You missed your calling Hog… if you ever decide this is not for you then perhaps speech writer! 
I hear its well paid!
Lol. Nah, he will make it as trader even better. I’m pretty sure. His account is growing [U]consistently[/U]. No matter how long it will take, but he will make it back to the $400 and I even believe he will make it to much more. 
Thank you very much HoG for the nice words. Now I am going to become red like a tomato again. Well, didn’t find a tomato as smiley, but I hope the halloween one is a little similar, lol. :43:
I mean, that trade from today was another lesson I guess. Never ever chase price. Well, as far as the stop is in place it’s just a minor mistake for learning.
Ya know, I could be sad or angry because my trade from Friday didn’t fill, but I am rather proud I didn’t chase price. The next opportunity will come for sure. It is all not about being right or wrong. It is about a proper trading system where all the emotional habits are ruled out. Every trade and I say really every trade can become a loser. Even the best planned trade. If that would not be the case you could bet your farm on the best trade. But there is no such a trade with 100% certainty and I bet there is not even one single trade with 75% certainty. It all goes back to statistics and with statistics you always have to consider a bunch of trades together. Only after that and enough trades one can see what the edge is if there is one.
I had losses, I had winners. As long as I execute my plan, I am as proud of my losses or even more than of my winners! Because I executed it with cold blood and no emotions involved.
Totally take your point Buckscoder about not chasing price. Trade from today is STILL, even though I lost out, is one I am looking at as a good try.
Price only went passed my 1-3570 stop by 5 pips and turned back down. So stopped out but still happy with the decision as I don’t think Euro will be going a lot higher any time soon.
There is a history to the trade I made over the weekend that ended up making me a profit at the start of this week. By contrast to the last trade which I lost on and still think of as a good trade, I made a profit on the weekend trade but for a whole load of reasons, which I won’t go into now, was a terrible trade.
Non existant stop loss, too big a lot size, risked too much and when price gapped open Sunday night, things looked really bleak for a while.
Account balance today has still moved up, but I still need to base things on more solid decisions and solid reasons than I have been
So funnily enough, it has made me think there are such things as a good loss, and a bad win. Does that make any sense?
Hello HoG, yes that with a great loss and a bad win makes plenty of sense!
You can have a great winner, but if you lose consistently, then this winner was obviously the bait for the switch, if you know what I mean.
Regarding history, don’t ever look at past trades. I mean, you can learn if you can generate a rule from it for future trades AND you can also follow the rule. Albeit if you had a good trade or a bad trade is not visible directly after the trade.
Believe me or not, but what I believed is a bad trade was in almost all cases a good trade after backtesting, if I followed my rules. What is a good trade or a bad trade is NEVER EVER visible if you just have this one trade to judge. Trading is a statistics business and that is hard to believe for most people. The outcome in any one trade is uncertain, so how can you judge the trade in good or bad?
In my opinion it’s a good trade if you executed it after your rules. If it’s a winner or not is 100% unimportant, as long as your system gives you an edge.
A bad trade is one which is not executed after your rules. It can be the best winner, but this win was based on luck and nothing else. Not based on your systems edge.
You humble us, HoG. Whatever else is true, whatever tidbits the various contributors might have thrown in, you are the engine behind this thread, so you are the engine behind any help it has given others. Personally, I have learned a great deal from it, from technical insights through to psychology and lots of other good stuff in between.
Your willingness to learn in public, and be so open about the odd mistake, was essential to providing the right environment for that collective learning. So for that, and for the things you have taught me over the course of the past 1000 posts, hats off to you.
ST
That is the only sensible thing about your weekend trade, HoG!! But if it took that trade to drum this lesson into you, then it was okay to place it. But next time you place a trade without a Stop and risking too much of your account… it’s the naughty step for you.
In my opinion, there might be other advice on this site that is as good as this, but you will not find advice that is any better than this. It seems odd not to be judging a system on results, but the method for any given trade is much more important than the result of that individual trade. That is the one thing I knew to be true when I started out, but I struggled to have sufficient faith in. The minute I genuinely believed this lesson, it all got a whole lot less stressful (and more profitable!).
ST
Yikes, cetainly something to think about before i start putting real money on the table. I’m still in the paper trading stage myself
ST… one more… congrats in advance. 
Hog, it makes perfect sense.
Look at it this way. It’s NOT about saving “this trade”. Try to keep a very sharp eye on THE NEXT trade. This is something I find works for me…and the more I do it…the better it gets.
I am trying to improve my own game for that matter, and I find if I can let go of the current moment…and look only to what the next, superior opportunity is in the market, it allows me to relax, because…hey, if this one loses, the next one will likely make it up and then some, because it’s even better! lol!
Thoughts like this actually encourage me to set tight stops, and strive to take my losers as soon as I have any thoughts that winning is unlikely.
Because for that upcoming “better” trade I’m looking into to make me money… it means this current trade will have to lose as little as possible.
Otherwise, i got a heck of a hole to dig out of!
Sounds a bit silly…but it works for me. and thats what this biz is all about. making it work for you.
Your edge will hold up over time, learn to love small losses, for they are the team mates that allow your winning trades
to make you money.
large (particularly uncontrolled) losses are the harbingers of trading doom. THEY are the REAL problem, for they are what prevent your winners from actually growing your account.
Jay
With you on the stats of trading BC. I will only place one trade over a 24 hour cycle which will invarably work out in opposite directions but double dip days throw my strat out. 31st Oct win, 1st Nov loss. 10th Nov win, 11th Nov loss, 14th Nov win, today loss. As you say its a stats game… thank goodness there are more inner bar closes than not!
I think you may find Mr Templar, that should you delve into my unblemished past (ahem), you would find that a fine young chap like myself, wouldn’t know where to begin to find the naughty step !:55: LOL !!
However, in all seriousness, you do raise a good point. The subject of RULES. 
Recently I have been thinking about just how serious I am taking this whole thing. Or more to the point, how serious I’m NOT taking it. As I said in the epic post 1000, when I first started trading I thought ths could be my way forward. So it may surprise people to hear, that even though over the last couple of months my account balance has been slowly rising, I STILL don’t trade according to any fixed, defined set of rules.
So esentially my recent good luck has been just that, luck !
But I AM serious about progressing with my trading, so the time has come to make some rules.
Over the next day or two, I’ll come up with some rules that will be the basis of my future trading. I’ll post them here, as ever, to help myself, as much as anyone else.
Also, it has occurred to me recently that although we post our trades here ( the numbers that is ) it would be helpful to newbies to hear the thought process behind those trades. The reasons they were taken in the first place.
So it’s also my intention to post the details of some of my future trades. I still don’t think I have a strategy as of yet. I mean, I don’t have a “if this happens, and that happens, that will be my sign to enter a trade.” this is something else I will need to try to develope for myself.
But there’s a couple of things I’d like to add before I start this latest leg of the thread.
Obviously this is for the benefit of us newbies. I’ve not suddenly decided I know everything and am trying to tell the experienced crew anything.
I’m NOT asking anyone else to do this. Each trader has their own rules, criteria, ‘edge’. That is theirs alone and I respect that. I’m just trying to make public the thought process I am going through as a fellow newbie in entering a trade.
I will only post the details of a trade AFTER I have entered that trade. In order to learn we need to make decisions for ourselves. And even if it is meant with the best intentions, any outside opinions given BEFORE a trade is entered can have an effect on your own decision making. Also, I’m not asking anyone to help me make trades, these will be trades I HAVE already made, then I’ll say why. If anyone then wants to give an opinion on that open trade, as always they are more than welcome and it would be appreciated as ever.
So you may ask WHY I want to do this public experiment with my real account. Well to me the reasons are simple.
This whole adventure has been, in some way, a public experiment. I’ve survived, by luck a lot of times, this far, now it’s time to step it up and get a bit more serious. And in the spirit of trying to be of some help to other newbies, I’ll try to show openly how I’m doing that. Funny thing is that even if I am wrong, it should still be of help even only as a lesson of what NOT to do
Second thing is, when I first started, and even now, I asked “What is a strategy? What is a trading plan? What ‘RULES’ are people talking about?” And I assume I’m not alone in asking these questions. So maybe it’ll answer a few questions for some people.
And the third reason I’m going to do this is that I just enjoy writing on this thread.
I won’t be trading as much in the future as I have been in the past. One reason being as I’m now trying to take it more serious, I won’t be making as many rash decisions. Also I’ll be trying to define more specific trading times and entry criteria.
So give me a day or two and I’ll post my future RULES and then we’ll take it from there. Obviously in between then and now I’ll still be posting, wouldn’t give up the gang so easily. But give me a day or two to come up with my “Basics”.
Now I’m away to ask the wife if we have a naughty step in this house. Not that I’ll need it LOL !!
I didnt realise I missed the 1000th post.
Hog, You can really write.
Congrads to you and good luck to all of us.
Hope we have an extra 1000 pips to talk about by end of the year.
I’m going to stick my neck out and say 1.3490 on EU was the lowest low and 1.5791 on GU was the lowest low. Long a tad above both.
Sure it is easy to me to say I expect EU to go lower than that RC, since price right now is at 1.3440
In my chart i will only consider to buy below 1.3380
Hope the latest move down is only stop hunting and you get in the black quick
AWESOME 1000’th post HoG! I must say I was looking forward to it and it did not disappoint! It was entertaining as well as informative. I’ve been trading LIVE a little more than two months now and I must say my largest barrier has been the psychological aspect of it. Today has been a perfect example of that.
I was short on AU and NU with fairly good entries (black and lime green lines)…
AU
NU
My TP on AU was at the lowest red line and NU it was at the lowest support areas.
Wouldn’t you know it I freak out at the first bullish candles and close only to have price rocket down and hit my would-be TP’s
I wish I could remedy this problem as it’s not only making me lose out on profits, but is making me lose capital (yes my total account balance is slowly but surely losing money because of this). This psychology thing is a total nightmare for me lately and I think the main reason is because I’m going into trades almost EXPECTING to lose.
Anyways, I’m sorry for taking up space on your thread just to complain about my problem. I just had to vent somewhere and though that maybe some experienced person here (or you) could give me some advice?
Kudos,
Tom
Today is my turn …had a limit sell order at NY close, didn’t get fill by 2 pips!
Now i am missing +100 pips 
Such is trading Yunny. It’s this stuff that makes the business hard. you can’t chase it, because in the long run it’ll cost you. you can try to account for it in the future, and take a slightly wider entry, but then you skew your RR…and this is worse.
I look at it like this. I’ll end up having many many times when i miss a fill by 2 pips.
but i’ll also have many many times when i catch a fill by 2 pips
equally as much, i’ll have the same happen with my stops.
Many times, not stopped out by 2 pips, and profit!
many times, barely stopped out by 2 pips… and would have had profit!
so, in some ways, i’d never get the “filled 2 pips from the top!” trades if i didn’t have the 2 pip misses.
and visa versa for the stopped out ones.
it’s just a unique challenge of the business, and one that is like enjoying water skiing.
it’d be great, if it wasn’t for the fact that someone is throwing wind and water in my face the whole time i do it!
yet, one cannot go to ski the water, without some wind and water in the face.
I could focus on the wind and water hitting my face. or i could focus on the thrills and the views and the fun.
one cannot go trading, without missing some fills by a pip or two sometimes.
Just be happy next time u catch it by 2 pips, and remember that it wouldn’t exist without this miss
Jay
To be totally honest with you Tom, I think this post of yours typifies the psychological side of trading. As as matter of fact, you sound EXACTLY like me, (and I would guess a million other newbies) when I started. First sign of trouble, get out !!
Have you also closed trades when they have only been in 1 or 2 pip profit? I have. loads of times. But unfortunately, imho, there is NO remedy. Well, I take that back, there is. TIME.
The more you trade, the more experience you gain, the better it gets.
But if I could offer anything, it would be these two points.
Never ever worry about what price has done AFTER you are out of the trade. Could’ve beens don’t matter anymore because you’re OUT of the trade. Concentrate on finding the NEXT trade, not mourning over the LAST trade.
Second, if you do close out a trade, then price starts to go the way you thought it was going, DON’T just jump back in regardless. Because then you have went from your original analysis to a gamble. Take a step back, re-evaluate. That wasn’t the last trade opportunity in history. There WILL be another one.
As for your account going down slowly, can I ask you a question? How many trades do you make daily/weekly. When I started I was just so keen to trade I was making loads of trades instead of a few better chance ones. Your enthusiasm to over trade could well be part of the problem.
But don’t worry. That again is natural. I’ve said before that I don’t think newbies start to learn until the novelty of trading wears off. I still believe that. I’ve been trading live now 6 months and I think lessons have only started to sink in , in the last week or so, Honestly !
So right now concentrate on survival, not catching up with Bill Gates. He has a bit of a head start on us. Try to pick good set ups, don’t over trade and build up slowly. I know it’s frustrating, trust me, I DO know that. But you didn’t learn to walk, read, write in a day. So why be so impatient with trading?
Slow and easy and you’ll get there.
Good Luck
HoG
PS, I liked that bit “…some experienced person (or you )…”
Lol, yes indeed, thank you for that - proof positive that I talk a lot!!
Thought it seemed fitting to push myself over the line on this thread.
Tom,
I would say that this is a great place to ‘complain about your problem’, and that noone, least of all HoG, would ever complain about your voicing it here, or consider it a waste of space.
I used to have exactly - I mean exactly - the same issue that you describe here. To be honest, I still sometimes get the jitters if I am nicely up on a trade and the market is jittery. For instance, I closed a NZD/USD Short last week when PA across the timeframes started to move against me. I was 3% or so up and, in the current climate, did not want to give all that back and lose my Stop at B/E. I stand by my reasoning, and don’t consider it a bad trade - but my original TP1 was 0.7620, and a quick glance at the chart now tells me that I could have had come much closer to that had I had a little more courage under fire. So it is an issue, I used to bottle out a lot, and all I can say is that I broke that habit by forcing myself always to find out how a trade would have played out had I not exited early. The maths soon told me that, however much I was winning, I would have won more had I just stuck to mechanical execution of strategy, and stuck with my original trade parameters. My strategy includes provision for exiting a trade early under certain circumstances that invalidate my reasons for being in the trade in the first place - but a little choppy/negative PA is not enough. My backtesting proves it, and the knowledge of that fact (eventually) trained my mind to acknowledge and trade the fact. That fact that this is your issue is, in itself, encouraging, as it demonstrates that you are selecting good setups. Trade management can be learned next! Personally I do believe that most people can learn to spot good setups, but the psychology is what really separates those who make some money from those who really make money.
Lol!!!
ST
Thanks Niki.
I’ll tell you a very quick story before I dash out to school with the little one. It may sound unreal, but I poromise you it is true.
I’ve always written stories, ever since I can remember it’s probably been the only constant in my life. When I was 10, we were give an essay to write in primary school. The subjct was, “Write an essay about an unusual hobby ( true or fictional) that a member of your family has.”
I wrote a story about my older brother suspending himself by the pubic hair from a set of wall bars in his bedroom. My mother and father were called to the school to “discuss” this and they were “asked” to keep me from school for a couple of days as my punishment.
35 years later, I still have that original essay as my grand-mother kept it to amuse herself whenever she felt down.
HoG