Coming sooner than you think, or may want.
The Ever Irritable VIPER
Hello Journal, I got up last night to go to the bathroom, and I hoped I would not miss, I’m getting old so that is always a possibility. But everything came out ok. I then had ten cups of coffee, 6 over easy eggs, a half a loaf of bread, one pound of bacon and a lo fat yogurt, I know the yogurt was a bit much, but since it was low fat, I’m sure I am still within usda recommendations. I then went outside and I felt so good, but I stepped in a dog pile, and my heel slipped forward making me do a split, it really hurt, and that made me think of Twyla Stansbury, you remember Twyla, Journal, that little wisp of a girl in summer camp, I wonder what ever happened to her. Well anyway I feel so good today, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, I am a genius, my trading is invincible, yada yada yada yada yada yada .
Hey you, Shuuuuuuuuuuut uppppppppppp . Man your “Journal” is making my eyes bleed. In fact I think my spleen just ruptured. 
People have told me, “well just don’t read them”, sounds good but, unfortunately, I am of the mind that if someones car is leaking fuel, and I am walking by, I will tell them. As I have said before, Mrs. Viper thinks, in this aspect anyway, I am foolish in trying to help others on a trading board. I just can’t help it.
So to start, what is the purpose of a TRADING journal. It is to get you focused on your, here it comes, get ready, TRADING. It is not a life journal, yes talking about how you feel before, during, and after a trade is invaluable, but the rest, gimme a break. I have seen many people talk about their “FOREX business plan”, really, you can’t even trade and you are talking about a business plan??? No, it is all about the trading. If you cannot control your emotions and your running at the mouth in your journal, how are you going to do it when you are trading? The journal should help you to set down a flexible yet rule based plan. It should help you to focus your logic and reason, so that your mind sees nothing, and focuses on nothing but the trade. Even during the trade, while you are managing it, you can take note of your observations regarding how you feel, what the market is doing at the time etc.
OK, so with all of this in mind, let’s get down to the basics.
-
How much
A. Start to think in terms of Units and not Dollars, Pounds, Yen.
1. I am going to risk 2000 units on this trade.
a. Or if you are bob " I am going to move a Yard" -
Context
A. What is the overall view you have of the market, or what is the market “landscape”. Daily, Weekly, Monthly, 4 hr, 1 hr etc. Trend up, Trend Down, Ranging in a channel, Price close to support, resistance, at the mean, etc. -
Premise
A. The premise is "why are you taking this trade’ ?, For example, in an uptrend you see a Bull Pennant forming, so the premise is a Bull Pennant within a Bull Trend. -
Entry
A. Could be Market, Limit, etc. But you need to know your entry point. But you have to know and be sure of this before you place the trade -
Stop
A. Determined by- Risk % predetermined by account size, positive expectancy etc.
- Time frame of the trade, longer timeframes, wider stops
- Possibly a risk/reward calculation. This would depend on market conditions, and other factors.
B. Your stop should be predetermined, calculated and ready to set as soon as you put your trade on.
-
Exit
A. Determined by- Market conditions
- Timeframe in which the trade is taken 1hr, 3min, etc
- Time in the trade compared to the price movement
B. On this I personally question the platitude “let winners run”, I have seen too many traders let a winner run
into being a loser
One other thing I have noticed around the Forums is the lack of T&S (Time and Sales). You have to know this, and I would respectfully suggest, if anyone asks for help in the future, please include the T&S from your blotter, it helps. Oh yeah and the date of the trade to start with, I know it will show up in the T&S, but that is the first thing I like to do in my journal, gets the day under my control.
So here is an example
7/17/06
EUR/USD News
CPI
Indus Prod
All in line
Units 64000
Context -6 day downtrend, ,
Rangy Market in daily
News did not move market
Premise
Preset Order, sell at 1.2570, outside 6 min consolidation, 15 min downtrend 4-14 cross, support at whole # 1.12500
Entry
Preset order, sell at 1.2570
Stop
1.2596, % stop
T.P. 12 pips above support at 1.2500 / 1.2512
Saw a weird spike on 15 min chart, check with PFG.
K.Kling said it was a bad tick and no executions were made at that price.
- 58 pips, Thank the other side
So there you have it, focused, logical and reasoning, that’s how you have to be
So Till Next Time VIPER
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I look forward to it.
I cannot say thank you enough. I follow you since feb.2014
I know your execution, and I’ve seen scary things (e.g. 18-Mar-2015 shorting that big spike of 400 pips).
I’ve seen many trades of yours and said to myself there is no way he can get a profit at that level, only to see few hours later your positions closed in green. Maaaaan, how did he do that???
If I had $10K I would have invested with viper2 for sure. It’s just my wife wouldn’t give me a second $3K card to play with for now. But for all you did I cannot say thank you enough. Now I’m back in idle mode reading the forum 
Hello mihk, I think you have me confused with another Snake, although I am the original VIPER, other imitators have taken the moniker. My first official post was on ET May 8, 2006, and the name was given to me by our erstwhile mandarin speaking tech dude, the reason being, my quick moves in and out of the market, he said it reminded him of a viper snake. At the time I was using 1min charts for entries.
So again I appreciate your appreciation, I cannot take credit for the above. Although I do have the best Psychology thread here at BPips hehehehehehehe Also I trade “private” equity, it’s very private, and not open to the general public.
But with that being said, I’m just here to help, I don’t get paid, don’t represent any financial concern, not even myself, financially that is. So again thanks for the well wishes.
The Ever Humble VIPER
NIIIIIIIICE . Thanks 
Holy shamoly!
He’s talking about me! I have to edit my journal 
Frandlost,
KC
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