Developing a trade plan
There are two ways you can get started with trading. The first option is to do a lot of research and develop your own strategy right from the start. The second option is to find a good mentor or community and master the strategy that is being taught.
Most people new to the world of trading will opt to find a mentor or community and learn the strategy taught to them. We stand by this as well because it will immediately put you on the right path, without having to struggle to find this path yourself.
However, if you are ready or simply do decide to go the hard way and develop a strategy yourself, let us present to you some tips to push you in the right direction.
First, write down the goal you want to achieve with this strategy. If you do not have a clear goal, you do not know where to look. Ask yourself the following questions:
-Are you looking to develop a swing trading strategy or a day-trading strategy?
-Do you care more about a high success rate or a high return per trade?
-Which timezones do you want to trade and what are your “Trading hours”?
-What is the maximum drawdown you can tolerate?
Secondly, make an inventory of the concepts and techniques that you have mastered. Concepts and techniques form the base of any strategy. They can be trendlines, Elliot Wave theory, Fibonacci retracements & extensions, Supply & Demand zones, or pure price action. When developing a new strategy you want to look at the toolkit of techniques you possess and combine them to come up with new ideas. Don’t be scared to mix techniques and timeframes, there are no boundaries. You might want to think outside of the box and go against the traditional rules of these techniques, you never know what you end up with.
Thirdly, rules, rules, and more rules. Write down potential rules for a few versions of the strategy that you have in mind. Be as mechanical as possible in the formulation of these rules for entry, management, and exit. By starting with a few versions right away, you can simultaneously test and record data. It saves a lot of time and the outcomes will show you which rules are promising and worthless.
Fourthly, test, test, and test some more. You will go through intense backtest sessions to determine how your strategy performs. Test your strategy on different pairs, different months, and different years to test its resilience over different market conditions. Make sure to keep accurate records of your test results and to be honest about them.
Lastly, be realistic and honest with yourself. Always ask yourself, how realistic is it for me to apply this strategy and achieve the results my data is showing? For instance, if you test a scalping strategy, you should consider the effects of spreads, slippage, and commissions. The strategy also needs to fit your style of trading and your risk appetite for you to properly trade it.
Developing a new strategy is easy, but developing a profitable strategy is much more difficult. Keep an open mind and continue to experiment with different techniques, and you will eventually develop a strategy that fulfills your needs.
Speak to you soon!
Kind regards,
Joost