How Was I Trading Last Year?
May 25, 2007 by Trader Rich
{mosimage}I decided to look over my posts from May 2006 to get an idea of what I was up to back then. The last 2 years of trading forex has been an absolute roller coaster ride so I figured I could expect anything looking into the past.
Last May, I was about a month of so through Rob Booker's training and mentoring. Therefore, I was using the channel trading system. This trading system was very simple and most trading systems I've tried to create since then have been a derivative of it. From what I remember, trading the GBP went like this:
- Draw horizontal lines on 15-minute chart at the high and low that occurred during midnight EST and 7:00am EST.
- Wait for a candle close below lower box line only during US session. Go short.
- Wait for a candle close above upper box line only during US session. Go long.
- Set a 30 pip limit and a 30 pip stop or sometimes a 30 pip stop and a 20 pip profit target.
Due to the fact that this system was to be traded only during the US session, I became interested during this period of my trading life with news trading. I started news trading through FXEngines shortly thereafter in June 2006.
Since last year, I've struggled to maintain a sense of loyalty towards a system. Due to my nature, I've jumped around a lot between many different systems and styles. I don't know if this has ultimately hurt my progress or if trying many different things has furthered me along in my journey. Last year, I also felt like I was really cooking with my forex trading progression. This year I've felt like I'm stuck in molasses.
My goal this Memorial Day weekend is to write a plan to get back on track. How I'm going to do that is unknown to me as I write this. What does come to mind is something I've learned from working in the IT industry which is splitting tasks up into phases. Currently, everything I do is lumped into 1 big pile of mess. The three phases could be:
- Development - development of trading system, backtesting
- Integration - further development and tuning, further backtesting and forward testing
- Production - live trading in small lot sizes
Obviously some things may not reach it past the development phase but nevertheless, failure of one method may sometimes lead to a similar method that proves successful. My goal isn't only in developing trading systems. I also want to further my knowledge in additional fundamental and technical aspects of trading.
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Hi Rich I enjoy your writing and can relate to ur experience because I have been thru similar things. Why r u still looking for a “system”, u have been doing that during last couple of years, and I understand nothing really worked (correct me if i am wrong)? Why just not trade based on simple things: following trend, longer term (at least give a trade 2-4 days to fully develop), common sense money management? Personally I find that these things work best for me, when i try to over-complicate things that is the moment i start losing. And there is no really a “holy grail” system but there IS a “holy grail”, IT IS YOU.
What Alex said.
Alex, you give great advice… I do keep things simple but I’m a little lost right now.
Rich, I used to trade GBP/USD too but I switched to USD/JPY and EUR/USD. First, there is too much drama in Cable but when u look at bottom line, it is all the same. Moreover, too many erratic movements in Cable drain your emotions and make you take wrong decisions (at least for me it was like that, too many times either I sold too early for tiny profits or waited too long for my profits to evaporate). Second, those two pairs are more trendy and predictable which makes trading them easier. Just my 2 cents.
Good blog!