3-months roadmap for learning & practicing basic PA principles
Your trading probably sucks. You need a full restart. And a clear, simple plan. For free.
Very few people will be able to stick to this kind of roadmap, simply because they’re too weak, short-sighted, lack patience and looking to get rich quickly. Also, most traders prefer to overcomplicate their strategy and setups in their eternal search for a holy grail.
That’s why way over 90% fail in this business.
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DOWNLOAD THE FREE PA PDF
1Get the free PDF, read it carefully. Take notes, have the notes on your desk during steps 2-5. Next steps will build on top of the concepts and logic in the PA PDF.
Since most people’s attention span is similar to the one of a drunk squirrel, I did my best to keep everything as short and to the point as possible, kudos to me!
After Step 1, you will be able to:
• Identify the TCA, RT, UT, RTF, UTF concepts.
• Combine TCAs with the most recent trend.
• Read any chart easily based on current PA.
• Assess when to trade & when to stay away.
• Dismiss any fancy concepts or indicators.
• Simplify your daily Price Action analysis.
• Develop an independent thought process.
1Short theory on properly reading Price Action1 – DOWNLOAD THE FREE PA PDF
Get the free PDF, read it carefully. Take notes, have the notes on your desk during steps 2-5. Next steps will build on top of the concepts and logic in the PA PDF.
THEORY -
PAST PRICE ACTION IS KEY
2Past price action will teach you immensely about trends, reversals and candlesticks. But there’s a huge difference between watching full charts and testing everything manually, candle-by-candle.
Crucial aspects on how to backtest the proper way:
• Set apart at least 1 full hour per day of focused, uninterrupted backtesting.
• Do not skip a day during these 3 months. Consistency and focus are essential.
• After these 90 days, you will have almost 100 hours of PA under your belt.
• Do not focus on just one instrument. Pick 1 FX pair, 1 index and 1 commodity.
• Do not perform your tests on timeframes under M15. Focus on H4 or Daily charts.
• Although they say price is fractal, lower TFs are more prone to liquidations and noise.
• Objective is to identify the Easy Money Trades on clean and easy to read charts.
• TradingView replay mode is very limited imho and does not provide proper feedback.
• My preferred backtesting tool is below, I’ve used it for years and it simply rocks.
• Focus on Max RR, Ideal Average RR, Trades by Sessions and the Win Rate.
• My advice is start with a 1:1 RR for every trade, then optimize vs. your stats.
2Backtesting is of the utmost importance2 – PAST PRICE ACTION IS KEY
Past price action will teach you immensely about trends, reversals and candlesticks. Click below to find out some backtesting tips that will enhance your practice of the concepts discussed in the PDF.
TESTING -
GET A FEEL OF THE MARKET
3Actively trading an account during these 3 months is also crucial for your training period. Whilst backtesting has its own important role, forward testing is just as important. Some tips for your demo trading adventure:
• Do it alongside backtesting, but do it smart. Decide on the H4 or Daily chart, pick as many assets as you need and spend no more than 30 minutes per day doing it.
• On the H4 chart, you just need to check for A+ entries 2 or 3 times a day for 10 minutes, whilst on the D chart you can just do it once in the morning and be done with it.
• Put together, Steps 2 and 3 should not take more than 1.5 hours a day if you follow this roadmap. You can enjoy the rest of your day and don’t worry about the charts.
• It is CRUCIAL that you perform your demo trading with a REGULATED broker, so that you work with the real price feed and not the bs feed that prop firms provide.
• Also, using a regulated broker for your demo training will ensure you will take into account real market conditions such as spreads, slippage, commissions, swaps.
• When demo trading, make sure you pick the best setups according to the concepts in the PDF in order to get an accurate picture of your potential future trading results.
• Do not hesitate to use pending orders – limit or stop – on the broker’s platform after your daily scan for setups. This way you will remove emotions and FOMO.
• Build a TradingView watchlist with at least 30 instruments that you can scan every day. Choose from 28 FX pairs, indices, metals, commodities, or even stocks.
• By having a large and diverse watchlist, you won’t need to force trades on just one or two instruments. Just pick the absolute best setup(s) – Easy Money Trades.
• If you choose to open your demo account with my preferred broker, remember it’s completely free and you should go with a Raw Spreads account for the best spreads.
3Test the TCA concepts in a risk-free safe environment3 – GET A FEEL OF THE MARKET
Trade the PA concepts you just learned on a DEMO account with a REGULATED broker, so that you get a correct price feed and overall trading conditions as similar as possible to a live account.
DEMO -
GATHERING TRADE DATA
4So many successful traders have praised the power of journaling and collecting as much information as possible about their executions, entries, exits, risk management approach and psychology. Journaling is not just a passive process of data collection, but can actively improve your trading decisions, times when to be in the market or when to stay away, risk-to-reward parameters, maximum drawdown, win rate and so on.
• I have to admit I’ve never been a journaling junkie until the end of 2023, although I have been monitoring my stats across different strategies and asset classes over time, using plain Excel sheets and charts. Yes, I know, I’m old school.
• However, after switching to a professional journaling app recently, I have seen the power of collecting dozens of different metrics and stats about my winning trades, losing trades, drawdown periods, trade duration, trading correlated assets etc.
• To be honest, now I’m regretting that I didn’t start using more professional journaling and tracking tools earlier in my trading career. Most probably, my evolution would’ve been accelerated by quite a bit. But, fortunately, it’s never too late.
• Keep in mind that it is important to journal every single trade that you take, preferably in an automated or semi-automated way so that it doesn’t become a pain in the ass each and every day after you’re done with your trading session.
• Referring back to our roadmap, this step should also be performed at the same time with Steps 2 and 3. Basically, you’re backtesting, demo testing and journaling simultaneously over a continuous period of 90 days. This is exponential growth.
• Make sure you connect your demo account to the journaling service to automatically import and track your trades from day 1. The other option is for you to manually export the trades from your platform and import them in the journal app.
• For me, when doing my research about the various journaling services out there, I’ve taken into account support for MetaTrader5, the amount of features and stats that the service provides, as well as the cleanliness and sex-appeal of the dashboard.
• The journaling website I picked checks all of these boxes and provides many other features on top of them, basically tons of options, stats and insights I never even thought of incorporating into my trade performance analysis. The more, the better.
• Now, keep in mind that any such journaling app allows you to also enter trades manually, and we all know that fake guru who fakes his data to impress naive people online. Be honest with yourself, import every trade as it is and learn from your data.
4Collecting precious data about your trading style4 – GATHERING TRADE DATA
So many successful traders have praised the power of journaling and collecting as much information as possible about their executions, entries, exits, psychology and risk management approach.
JOURNAL -
GOING LIVE
5Ready to go live? I can’t say. But you’re now probably infinitely better prepared to trade than if you would’ve watched YouTube trading videos over the past 3 months.
Binge-watching all kinds of fake gurus does absolutely nothing to make you a better trader. You’re just filling your head with lots of information, often times contradictory and inconsistent with what you learned from another guru last week. And this is actually a normal (although not productive) thing, since every trading strategy, concept or indicator is nothing more than a subjective interpretation of how the market moves. No one, absolutely no one owns the supreme truth in trading. Every decision we make as traders is based on subjectivity and probabilities. That’s why watching more videos, buying more courses and reading more threads won’t make you a consistent trader, but it will only enrich the authors while you end up even more confused.
However, as opposed to 90% of the wannabe traders out there, by following this 3-month roadmap as described on this website, you are taking an active approach to improving your trading skills. You are TESTING. You are DOING. You are COLLECTING DATA. That’s hard work that the 90% aren’t willing to do. You’re not just sitting around consuming content 8 hours a day, waiting to be spoon-fed a holy grail, magic pattern or secret algo. That’s single-digit IQ stuff and you should strive to differentiate yourself from the losing crowd.
Now, a couple of concrete aspects related to this roadmap.
• Assuming you go with my recommended services, during these 3 months you would have spent 3 * $35 for FXReplay, plus 3 * $29 for TradeZella Basic. That’s a total of less than $200 for your education and improvement as a trader. Moreover, that’s less than the price of 99% of the paid mentorships out there, and also less than the price of an average-sized prop firm challenge (which you would most probably fail anyway, tbh).
• For full transparency, the links I have provided on this page are affiliate links, meaning I get a tiny commission for each month you use the respective app or service. Don’t worry, I’m not getting rich off of you and I’m certainly not buying a Lambo with these pennies. You’re paying the same price as anyone would, and also supporting this website and other free educational projects that I’m going to post on my X page.
• For the love of God, stop wasting your hard-earned money on paid courses that teach you nothing new, 1-1 coaching that basically shoves repackaged concepts down your throat, newsletter subscriptions that only propagate the author’s subjective view on the market and adds no real value, or, even worse, trading signals groups. This is beta behavior. You’re choosing to depend on someone else for the rest of your trading career, basically making you no more than that guy’s little b.
• Now back to the original question: “Are you ready to go live?”. I’d be a complete clown to tell you yes or no. Only you will know when you feel ready to jump in. However, I strongly recommend moderation on your side. If you choose to pursue a challenge with one of these so-called prop firms, make sure you go with the ones that have been around for a while. Do your own research before throwing money at them. Also, don’t jump to the largest account challenge they have. Instead, go with a small-to-medium account initially, see how you handle the emotions and turbulence of real trading. Although, you’re basically still trading a demo account with more restrictions and worse trading conditions tbh.
• On the other hand, if you choose the broker route, you’ll have the benefit of not having all those restrictions, hidden rules and payout problems that “prop firms” come with. Also, since you’re trading with a highly regulated broker, the overall trading conditions and price feed will be way better compared with the “prop” industry. Basically, a 50k “funded” account is basically nothing more than a $5000 demo account with tons of restrictions and risks associated. It makes way more sense to trade $5000 with a regulated broker than a fake $50k account with a shady firm that can deny your payout anytime. But that’s just me, I guess. If you choose to trade your own money with a broker, don’t go all in. Start small, trade responsibly and treat it as a pro, not as a gambler.
• At the end of the day, it’s completely up to you how you want to proceed. That’s the beauty of trading, you’re 100% free to do anything. For some people, this is a blessing. For most, it’s a curse. Again, my preferred broker is below, they’re highly regulated, offering tons of instruments to choose from, they provide access via MT4, MT5, cTrader and TradingView, and a great reputation overall.
Best wishes! And let’s keep in touch on my X page @TraderFDAX
5Grab yourself by the balls, the road will be bumpy af5 – GOING LIVE
Ready to go live? I can’t say. But you’re now probably infinitely better prepared to trade than if you would’ve watched YouTube trading videos over the past 3 months.
LIVE
Struggling with drawdown?
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