01.Nov,14:The irony is that the ICM demo account 896488 (+60%) which I did not give much attention to, did so much better than the real accounts (-53% and -95%) that I gave more attention to. Thinking through, all 3 accounts are manual accounts and use the same trading methodology. Lessons learnt:
1. Overtrading kills value
For demo account, I set a ONE trade and did not bother with it until it closes.
2. Detachment pays
My attention was at the live accounts where I wanted to make as much money as possible and the Zulutrade linked FXCM Demo Account. All these accounts lost money. My lack of attention to this trading account actually allowed time for the trades to be profitable and go to their respective take profit and stop loss. Overall it is profitable.
3. There are 3 winning trades and 1 losing trade. 2 winning EURUSD trades are held over 1 day and 1 winning AUDUSD trade was held for <3hrs. The 1 losing trade ended in 14mins.
The lesson learnt here is that I must be prepared to hold my positions over 1 day at least. This is also a reminder that I should not be too impatient for results. This is easier said than done.
4. Controlled and constant position size: position size was kept at 1.00 standard lot. Not an exact science just a random figure but the crucial thing is that even when I am winning I did not increase the size. When I lost the 2nd AUDUSD, I lost $647 and it was still within what I still could earn it back as the loss did not damage my account balance too much. Most importantly the focus was on the quality of trade (finding the right trades) instead of making money. Ironically when your focus is to make money in forex, you end up losing money. Perhaps this is the most important lesson that I can learn from the performance of this account. I have read it so many times that greed blinds and makes me a worst trader. This is a positive example of how to trade professionally without greed and be profitable in the end. Perhaps the better way to put it is for me to focus on finding the right trade and not on how much I can make from it.