324 pm edst ----
first and foremost one must remember that there are many "grades" of traders reading these and other posts ---- one of the things you so often see is advice stating NEVER AVERAGE DOWN, which to my way of thinking is a crock !
of course I have to state that "averaging down" is for those with a bit of experience and time trading, and to do it well requires KNOWING that your target point will be hit.
during EVERY approach to your target, no matter where it is, there will be retraces with some being significant --- allowing for the equity and margin available in your account (and MORE is always BETTER), averaging down (OR up) allows you to increase your net gain wonderfully.
unfortunately, the united states has decided to protect retail traders from themselves (and make it MUCH easier for the brokers) by allowing you to only move in one direction at a time, in a market that CONSISTENTLY moves in TWO DIRECTIONS at a time --- unfortunately, for safety in this age of scams, only Germany and Switzerland can provide brokers who will allow you to do that as a US citizen and there are rumblings that this may not continue (unless the head of the commodities regulatory agency suddenly departs this world, along with Obhamma)
to get around this one can form an international corporation, or simply hop over the atlantic and register there, at least for the time being. the second alternative is TWO accounts with the same broker here in the USA, one for longs and one for shorts.
so what ive done is really stretch the "averagind down" routine into "going with the flow" which means holding your long when the market turns south, playing the short and then buying more longs for the trip up, which is simply "flow trading" combined with averaging down (or up if the price is moving down)
Given the time and effort to learn this simple procedure, and the broker who will allow it (NOT one in Nigeria please) you essentially double and triple your profits because you do not have a single trade, sitting in drawdown (or god forbid, being taken out on stop loss, which is why i NEVER use stop losses) and waiting for your trade to go back up.
NOW, before you newbs rush out and try this, understand that you have to learn how to trade FIRST, and that really does take a few years for the average person --- in one year you can be "fairly" competent, in two you can be "decent" and in three or four you can become "good" because at its very basis, forex is nothing but a game being played by a whole lot of people, and an awful lot of them KNOW the game well, BUT IT CAN BE LEARNED !
OH, and btw --- the MT4 charts are NOT the answer to good trading for anyone of MANY reasons, which we may go into another time if i remember. YES, you CAN trade decently off of them, BUT there is SO MUCH BETTER OUT THERE