My First Post Ever 1 year Ago

Here is my first post to this site exactly a year ago on October 6th, 2005.   Present commentary is in red:

I started trading currencies a little over a month ago and it has been
quite a learning experience. Since then I've lost $600, started a Forex
News website/blog, and have become addicted to studying charts and
following world economic fundamentals. This first post is going to be
quite raw until I can get my feet a little wet. I think we can all
learn from my experiences day trading currencies.

Since then, I think I've become more of a techie and less of a fundamental follower.  Don't get me wrong, I try to stay current with world economics but I don't think fundamentals are as important to day traders as they are to longer term traders.

I think it's best to follow just one currency pair initially. My
currency pair of choice is the GBP/USD. I know there is a 4-5 pip
spread for this pair compared to only a 3-4 for the EUR/USD and USD/JPY
but I just felt comfortable with the Sterling.

Seems like I am still attracted to the GBP/USD.  I think if you are just beginning to trade, this is decent advice, to follow only one currency pair but it shouldn't be the GBP/USD.  This is just my opinion but I find it just too volatile compared to other pairs like the EUR/USD.  I think the EUR/USD is the perfect pair to start following if you are just beginning.

Let me go over my trades for the day:
In the early afternoon the Sterling was making a comeback versus the
Dollar and the technical indicators looked favorable for the Sterling.
I bought 10K GBP/USD at 1.7725. I went to lunch and came back to the
GBP/USD trading at 1.7750. That was a healthy 25 pip profit so I set a
tight 10 pip trailing stop at 1.7745. Unfortunately the stop triggered
when the GBP/USD fell to 1.7745. I was happy with the 20 pip profit
until the Sterling quickly raced up another 65 pips. This was a total
lost opportunity and a problem I have been having. It wasn't that I was
inpatient, it was that I was just scared.

Do I have any idea of what I'm talking about here?  Do I even know what I'm talking about now?

My second trade occurred a little while later when I decided to reverse
my support for the Sterling. I sold 10K GBP/USD at 1.7784. My rationale
was that the pair had hit a resistance line. I couldn't sit at my
computer and watch the trade so I set a stop at 1.7804 and left. My
thinking was that if I picked the wrong end of the trade and my stop
tripped, I'd be even for the day. Well, the stop tripped and I was at 0
for the day.

This sounds like I was trading just because I made a profit earlier in the day.  This is bad trading.  If you enter a position because you think you have free money from a profitable trade earlier in the day, you're setting yourself up for a loss.

From the daily charts, everything points to the Sterling making a
run up. The MACD and Slow Stochastic confirm this. In addition, the
38.2% fibonacci (High in 12/04 to Low in 07/05) retrace is at 1.8143. I
think if I hold a long position, I can profit 300 pips over the next
week or so. This is why I made a third trade for the day, going long on
GBP/USD. I bought at 1.7801. Since then, the dollar has come back a
little and I've been down between 30 and 50 pips most of the evening. I
would usually be uptight about being in this position but I have so
much confidence that the Sterling is the way to go in the coming weeks
that I'll be able to sleep easy. It can be a big mistake though and not
setting a stop is even a bigger one.

This doesn't sound good.  I'm confident that this position is going to go in a certain direction? I'm not setting a stop?  This is real bad.  The point is, you never know what direction a pair is going to go and putting it in your mind that it is destined to go in a certain direction is bad trading.  I think since then, I understand that there is quite a bit of uncertainty in the markets.  Never fall in love with a position like I did here.

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