Milestone!!! 300 trades in the 8-week experiment.
A fun day away from trading at the golf course. However, I don’t work tomorrow so a late-night trading in front of me.
Solid start to the late-night session…
Was able to sneak in a few more trades while the pairs were in Range…now we have to let them simmer for a bit as they no longer agree with the Strat
I know I have mentioned it before, but a Pair tends to stay in the trading range for more than one trade. The above is an example of that. Covering the same ground several times before finally not agreeing.
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Good Morning everyone…Morning coffee trading time.
My morning coffee is likely much later in the trading day than most. I typically wake between 8-9 am MST so 10-11 EST USA. The markets typically have already digested the news from the EU session and adjusted for the early trading in the US market. I find the markets a bit more predictable, at least for my Strat anyway, than other times. I can typically get 3-6 trades in before the Doldrums, then hit the Golf Course or have an outing with the Family.
Reviewing my trades, I’m seeing small errors and missed opportunities. Mostly in position sizing. Not adjusting new trades to new account balance.
Example…GBP/USD in this morning’s session should have had a position size of 0.43 but it was only 0.4…so missed opportunity of 0.03. I know why…as my platform “remembers” the last trading size I used on this pair. And 0.40 was likely correct for that previous trade.
Although it is not a “big” deal and the trade was still a winner, it is sloppy. I need to do better.
The Trump announcement of the 90 day pause for tariffs on all but China came at a very good time for me…After I had closed all my trades. I would have been on the wrong side of all my positions if they were still open.
That being said…It would not have been catastrophic, as I set SLs at levels to prevent blowing accounts. However, I don’t know how bad the slippage would have been. Sometimes we get lucky!
Now, what does this mean for tonights evening session (Asia and EU opens)???
I’m not sure. I’ll have to see if the markets react calmly or erratically at each of the opens…maybe give them 30 min to an hour to show their true colors.
Should be interesting!
Nothing in range last night and nothing in range this morning. Golf course needs me for the next 6 days, so trading will be limited.
I was tempted to “Make trades fit” into my Strat…but that has not worked out well for me in the past…so No.
Found a runner… Just before I was to leave for the course, I found an entry which quickly moved in my favor. I moved the SL to break even with no TP and left for work.
Came back to this…
Only 1 trade credited to Thursday. That is a very low total trade count for me, but I will not argue with the results. I blame real life for getting in the way…lol
End of Experiment
Week 8 comes to an end and so does this little experiment. To say it was a success would be an understatement.
Things I learned.
- Small trades add up quickly!!!
- Overnight holds seem to be 50/50 (overnight for me is MST in the US from 1am to 9am)
- Taking the time to properly set the Hard SL is worth it.
- Immediately Journal and log results when trades are opened/closed
- DO NOT input information into spreadsheet when ILL.
- Enjoy the ride!
The final results after 8 weeks
The Position Sizing Tool I created made quick entries much easier. Something I will be using for the rest of my trading career.
For everyone who followed me thru this experiment for all or part of the 8 weeks…Thank you.
I went back and verified that I showed every trade at some point during the 8 weeks
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So new Plan…
I’m taking all the profit from the 8-week experiment, adjusting for taxes due on that money, removing a large chunk to take the wife on an overnight fun trip, rounding down…and starting a new journey. Initial seed will be 3k USD. I’m calling it House Money.
I will be using all the same tools and strats, and I’ll keep posting everything, just like before. I do NOT have an end date for this run…let’s see how far we can take it.
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Well done on having made some profit.
I’m surprised you look at it as “house money,” tho. Can I ask a question?
If you went into a casino and played roulette, and started off by putting $10 straight-up on a number that immediately hit, and you won $350, would you feel that that $350 is your money and you could cash it in and go out and spend it or pay it into the bank?
Or if not, and if you played on and lost it, would you feel that you’d “lost $350” or "not really because it was only ‘house money’ " 
Great question!
When I go to Vegas, and your scenario happens…The original $10 goes back to the Room and I do play with House Money for the rest of the night. In my mind, and I know it is different for others, even if the remaining 340 goes away, it’s still break even.
The whole point of the experiment, for me, was to remove as much emotion as possible from the process. The thought of House Money further removes emotional attachment. It is also the reason I look at pips and not dollar amounts during each transaction. The Strat stays the same if its 10 cents a pip or 10 dollars a pip.
(Side note…Kudos on knowing the odds of a single number hit in roulette.)
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The journey begins…
Spent the entire day at the Golf Course. Only 3 more days left working there before we start packing for the move to Coeur D’Alene. Need to adjust the spreadsheet for the new values and start adding up the wins… I hope.
When I say I only watch the pips…this is what I watch once the trade is active.
Morning Coffee trades…and a couple from last night as I finished watching my recording of the Masters.
Great start to the day. 3 more days of working at the Golf Course then packing starts.
Easter Week in combination with volatile markets might be fun.
And just like that…all the pairs I follow have left the range. Guess its play with the dog time until work at the Golf Course.