Getting Started in Currency Trading, + Companion Website: Winning in Today's Market, 4th Edition

Chapter 15

Setting Up Shop

Introduction

YOU ARE HERE—I assume you have a handle on mechanics from working your demo accounts and have at least tentatively selected a broker-platform pair to use for trading—but not yet real money! This chapter provides a plan to get fully organized to take the next step, practice trading.

FOREX trading is a fast-paced enterprise. You need to make decisions quickly, react instinctively, and not drop any of the multiple balls in the air. Leverage is one of the primary reasons traders are attracted to currency trading. It also magnifies mistakes because decisions need to be made quickly.

The plan is all about monitoring the market process and keeping track of it vis-à-vis your own trading approach. Every trader will want to have a simple plan encompassing all aspects of his trading program. It does not need to be complicated. In fact, it should not be complicated so it does not distract or take up too much time.

Tip: Counterpoint—Be careful that the process tail does not wag the trading dog. Most of your time must be devoted to watching and analyzing the markets.

Your own trading plan must be well laid out, thought out, all encompassing—and effective. And, you must abide by it consistently.

In this chapter, I detail a basic FOREX trading plan and how it works for me in real-time trading. You certainly want to modify it and customize it to your own needs, skills, experience, and techniques.

The examples in this book use MetaTrader 4 but may be easily ...