Performance midway through July
July 15, 2006 by Trader Rich
Quite simply, this has not been the best of months so far. I'm down 225 pips. http://www.forexproject.com/My_Trade_History/
Things could be worse though. I've been sticking to risk/rewards of 1:3 which may also explain the losses. How? Seeking a target 3 times my stop may be overly optimistic considering the choppiness of the market.
I don't think that -225 pips is impossible to come back from. Seeing that my goal is 260 pips a month, I will have to make 485 pips over the next 2 weeks to reach it. This may not be too easy but if I can turn around the losing streak at the start of next week, I may get some momentum to reach this highly optimistic goal. The key here is to not fall further in the red.
As I mentioned earlier in the week, I have been busy with other things so my posting has been minimal. I guess this is just human nature but when I'm on a losing streak, I tend to have a lot less to say. The thing is that I'll always get around to stating the truth. The truth right now is I'm down but not out.
I hope everyone else had a better trading week than I did. For all of you that take the time to send complimentary or other comments, I do appreciate them. Sometimes 1 comment is all I need for that extra drive and motivation.
Popularity: 1%
Loading ...
You’re definetly not on your own this week. I too have had an awful week and while my trading system has served me well in the past the markets have just been too choppy and erratic to make any sense of trends (which the basis of my system heavily relies on) I also work on a similar monthly target like you however instead of aiming for certain amount of pips I use a compounding method to increase my capital per month by 30%. This week has put me 9% under then what I started off the month with so I too now have an optimistic target to aim for. The most important thing tho is that in the long run you are obviously winning more than you are losing which already places you in the 5% who can actually win more than lose on the forex. One thing this week has taught me is the importance of trader psycology. Stick to your plan, don’t over read your signals and always maintian the disciplne. New week, new trading possiblites. Kill the FEAR factor from your game! Best of luck.
Hey Rich,
Just a thought but the one thing I had to quit doing on my blog was posting my totals. That’s just to much pressure. Basically it’s no body business how many pips or how much money you make. What happen to me was I got myself into positions trying to make the blog look good, instead of making trades based on my system. Sometimes you get blinded by “Having” to show a profit. Anyway the main reason I come to your site is for the information. Seeing you making or losing money will not change my opinion of you or your site. And I’m sure other’s agree. So take some pressure off and keep the good information coming!!
Trade Well….
Brent (forex2stay)
I think Rich’s honesty in posting his results is what makes this blog worth reading, as opposed to the millions of bullshitmeisters out there. It puts a human face on the struggle of trying to become a trader. Every other blog talks about new systems, theories etc, without having the balls to put up the results, and let’s face it, as learner traders, most of the time we are wrong… But in the end it is up to you Rich.
Just to clarify I’m only talking about his persoanl trades, not the strategies he’s trying out (Fx-engines etc.).
I can tell Rich is an honest person trying to make a go at it. I’m pretty confident that he’ll make it. His project is going to help a lot of other folks make it too. I guess I was wrong, Maybe others need $$ to prove it, and that’s okay. I apologize I shouldn’t have been speaking for everyone. I look at it like this. When I was working I didn’t need to know how much the guy next to me made a weak, month or year to know if he’s a good/honest guy or not. Just like I don’t need it to tell if Rich is. If Rich writes he was in the red this week, I believe him. I don’t need a $$ amount to find comfort. So if he decided to take some pressure off by not sharing $$ (which might or might not work), I would still get what I need out of his blog. And for that I am grateful.
I’m not trying to start a debate. I just was trying to give Rich some friendly advice.
Trade Well…
Brent
Rich,
For what it’s worth, I, too, have enjoyed your site, and I hope you stick it out. If you keep playing the game, you will win at some point, as your methodolgies seem sound.
One suggestion that I have (and this is where I’ve seen a lot of good traders go wrong) is not paint yourself into a corner by saying “I must make ‘x’ pips per week/month/day in order to be successful”. The Forex is hard enough w/out putting that kind of pressure on yourself. You can’t force trades that are not there. If you sit through a week in which there are no signals, then you must be prepared to sit on the sideline and do nothing.
I think you would be better served by saying to yourself, every single day, “I will trade my system, I will follow my rules, and let the profits take care of themselves.” You wouldn’t be playing the game if you didn’t think you could win, right? So, have confidence that your system is sound, and trade your signals. If you do this, the profits WILL take care of themselves, but they will do so in the market’s timeline, not yours.
BTW, I have opened my account, and just waiting for them to confirm I am who I say I am so I can fund it. I should be live within a week or two, so I’ll be right there on the sidelines with you. Let’s kick some a$$!
Thanks for the comments guys.. Brent, I tend to agree with you a bit about posting all of my trades and how sometimes it puts pressure to show a profit. I don’t think that I strictly make a trade so that I have something to post on the blog but especially when I’m losing, it compounds the losing a bit. On the other hand, I feel like by posting all of my trades and expressing my feelings, I can garner some pretty nice advice from everyone that sometimes gives me the motivation to pull myself up. I’m going to continue to watch this though and if I feel like posting my results is negatively affecting my trading, then I will stop.
Mike, I have thought about whether or not I should place a hard monthly pip target each month. You very well may be right about the additional pressure it causes. For instance, it’s now reaching the end of July and I’m down . I have to admit that there is a certain amount of pressure that I feel because I most likely won’t reach my target. I’ll see if I can overcome this feeling and if not will try something else.