-19 pips = -$9.70

01.22.10

10 Trades

5W -5L

When you've got 3 holes in your boat & your ship is sinking which hole do you plug first?

Answer: The biggest hole

I've been getting stopped out like crazy. So I have two options; Widen my stop ... Not gonna happen because I'd be risking a crazy number of pips compared to my average potential winners. Second, tighten my entries, I'll be paying more attention to the up & down flow of the market getting in on mini pullbacks in direction of the short-term trend.

In the middle of this picture you can see 4 good examples of what I'm talking about. First trade went perfectly and hit my target so fast that I didn't even have time to second guess myself and take profit too quickly. Second trade also went perfectly however this one took time and allowed for my self doubt to creep in and I took profit WAY too early. Third trade was a bad winner because it should have been a perfectly acceptable stop out. Fourth trade again went perfectly but my insecurity led me to take profit too quickly once again.


The second hole I need to plug in my trading is cutting profits too quickly because of fear of loss.

Third hole I need to plug is taking too many trades. Fortunately, by plugging the first two holes this third hole will likely plug itself because the only reason I continue taking trades is because I performed so poorly on previous trades and I want to try again.

-4 pips = -$3.62

01.20.10

13 Trades

9W - 4L

Looks like a mess, kinda is a mess. Today I was moving my stop to BE very quickly trying to catch a big move relatively risk free. I'm learning. I reckon I'll see some legit improvement eventually.

-11 pips = -$5.40

01.15.10

4 Trades

2W - 2L

One of my losses today was acceptable and the other was a lapse in judgment and the trade shouldn't have been placed to begin with.

Next week I'll be trading better and I expect my concentration and focus to be improved.

+8 pips = $4.00

01.14.10

6 Trades

5W - 1L

I think I'm seeing evidence that picking up poker as a hobby is starting to positively affect my trading. In poker often times you must fold a good hand to a better hand. The catch is that you don't know if you're folding to a better hand when you make the fold. You're only going on your best guess. No matter how good a player becomes in poker they'll always be operating from their best guess and they'll always be folding to hands that they could've beat if they didn't fold. Finding yourself in a position where you're folding to a weaker hand is simply part of the game.

In trading often times after I get out of a position it keeps going in a positive direction. The catch is that I didn't know it was going to keep going in my direction when I got out. I'm only going on my best guess. No matter how good of a trader I become I'll always be operating from my best guess and I'll always be getting out of a trade that ends up going further in my favor after I exit. Finding myself in a position where I'm exiting with price continuing to move in my direction after I exit is simply part of the game.


Where I'm at

I'm trying to get to $10 per pip within the next 3-4 weeks. Of course plans change all the time and I'll be re-assessing my goal frequently. Currently my goal is to get back to BE for the month before I can step up my trade size to $1 per pip. I'm never going to increase my position sizing while I'm less than BE in terms of net pips for a given month.

Right now I'm trading 50 cents per pip and I have to net another 36 pips before I can consider moving up in size.

+16 pips = $8.20

01.13.10

12 Trades

9W - 3L

+10 pips = $4.85

01.07.10

6 Trades

6W - 0L

No one style works all the time. I at least hope this is true because it's what I'm going to keep in the forefront of my mind for the foreseeable future while I'm trading.

I relate this to my trading regarding my method of entry. Sometimes I think based on what the market is doing its best for me to get in immediately. Other times based on what the market is doing its better to place a limit order (that becomes a market order) once price hits the point I'd like to enter.

-36 pips = -$18.00

01.06.10

6 Trades

1W-5L

My feelings about the past 3 days results are a mixture of rage & perseverance.

-16 pips = -$7.60

01.05.10

7 Trades

4W-3L

Overall a struggle. Gotta learn from days like today and yesterday and move on.