Absolutely!..and isn’t that wonderful!
…And the best part is that with trading you really can “earn while your learn” 
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Well, once I let myself off monopoly money, which isn’t just yet. I don’t want to be “crash and burn while you learn” 
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This is exactly what I’ve found! Thank you @elenmirie for sharing with so much detail and emotion - much appreciated
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I’m not a big Fib fan, except for maybe the 50% line, that is pretty reliable, as far as levels, I mostly draw them in my head. I just put up how I looked at the Yuppy as far those trades were concerned.
The Ever Posting VIPER
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Hehe, apparently it’s not even a fib.
Cable today with the high and the low - and the close.
Was way much easier in the old days with the pager giving those 2 vitals, the hard part was dividing by 2 - now we have mt4 
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Hey P, but with Mt4, Mt5, Mt graves, you can do Murrey math and have 16, or 32, or even 16 to the 666th power, lines on your chart. In fact you can stick so many lines on on your charts, you can cover the prices completely, yesssss thats it, I Can’t Trades blind sniper system, just pick a line and you win.
The Ever Jovial VIPER
I remember somebody once asking what’s the big deal about the half way - you old guys are like grandpa Simpson.
@Falstaff I think posted a video on BBC of traders back in the day, they’d get the
reuters hi/lo for Asian on GBP/USD, rush into the office and telephone his buy or sell order.
Anyways, here’s what that looked like today.
(crosshairs is the UK open, i.e. that trader getting to his telephone)
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Lol, Vipe, the crosshairs thing was coincidence, the old guys strike back 
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@elenmirie, firstly it’s been a pleasure catching up on your trading journey thus far!
Your self awareness and trade journaling is something I hope to emulate.
Right now, I’m in the process of creating a system that fits my schedule and trading style, and to start demo trading it, but I’m caught somewhere between “pick something and go” and “paralysis by analysis.” The perfect situation would be to create EAs for the different systems I could trade, backtest them and optimize them, figure out which one works best. Of course this option is subject to paralysis by analysis, not to mention the meticulous art of coding that I all of a sudden have to learn. The other option is to pick something that has been documented to work, pick a pair it works on, and and start demo trading.
What are your thoughts/suggestions?
Thank you for saying that, @danimated. I created this thread mostly to help myself and others, so if you’re getting something out of it, I’m thrilled!
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Yes. Complex and wonderful. And I don’t mean that in a good way. (It’s a reference to a quote, I can’t remember who from, which goes: Why make something simple when it can be complex and wonderful?)
Oh yes, please gimme da lines! I can do it all if I have enough lines! I know, that’s what I’m diligently trying to avoid. Especially if you can draw the lines this way, that way, and then pick the one that agrees with your bias.
Earlier today, as an experiment, I tried drawing fib retracement on the same chart with three different zoom levels (not timeframes, the same timeframe, just seeing different parts of the chart.) I came up with three different answers, which one would you like? I don’t trust any of them.
Thanks for your vote of confidence. As I said before, glad you are here and I hope you get something out of my documentation of my experience.
Everyone’s different, and everyone’s learning process is different, but you asked for my opinion and so I will give it.
I wouldn’t bother with EAs at this stage in the game. I don’t know if I would bother with EAs at any stage in the game, I think probably they are hugely overrated for small private traders.
What matters right now, for you (I’m assuming you’ve been through the Babypips school, if not, do that first), is probably to get some trading experience on a demo account. Learn about yourself as a trader, how you react to different things. How it affects you. Because understanding that I think is the key to eventual success.
Yes, that option. I picked the Cowabunga system, which is documented on Babypips and also advertised as what to do once you’ve finished the Babypips school. So You’ve Finished The School Of Pipsology…Now What? - BabyPips.com
It happened to fit me pretty well to do this exactly as described. I did it for a month and I learned a ton! I decided to try a different system after that, but that doesn’t mean I think badly of Cowabunga. I just wanted more experience and to try out different ideas.
So, yeah, jump in, get your feet wet. It’s a demo account, you can splash around without hurting yourself!
And one other thing, there is a huge amount of information and systems and things that different people swear by and other things that they swear at. Get three traders in a room and I’m pretty sure there will be at least four opinions.
You will be best served to zero in on just a few things. Pick a system (one system). Pick a pair (one pair to start). Get your risk management system in place, get your documentation in place, get your daily routine in place. Use all that stuff, live with it, pretend you are live, and see what happens. Keep reading and learning while you’re doing that. Then evolve as you see fit (not too fast though.)
I’ve come a long way now, and have an even longer way to go.
Best of luck, my friend, and keep in touch!
Moving averages are the unbeatable ultimate in lines!
…take any chart you like, in any timeframe you can think of, and you can find an MA that will fit it perfectly!
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End of week numbers… I’ve added total P/L in pips, which is a metric I seem to have left out. A useful number to monitor.
Week ending 21/9/2018
Number of trades: 12
Number positive: 8
Number negative: 4
Success rate: 67%
Number on plan: 11
Number off plan: 1
Total P/L: 75 pips
Average risk/return: 0.43
Average P/L per trade: 6 pips
Max P/L: 60 pips
Min P/L: -37 pips
Change in equity from last week: 0.2%
So, in those numbers there were a couple of good trades, a couple of bad ones, and quite a few mediocre ones. I ended up positive for the week, so it’s a win. I know it’s possible to do better than I did. Still learning!
Best trade was riding the bulls up on Thursday, I got 40% of the total move which I consider a success.
Worst trade was getting stopped out on a nosedive instigated by a Brexit rumour on Wednesday. I lost 37 pips. Because it was a rumour, I figured it would bounce right back and immediately went long again, by which tactic I got back 25 pips. That was the one trade that I had to report as not according to plan.
Overall, a much better week than last week. I will enjoy the weekend! Hope you do too
.
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Eep, I’m behind on my posting!
Okay, so here’s the catch up. The last week in September didn’t go well. I tinkered with my system a bit, mostly in relaxing the rules, which didn’t work out so well. I’ve since tightened it up again. I actually called a halt because I was getting very frustrated that nothing seemed to be going right. That frustration was clouding my judgement, so I stopped and took Thursday afternoon and Friday off.
So the numbers for week ending 28/9 are:
Number of trades: 6
Number positive: 1
Number negative: 5
Success rate: 17%
Number on plan: 6
Number off plan: 0 (but see note above about relaxing rules)
Total P/L: -77 pips
Average risk/return: -0.77
Average P/L per trade: -13 pips
Max P/L: 3 pips
Min P/L: -28 pips
Change in equity from last week: -0.2%
So, my nice week the third week of September pretty much got wiped out in the fourth week.
I still ended a bit ahead for the month, though, which is encouraging.
So, September numbers:
Number of trades: 37
Number positive: 23
Number negative: 14
Success rate: 62%
Number on plan: n/a
Number off plan: n/a (I started tracking this midway through September)
Total P/L: 154 pips
Average risk/return: 0.08
Average P/L per trade: 4 pips
Max P/L: 60 pips
Min P/L: -48 pips
Change in equity from start of month: 0.5%
That was mostly shored up by having a successful first week in September.
Finally, the first week in October. I was away on Wednesday, and didn’t trade at all on Thursday… there was a nice uptrend all day but I never saw a good point to get on it. That stuff happens sometimes, you look at the chart at the end of the day and say, if only!
So, week ending 5 October:
Number of trades: 14
Number positive: 9
Number negative: 5
Success rate: 64%
Number on plan: 11
Number off plan: 3
Total P/L: 31 pips
Average risk/return: 0.2
Average P/L per trade: 2 pips
Max P/L: 24 pips
Min P/L: -32 pips
Change in equity from last week: 0.1%
So a mixed bag, which stayed above water in the end. I had a good day on Friday, starting off with shorting the spike that was triggered by the Unilever news (that Unilever was not going to move its HQ from the UK to the Netherlands, after all), on the grounds that it was just a short burst of optimism that wouldn’t have much momentum behind it.
Then I got cute and tried to do something similar on the US NFP news, but that blew up in my face. I should know better than to mess with the NFP stuff, it’s too volatile.
I’m still trading very small position sizes-- roughly 1/10 of my risk tolerance limits. The rules are that I have to have two positive weeks in a row before increasing them, and that hasn’t happened yet. That’s making me a little bit frustrated, but, I suppose, this is how you learn.
So, onward to the next week!
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Thank you thank you for your thoughts!
I’ve been away from this thread because I’ve spent the last bit jumping in! I’ll share details on a thread (pending) but I’ve written out a system and placed my first few demo trades as you’ve suggested. Looking forward to catching up on your activity
@danimated
Great to hear! I look forward to your thread and hearing of your progress. Remember it won’t always be up, but that’s how we learn (as I know all too well!)
The trading journal is up! it’s called 10,000 Repiptitions ahaha
I read somewhere on a thread here that "a losing trade will teach you more than a winning trade ever will"
Looking forward to my winners, and my learners!
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