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Nial Fuller

NIAL FULLER Nial Fuller
Professional Trader, Author & Coach

How to Finally Start Making Money Forex Trading

money

In this lesson, I am going to give you my insight into some of the key things that helped me start making money in the forex market. It may not be exactly what you want to hear, because it’s not necessarily going to be ‘fun’ or ‘entertaining’, but if you actually put in the effort and start implementing some of these ideas, I am certain you will notice major changes in both your trading mindset and your trading decisions. Sadly 80% of people who start reading an article never finish it, so for your own sake please make sure you’re one of the 20% who finish articles they start reading , this one is important :)

You have to do what you need to do to make money trading, not what you want to do, and these are often two very different things. Keep your mind on the end-goal and make sure you continue seeing the ‘forest for the trees’ so that you don’t get off-track and fall back into the same trading traps that have caused you to lose money.

What follows are the key things that I did or changed which allowed me to move from losing to winning in the market…

Use wider stop losses

You might be ‘choking’ your trades to death by using a stop loss that is too tight and sits inside the daily range of the market. You have to give your trades room to breathe; don’t suffocate them. Most novice traders place stops inside the markets daily range and that is the equivalent of giving your money away. Check out my article on how to use the average true range as well as this article on how to place stop losses; they will give you some ideas on how to place your stop losses strategically whilst still giving your trades room to breathe.

Of course, there is a ‘catch’ here, if you want to call it that. It’s that with wider stop losses, comes the fact that you need to reduce your position sizes. But, this shouldn’t be thought of as a ‘bad’ thing. On the contrary, placing your stop loss properly, means that you are trading properly and respecting the market; it means you are behaving logically, not emotionally. If you trade this way for long enough, you will make money and you will build a track record that reflects that. Traders with respectable live account track records over a one-year period, don’t have trouble finding funding or getting more funds to trade.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you can trade lower time frames and get a tighter stop. Sure, as you get better you can catch trades on the 4 hour or 1 hour charts that don’t require as wide of a stop, but you won’t be able to do this successfully over a long period of time if you don’t already know how to trade the daily chart profitably and understand proper stop loss placement on that time frame.

Don’t view wider stops as a handicap, instead, view a properly placed (probably wider than what you might like) stop loss as part of proper trading and proper trading habits that will ultimately lead to you becoming a consistently profitable trader much faster than if you place your stops emotionally, based on greed.

Take fewer trades and hold them longer

Holding fewer trades for longer can result in much more profit, much faster than ducking in out of the market all the time and entering many trades. Big money is made in the market by catching big moves and holding them, trading this way is also a lot easier than high frequency trading and it also means you don’t need a high winning percentage to be profitable, because one big winner can pay for many losers.

The more often you trade, the more spreads or commissions you pay to your broker. Over the course of a year, these fees add up, eating into any profit you may have had. When you take fewer trades but hold them longer; you are not paying nearly as many of these broker fees and you’re still giving yourself the chance to take advantage of strong market moves.

Trading less means less emotional trading mistakes like over-trading / over-leveraging your account. One big reason why so many traders end the year unprofitable, is because they gave back all their profits after a nice winning streak. You have to protect your trading capital and be very picky about which trades you take if you want to make big money; thus take fewer trades and hold them longer.

Holding trades longer gives you the opportunity to catch big moves in the market and that means you’re riding the market and taking advantage of its power. Granted, big directional moves and strong trends don’t happen all the time, but they happen enough and if you know how to trade them they can make you a lot of money with very little involvement on your part.

One way to take advantage of these big moves and to really pull a lot of money out of them, is by pyramiding your positions. This is essentially where you scale into a trend as it moves in your favour, building a bigger position size whilst trailing your stop loss as the trade becomes more and more profitable. To learn more, check out my article on pyramiding for profits here.

At the end of the day, just remember that one good trade per month or even every two months, that you hold for weeks or months, can make you more money and result in a much higher % return, with far less work and stress than ducking in and out of the market all month.

Be boring

People seem to think they need to be involved with the market a lot to make money. But they do this because it’s ‘fun’ for them and gives them a thrill (or they’re addicted to it), not because it’s profitable.

If you want to make money trading, you should basically be ‘bored’ with your trades, because you shouldn’t be trading in such a manner that you’re experiencing a lot of huge ups followed by huge downs in your account value. Don’t confuse me saying ‘be bored with your trades’ to mean that you should think trading is ‘boring’. I am simply saying that your ‘thrill’ or excitement from trading should not be from doing it wrong, it should be from doing it right. Meaning, you should be excited about the longer-term payoff of trading properly, which means using proper stop losses (wider if necessary), being more selective in your trades (trading like a sniper) and holding them for longer.

To get started learning how to trade properly with my simple yet highly effective price action strategies, check out my forex trading course for more information.

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Nial Fuller

About Nial Fuller

is a Professional Trader, Investor & Author who is considered ‘The Authority’ on Price Action Trading. His blog is read by over 200,000+ followers and he has taught 25,000+ students since 2008. In 2016, Nial won the Million Dollar Trader Competition. Checkout Nial's Professional Trading Course here.
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  1. Tomson

    This article is really good.
    It is the goal for me to take lesser trades, and hold them longer and hopefully I’m on my way to doing this, but it takes time and it is a learning and understanding.
    A bit funny that you can read this and understand that this is the proper way to trade the market, but it may take a few years, you have to go through all the hard knocks in the market to really understand it, and get this deep in to your self and finally you can grab it and (hopefully) trade in this manner.
    And those years in the market is at the same time a learning period that you have to go through to understand the market, so it isn’t wasted even if it may feel so from time to time.

    Thanks
    Tomson

    Reply
  2. Gina Spencer

    Very good and to the point article.
    Thanks Nial,

    Gina

    Reply
  3. peter grimes

    Its a great article Nial, but my fear is that new traders will not follow this advice, (to the detriment of their account) it is human nature in todays society to want to make lots of money quickly,

    After 6 years of trading I agree with your views, I can only advise new traders , view your trading more as an investment strategy, that way you can get away from the idea of always having to be in the market and consequently overtrading with poor quality set ups.

    Reply
    • Nial Fuller

      Well said Peter. Your one of the lucky ones who has finally realized the realities of trading as well as found a path to success by implementing a longer term horizon for each of your trades. Trade less + hold trades longer = make more money.

      Reply
  4. Vongsouk

    This is simply one of the best article of Master Nial. Thank you

    Reply
  5. Kingfisher1978

    Thank you Nail, good article

    Reply
  6. Kevin

    Great article! That’s where my thinking is, slowly modifying my trading and getting more consistent.
    Thanks Kevin

    Reply
  7. Igor

    Hi Nial! This is the right Board. Now I work only on the daily charts in the direction of the trend. Install SL 200 points or more. This is usually 10 pips above/below the nearest local minimum or maximum. Deals open quite rare – 1-2 per month on one currency pair. After upgrading to this trading system, the number of winning trades increased. Trade became calmer, stress free.

    Reply
  8. Khesiwe

    Thanks Nail for this article it’s so helpful thanks

    Reply
  9. idowu

    thanks this article has open my eye to a new things in forex market

    Reply
  10. Force

    I did manage reading to the end :-) What a great article. Thank you.

    Reply
  11. Alf

    Hi Nial,
    I use now wider stop loss settings.
    Thank you for such a great article.
    Alf

    Reply
  12. Joseph

    Nial….you sir, pour your heart into each post!!! We are so blessed to be allowed to share in your wisdom!!

    Reply
  13. Ibrahim

    Thank nail for article. that is good lesson for new trader like me.thank u very much.

    Reply
  14. Sree

    nice writeup…. Few of logical steps which I implemented a month back after series of losses…. It’s highly need to give breathing for trade… And don’t act on seeing losses may be for hours some cases day or 2…. Not an advice this is my observation. Nial I would call you Guru of common man ?

    Reply
  15. Galen

    Thanks Nial

    Reply
  16. Dotty Clarke

    Hi Nial,

    I am still trading a demo account, this article is just what I needed to read , I do recommend reading your course more than once as the second time round made more sense. I will also now keep away from the 1 and 4 hour until I master the daily, as this is where my mistakes are coming from .
    Your articles and training are so much appreciated
    Dot

    Reply
  17. Steffen

    Thanks Nial, Great Advice :)

    Reply
  18. Joey W.

    What you say is so true. I believe that for most traders, the only way to learn this lesson is through the mistakes and losses of over trading. It is nearly impossible not to get caught up in the excitement and always wanting to be in the market when you first start trading forex. When you get back to your normal lifestyle and daily routine, the same as before you started trading, only then you will not find yourself sitting in front of the monitor or checking it 10 times a day and be tempted to take losing trades. I have found that trading from the weekly and daily charts, and holding your trades for weeks and months like Nial says, is the way to profit in this market. Yes, it’s boring, but it gets more fun when you see your account start to grow. Good luck to you all.

    Reply
  19. Woodrow

    Excellent mentoring Nial. Thank you for helping me learn to trade the markets.

    Reply
  20. dev

    Nial ,youre spot on again trade less and be choosy of best trades ,pick the best ,and let them run .
    absolute common sense,
    Cheers Nial keep up the good work

    Reply
  21. Ali A

    Thank you Niall. To the point and that’s what I need.

    Reply
  22. Cyrus

    All very valuable information.

    However, lately I have decided not to place my stop loss just above or below the mother bar of an inside bar because it means I am going in with a very tight stop loss.

    So I have decided that even if I am trading the inside bar I will in addition place my stop loss above or below a key price level.

    If such a level is too far away I am 7 out of 10 times not trading the setup however strong the confluence is.

    Reply
  23. PipTrap

    Great bullet points! Trading less and being boring is HUGE way to improve your profitability! Solid advice from Nial again!

    Reply
  24. Kate M

    Thank you for this article. It is so great to have new articles coming out all the time. They keep me in touch, and Im learning more and more with all the new material. Thanks again:)

    Reply
  25. Gustav

    You sir, always know what to say. You are to me the only true forex trading mentor that does not say what people want to hear, but tells the truth about trading whilst also imparting invaluable lessons. I really appreciate your articles because every single one is different but as important.

    Reply
  26. sokha

    U are the cause of my prifitable trades, yr simple lesson work pretty good. Thank u a lot

    Reply
  27. Jendy Jasper

    I don’t think I can trade Forex succefully without this respected experts like Nail Fuller, Steve Nison, Mark Douglas and Greg secker .

    You posts always make sense. Good ink

    Reply
  28. olawale

    This is insightful and revealing. God bless the day I was introduced to this site and a forex sage like you. you’re doing a great job.

    Reply
  29. Fred

    Thanks Nail, very insightful. I am new to this game still on a demo, I finding the lower time frames very stressful. Changing, and the info on daily range for stop loss definitely makestill sense.

    Reply
  30. Peter Miller

    Short article but to the point. An absolute must do to be a winner. Nial Fuller “the only forex mentor to follow if you want to be successful”. Many thanks
    Peter

    Reply
  31. cokelat70

    Thanks Nial.

    Reply
  32. Michael

    Another golden nugget Niall. Your point about position sizes is key. Trading large amounts at first doesn’t allow you to let the market play out as it should, because the pain sets in too soon. First thing about stopping the bleeding, once you know what you are doing of course, is to lower your positions and get a thrill from trades working out, not over risking. With time, as skills develop, one can always scale up, but that should never be too soon, if you love the market and want to stay in. Thanks Coach. You made it all possible.

    Reply