Transitioning from simulated to live trading

[erin007]

I have a lot of success trading in sim...and a lot of disaster trading live. Does anyone have suggestions for translating the ease and flow of sim into live trading?



(Awesome site by the way, Bon. Great job - really.)

[greygoose]

More information is needed to define the specific issues to address. In essence, what is the difference in the trades Live vs Sim, ie; entry wrong, late; not holding for targets, etc.
Any insight will help. Usually it is a psychological issue. I recommend newbies go thru the 'school' at http://www.babypips.com/school/ Its very basic insight on using relevant tools.

[MonkeyTrader]

trade small. forget the money (i know its easy to say).

[erin007]

thanks for the input. yes...forgetting about the money is probably the key.

i think it's mostly the anxiety and pressure that get me. i start getting in where i shouldn't and/or not getting in where i should. then if 1 trade doesn't go well i feel even more anxiety about the next one. in sim there is a flow and an ease.

i'll check out babypips - thanks for the link.

[Love2Trade]

Its interesting that so many people do well in simulation and then so bad with real money. Just goes to show how it really is mostly in the mind.

I hear you on trading small, but there is no smaller than one futures contract, and that is really where I want to be at the moment.

Its only 10$ per CL cent though, and I find that OK. Mostly do as the guys say in the live trade room and i rarely take more than a 100$ loss, max is 200$ full stop - I am OK with that, specially as there are plenty of profits to overshadow the losses.

I do wonder how I would be doing without any calls being given to me though, it defiantly makes a big big difference to me being able to trade under someone.

[Love2Trade]

Oh yes, forgetting about the money - It would be nice to able to forget it completely. Do you have any tips on how to do that Monkeytrader ?

Trading small is OK, but as for forgetting it completely, isn´t that impossible ?

""SORRY - Meant to quote Monkeytrader text on this one""

[Love2Trade]

thanks for the input. yes...forgetting about the money is probably the key.

i think it's mostly the anxiety and pressure that get me. i start getting in where i shouldn't and/or not getting in where i should. then if 1 trade doesn't go well i feel even more anxiety about the next one. in sim there is a flow and an ease.

i'll check out babypips - thanks for the link.

Hi Erin007,

You do need to think about each trade on its own, in its own right. Don´t worry that the previous trade was a loss, and don't think about it being a profit either, it is irrelevant, this present trade is the one you need to think about and any previous result just is not significant.

Babypips is good. I read through it a while back, at lot of it is very basic but it depends where you are, theres some better stuff later on though. Certainly worth a look if you are anywhere near a basic level.

What are you trading ?

[Bon]

What did you think about the BabyPips site Erin ?
OH by the way...................... Where are you ?

thanks for the input. yes...forgetting about the money is probably the key.

i think it's mostly the anxiety and pressure that get me. i start getting in where i shouldn't and/or not getting in where i should. then if 1 trade doesn't go well i feel even more anxiety about the next one. in sim there is a flow and an ease.

i'll check out babypips - thanks for the link.

[MonkeyTrader]

Hi Erin007,

You do need to think about each trade on its own, in its own right. Don´t worry that the previous trade was a loss, and don't think about it being a profit either, it is irrelevant, this present trade is the one you need to think about and any previous result just is not significant.

Babypips is good. I read through it a while back, at lot of it is very basic but it depends where you are, theres some better stuff later on though. Certainly worth a look if you are anywhere near a basic level.

What are you trading ?

Well, maybe forgetting about it totally is impossible, but you get my point. Keep it small, know your risk and work from there, holding and preying wont help.

Good advice there at the end too. Each trade is individual and all trades past and present should be out of your mind.

There is also a very good post at this link viewtopic.php?f=11&t=137 Anyone with mindset problems, READ IT.

[joev]

Hi Erin:
I think if you follow the money management here by which you sell half up 5 or 6 cents and bring your stop to break even +/- alittle you may get banged out and not get the full benefit of a runner but once in a while you will. this atleast takes the heat off of the runner and lets you trade without having to make many decisions. then just let smithy find you a target trail it a bit and it should work out. if you trade just one contract its too hard , two is easier and i believe safer