Learning the Ropes

Well, so far I've managed to learn a few things about the basics of doing this. It should work out pretty well, because it will take me at least a couple months to get $400 in my account, which I figure is the least amount I need to make it safe enough for trading - in other words, $400 divided by $15 is just under 27, so I would need to lose 27 trades in a row to run out of money. If I do that, then I'll know that this isn't going to work.

I've done a few trades using a couple of different pairs (in forex, you trade different pairs of currencies - the way the currency values move against each other creates the movement.) I found out that the ones using the USD, or our dollar, end up as $1 dollar per point, or pip as its called gained or lost. I had the guy at the place change my practice account to where it would work like that, because it was too confusing to have each point equal $50. I figure if this works the way it should, I'll be there in 3 years or so, but for now I'd better have it as realistic as possible. I tried a few trades with the GBP/EUR pair, but since there was no dollar involved, the per pip amount was $1.60, which would be too high for me right now. I also decided to stick with the same pair, as I figure the more consistent I am, the more likely this should work. I've still only had one full winning trade out of the first 9, but I'm only down $34. Also, I had to start over when I had my practice account reset to the lower amount. That took away my one winning trade. I have to stay up late, but at least no one else is up to interrupt my trading. Sometimes the trade gets set up (or stopped out) within the first hour, and I can go to bed. Last night took longer. I don't really mind, though. I'm able to catch a few winks until the last part of the set-up happens. If it doesn't stop out, I'm waiting for it to move enough in the right direction so I can reset my stop at break-even. That's what has happened 2 out of 3 times since I reset my practice account. I'm pretty sure that it's just a matter of time before one of these doesn't retrace, and I'll get a winning trade. That should put me in the plus. I'll let you know next time.