Seeking some advice from pros only who have worked through their demons, achieved 'the mindset' and consistency, and who have some experience with futures or options. I would greatly appreciate sincere advice on breaking through the glass ceiling
After 5 years of intense study, with the help of key people and threads on this excellent forum, I have 'found my voice' and crystallized my trading style and money management spreadsheets and have become a breakeven intraday fx trader (charting with no indicators) with a strong understanding of how supply & demand control the markets. Trading psychology (why i love trading) has brought my mind to new places in terms of being realistic about the markets and life in general. I have plenty to learn, but at least it is no longer an emotional game for me. I use M15/M30/H1/D1 charts (H1 primarily). I feel I almost have the trifecta now. I know with a little help that I can do this, and I love doing it.
THE DILEMMA
After heavy wins and losses over the years my discipline and methods have evolved. Yet my results are only breakeven mostly because I find it hard to work the forex from the PST time zone (west coast US). This means that London opens at midnight, and the Lo/NY overlap is from ~5am to 9am, both difficult because of a demanding day job and new baby. My trading style is hands-on discretionary (with rules) but overnight stop outs are driving my average down. It is not about needing larger stops; I feel I just need to be able to manage positions actively. my trading style requires high liquidity times of day and I think if i could just trade from 12a-3am PST consistently I would be fine.
I am strongly considering moving toward options and futures for the better risk control and market hours, respectively. Is the complexity of these worth the move from spot forex (which I am very comfortable with now)? I suspect that options combined with my trading style would send my risk/reward through the roof in a good way. disadvantages: different risk models, higher broker/software fees, having to change brokers (i really like mine). but these can be overcome.
I hope you are getting an idea of how close I feel I am to having the pieces in place, and how frustrating it is to not be able to manage risk better than trading overnight using huge stop losses (seems archaic to me). I do not have stars in my eyes anymore, I have a strong discretionary methodology that just needs tweaking. I would like to be fulltime within two years. I just need some direction before I go live with my next account of probably only $5k. This is what I have to work with. I think funding and market times/timezones are my biggest obstacles and I find myself at a numb, nebulous place in the face of these seemingly insurmountable obstacles and need some perspective beyond my trading and my books.
If anything I have said inspires or confuses you please lmk. I hope we can generate some dialogue that helps others too.
Thanks for reading and good trading.
After 5 years of intense study, with the help of key people and threads on this excellent forum, I have 'found my voice' and crystallized my trading style and money management spreadsheets and have become a breakeven intraday fx trader (charting with no indicators) with a strong understanding of how supply & demand control the markets. Trading psychology (why i love trading) has brought my mind to new places in terms of being realistic about the markets and life in general. I have plenty to learn, but at least it is no longer an emotional game for me. I use M15/M30/H1/D1 charts (H1 primarily). I feel I almost have the trifecta now. I know with a little help that I can do this, and I love doing it.
THE DILEMMA
After heavy wins and losses over the years my discipline and methods have evolved. Yet my results are only breakeven mostly because I find it hard to work the forex from the PST time zone (west coast US). This means that London opens at midnight, and the Lo/NY overlap is from ~5am to 9am, both difficult because of a demanding day job and new baby. My trading style is hands-on discretionary (with rules) but overnight stop outs are driving my average down. It is not about needing larger stops; I feel I just need to be able to manage positions actively. my trading style requires high liquidity times of day and I think if i could just trade from 12a-3am PST consistently I would be fine.
I am strongly considering moving toward options and futures for the better risk control and market hours, respectively. Is the complexity of these worth the move from spot forex (which I am very comfortable with now)? I suspect that options combined with my trading style would send my risk/reward through the roof in a good way. disadvantages: different risk models, higher broker/software fees, having to change brokers (i really like mine). but these can be overcome.
I hope you are getting an idea of how close I feel I am to having the pieces in place, and how frustrating it is to not be able to manage risk better than trading overnight using huge stop losses (seems archaic to me). I do not have stars in my eyes anymore, I have a strong discretionary methodology that just needs tweaking. I would like to be fulltime within two years. I just need some direction before I go live with my next account of probably only $5k. This is what I have to work with. I think funding and market times/timezones are my biggest obstacles and I find myself at a numb, nebulous place in the face of these seemingly insurmountable obstacles and need some perspective beyond my trading and my books.
If anything I have said inspires or confuses you please lmk. I hope we can generate some dialogue that helps others too.
Thanks for reading and good trading.