Journey of an Amature

For trading, self understanding of the market is the best understanding. Learn how price moves in a particular pair. Every pair has its own unique characteristics. Observe charts as much as possible, you will find many patterns of price movement.

Price breached 1.18, reached a high of 1.1840 before pulling back as per the screen shot below:

I’m waiting for another pull back before it turns bullish again.

Amateur once, a mighty trader later.

Not a great August going by the results below:

Frustration got the better of me on a number of trades where it has been open for a while but in the red. Because the trades were open for so long and in the red, the moment it hit profit I had narrowed my SL. Had I not done that then where I got taken out by narrowing the SL the profits would have been much greater by not narrowing the SL and having more patience.

Didn’t realise it has been seven months since my last post on here. My strategy hasn’t changed but mental strength hasn’t become stronger either. 2020 didn’t end very well but 2021 started well, especially January and February as per the screen shot below:

It seems every time there is a set back it takes more time to get back it knocks the confidence out of me and that’s exactly what happened three losses in the last five trades. It’s time to get back up again and I’m going to start journalling my trades on here as opposed to keeping it all on a spreadsheet which is what I have been doing.

It was a good post. I have gained some good knowledge from this post.

My current open trades:

Trade 1 - GBP/USD Executed on 21st April 2021:
Executed Buy on GBPUSD after the pair reached a high of 1.40087 from a low of 1.36732. I waited for the pull back from 1.40 and as predicted the pull back happened when price dropped to a low of 1.3925. My target is 1.41 but, if price breaks above 1.40 then it could test the previous daily high of 1.42423:

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Trade 2 - EUR/USD Executed on 22nd April 2021:
Executed Buy EURUSD after the pair climbed to a high of 1.20809 from a low of 1.1704. Once again I waited for the pull back and price did fall to a low of 1.20208. I’ve set a target of 1.21 but, I believe if price breaks above this level and holds then it could test the previous daily high of 1.22:

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My two trades were closed last week, without suffering losses:

GBP/USD dropped below my entry point by quite a lot. It finally re-couped the losses and broke into profit. After it reached a high of 1.39785, price pulled back and was unable to reach this high again. I decided to close the trade 10 pips above break even and my decision was justified as the following day saw price drop to a low of 1.38 again.

EUR/USD saw price initially drop but, then bounce back up, reaching a high of 1.215. I moved my SL to just below the weekly resistance point of 1.20932 that it had broken above, banking 50 pips, and left the trade running. Price failed to find support after breaking above 1.20932 and dropped to a low of 1.20117, triggering my SL on its way down.

Having come out of the long positions last week, trend has changed and I jumped into the below two trades:

GBP/USD could not break above 1.395 after it re-traced from a high of 1.39785. It fell to a low of 1.38 from where it climbed only as far as 1.39338. Price could not break above that and saw bearish candle start developping. I executed a short position, targetting 1.38, the previous low whsilt setting my SL above the previous high of 1.39338.

Price dropped as low as 1.38382 but could not break below that. I had already moved my SL 10 pips below my entry, securing that in case price re-traced and that is exactly what happened. Price re-traced all the way back, triggering my SL and has since been moving sideways:

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EUR/USD, having fallen from a high of 1.21496 pulled back to 1.20756. Price failed to break above this, forming a lower high. I then executed a short position, targetting 1.20 whilst my SL was above the previous high of 1.20756. Price hit my TP at which point a moved my SL to 10 pips above my TP of 1.20 expecting price to break below 1.20. This did not happen and price pulled back to 1.2036 before dropping back down again. The pull back triggered my SL, closing my trade with 45.2 pips banked:
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I am confident both of these pairs will fall more due to bearish sentiment and will be looking to short more.

The last two trades did not go according to plan. The trades closed over a week ago but, I did not manage to update my journal until now. Results of the trades are below:

GBP/USD dropped to a low of 1.38 before pulling back above 1.39, forming a lower high. I executed the trade at 1.39 and saw price drop as low as 1.385 but, could not break below that. Having had the trade open for more than 24 hours I did not feel confident that price would break below 1.385 and therefore, decided to close it manually just above break even. It proved to be a good decision as price sky rocketed the next day, breaking above 1.40.

EUR/USD stung me hard as you can see and literally wiped out the profit I made from the previous two trades. I executed that trade after the formation of a very strong bearish candle however, after reaching a low of 1.1986 that candle saw price being rejected from that level. Price never dropped below my entry again and I let the trade run which proved to be even more costly. Following the NFP on the 7th May 2021, most currencies against the USD just sky rocketed, EUR/USD reached a high of 1.218 before pulling back again.

Good luck on your journey buddy!

Thanks, going to need all of it until I crack it. All the best to you too.

So what went wrong with my last two trades? Starting with GBP/USD below is the screen shot from the monthly chart:
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Price is just below the weekly resistance level that was last reached in 2017. Looking at the weekly chart below, price reached a high of 1.42383 before pulling back down to 1.36705 before starting to climb again, reaching the current high of 1.41699:
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Dropping down to the daily chart you can see price twice bounced off 1.36699 before testing 1.40 again on the 7th May:

It finally broke the 1.40 resistance on the 10th May, reaching a high of 1.41693 before pulling back down to 1.40 again but, on this occiassion failing to break below this level.

I’ve made several mistakes here, most importantly not doing a thorough analysis on the larger time frames. The weekly and the daily time frames were clearly showing that there is a pull back and on both bigger pictures the overall trends are still on the up side. Had I looked at the Daily time frame before executing the trade on the 5th May I would have noticed that 1.38 had previously acted as a support early March and late April. The preiod in between when price did drop below 1.38, 1.36699 acted as a support zone. Based on that nalysis the trade I exceuted on the 5th May should have been a long with SL set below 1.38 and TP at the previous high of 1.42426

Looking at EUR/USD now, if we look at the monthly chart we can see that the price has just broken above the daily resistance level but, is well below the weekly resistance level that hasn’t been reached since 2017.
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Dropping down to the weekly chart you can see that price broke above the 1.20, the daily resistance level, reaching a high of 1.23488 in early 2021. It then pulled back, failing to find support at the 1.20 level, breaking below it and finding support just above the daily support. It then pulled back up above the 1.20 level.
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Dropping down to the daily chart you can see that price had dropped below the Daily resistance level on the 4th May and the candle for the 5th closed below that level. However, it had failed to break further below 1.1985 and having been rejected from that level on the 7th May it just sky rocketed.

As well as GBP/USD, I made the same mistake on EUR/USD too. Without looking at the bigger time frame I just executed the trades thinking the downward trend will continue and executed a short position and paid the price for it.

On both trades what I should have done is look at the bigger picture and seen what level price has reached. Then I should have been looking at whether that level has acted as a support or resistance previously on the bigger time frames (Monthly/Weekly/Daily charts). Given that on both occasions the bigger time frames were on the upward trend it would have told me whether price will continue to drop and turn into a bearing trend. In the event of these two trades the levels acted as a support and saw price resume bullish move upwards.

Having had a losing trade that took out most of the gains I had, I decided not to let that get to me and jumped on another trade as soon as the opportunity arose. Details has not been updated on MyFXBook, when it does I will post a screen shot here.

I executed a long position on GBP/USD at price of 1.40965 during the early hours of Monday morning. My target was 1.4165 which was the previous high, my trade closed at 1.417 as price broke above 1.42 at which point I moved my SL to above my initial target and moved my TP to 1.42336. Price reached a high of 1.42198 before pulling back, triggering my SL at 1.417 on it’s way down, currently at 1.412 at the time of writing this… Below is a screen shot of the H4 Chart:

Just wanted to drop by and cheer you on. I haven’t read the entire blog yet but seeing your how you started and how you continue to trade even today is inspiring. :slight_smile:

Thanks and glad I’m inspiring you. Still a long way to go myself to being successful and all the best to you too.

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Something wrong with MyFXBook at the moment. Below is the screen shot of the trade I talked about in my previous update:

Since that trade, I have exceuted tow further trades, long positions on GBP/USD and EUR/USD. Both of these trades closed on the 21st May 2021 but, MyFXBook are still showing them as open trades. I will provide screen shots of the trades when they appear on MyFXBook as closed trades.

I will start with GBP/USD, now this pair I traded as per the above screen shot and closed at 1.417. Price then dropped down below 1.41 again, reaching a low of 1.40975 from where it was rejected. Due to this reason I executed another long position on this pair at price of 1.4118, my SL set at 1.408 and targeting 1.42336. Price reached 1.41941 on the evening of 20th May 2021 and was struggling to break above. I decided to move my SL to 1.417 before going to bed, securing 52 pips if price failes to break 1.42 overnight. At 03:15am on 21st May 2021 price dropped to 1.41682, triggering my SL then bouncing straight up. Between 10:00am and 2:00pm on the 21st May 2021 price hit my target of 1.42336 before dropping below 1.415 prior to market closing for the week. Below is a screen shot of the chart:

I also exceuted a long position on EUR/USD. Price reached a high of 1.2245 then dropped down to 1.216. This area acted as a support and price started to climb again, I executed the trade at price of 1.21835 targeting 1.225. Price reached a high of 1.224 but was struggling to break above this zone. I decided to move my SL to 1.2225, securing 41.5 pips. This was a good decision as price never managed to break above 1.224 and prior to close of business saw price plummet down to 1.216 again then pulling back up and closing for the week at 1.218. Screen shots of both of my trades will be on my next post as soon as MyFXBook is updated.

MyFXBook has finally updated. Below is a screen shot of the two trades I mentioned on my last post:

There are currently no open positions, will be reviewing the charts over the weekend.

I placed four trades since the last update, three of them losses and one win but, it was only a win because I decided to close the trade before it ended up as a loss and if I hadn’t closed it then that would have been four losses. Below are the four trades that were placed:

I was dissapointed with all four but particularly with the last one on GBP/USD. It was a tight SL at 1.4125 and I shorted at 1.4107 with TP at 1.4. The H4 chart below will show what happened:

My entry was spot on, analysis was spot on but, what let me down was the SL. The highest wick before my entry was 1.41206. Had I put my SL 5 pips higher I’d still be in that trade. Instead I’m out of the trade and price is moving in the direction that my analysis showed.

What’s your technique for setting stops?