Items Tagged With trading

Sticking with my trading system to start the week off has paid off.  Dooku generated some realized profits this morning when I closed out 2 positions +$1000.  I have since reversed 1 position that Dooku generated after the exit. 

Trading with a plan is so much easier than trading without a plan.  Where the emotion was so evident before, now it just isn't as much of a factor.  I still don't know if this trading system is the answer to making a consistent profit but I like the feeling that having a plan gives me. 

I've said this before but there is no easier way to take the emotion out of a trade by placing the trade, setting your stops and limits and going to bed.  I made a decent trade last night going short on the EUR/JPY and woke up to a nice surprise, +42 pips (limit reached, trade closed.)  I'll post the journal entry for this one later.  I still see a favorable trade lower but I'm waiting for certain levels to hit.  

Today should be quite a crazy day to trade.  I already missed a trade at 7 this morning on the AUD/USD that I was going to go long on but thought twice because of a resistance line up above.  I'm trying to show some discipline by not going into the trade 2 candles late.  By then the risk/reward isn't what it was and it's a good way to lose money.   

Have a good trading day and be safe.   

Booker has me a lot more attentive to upcoming Economic Releases and the trade opportunities that can arise.  Therefore, taking 1 day at a time, I took a look at the Global Economic calendar for Monday, April 24th to see if any pairs may exhibit volatility due to any releases.   It generally looks like a light day with NO economic releases out of the United States.  The UK does have a couple of releases at 4:30 a.m. EST including Retail Sales (month over month), Public Finances, and Money Supply (month over month.)  Last month during the retail sales announcement, the GBP/USD moved about 30-35 pips following. 

Therefore, I will plan on getting up at 4:00 a.m. Monday morning to look for a trade opportunity in the GBP/USD using short-term charts (15 minute?)

I'll be going through more of Rob's lessons this weekend and will keep everyone updated on my progress.

I hope everyone had a great trading week.   Have a relaxing weekend. 

I'm counting this as a new week even though I didn't sign on with Rob Booker 1 on 1 training until late last week.  

I got up early this morning (4 a.m. EST) to look for setups specifically in the GBP/USD.  The real move happened earlier than this between 2:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. so I kind of missed it.  I really don't know what to do if there is a large move like this before I wake up.  It kind of makes me feel like there's no way I can just jump in and feel at flow with the market.  There may be a way of trading after this or this may be one of those times when you just sit on the sidelines.  There was a time when I jumped right in the market just to be in it but I didn't feel any urge to do so this morning.

I haven't heard much from Rob in the past couple of days.  I saw him online this morning but he was off before 11 a.m.  He has previously stated that he tries to stay out of the market on Monday and just concentrates on trading the rest of the week.   

It's tough for us full-timers to find enough time to trade during the more volatile times the market has to offer.  I will continue to try to get up early for the European session but I almost think that 4 a.m. may be a bit too late.  If I find out that this is the case, I'll try to do what I have to trade the US session at 7 a.m.  I have to be at work by 9 a.m. so I don't know if it is a viable alternative to trading the European session.   I can always look for setups between 7 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. and if I enter a trade, set the appropriate stop loss and limits before going to work.  I can then manage the trade if my position is still open from my Treo.  I can either do this or get a job working 2nd or 3rd shift.  This isn't something I would ever do but it may be an option for you.

Just like that....  my gains from weeks 3 and 4 are gone and I'm sitting at -79 pips for this week.  It is quite frustrating that I worked so hard for a little pippage over the previous 2 weeks only to see them disappear in 4 days.  1 step forward, 2 steps back.

WARNING: The additional commentary below is very scattered and I'm just spewing it out of my head so it may be contridictory.

I have not been overly impulsive, stupid, or emotional with the trades I've made this week.  There were some trades where I exited early only to see the price continue in my direction but there were also trades that I exited early and then saw them turn against me.  

This leaves me at another important juncture in my forex trading career.  When I reach this point, I always ask the question, IS IT EVEN POSSIBLE FOR THERE TO BE LONG-TERM SUCCESS FOREX TRADING?  I wish I could answer this question now but the longer I do this, the longer I fear what the answer may be.  Just thinking about working for Corporate America the rest of my life is depressing. This fact alone can motivate me to continue because I know that in this world of trading, even though I've been trading for almost a year, this is still considered very beginner. 

It's times like these when risk/reward seems like the most important thing in the world.  

I've put so much time into learning how to trade Forex that I really think I'm at the point of no return. 

The highs and lows of trading is something that is not easy to take sometimes.  What I have to ask myself and what you have to ask yourself is if it is getting harder or easier to take as you do this longer.  For me, it seems to be getting a bit easier but not enough to quantify.

Look at my true risk/reward over the last 3 weeks of trading:

Look at the Average Winning column and Average Losing column.  If I average this weeks 3,4,5 my average winning pips are 14.18 and my average losing pips are 19.76.  This risk/reward isn't going to cut it.  Why is this happening? 

1. I'm scared.  I'm scared to give up tiny gains.  I exit my positions too early.
2. Rob Booker does not encourage great risk/reward for his trade strategies.  They are essentially 1:1 which means you have to have more winning trades than losing trades.
3. I'm trading the smaller time frame charts

Either way, it sucks that no progress has been made in my forex trading on paper.  I have learned a lot over the last year but until this is realized in money, I cannot consider this "project" successful.

I can see why there are so many damn mentors, training websites, and signal services.  If only 10% are successful trading, then you have the other 90% saturating the market with services that they provide because they couldn't cut it.   

So what is the point of this post.  It is a venting session that everyone needs and all of you need to try.  I feel much better now.  Feel free to click on the Submit Content link on the left menu to post your vent.  I will happily post it on the front page of the site alongside mine. 

The week isn't over yet and I'm making it sound like it is so things may be different tomorrow, maybe better, maybe worse. 

I've been following Soul Trader's blog for some time now.  He is a forex trader from England and announced on his blog today that he is quitting the day trading game.  One of the big reasons for him quitting is that he just cannot take the frustration and pain of discretionary trading.  He states that he will continue to trade his mechanical system but will give up on being an "active" day trader.  His post today is actually a good read as he gives the following advice for all of us:

The only way to make it in Forex is to trade with a completely mechanical system

That's it.  It seems like 5 years of day trading has taken its toll on Soul Trader and I cannot speak from experience or even disagree that a totally mechanical system is the only way to go.  I've only been doing this for a little less than a year now and I still don't know what the best way to trade is.  I know that is is totally possible to do this for a living but the chances are pretty damn slim.  It been a educational ride so far and as the months carry on, an expensive one.  

Read Soul Trader's Post

I am attaching a PDF file that includes all of my trades this week with date/time, P/L, max drawdown, max run-up, and important commentary about the trade including whether I followed the rules.

While I was putting this together, I realized that I failed to follow the rules 50% of the time.  Do you know how many pips I lost because I didn't FOLLOW THE RULES?

113 

How many pips did it cost me for following the rules?

43

This doesn't count the fact that I failed to follow the rules today in my GBP/USD trade that cost me 30 pips or more!  

If I would have followed the rules 100% of the time, I would be about even. 

I take full responsibility for my trades and blame only myself.  I should also note that though this trading system has rules, it is discretionary.

Here is the file:

 Forex Trade Report 28/04/2006,00:08 11.74 Kb   

I was pretty busy at work yesterday so I only had a little bit of time to go through the MACD training lesson.  Not much to report with this lesson.

I have made a decision to start waking up at 3:50 a.m. EST 3-4 days a week to see what this does for my trading.  Rob has told me to apply New York Session rules during this time frame which requires boxing in the price action.  Instead of using the NY time period, the box in will occur between 00:00 GMT and 07:00 GMT which is 8:00 p.m. EST - 3:00 a.m. EST.  

Rob has said that it is important to do the audio/video stuff daily.  At the end of the NY trading session, Rob posts multiple videos for multiple pairs with his trading commentary which I find very beneficial.  He calls this Charting School.  Since he will be back at his home base next week, I believe he posts charting school before the session also which may give me some ideas on setups.

During the first few days of 1 on 1 trading, I am already very satisfied with the direction.  Though Rob has some generic trading strategies and rules that he wants you to learn, he is responsive to your emails and tries to work his strategies around your interests and style.  He even told me that as soon as next week, he will start to post some Euro review session like he does for the New York session.  Now I don't know if this is just for me or if others have requested this but since I will be trading the Euro session in the upcoming weeks, this can only help my trading.

Rob was away this week writing his book which I think we will be getting a pre-release preview of.  

I will try to post as much as possible regarding my 1 on 1 trading going forward.  My posts in the upcoming weeks will give you a pretty good idea of what I've been learning so keep tuned.