Alright, I have decided to rewrite this bugger, as I am in the process of starting anew, so to speak.
Anyone who has followed this thread would know that my journey seems to be riddled with ups and downs, and the emotional rollercoaster ride that goes along with it has been a massive learning experience for me. The past week or so I’ve been working on some behavioural issues associated with my trading, such as impatience, excessive risk and just general greed! I have come to realise that the most important focus right now for me is on developing a successful trader’s mindset. I need to address this before I even think of putting more money into my account. I need to ensure without any shadow of a doubt that I am both disciplined and mechanical in my trading style. I trust ICT’s concepts down to the very death of my account, and I am more than happy to keep plugging away at this until I can graduate from “newbie” to “professional”. Another thing that is important to me (I’ve mentioned this to a couple of guys who have been gracious enough to give me advice in my troubled time ;)) is completely eliminating any negative impacts from trading on my personal life. For example, letting losses draw me into being a real jackass to my wife and others who don’t deserve to feel the after-effects of my poor trading. I really value life aside from trading, and what ICT said in one of his recent videos resonates with me - the fact that his family is more important to him than teaching us.
So anyway, I am working on a couple of things right now in order to turn my trading around. For anyone who wants to work on patience, try spotting a magnificent trade and letting it go - that one seems to have at least instilled some level of patience in me, after doing it a couple of times now! As a Christian, trading has also been detrimental to my relationship with God, as I have spent so much time poring over charts and eating, drinking and sleeping FOREX that it has kept me away from any meaningful time with Him. So things have changed dramatically since then, and I am getting my priorities straight while I still am in the early stages of trading - I certainly don’t want to be having such issues when trading with massive amounts! I have also learnt to become fully dependent on God for provision, and this has helped greatly with the greed issue. At the end of the day, I am not looking to be rich, the more God provides me with, the more I will dish out to those who need it. Yes, this is an internet forum and people may laugh at what I’m saying or feel like I’m being idealistic, but we will see what God has in store. I have also battled with the idea of whether or not God has it in his plans for me to trade forex, because if not, then I have no reason being here. As it stands, I have received enough confirmation from Him to believe that I can go ahead! 
So onto the path ahead:
- I am completely and utterly a machine now when it comes to risk management. I challenge anyone who is viewing this thread to try catch me out on this one. I will be following this risk management program below relentlessly. The gist of it is that there are four risk levels, 0.5%, 1%, 2% and 3%. I start off on 0.5% and can only move up a level once I have made 2% ROI, similarly I can only progress from 1% to 2.02% once I have made a cumulative return of 6.16% (increase of 4.14% using 1% risk) etc. The 3% risk will therefore only come about after such a large ROI that by that stage it won’t impact all that much if the trade ends up actually losing.
- I will not aim for a specific goal each month. This one got me into trouble last time around (as akeakamai will testify!). In September I had 8% return for the month with about a week to go, and I was so focused on that 10% per month goal that I pushed and pushed and pushed and ended up with a nice 2% return - just goes to show that it ain’t worth it, I’ll take whatever the market gives me.
- If I EVER, I repeat EVER trade more than 3 trades in a day (3 separate trades, not 1 trade split into 3…) I will literally punch myself in the face. From my journal it shows that 94% of the times that I have done this, I have ended in the red - yes, that’s an actual statistic - benefits of a journal guys!
- I will never trade for the sake of trading - this used to happen because I will stare at the charts pretty much the entire day (the downsides of being able to trade LO, NYO and LC!). Now I want to take breaks after wins and losses, and only trade at PREDEFINED levels.
- I will never trade two correlated pairs at the same time (i.e GBPUSD and EURUSD).
- I will NEVER EVER move or cancel a stop-loss. The only way I will ever move a stop-loss is to lock in profits.
I am still applying my “demerit system” and will place exceptional emphasis on losing trades, well the reasons they went wrong I mean.
So anyway, if anyone feels like joining me on this, PART 2 of my journey, feel free! Watch a student becoming a well-oiled ICT trading machine!
Thanks for your time guys 
All of my trading is done purely making use of ICT’s methods (probably the greatest FX mentor to grace this planet!), so if you are wondering what on earth an OTE is, please head over to his wealth of knowledge in the most popular thread on this forum --> The Legend at work. I primarily use the concepts included in the checklist below.
[U]Trading checklist (it has some elements which are less pivotal than others:[/U]
- Trading within a killzone
- Do NOT enter a position impulsively after taking a loss
Trade management: - From ICT himself: Take First portion at what your initial risk was in pips. Leave remaining portion with the stop the same until 2x initial risk in pips is achieved in profits… move protective stop to BE. Scale out 50% of remaining portion [50% of original total position] and leave last portion or 25% of total trade position to reach for higher level objectives like ADR, Old Daily Highs, Weekly Highs or Trinity extreme levels.
Entry/Exit management: - Do NOT enter a position that has not PRECISELY hit a predefined key level (i.e. no trades at 1.XX87 instead of 1.XX80, or 1.XX12 instead of 1.XX20 etc)
- Do NOT enter a trade if no divergence is evident
- Take the pair which is diverging (not the one which isn’t)
- Do NOT enter a trade when it is in the wrong pivot zone
- EXIT a LOSING trade that has broken through a key level (after entering obviously)
Other: - Maximum trades per day = 2
- Maximum loss per day = 3%
- Holy Grail divergence evident on H1, H4?
- Is USDX at OTE?
- Is this in line with original weekly/daily bias?
- OTE on higher TF? (H1 upwards)
- In line with market flow on H4?
- Is this in line with latest fractal?
- Have we had a number of small range days - i.e. we will break the ADR easily now!
- Against the overall retail sentiment?
- In the appropriate zone on the Monthly TT?
- Market structure in line with the trade?
[U]Risk Management (yeah if you don’t understand I will explain further!):[/U]
[U]Trading results:[/U]
The time is now!! System | Myfxbook
[U]Discipline:[/U]
“Discipline is a an absolute requirement for successful trading. It is not a characteristic that can be adapted overnight. Discipline is a quality characteristic that must be developed over a period of time and refined through experiences, hard lessons and a determined focus on a specific objective.
Discipline is a battle between the human flesh and knowing in your mind what is right and good.” - [I]Chris Lori, Face the Trader Within[/I]
[I]I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength![/I]
Do you live in London? Your time on that screenshot is exactly the same as here in South Africa – haha, I thought there is a 1 hour difference :?
