Horriday Trading

Had a great start to the week, with three consecutive profitable days, and considerbale to, playing very simple trend riding, predominantly the Euro against the USD and the JPY.

Had a couple of days off with the Easter Break (Friday, Monday and Tuesday off down here on Oystralia....with Anzac day being the reason for the Tuesday off).

This meant I had the luxury of trading at home all day long. I had been looking forward to it greatly.

And...this is when I learned that Holiday trading, with markets closed is, well very dangerous, spikes, lurches, shake-outs. Not a nice place for a noob trader like myself. And I got spanked....from pillar to post. This lead to some poor pyschological trading, where I want chasing returns....and I ended up blowing all my profiits for the week and a fair wack more.

Grrrrr.

Ah well, still alive....and more edumacated !!

Till next time Pip Pip

Friday follies

I had a great week this week, until Friday. I had hit my 100 units target a day, indeed exceeded it over Mon to Thursday and in that time I had really only exposed myself to any inappropriate risk once and fortune (rather than wisdom) dug me out of that.

Then on Friday I tried to play the Euro against the USD and the JPY with the big news released against both the Euro and the JPY being part of my strategy. In doing so I moved SL to wait for the market to do what I expected....however I ended up having to take large losses to protect my meager account. I compounded my mistake by then chasing a reversal only to see all my profits of the week wiped out by the close of trading.

Very dissapointed.

Over the whole week, bar 2 occassions I was very happy with my entry positions, and if anything, I have learned the unforgiving nature of the Forex. With a small account the temptation to slip a stop loss to protect profits is great, the cost of doing so is also nearly always great.

So I need to improve my exit strategy, both in profitable and negative scenario's. This week looks like being a very difficult week to pick with the majors all playing off contradictory news (see my weekly plan).

To that end I intend to stay out of the market on Monday until it confirms trends.

I was pretty annoyed at myself for blowing 4 days hard work with 1 days bazzokery !!

Till next time, pip pip

Entry - Checklist

Well my first profitable week, so hurrah. I felt much more equipped, knowledge wise this week and enjoyed the benefits. Now, no need to get carried away with one profirable week, but encouragement non the less. Indeed if it hadnt been for a really big mistake on Thursday (that I am still kicking myself for) I would have been in profit overall (for the past 6 weeks !).

Thursday saw me perfrom an uttelry brainless move. In a rush and wanting to jump on an opportunity I entered a trade, in doing so, I managed to actually buy the same order twice, dramatically increasing my risk and exposing far more of my precious money than I should. The position then began to go against me and angry (emotional) at my mistake I increased my stop loss to protect my money...I did this twice and ended up losing....and in doing so lost 8 times my normal risk....nice one !!!!

Later on Friday I took a loss which I was proud of however as I was strong in cutting the loss and moving on. I need this discipline more...its so hard....half way through a day you are up and on target, something goes against you, it so tempting to extend a stop and protect your gains, of course in reality you are risking more !! So bad me. Slaps wrist. Be strong. Take the loss, move on make more good moves.

To that end I have been looking at improving my entry strategies. Something I have improved in greatly but something I need to improve on much more. It is very important to remove emotion, revenge against a loss or desperation to turn a bad day around. Revenge and desperation are no friends of profit (unless you employ a swear jar !!)

So here is my Market Entry checklist

• Having no position in the market is better than taking any position (which will almost always become a bad position) !
• Produce a weekly assessment of the market, so you know at least in your own head you are expecting and which pairs you intend to play / news events you need to wathc
• Before Placing any Position
1. Check for forthcoming news that may cause a significant reaction
2. Look at the weekly chart, get a feeling for the trend over the last 2-3 days
3. Look for highs/lows being tested putting a buy order in at the top of resistance position is somehting you should be at least aware you are doing
4. Look at the 4hour and 2hour charts to check for current trend (perhaps against the daily)
5. Use the 10, 5 and 1 minute to pick your entry, dont jump on the top of a rapidly growing or falling bar unless you are sitting there ready to bail out real quick if it does the inevitable reversal
6. Trade what you see not what you imagine, if you are trading a reversal position, at least watch for confirmation before entering or be finger on the trigger should it play against you
7. If you dont know your target, if you havent agreed with yourself the HARD stop you will take a loss at DONT TRADE

So, that is my checklist, seems long, but most of it is something you absorb during a trading session. I am using pivot points and drawing my own resistance/support lines to assist me a little in being wary of buying peaks or catchting falling knives.

Every day you survive in Foreign Exchange is a day you learn and when played with discipline a day you EARN !!

Till next time pip, pip