Trading is not Science

[Pelvell]

Well, it's an art I guess, not science at all.
Science is the thing on which trading is based and this is economics. All of the economic laws such supply and demand make economics a science. One can state that "well trading is a science though", but it's not true. There are rules in trading but they bring recommendatory character, yall know. You can either follow them and earn good money or not to follow them and think of your own strategy which will help you to earn money or you will just lose everything you have. Science always implies theoretical methods and empirical, this is the only similarity that one can find between trading and science.

 

[bigdolly]

Anyway, trading is not a constant, rules and conditions are always changing, so traders always need to be aware of it and adjust to the current conditions.

 

[FriendlyFX]

You can use a scientific approach to study trading but its more probabilities than definit outcomes .
More mathematical in nature

 

[ForexWarrior2020]

You can use a scientific approach to study trading but its more probabilities than definit outcomes .
More mathematical in nature

Completely agree its mathematical not scientific. Its one of the only professions emotions come into probabilities. The closer you are to a probabilisitic approach the more successful you'll be imo

 

[bigdolly]

In forex trading rules can change any time you can even change during trading. Trading is not much complicated as some one learns about science it has simple but flexible patterns of trading that trader has to choose according to market needs . If he goes against market he can loose try to work with market and get your profit as it is possible.

 

[Glastonburyk]

I know most are aware that trading is not en exact science, but rather and art form. I decided to point that out as I read countless threads and posts where new trader are confused about why something did not happen despite an indicator suggesting otherwise.

Let's take the RSI for example, just because it trades above 70 or below 30 does not mean the price will reverse. Same holds true for any support/resistance levels and even down to pure price action where a price does not automatically reverse direction because of a candlestick formation.

Sometimes that happens, but other times it does not and to blindly enter trades because of any single signal makes no sense. You should take those events as a sign to further analyze the charts and yes that means you need to work and can't be lazy about it.

Trading is an art form which you may or may not be able to learn after years (that is with an 's' at the end).

No you cannot make trades based on one indicator. But it is a science in that you must have many factors contributing to the trade entry. You can get that down to a science. However all trades will not go your way and that is where risk management and risk to reward come in, this will make sure your profit is always higher than your loss long term.

 

[Fenrilrajas]

I wouldn't call trading a for of art just because it deals with the common sense and logic. Surely, there are no indicators which are 100% correct in their signals andevery trader should know that there is a huge room for unexpected events to happen on the forex market. However, it doesn't mean that trading success is impossible. It all depends on your trading strategy: you shouldn't rely on a single indicator, you should use a combination of them. You should also pay attention to S&R levels, you should analyse the charts of different timeframes in order to get the full pictute of what is going on on the market and so on. The most important thing is money and risk management. They will secure your budget from the absolute loss within one deal. Following these basic principles may make your trading successful and consistent.

 

[bigdolly]

Trading is not a science it is skill which use to trade in forex market , its rules change time to time no one can say surely what will the trading results he is doing. In science we have to work on certain rules but forex need a good plan and risk management skill to be a suucessful trader.

 

[Granigamand]

I disagree. Nobody says that the indicators are always correct, but they influence the probability. Successful trading implies some basic understanding of probabilities and Bayesian theory. All the indicators or levels or something else don't mean that the price will definetely go in this or that direction. They just tell the traders about the probabilities of the movements, that is why successful traders use money and risk management all the time. Because they understand that despite indicators, there are still chances of the market to go in the opposite direction from their expectations. That is why, trading is a kind of a science but it is not as simple as arithmetics, but more complicated.

 

[HeavenLeighRob]

Interesting point, I've never heard trading described that way.