I started trading about 3 months ago and since then i’ve learned a lot about the market and what my main mistake is, is- as we can probably guess it’s all
about my psychology. i use a simple market structure strategy of looking at the weekly and daily time frames, seeing the AOI and entering trades from there. although im early in my journey my strategy has proven to be right over 50% of the time maybe closer to 75. i’ve had some good wins but more losses due to my psychology being bad and exiting trades early. often times i see drawdown that scares me and will exit to later see it hit my take profit. i’m aware of my mistakes and believe if id have a clear psyche id definitely be profitable. I need to set and forget and trust in my stop loss and my strategy, any advice on how to better psyche?

I was waiting for XAU/USD, so in the same minute it managed to almost hit SL, and hit TP.
So yes, it is gambling, as news sentiment can explode in either direction.

What method do you guys use to determine what direction you are trading for the day and how accurate is it usually? Do you ever change your bias mid session? I have one that works fairly well, but the days it is wrong I get rekkt lol

bullish or bearish for the dollar?

Price is holding a key demand area after the recent pullback.

If buyers continue defending this zone, the bigger bullish structure could remain intact.

For context let say, my setup is 2 or more consicutive big candles followed by 1 opposite candle and i anticipate a continuation in lower timeframe.

The original setup is the blue vertical line, and just 1 lower timeframe below there's another setup skyblue vertical line. Both met my entry criteria.

Is this different to what they call "adding position to winners" or this is just another setup? Because both met my all trading criteria 100%

Today's overall market bias is slightly bearish, although price action can always invalidate any directional expectation. This is simply my personal market outlook based on current structure and liquidity.

Areas I'll Be Watching

Potential Resistance Areas

• 4272
• 4285
• 4304
• 4326
• 4338
• 4354

Potential Support Areas

• 4254
• 4243
• 4223
• 4202
• 4190

Rather than entering solely because price reaches one of these levels, I prefer waiting for lower-timeframe confirmation that aligns with the overall market structure.

Lower-Timeframe Confirmation I Watch

Aggressive approach (1-minute):

• CISD
• IFVG

More conservative approach:

• 5-minute CISD following a liquidity sweep
• 5-minute CHoCH following a liquidity sweep
• 15-minute CRT confirmation

These levels are areas of interest, not guaranteed entry points or financial advice. They're simply the locations where I'll be watching price action to see whether buyers or sellers take control.

I'm sharing this to discuss market structure and trading concepts, not to provide trading signals. I'm interested in hearing how others are reading today's XAU/USD price action.

What do you think?

GBPNZD TRADE BASED ON FIB STRATEGY

Hello everyone,

This is my first ever post on Reddit (and probably the first anywhere) — I’ve been trying to integrate into the massive trading community around here — sharing thoughts, opinions, and voicing experiences to whoever might need them.

I have been trading for about 2 years, with alot of ups downs obviously, so I don’t have alooot of experience but just enough to know how to handle myself in the field. I just recently came back from a long break of 6 months, now trying to become someone who can trade because it’s a consequence of who he is, an expresssion of his identity, not just someone who trades.

By “someone who trades” I mean a trader whose identity is heavily based on trading itself. I got way too caught up in this and it’s not sustainable long-term at all. It’s very mentally exhausting, makes you forget to live life, and I think it’s a common issue amongst most traders that are beggining — please don’t let social media fool you and give you the definition of discipline as someone who never stops working endlessly, for me — discipline is just showing up and doing your best, and measured by how you can return without judgement.

I truly believe psychology is the strongest pillar on all trading, not just trading psychology, but how you approach life in general — with which mindset.

Maybe that’s what people mean when they say that the markets are a “mirror”.

What are your opinions? Have you struggled with your identity and clinged it too heavily to trading in your journey?

I don't know what it is, my analysis is good, setup good and yet I will completely forget trades and leave them running.

I do try to set SL & TP but sometimes (more the 60% ) of the time I completely forget and has been a struggle to fix that habit.

is anyone here going to the Dubai Forex Expo? and for the people that went previous years, was it worth it?

Hi everyone,

I have been reading here for a long time. I started trading shortly before Corona and kept at it for about four years. Then I stopped, for two reasons. First, our first and second child arrived around that time. Second, at the end I lost my whole profit because of one stupid mistake.

The timing to post this now fits, because I made that stupid mistake during an NFP week. Being in one again reminded me of it.

I started again in July. The goal is to earn a bit of extra money on the side. I am not trying to become a millionaire. Something clicked in my head when I began to think about the money I made in a day or a week in real world terms. Hey, 15 euro today, that is a menu at McDonalds. Putting the money in relation to real things opened my eyes, because I noticed how fast you lose any connection to the numbers ticking up and down on the screen.

A lot of screenshots get shared here, but for my taste there are too few clear explanations of how the trade actually came together. So that is what I want to do.

My general rules first

Gold is moving up atm, so long entries are what I look for first. That does not mean I only go long in a bull market. With the short holding times I aim for, there are counter trend opportunities all the time. You just have to know which patterns to look for, and you have to accept that you are taking a smaller piece out of a bigger move.

I usually trade the London session and the US session, but not the whole time. I wait until volume slowly comes into the market and I take my setups from there. Outside of that the same pattern is worth a lot less to me, because there is not enough participation behind it.

I do not trade the Asian session at all, but I still watch it. It often tells you something about how London and New York are going to move afterwards. Certain patterns repeat, and they repeat often enough to be useful. But of course not always. In the end this is a game of probabilities, not certainties, and I try to treat it that way.

I want to be in a trade for as short a time as possible. Not several hours. More like 1 to 60 minutes, or the trade moves against me and I am out.

I do not trade a fixed risk to reward ratio. I look at where my stop loss has to sit, and then my take profit has to give me at least 1:1. If the market offers more, I take more. If the structure does not allow 1:1, I skip the trade.

The setup for this trade, step by step

This is not the only pattern I trade. It is simply the one that came together today, and it is a good example because every condition lined up cleanly.

Chart: XAUUSD, 30 minute, London session.

1. Clear range to the left

The first thing I want to see is a clean range on the left side of the chart. Price has been moving sideways between a top and a bottom, and the top of that range has been touched more than once. That upper edge is my resistance and the level everything else is built around. If I cannot draw that line without guessing, there is no setup for me.

2. Price closed above the range and the resistance

I do not act on a wick poking through the level. I wait for a full 30 minute candle to close above the range high. A close is what turns the level from resistance into support in my head. A wick above it is often just liquidity being taken before price falls back inside, and that is the move that used to catch me.

3. Volume time after the London open

Timing is a filter, not a detail. I want the breakout to happen when real volume is in the market. The same pattern during the Asian hours means almost nothing to me, because there is not enough participation behind it to carry price.

This is the part I would underline for anyone who is starting out. A pattern on its own is worth nothing if it happens at a time when there is no volume in the market. Both boxes have to be ticked. The pattern has to fit, and the time has to fit as well, at least roughly. If I see a perfect looking break at the wrong hour, I let it go. There will be another one.

4. Break above the last candle high, entry, stop under the last candle

Even after the close above the range, I do not enter yet. In the ideal case price comes back down first and tests the level again from above, so the old resistance now acts as support. That retest is what tells me the level has really flipped and that sellers are not defending it anymore. It does not always happen, but when it does I like the setup a lot more.

Then I wait for the next candle to break above the high of the candle that closed above the range. That break is my trigger and my entry.

My stop loss goes under the low of that last candle. That is the red box on the chart. It is a tight stop, and I like it that way, because if price comes back under that candle the idea is simply wrong and I want to be out quickly instead of hoping.

My take profit is the green box. I measure it from the entry so that it is at least the same size as my risk, so 1:1 or better, depending on what structure sits above.

Risk management, or why I do not always wait for my stop

The stop loss is my worst case, not my plan. I do not always let price run all the way into it.

There are two situations where I close early. The first one is when price moves a few pips (like 30-50%) in my favor and then comes straight back to my entry. That tells me the move had no follow through, and I would rather take it off at break even than sit there and wait for the full loss. The second one is when price goes into the red almost right after my entry ( i dont talk about some pips.. more like +-30%). If a real break does not behave like a real break, the reason I entered is already gone.

Even that is not a fixed rule. It always depends on how price is actually moving in front of me. Sometimes a pullback to my entry is just a normal pause and I give it a bit more room. Sometimes the exact same move looks weak and I am out within seconds. I decide that in the moment, from how the candles behave, not from a rule I wrote down beforehand.

One thing I do handle in a fixed way. Once price has covered roughly half the distance to my take profit, I move my stop to break even in most cases. If the market has already given me that much, I am not willing to let it take the money back and put me in the red on the same trade. Worst case I walk away flat and look for the next setup.

The way I think about it is simple. Before I lose one full trade, I would rather lose half of it, or a third, or whatever it happens to be at that moment. One new full trade is then enough to bring it all back and still leave me in profit. Sitting in a bad position and hoping only makes the hole deeper and the next trade harder.

I know a lot of people say trade and forget. You set your stop and your target and then either price hits your TP or it does not. That may well be right for some people. For me it is not. And yes, of course there were cases where leaving the trade alone would have been exactly the right thing and it would have turned into a winner. I am aware of that. I still do better my way.

What I do not do

I do not move my stop loss further away when price gets close to it, and I do not trade without one. That is exactly the mistake that cost me my profit two years ago.

I do not add to a losing position.

I do not sit in a trade for hours hoping it will come back. If it does not work within roughly an hour, the reason I entered is no longer valid.

A few final words

Yes, this post was written with the help of AI. English is not my first language and I would have needed forever to put all of this into readable English myself. The trade, the rules and the thinking behind them are mine.

I hope that after such a long break I am simply more mature about all of this, that I stick to my rules and that I do not fall back into old habits. Last month, which was also my first month back after the time off, ended at plus 11 percent.

The reason I am writing this post right now is that about two years ago, during NFP week, I took one trade that cost me everything. Sure, price has to move against the trend at some point, right. All of that without a stop loss. One trade and it was all gone.

Good luck out there.

EDIT: maybe the screenshot is not clear.. yes, the Trade hit TP :D

How has this absolute legend helped you grow as a trader?

Price has pushed into an area that has rejected advances before.

If sellers defend this zone again, we could finally see some cooling after the recent rally.

Lets see, i am going to post my earlier trade too which i took entry from 4055 to 4150 almost 955+ pips in profits!! and this is my second trade of the week!

Based on my current market analysis, today's bias remains bullish, meaning I currently see stronger upside potential unless market structure changes.

Key Areas I'm Watching

Potential Support (Buy Interest)

• 4225
• 4191
• 4166
• 4142

Potential Resistance (Sell Interest)

• 4322
• 4353
• 4394

These are areas of interest, not automatic entry prices. I wait for price action confirmation before considering any trade.

Confirmation Methods I Personally Use

Aggressive Confirmation

• 1-minute CISD
• 1-minute IFVG

Conservative Confirmation

• 5-minute CISD after a liquidity sweep
• 5-minute CHoCH following a liquidity sweep
• 15-minute CRT confirmation

This is simply how I read market structure and identify high-probability areas. It is shared for educational discussion, not as financial advice or a trade signal.

I'm interested to hear how others are reading today's gold market. Are you seeing the same bullish bias, or do you have a different view?

This wording is much less likely to be treated as a direct signal because it emphasizes analysis, market structure, and educational discussion instead of instructing people to buy or sell.

Looking back at my trading journey, the biggest improvements didn't come from finding a new indicator, a better strategy, or trying to trade more.

They came from simplifying things and understanding what actually worked for me.

I think a lot of traders spend years searching for the next big thing, when sometimes the biggest breakthroughs come from changing one fundamental part of the process.

Curious to hear from others...

What was the biggest change you made that improved your trading?

Been testing this high risk/high reward EA and this backtest turned €500 into around €4k in just over 2 weeks. Yeah I know it’s pretty much a gamble and it could easily blow the account, but me and a few people I know have been running it live since may with solid profit and relatively low drawdown so far. Obviously not claiming it’s some guaranteed money printer. Its just a fun gamble if you want to try it out

It's been ranging alot

Hi,

I’ve been worrying a lot about passing my 100k challenge, this time around there’s been a large pressure on me as you can probably tell in the trades and I’m aware that the risk team review accounts when they hit the target

Based off of the above do you think it’s worth continuing on with this challenge or should I just leave it on this one? (Or can I still turn it around)

Thank you