+15 pips = +15 cents

10.29.09

44 Trades

31 Wins - 13 Losses

A few costly mistakes but was able to come out on top.

Back Tomorrow

10.28.09

Travel delay didn't enable me the opportunity to trade today. Back tomorrow!

+7 pips = +7 cents

10.22.09

11 Trades

9 Wins - 2 Losses

My brother is getting married this weekend and I've got things I've gotta do. So my next trading day will be Wednesday the 28th.

I can already spot an error I'm making (again) by cutting my profits too quickly. Looking forward to trading on Wednesday and correcting this mistake!

+6 pips = +6 cents

10.21.09

3 Trades

3 Winners - 0 Losers

Wasn't able to trade for most of the session because I had to go run an errand.

+14 pips = +14 cents

10.20.09

9 Trades

8 Wins - 1 Loss

My final trade of the day was for +1pip/+1cent and isn't on the charts below. I didn't feel like re-saving my charts to show only 1 additional trade.

-70 pips = -70 cents

10.16.09

10 Trades - 1 Win - 9 Losses

Short day because I'm traveling home for my bro's wedding. Worst day I've experienced yet in terms of win/loss % and pips since I began this blog. Awesomeness!



-52 pips = -52 cents

10.13.09

14 Trades - 4 Wins - 10 Losses

Totally out of sync with the market.

+63.8 pips DEMO

10.12.09

I'm going to start keeping track of some longer term demo trades.

+63.8 pips - Stop loss ~42 pips away from entry.

Will record exact stop loss level from here on out.

Bank Holiday?

10.12.09

I didn't trade today because it's a bank holiday. I opened my charts to see what went on during the session and there was plenty of opportunity and the spread on the EUR/USD as of 9:55AM PST is still at .9.

I think I'm gonna have to re-think this idea of no trading during bank holidays when its only one country that is having a bank holiday.

Rule 53

As I mentioned I picked up The Tao of Poker by Larry W. Phillips and so far I've been finding lots of great information and being able to relate it to trading is quite easy.

Rule 53 in particular jumped off the page at me today.

Fine-tuning your game; it's in the details.
It's relatively easy for any intelligent person, in any area of life, using broad general principles to make decisions that are fairly close to optimum. Any improvements that take place after this point, however---any subsequent fine-tuning that occurs--- must come in individual decisions, rather than generalities. In other words, to move up to the next level, each individual decision has to be looked at and considered on a case-by-case basis. This is generally the case as we move up the ladder of expertise in any field, and it is also true in poker. It means breaking the game down into individual hands and looking at them. A well-informed overview is no longer enough.
This sums up my current attitude towards trading perfectly. I know all the general principles I could ever need to know about trading. If I'm going to take my game to the next level... otherwise known as consistent profitability then its about time I pay attention to the details every day.

  • No hesitation
  • Adding to winners when it's time to do so
  • Prudently trailing my stops
  • Staying focused throughout the entire trading session







-7 pips = -7 cents

10.09.09

20 Trades - 12 Wins - 8 Losses

I went out and purchased The Tao of Poker by way of Don Miller's recommendation and have started reading it. It's been easy so far to relate whats in the book to trading and I've enjoyed it thoroughly so far. One quote in the book that I've written on an index card is "Money flows from the impatient to the patient." - Warren Buffett.

LOL

10.08.09

I made over 90 trades today. Mostly losses. Not gonna post the charts because w/ over 90 trades on a chart you know its just a mess.

I've recently felt very lost as a trader.

Lets see if I can find some balance.

3:49 PM EST - Update - Change of heart. Below are the charts from today. Silliness everywhere. But I have some positives I can take away from it all. The most important is I knew going into it I was going to be trading dangerously and continued to drop my position size down to even smaller levels.

This blog has been a documentation of extremes. When I first began the blog I could hardly put on a trade because of fear. Then I began putting on trades but cutting my profits so quickly that it's as if I didn't even put the trade on to begin with. Over the past few days I've put on every trade imaginable.

Lets see if I can find some balance.


-12 pips = (12 cents)

10.07.09

47 Trades - 23 Wins - 24 Losses

Continually making adjustments. Stay tuned.

Apology to Myself

10.06.09

I'm sorry because I should have traded yesterday & I should have traded today. Laziness crept up on me in a very sneaky way. Bad news is it'll probably happen again someday. Good news is it won't be anytime soon.

38 Trades

10.02.09

I made 38 trades today all at 1 cent per pip. I'll resume posting charts & results on Monday. Today I was focused on trying new things.

1 cent per pip day

10.01.09

I traded well for a period of time and then I started making adjustments and figuring stuff out about Oanda's platform that I didn't know about.

When I was deliberately making trades today I either ended BE or slightly up.

Market orders are back! When I first started trading forex some years ago I totally f'ed up my trading psychology early on by losing big and bad. I placed a market order that when against me immediately and I started adding to a loser instead of cutting my loss quickly. Had I cut my loss quickly it would have been a large loss...... instead my actions turned a large loss into a gigantic one from my perspective. It was money that I couldn't afford to lose either. The entire situation didn't deter me from trading but it did a number on my mindset.

Additionally the broker I was using at the time didn't give me the option to automatically enter a stop loss w/ a market order. Therefore I either had to enter the market with no stop loss protection until I could quickly enter one - or - I could use a limit order that allowed me to pre-set my stop loss.

The problem with a limit order only approach is that often the market is moving too swiftly and doesn't leave the few seconds needed to enter a limit order. - BUT - The problem with the market order approach is that with no stop loss, in swift markets, price can turn on you in an instant leaving you no time to enter a stop. By the time you enter a stop the market has already burned you for double, triple or even more compared to a normal loss size.

I chose awhile back to only place limit orders because they offer the most safety in my opinion. I've been a limit order freak. I switched brokers a couple months ago and didn't really think about changing my entry style. However, my recent lackluster performance has really been irritating me and that lead me to look into market orders again.

Market Orders are back! I'll still use Limit Orders when they're called for but I'm excited that I can stop having to worry about entering my limit orders so damn fast. Oanda offers the ability to place a near instantaneous stop loss on Market Orders.

I've made some more tweaks here and there but nothing worth noting yet. I'll be trading 1 cent per pip again tomorrow but I should have some charts to post as well.