Quote from: MatDerKater on January 14, 2017, 01:42:14 AM

Quote from: Vahnt on January 13, 2017, 01:59:50 AM

I've been trading futures profitably on OKCoin since early December, so I'll pass along what little I know that has worked for me.

You need to know what kind of market you're in. I made great gains during december going long and just holding through the dips, and began scaling my position as the price breached 1000. You need to control your emotions and not let greed or fear get the best of you. At the time, as I started unwinding my long and watched the price rally higher, I felt stupid and the urge to re-long, but as evidenced by the crash it's always important to take profits when they've run high enough.

Now, we're currently in a period of uncertainty and fear and doubt. I made a couple of losing trades trying to take longer-period calls on price during the last couple of days when it flatlined before falling. this is the environment where, unless you've got thick skin and strong conviction, don't hold positions for too long and take profits when you can. Identify when you've made a bad trade and cut losses early. Nothing is worse than letting a position keep moving against you and feeling like shit, or worse still to try and average down and getting annihilated.

I've always looked at Bitcoin on a technical basis and try my best to identify levels I feel are strong resistance and support, and start building up long/short positions at those levels. Always have a plan in mind when you enter a trade, including your exit point and the point at which you cut losses. As the saying goes, "Plan your trade and trade your plan". You don't need to always be trading - if the market is going nowhere and there's no discernible short or medium term trend, just stay away. There will always be opportunities in the future, no need to chase trades that aren't there.

My personal view is that this is going to play out as a huge cup and handle pattern. We've seen the top of the cup with the second rally to almost all time highs, and now we begin the formation of the handle. While I feel that we might have reached a bottom, I think we might have more downside and an ultimate bottom around 700, unless we cut through that on a massive panic sell like we did when finex was hacked. This is when you should start thinking about a long position but even then, once you've made a healthy profit (an arbitrary amount different for each individual), close the position. Don't pray for a moonshot that never comes

Awesome advice.....

.....but the OP isn't there yet.

First, he got to go down the casino with all his chips and watch em get all eaten up, then start wondering how he only ever seems to make bad trades.

In a way you are right. This market is not meant for the newbies. You roll into in while taking risk.
Advice, tutorials will help you to some extent, but it's not meant for all of us. Honestly and every margin trader will say this, take educated risks, and use your profit to as a starting capital.

Because yes, there is no real advice when it comes to margin trading.