Eight (8) Popular Mistakes Traders Make That Blows Off Their Accounts In Minutes

"One of my worst moments in Forex as a beginner was when i placed a trade unknowingly during the news release, and i experienced a spike, which went very fast against my trade. My new live account got blown off in one day".

"Most traders fail not necessarily because of what they didn't do correctly but simply because of what they did not know."  - C.E.O FXTradeCity

What a headline! I guess you had expected something different like; tips on how to increase your Forex account to mega figures. However topics like that has lesser impacts on your overall productivity compared to understanding what would make your account dry out after few trades.

One basic fact in Forex trading is that it takes several months, and possibly some years to grow a steady positive account. On the contrary it takes few minutes or few trades to blow off an account no matter its size. 

This article reveals the signs, and likely factors that causes traders to blow off their accounts within minutes or after few trades.


Abuse of Lot Size: Leveraging in Forex makes it very appealing but somewhat destructive if it is not used appropriately. If trade moves to your favour - great; but when it goes against you, it goes real bad. Unfortunately the high value of the spread on some currency pairs increases the effects of position sizing especially during volatile sessions. This increases the value of losses when the market goes against you due to wrong lot size orders. A major factor that makes traders abuse lot size is greed, impatience, poor knowledge on leveraging, and trying to get back at the market after series of losses.


Not Setting Stop Loss: Majority of traders often get too confident as they progress in Forex trading especially when they have been experiencing series of success, which gives them the feeling of having a "control" over the market. The obvious fact is that you may be able to achieve a 100% calculation on your forecast but you cannot predict the next unsuspecting event in the market. Moreover other factors like technical platform glitches, sudden breakdown on internet connection, price feed issues can occur at anytime without warning. During this period the account would be exposed to undesirable effects until the trader get across to the broker to place a stop loss or close the order which might be very late. 

Some traders leave out stop loss because of alleged broker manipulation (stop loss hunting). However it is much better to use trade management tools to place stop loss that the broker cannot see or manipulate rather using mental stop loss. 

Hurrying to take a trade, bad trade habits, and over confidence are some of the reasons why traders make this mistake.



Refusing To Take Your Loss: This happens when trade has gone sour, and should be closed immediately to protect the account from total margin call. Rather some traders would hold on to an imaginary "blind" hope that the the market would reverse to their favour, but unfortunately it continues to go bad. It is better to take the loss, and keep the account alive for more opportunities than to sacrifice your account on one stake of 50/50 probabilities. The ability to take the right decisions despite a bad turnout is what makes you a better trader. A major cause of this is ego, wrong hopes, and bad trading strategy.


Over Trading: When you always "feel" like trading irrespective of whether the market is set for trading then your account will get wiped out in no distant time. The urge to trade would not force the market to your terms. You could be ready to trade but the market isn't ready to move. Over trading also involves placing abnormal amount of orders especially without a trading plan either because of the fun of it, anxiety, urge, and the need to meet your targets very quick.This will put an account at the verge of crashing down.



Unbalanced Scaling of EAs & Trading Systems: Trading systems whether automatic or manual require certain balance on the account to trade effectively with minimal risks. Some are aggressive (high lots, orders, martingale, e.t.c.) while some are conservative (strict money management rules). Some are designed with the capability to hold a position to a near drawdown level then they spring up again. Some multiply their order placement or amount in successive trades, while others trade diverse lot sizes. 

If you have such combination of systems like this in one single account then you need to scale their lot sizes appropriately or use tight money management else your account could likely get wiped out to over margin exposure when the market goes haywire.



Trading With Unverified/Poor Trading Products: This includes poorly designed EAs, Indicators, unverified Managed Account Schemes, and Signal Services. This is one of the fastest way to get an account wiped off. A higher majority of traders are unfortunate victims of this. Some traders only got to know that the products they had been using to trade or trading for them was fake only when their account got wiped off. 



Over Leveraging: Its surprising that some traders request for high leverage like 1:500 from their brokers for a small account size. Some are wrongly advised to believe that the leverage would speed up their gains in Forex. Most inexperienced traders do this in a bid to achieve their illusinations of gaining thousands of dollars and millions in a short time. A leverage of 1:500 on a small account size with wrong lot sizing would definitely fry the account in few trade losses. 



Breaking Money Management Rules: This is the biggest mistake of them all. Every trader ought to have a trading plan, which ideally should include money management rules. 

Money management is the key to keeping your account alive after series of losses. When you break it, there's a penalty to pay even the worse penalty - which is a "blown account".

These are the Eight (8) major causes of trader's mishaps that cause their accounts to get blown off.

kindly share your worst or good moments here with us so everyone can learn. 

Also keep this in mind; in Forex there will always be a downtime, but successive traders are those who minimize them. 



How To Setup Forex Trading For Mobile Smartphone Devices

Image courtesy of watcharakun / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Mobile devices play a vital role for Forex traders who wishes to constantly get updated with the trading activities in their account(s). While a VPS is necessary for 24/7 Forex Trading operation, traders would still need to frequently access the VPS portal to get updated information of their trading activities. This is where Mobile Trading comes handy.


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Mobile devices like Smartphones, iPads,  Blackberry, iPhones, Tablet PCs, e.t.c comes with micro processing power enough to enable Forex trading on a mobile device. This makes them indispensable as they enable traders to keep up with their accounts anywhere, anytime as long as the necessary network connection is available. The amazing thing about these mobile trading devices is that virtually every tool & display functions you find on the trade platforms on the computer laptops or desktops can be found in these mobile devices.

Important Precautions on Mobile Trading Devices
  1. The larger the screen the better the visual display.
  2. Pick a mobile device with a faster processor, and open source operating system like android iOS.
  3. Look out for mobile devices with auto screen orientation positioning features.
  4. Multiple network capability (GSM, 3G, 4G, WiFi, HSPA, e.t.c.) should be a priority.
  5. Look out for strong authentication security features. Mobile devices are susceptible to theft, and data loss so it should have strong security/backup features.
  6. It is safer to dedicate a spare mobile device for Forex trading. In other words it should be separated from your usual mobile handset device.

MT4 MOBILE FOREX TRADING DEVICES 

iPhone/iPad Mobile Device
Mobile trading applications are designed as apps in Apple's mobile devices like iPhones & iPads. The MetaTrader 4 App can be found on Apple's App Store, and can be downloaded through Apple's download utility called iTunes to your iPhone or iPad mobile device. 

Compatibility
Requires iOS 4.3 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Also optimized for iPhone 5.

Recommendation
Use the direct download through the App Store on your Mobile Device or download iTunes to your computer and download the MetaTrader App, which you can transfer to your mobile device through the iTunes utility on the computer.
https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/metatrader-4/id496212596#



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Android Mobile Device
Google's Android OS comes with extensively rich features, which is widely accepted by major mobile device and tablet PC manufacturers. MetaTrader 4 App can be downloaded for free on Google Play Store App website.

Compatibility
Last update December 28, 2013 to version 400.506. Requires OS 2.1 upwards. Check your phone manufacturer's guide for compatibility issues.

Recommendation
You need a Google Play Store App account to get access to the download/install. Samsung Galaxy Mobile Devices & Tablets are better in terms of speed, graphics & processor power.
https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/metatrader-4/id496212596#




Pocket PCs (PDAs)
This is specially designed for Pocket PC Devices with Windows Mobile OS. The Windows GUI design makes it easy to use due to the same functions you'll find on the normal Windows desktop computer.

Compatibility
Windows OS 2002 and higher. Windows CE 3.0.

Recommendation
Ensure your PDAs or Windows Mobiles are constantly updated with the latest Windows OS for performance issues. Nokia Lumia comes with better functions and hardware resources for Mobile Trading. However tablet Windows OS would perform better in terms of wider graphics and processor power.
http://files.metaquotes.net/metaquotes.software.corp/mt4/mt4mobilesetup.cab





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Mobile Smartphone Edition (SE)
The Smartphone Edition (SE) is specially designed for Windows Mobile Smartphone Devices, which is the predecessor of Windows Phone. Its generally supported by

Compatibility
Smartphone, Windows Mobile 2003 for Smartphones and higher.

Recommendation
We recommend sticking with the 2003 or 2004 versions and brands of Windows Mobile Smartphones to enable compatibility sustenance until Metaquotes announces updates for higher brands, and versions.
http://files.metaquotes.net/metaquotes.software.corp/mt4/mt4mobilesetup.se.cab



A mobile device would always keep you informed of the current events on your trading account irrespective of your location. You can also perform trading operations at any time.


FXTradeCity Forex Signals

Welcome to our trade setups, and suggestions dedicated to the Breakthrough EA trading system, and our proprietary 40 - 50 Pips MA Combination Trading Strategy. (**News Trading Setup is now included. Please refer to the guidelines on How I Trade The News Part 1, 2 & 3)

The essence of this service is to give everyone the opportunity to share from our personal trade setups, and as well make room for others to share their experience.

Go straight to.... Guidelines | Chat App


Breakthrough EA
The Breakthrough EA is one of the best complementary trendline trading tool that automatically place trades with the aid of manually drawn trendlines. This EA has great potential and very good win rates. Learn more about the Breakthrough EA.


40 - 50 Pips MA Combination Trading Strategy
This is our proprietary trading strategy, which aims at taking advantage of price action at 90% precision. The strategy reveals areas where we can set traps in the form of pending orders that will eventually give us 40 to 50 pips consistently. Learn more about the 40 - 50 Pips MA Combination Trading System.


Signals would be published in various social media (Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, e.t.c.) to ensure everyone get updates for the time being. 

Please note the following:
  1. The systems should work for any broker. However our
    https://www.hotforex.com/?refid=38774
    trades are hosted on Hotforex MT4 Build 625.
  2. There are no precise times for trade setups for both systems. We advise signing up to our data feed or any of our social media platforms to get instant updates.
  3. The signals are suggestions and are therefore offered as "USE AT YOUR OWN RISKS". Please see our risk disclaimer policy.
  4. See samples of signal format:
    • Breakthrough EA: Time, Trend, Start Candle, End Candle, TP, SL, TS. E.g 2013.03.27 12:00, Uptrend, Start Candle: draw trendline from 1.37402 to End Candle at 1.37588 or to next lower lows or to "n" candle bar where n = next bar(s) after start candle (pictures would be used to illustrate when necessary).
    • 40 - 50 Pips MA CTS: Time, Buy Stop, Sell Stop, TP, SL. E.g. 2013.03.27 12:00, Set Buy Stop @ 1.56730, TP @ 1.57130, SL @ 1.5640. Set Sell Stop @ 1.52500.................
  5. The stop loss and take profits are suggestions. You are free to adjust yours to suit your money management rules.
  6. Be cautious of economic news release prior to placing the trades. 
  7. We will be using the chatting application below for discussions, sharing trade results, and collaboration.We welcome your feedback, ideas, and suggestions.

FXTRADECITY LIVE TRADE ROOM
Instruction: Click on Set Name at the bottom right of chat app to Log in. You can import your avatar.


The image (Mobile Antenna) is courtesy of David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net