What distinguishes a successful trader in forex price action trading is his ability to act on price action, this sadly is something that seems to be lost in today’s generation. It is sad how many investors and traders seem to have forgotten the fact that it is price action which provides the fundamental data one needs to make a profit. It is sad that more traders would rather spend their hard earned money on a lot of fancy bells and whistles instead of truly understanding what makes the market tick.
It is sad that more traders would rather spend $5,000 on a forex trading robot that promises them 99.99% consistency than they will spend $100 on “persistence and discipline”.
The sad thing about the current trading system and the way it promotes trading is that it seems to me like the road to becoming a winning forex trader is through some style of mechanical trading. This is a shame as there are many excellent free strategies available on the internet that do provide a very strong edge in the market.
One of the key elements of price action trading is that it caps losses at a certain time. It provides an edge that the market doesn’t always push the prices through the breakout point. It seems to me that the market respects certain levels and breaks them. When this occurs there is often a massive move straight through. This is one of the most consistent ways to find potentially profitable breakouts.
The real key to becoming a winning forex trader is sticking to one method and this is a place that some mechanical traders are strong into. You shouldn’t transition from a discretionary style of trading to a mechanical style of trading because this will cause you to get confused and end up making mistakes. You will find yourself jumping from one system to the next as soon as a trade shows some losses. When you are trading this way, you will find that taking the final trade is no big deal, because there is still a high probability of turning around.
Whether it is with price action, fundamental analysis, technical analysis or a combination of these, the very first thing you need to understand is that currency trading is a game of odds, not certainties. Your job is to have as low of a risk bet as possible and that means being flexible and trading with the odds. Using price action only in conjunction with other analysis is a winning strategy.
Technical analysis and the Elliott Wave forecast have long been considered to be leading indicators, but price action analysis is a good alternative if you are looking for a less direct approach. Price action is not an indicator but a way to interpret the psychology of the market, and by understanding the workings of the price action strategy, you should be able to improve your currency trading.