Week 2 Performance

May 7, 2006

After my 2nd full week of Rob Booker 1 on 1 training, my results have improved from last week, I only lost 153 pips! I'm being sarcastic and once again don't blame anyone for my results this week but myself. I made 17 trades this week, only profitable on 5. My average profit per winning trade was 18.8 pips and my average loss per losing trade was 20.58. Now it isn't unusual for traders to only "win" 5 out of 17 trades but when your risk/reward is only 1:1 like mine, it is difficult. That is why I find myself questioning Booker's channel trading strategies where most trades only give you the 1:1 risk/reward.

On an upbeat note, I ended the week on a 2 trade winning streak, my 1st was contrarian and my 2nd was during the jobs report on Friday. I actually have been quite successful trading the jobs report in the past and it was no exception on Friday. As I have done in the past, I drew channel lines for the high and low for the previous 12 hours or so. I placed a buy order 6 pips above the upper channel line with a 20 pip trailing stop. I placed a sell order 6 pips below the lower channel line with a 20 pip trailing stop. On Friday, the price broke the upper channel, my buy order was initiated and 15 minutes later was automatically closed when my trailing stop was hit with a profit of 30 pips. I could have made more if I didn't place a limit but I've never been greedy when it comes to taking profit. I'm a lot more stupid when placing stops.

Popularity: 5%

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Trading Full-Time continued

April 25, 2006

Thanks to Forex2stay for the following comments. Visit his blog at http://forex2stay.blogspot.com/

I do think it's possible, but I believe money mangement is the key.
This needs to be a marathon not a sprint. One thing I've realized is
that you can't use the same lot sizes for all of your trades. For
example on one trade you might be risking 30 pips and another 20 pips.
So if you trade 4 lots on both of them (standard account) you'd be
risking $1,200 on one trade and $800 on the other. That's not good
money management and it can get you a person in trouble.Here's what I do…..

When
I position trade (4hr and daily charts), I won't trade unless I have a
2:1 risk reward ratio. I figure out the proper stop loss for my trade,
based on TA. So for this example say that's 40 pips. I then make sure
based on TA that I'm comfortable getting at least 80 - 120 pips profit.
Once i'm comfortable I put my information into the following formula.

S=(E*R) / (P-X)

S = Size of Trade
E = Account size (Cash)
R = Maximum Risk percentage per trade
P = entry price on the trade
X = pre-determined stop loss or exit price

So let's put in some numbers…..

My account size $10, 000
Entry price on EUR/USD 1.2600
Currently I'll risk 3% of my account on a trade
My pre-determined SL is 1.2560

So how many shares of EUR can we buy with our money management rules??

S=($10,000 * 3%) / (1.2600 - 1.2560)
S = $300 / .40
S= 75,000

Anyway this is the way I do it. I hope it helps…

Forex2stay

I Signed Up For Forex 1 on 1 Training

April 19, 2006

I have felt totally lost over the last couple of months. I have books, charting software, a blog where I receive numerous helpful comments from all of you and yet I don't really have a trading strategy. I've dedicated a lot of my time to this and though I'm in the early stages, I feel like I need to head off any of the "giving up" feeling that may be entering my mind. I know that going forward if I don't do something to stimulate my learning process, my blog will be yet another sitting around with stale content because I'm off working for the man again with no thoughts of being free.

So what did I do? I signed up for 1 on 1 training with Rob Booker. The training will officially last 5 weeks. I trust Rob Booker and have been exposed to his recommendations and articles in the past. Here is a quick course overview. I will keep everyone updated on the training.

Anyone interested in reading more about it can visit: https://www.robbooker.com/training.html

Course Overview:

1 on 1 training is exactly what
it sounds like: it's where you and I work every day, by
instant message, phone, videoconference, and email, and
we turn you into the kind of trader that your mother (or
spouse) would be proud of. We work together officially
for 5 weeks — following the course outline below — but
I will work with you for as long as it takes for you to
be a consistently profitable trader. I
guarantee it.

This is not some ridiculous
course that you buy and read and then find impossible
to profit from. It makes me sick to my stomach when
I hear that someone has spent $2,000 or $3,000 for a book-based
system. You don't need a book. You need a mentor.

During the training, I become your
mentor and your coach with one mission: to dramatically
improve your trading results.

Training officially lasts 5 weeks.
But we will not stop working until you are successful,
or we're both dead. Note: no one has ever died. Every
one I've trained has been successful.

You will have my phone number.
This is about getting personal advice from someone who
has been in the market. I can help you correct your mistakes
and speed up your path to trading success.

You will receive course materials,
30-40 assignments, and at least 80 hours of total instruction.

I worked with 41 traders in 2003.
All of them are still going strong.

You will always be able to contact
me, even after the training is complete. You will be part
of a growing network of people I've trained, all across
the world.

I have training references. You
can request them from me if you are thinking of signing
up.

Popularity: 3%

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How to correctly identify the trend

April 18, 2006

There's an article on Trading Markets written by Dave Floyd titled, "How to Correctly Identify the Trend."

The article shows 3 examples where by just looking at the chart without any indicators, one can mistakenly identify the wrong trend direction. Add a moving average and identify the slope to determine whether to buy or sell on pullbacks or buy or sell on rallies.

This article is recommended and is short and simple.

How to correctly identify the trend

Popularity: 3%

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Wide Screen LCD for trading

March 18, 2006

I’m a little behind when it comes to buying computer equipment. From being in the business for quite some time, I have a lot of spare equipment laying around so I never feel the need to go out and buy anything. I did just make a purchase today though. I ordered a 20.1 inch wide aspect flat panel from Dell for under $500. I’m looking forward to viewing my charts on this screen as opposed to my 15" Flat.

My new wide screen LCD

Popularity: 1%

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FP-1 Trading System

March 14, 2006

I’ve started trading my new trading system which I’ve simply named FP-1. I’ve been spending a lot of time tweaking it over the last couple of days. I’ve made it quite simple to indicate a buy and a sell opportunity. The red circle indicates a sell and the green circle a buy. If you see a blue circle, this is a losing exit. If you see a yellow circle, this is a winning exit.

I just went went short on the EUR/USD where the last red circle is.

Popularity: 2%

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March Issue of Stocks & Commodities

February 19, 2006

I picked up a copy of the March Issue of Stocks & Commodities magazine this weekend.

There is an article that explains the use of candlesticks and moving average crossover as a strategy. This is yet another setup strategy that I like for its simplicity. As long as you can chart 2 moving averages and identify candlestick patterns, you can use it.

The simple idea is that as moving averages crossover, the candlestick that forms during that crossover can be used to identify the possible direction of the market.

March Stocks and Commodities