the secret until that eureka moment when it all becomes clear. You instinctively know what the indicators are going to tell you and where the supports are without checking. You have arrived! The market has opened up and given you a glimpse of Utopia. Now, continue learning because all you have is experience and that cannot be lost or taught and should never be wasted. Added to knowledge it creates the most potent cocktail that can be used to make money.

Barnier vs. Davis

They’re back! (Yawn)

Did anyone miss Brexit during the lull in proceedings? Only those who write about the market probably did. Absence clearly made the heart grow fonder, since optimism was growing over a move to stage two next month. That flame was quickly dowsed as the two protagonists trotted out their well-worn lines:

Barnier, “The U.K. has two weeks to clarify its stance on key issues”.

Davis, “It is time for both sides to work to find solutions”.

As far as I can tell, it is the U.K. that has been told the conditions that need to be precedent before the talks can move to the discussion of the future relationship.  

Given that Theresa May can hardly manage to get her ministers to either keep their trousers on or not go on secret mission while supposedly on holiday, her ability to guide her Cabinet to a point where they can come up with an eleventh-hour strategy must be almost zero. Still she carries on particularly since no one with any kind of Prime Ministerial aspirations would dream of replacing her now.

Hard Brexit anyone?