My journey journal...from demo to live...and beyond

Imagine if someone wanted to be a doctor but said were going to study without using their textbooks or the help of a professor. Or Micheal Jordan saying he wanted to be a great basketball player but he only played that bball arcade game or didn’t practice at all. And Idk why I care so much either but it like, if you love it, then treat it like it. Make your words match your actions. I’ve read your journal since you first made this. I remember all the set backs. Trading already has so many obstacles without making yourself the biggest one. You said you would find your own way. Im not trying to be a jerk, but their literally is no other way. The way is to trade, ask yourself why you entered the trade, why you exited. what time frame did you trade in, ehat pair did you trade. How much did you risk compared to your account, were you over leveraged? How could you have made profit from the trade? are you over or under trading? were you emotional when you were trading? Was that a good set up, did you trade against the trend? was your stop loss in the wrong area? If you can’t account for any of these when you trade then you can not be profitable. You just can’t

I’m not trolling.

And I have been following your journal silently since the beginning because I’ve too struggled with the same things you were struggling with so I found solace in your journey.

No matter how I hard I tried to make sense of this chaos called trading on my own I kept failing year after year. I really was at my wits end when I came across a trader who knew what he was doing he called trades live on his journal and laid out books to read theories to learn and practice and shared how painful his journey was how much time he had wasted on garbage.

I knew then that I had to change something fundamentally otherwise my dream of trading for a living was turning into more like a chronic addict who wanted that one last chance I was more and more ashamed of my family, I didn’t want to tell anyone what I was doing because I was afraid they’d see me as a gambler which I were I just didn’t want to admit.

Look, I know hard this game is but the only way out of this misery is knowledge. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel I remember I wanted to

Everything you need to become a successful trader has already been written somewhere you just need to find them and read them again and again. Most books aren’t explicit they shouldn’t be you can then take those concepts and be imaginative believe it or not you need imagination and creativity to understand those concept.

Once you have mastered those you might discover something completely new but that’s highly unlikely.

Every trader who makes a consistent living out of this has that 1 strategy that’s been traded by many before him that’s the only way to make it. If you want to be an original you’ll never make it.

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Good afternoon Journal.

I’ve just got done summarizing all of my data. On the currencies. So, I figured I’d put it out here today, instead of tomorrow morning (Sat). Plus…I might add onto all of this tomorrow morning anyway.

So. What’s my idea here again?
Well, I’m just doing what I do best. Putting all things into the best possible perspective. Currency wise. How they all are relating to one another. In the different time frames. And, by golly, I think I got it. I have it all outlined on paper.

The thing is…right now…it’s Friday approaching 2pm my time. The market will close up for the week in like 3 hours from now. And I’m gonna have to make a trading decision before the market closes today. Cause I’m sort of at a cross roads now. So, as I unravel all of this, it should be evident about what I’m to do. I’ll even go over some of my trading rules that’ll explain my trading actions.

Let’s do this.

I feel the best way to put all of these into the best perspective is by specifying what each currency is going through. And I’ll give some kind of bottom line summary of what I think about each of them. I think it’ll be the best mindset you need to have for each of these.

-CHF-

  • June 5th (NFP Friday) = Bottom established. Climbing ever since.
  • June 11th = Bull market officially started.
  • 2nd strongest yearly running % = +23.83%
  • 1st strongest total accumulated running pips YTD = 2,673
  • June 25th = First time (recently) reached top of the line-up 7-0.

Now I’ll hit every point above with a chart.


This is the YTD total accumulated complete currency pips. Net long.
Meaning - If you were long all 7 CHF pairs since the years start, the latest result would be 2,673 pips. (Points #1 & #4)


Proof of stated official bull trend start.


Yearly running %.


Thurs, of this week, finally got to the top. Trending 7-0 bull against all others.

-CHF SUMMARY-

There’s good reason to believe the CHF can continue this recent bull trend. Given that no other currency has accumulated more pips than them, since the years start, is enough evidence. They’ve recently turned off of a lengthy bear trend and showing strong signs of supporting a bull trend. Being one of the chief safe haven currencies, it makes sense given what the current broad market sentiment is telling (Covid not gone). But we always need to remember that their Central Bank absolutely does not want a strong currency. And they won’t hesitate to intervene.

MINDSET FOR THE CHF

They are getting very more in demand. Bias should be for more strength. The pair CHF/JPY should tell which safe haven the money favors, in times of risk-off. And if the trend continues with the CHF, beware of C.B. intervention. I believe, 100%, that the SNB intervened already this year. And I believe they’ll do it again, especially given where their at to-date (evidence above).

  • Bias = strength, and not weakness. Short to medium term.

-EUR-

  • Sideways trending - ranging - consolidating
  • May 8th struck a bottom - risen higher highs till Jun 4th
  • Swings between bull & bear markets. More bull than bear markets lately. But can’t hold onto a bull market for long.
  • Strongest currency YTD running % = 39.70%
  • 3rd strongest currency for total accumulated pips YTD = 2,112



-EUR SUMMARY-

The reason why I chose to talk about them after the CHF is because they travel together, as evidenced in the above chart. And since they exhibit similar demand for their currencies, it shouldn’t be out of the question to think the EUR can get stronger, from this point moving forward. No doubt about an uncertain trend for them, now. But, so far this year, at this time right now, it’s the EUR & CHF game. No other currency has been bought more then them 2. Surely this can continue.

MINDSET FOR THE EUR

  • Bias = more upside potential than downside.
  • Watch the tracking with the CHF.

JPY

  • Bottomed on Jun 5th (NFP Friday) - Matches with the CHF. Climbed ever since.
  • Officially stated Bull market started on Jun 15th.
  • Weakest currency this quarterly running = -34.56%
  • 2nd most weakest currency on current month running = -7.80%.
  • 2nd most strongest total accumulated pips YTD = 2,368 pips




-JPY SUMMARY-

The JPY likes to go all the way, one way or the other. It’s having a real bad quarter. Bad month. But it’s one of the favorite safe haven currencies on risk-off sentiment. Currently they’ve moved into a bull market, and not yet showing signs of letting up. The rising surely is matching the broad market sentiment of nervousness.

MINDSET FOR THE JPY

  • Bias = strength to continue in the bull market

-USD-

  • Bottomed on Jun 10th. Slowly making higher highs.
  • Official bull market started on Jun 19th
  • Very weak on quarterly running % = -26.85%
  • Most weakest currency this month running = -12.12%
  • 3rd strongest YTD running % = +13.11%
  • 4th most strongest total accumulated pips YTD = 1,603. Last of the safe havens.



-USD SUMMARY-

The USD and the JPY run in tandem (same scenario as the EUR & CHF). That monthly chart right there tells the tale. But there’s some sort of lift off of these 2 currencies from bottoms. For the USD this is more of a gradual trend change. They came from a deep bear market earlier this month. I’m supposing if all the other safe haven currencies climb, so will the USD.

MINDSET FOR THE USD

Bias = more upside potential than downside. Watch for the linking to the JPY.

Alright Journal.
I’ve run out of time. I got a trading decision to look at. Don’t have time now to explain.
I guess this gives me a good reason to talk about it tomorrow a.m.
Along with the other 4 currencies summaries (which I didn’t get to).

See ya in the a.m. Journal.
Mike

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Good morning Journal.

Continuing.

-AUD-

  • On a long bull market that started 3/19th
  • Made higher highs up until Jun 8th, been consolidating since
  • Strongest currency on the quarterly running % = 82.89%
  • 2nd strongest currency for this month running = 15.14%
  • The year in total shows a very clear bear and bull market
  • Bounced into a bear market for a short bit, but rebounded back up



AUD SUMMARY

There’s no doubt about the pause that’s come to this bull market. Safe to say, there’s been no direction this entire month. The bulls keep adding onto their gains, but also the bears cannot turn the tide. We’re gonna have to wait for whatever trend wants to take place next. Well, don’t forget about what the other 4 majors are doing. If they take (more) traction, that could very well cause this to turn and burn on a bear trend.

MINDSET FOR THE AUD

  • Bias = caution. More downside potential than upside.
  • Clues - looking to how the safe havens behave (diametrically opposed). Also how the NZD is behaving (confluence).

-NZD-

  • Currently consolidating off of a lengthy bull market
  • The bull market stopped advancing since Jun 8th
  • Technically still in a bull market (low)
  • 2nd strongest currency on quarterly running % = 42.59%
  • Strongest currency this month running % = 20.97%
  • Very negative YTD accumulated pips = -1,647 pips


NZD SUMMARY

The NZD had a great month of Jun. Had a great 2nd quarter. Tracked very similar to the AUD, but their strong push higher came later on in this bull market. Now it’s the wait-and-see where they want to go scenario again. Must keep in mind how weak they are in the context of the year. More selling has happened than buying, this year (unlike the AUD).

MINDSET FOR THE NZD

  • Bias = more downside potential than upside.

-CAD-

  • Mostly sideways - non trending. Consolidating from a very slow & long bullish rise.
  • Technically bear trending now
  • YTD weakest running % = -39.37%
  • Has NOT mimicked the other 2 Comm currencies this year
  • Did benefit from the risk-on sentiment that raged since the end of Mar
  • Very negative YTD accumulated running pips = -2,579 pips



CAD SUMMARY

There’s no direction, trend, conviction of any sort with these guys. I think it’s because they follow the USD a lot of the time, but also remembers that’s it’s a commodity currency at times. Maybe Mr. Oil has greatly affected this currency…along with the virus.

MINDSET FOR THE CAD

  • Bias = more potential for downside than upside. More of a commodity tracking bias.

-GBP-

  • In a deep bear market since 4/2
  • Technically been in a bear market since Feb 1st
  • YTD running % 2nd weakest = -36.15%
  • Quarterly running % NEGATIVE = -25.43%
  • Monthly running % NEGATIVE = -11.48%
  • The weakest YTD accumulated pips, by a lot = -5,608 pips


GBP SUMMARY

God help the Pound. Bad year. Bad quarter. Bad month. Did not participate in the risk-on sentiment shown with the AUD, and NZD from mid Mar onwards. It did start on that sentiment going into April (as you can see) but did not carry through. One way direction since April 2nd. And no signs of letting up.

MINDSET FOR THE GBP

Bias = weak. Until the evidence changes. And given the characteristics of the Pound, if there does come a sign of a trend change, chances are it’ll be quite the site. They don’t play around. Watch for a monster change (if it’s to be).

Got to run Journal.
Mike

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Mike’s journal - the market is figuring a no deal brexit at the end of this year, mostly due to the rhetoric from both EU and UK over recent months - thing is the virus, evil as it is, has the potential of doing some good - both economies hurting and in need of trade - good chance that they are entering a ‘tunnel’ - no press, no leaks and just possibly a trade deal as the light at the end.

If that happens the there will be no playing around - if not then more of the same.

Watch this guy who has many contacts

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Good afternoon Journal.

Well Journal, I’ve been working away. On the specifics of my business. And this should be the last stop for it. Cause I’ve been wanting to explain, talk, maybe even brain storm my way through something else.

But, if I’m gonna be questioned on what I do, then looks like I got to go back to the beginning and make sure I’m doing what I should be doing.

Let me be clear, Journal. I don’t care what anyone thinks of how I trade. This is not going to be any kind of trying to fit it, belong, gain acceptance, prove myself sort of thing. Cause…if there’s one lesson in life that I’ve cherished more than any other lesson…it’s this. I DO NOT CARE WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK.

But, there’s nothing wrong with questioning “why do I do what I do?”

Let’s begin.

This is easy for me to lay out. Although I did have to go back and dust off my mind maps. Update them. But, my business is thoroughly explained through all of these. Therefore, I’m not gonna have to do a whole lot of typing. But of course, I will. Cause I want to talk about the important points that I want to.

From the top.


This is the WHY I do what I do.
And below it is just notes and points about it.
Oh…and I don’t see anything in there about money. Money is not the central idea behind my mission (like it is with most people). Neither is the condition of becoming successful.

Now. The whole nature of building something has inherent characteristics of becoming bigger. Better. Prosperous. And a lot of times, more money. But, it has nothing to do with why I’m doing this.

Moving on.


My thoughts from this year’s start.
This still takes a lot of effort. And what I mean about effort, is making the connection between simulation and real as close as possible. It’s like the same old story between demo and real trading. Is it possible to close the gap between the two? Well, I do. As long as it’s all down on paper. The numbers. The reasons behind the decisions. Like everything. And if not, then there will be a disconnect. It’s all about the proof on paper.

That’s nice.
Moving on.
Now before I go into my trading plan, I need to throw this out there. When I came across this from B.P’s, I thought this was way too good to not do anything about. Whoever is serious with their trading plan will spend some time honestly answering these questions.
I did.






Look. I’m not saying I have all the answers. In fact, I’m sure a lot of mine are off, but over time (all of my mind maps) get updated, revised, and corrected. This is probably why I’ll never be a teacher, of the market. I couldn’t tell someone that it’s done this way or that. Probably because I’m such a perfectionist. When I arrive at perfection, then I’ll have the confidence to teach. But that’s never gonna happen. So be it.

Well, looks like it’s time.
My trading strategy.
This is gonna take up a lot of space. But at least I’m not gonna have to type it all out. Here goes.







Here’s some of my thoughts of late. Because of my rehashing of all this stuff, I realize that I’m not an original. In fact, I’ve realized where a bunch of this stuff comes from. I surely didn’t reinvent the wheel. The closest thing I could take credit for is trading a complete currency. That’s mine and if I trade any differently, then I wouldn’t be true to myself.

In any case, for me, this is where it all started.

The Forex Portfolio - How to Gain Consistent Profits by Staying in the Market 24/7

Absolutely nothing has grabbed me more than this thread. This guy is a real genius. And what made it even more special was the fact that Clint joined in and (at the time) spoke highly of it and tried it. In any case, it was for me. And will always be.

Also, a while back, I was enthralled about a guy who was on Youtube. His approach was just letting his multiple, multiple trades just continually run. And you could see his account balance continually adjusting. He was more of a swing trader. Maybe even a little longer than that. But, I wasn’t gonna find out anything more about him cause I’m not going to buck up to join his club, in order to know exactly how he trades. But I got the point. And that’s to give your trades the time it needs to play out. That’s all I really needed. Plus it just goes deep. It’s like the missing link, to complete my trading.

Well, I’m starting to run out of time. End of day is soon approaching. I wanted to talk about some crucial points about my strategy. I’m just gonna have to leave something here to come back to.

Account balance.
Actually it’s up there under “trading rules” - Profit taking. I talk a little about that. It’s the difference between static account balance and dynamic account balance.

Maybe it’s all nonsense. We’ll see.
Got to run.
Will be back to do some more explaining.
Oh…I almost forgot about wanting to bring up another issue.

Another strategy.

Mike

Hey Journal.

Boy…it’s been a long time since I went live in the market. But I just did now. I’ll get to all the details shortly.

This should be a good place to share what’s going to happen with it. But first, I want to do some talking. And it all has to do with the title of this thread. Sure. This is my journey. It’s all about how my trading life has unraveled, and still is. That’s nice. I know.

But. When it comes to the difference between a demo account and a live account, I’m not going to bite. It’s been my philosophy from the beginning. I close that gap as much as humanly possible. I treat the demo as a real account.

I know everyone has a different opinion on this matter. And guess what? I actually believe in both sides of the argument. I’ve been on this cycle about 3 separate times now. Which is this. Demo as real as you can and then go live in the same way. Let me make this a little clearer.

-Demo as real as you can and then go live and trade that same way.

I should go a step further. If you are not successful, live, and need to go back to the drawing board (for whatever reasons), then repeat that process. And that’s what I did around 3 different times now. But my whole point is that it should be proven in demo first. Then repeated in the same way live. Cause if the only difference between the two is the mind game, then there should absolutely be no reason why you couldn’t prove your results on paper, the same way, in both ways.

And it should go without saying that the biggest benefit to this method is that you will save yourself a lot of money. And look. I know all of the very good reasons why you should go live as soon as possible. Cause that’s when you do the real learning. Everyone knows that. It’s the big no brainer. If you need to lose money in order to actually learn something, then by all means, that’s the way to go.

But it surely isn’t the way for me. I know how to be honest with myself. And play the game for real, on demo. And that’s also the same thing as running your business virtual, as you would in real life. Should be no difference. It’s what you would see down on paper. The why. The how. The when. Basically, proof.

That’s really nice. I know. Enough of that nonsense. This is me. This is the way I go. If I can see what I do on paper, then I’ll have closed that gap. It’s my learning process. So, let’s move on to what’s going on with me now.

I went live.
And what prompted this?
A couple of things.

My confidence in my strategy.
My confidence in what the market is showing me.

It just seems like a lot of things converged lately that results this way. I’ve been working on my strategy very much lately. I believe I’ve found some missing pieces to it. So I fixed it. Also I think there’s a good opportunity in the market. So, instead of opening up another demo account (I’m using 2 presently), and I have a live one just sitting there with a couple dollars in it, why not use that.

So that’s what I did. I simply threw in $100 dollars. It’s no big thing.

  • I won’t miss that money if I lose it
  • I don’t have a particular plan for that money
  • It’s just another account that I’m going to use for my trading strategy
  • It’ll be counted, journaled, documented just as I’m doing with the other 2

So. Why is this, then, such a big deal?

I guess it resembles some things I have been thinking about lately. Check this out. I’m gonna go down a bunny trail.

It often enters my mind about what the future might hold, in this new world we are presently living in. In my world, it kind of goes like this. I can’t be so sure of my school bus driving job. I mean, the changes that can take place, in the whole school industry, is going to change pretty drastically. Will there be any buses in the future? Maybe, or maybe not. Surely there’s no guarantees.

What if they do virtual schooling on a grander scale? My job suddenly goes from a high demand one to no demand one. And then, once winter comes, and the flu season is running rampant, how many days do I think I’m gonna be able to work? Not much. Cause the schools will close and resort to the virtual at home learning till we get the all clear. I mean come on, kids are always getting sick. The paranoia will get out of hand. No one’s gonna be able to tell the difference between a viral infection or the COVID -19 flu.

All I’m saying is that there are no guarantees concerning my particular job. And what can I do about it? Well, as in anything in life, there’s things I can control and then there’s things I cannot control. I understand those differences.

But…it always enters my mind.

There’s a reason why I’m working on my business.

Maybe I need a new reality in the way I think about the future of my trading business. I need to take this a lot more seriously. I honestly don’t think it was on accident that I had one complete year of trying out my business full time. I learned a lot. I experienced a lot. And realize the reality of what it takes to run my business full time. Well, a lot more than I ever have, anyway.

Reality

  • The business needs to be properly capitalized
  • I need to have proven this to myself beforehand
  • It needs to be the right time for it

Look. All that nonsense really means is that it shouldn’t be happening on accident. No real surprises. Surely not on hopes and dreams alone. There’s just more to it. And that’s precisely what I’m doing this year. This is my year of “simulation”.

But, I think I need to renew this vision of mine a little more deeper. Meaningful. Actual. Purposeful. Cause, if all else fails, this is what I got. This is what I’ve spent the most time on. Invested myself most in. And I need to act like this will become a reality, cause life just might put me there anyway.

I also might be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, in regards to capitalizing myself. See. My dad died a year ago (June). There was no talk or mention of an inheritance. Well, what can I do, right? His wife had all the control over that stuff, of course. One year later…like a day ago…I got a check in the mail, from her. It was nice. But not all that much, but definitely something. I put it in the bank, actually in my business account (which had only $1 in it). So this is what I can build on now. It’s a good start and something to be motivated about.

This reminds me of something I’ve mentioned many times in here about. It’s the million dollar question (almost literally).

"If someone gave me $100,000, would I know how to use that in my business?"
"Would I know how best to make that work in my business?"

And for me, the honest answer was always a ‘no’. In fact, honestly, that’s what I said to myself even with this amount of money that I just received.
I’m not ready!

Let’s see. What would suffice for me to say that I’m ready?

  • Having enough evidence of positive months
  • Having enough experience and confidence
  • Satisfied enough with my anchor trade where I don’t feel the need to change anything about it (basically being proven)
  • Without an absolute doubt of a confirmation that it’s the right timing (God showing me)

Well, this is precisely what I’m doing this year. This is a year of simulation. Basically, I’m out to prove it to myself, on paper. And this year has been going well. I’m happy with the progress. This is definitely one of my best years so far. But, I have much of a road to go still.

I guess this is a good time to mention a couple of missing pieces to my puzzle, that I’ve uncovered. And implemented.

I’ll try to make my anchor trade clear.

  • Complete currency trading (basket of 7 pairs), JPY & AUD only, now
  • Running in the market with no constraints (stop losses)
  • Following the stated trend
  • Take profit at 10% increase of account balance
  • Re adjusting the position sizing when re-entering after a t.p. (higher) and a switching of the trend (lower)

So the biggest thing here for me is the take profit. I’ve been enlightened that this was missing. And is actually needed. When my trades are constantly running, how do you reconcile taking profit somewhere? Well, it was always a shame to see profits come and go. I’ve seen some pretty major highs. And you just never know when they’ll come. Letting trades run in the market can be a beautiful thing. But there has to come a time when to take profit. And who says that I have to stay out after that? I’m just gonna get right back in. Which will make my position sizes higher.

So I ride the waves (trend) for as long as it goes, until the next time I encounter another 10% increase. But the only other time that my trades will exit will be when the trend changes. Ok. So then when that happens, my account will be lower, which will force me to take a smaller position size.

That’s nice.

Here’s what I’m doing on this live account.
Because of what I see, I believe the GBP is going up. Take a look for yourself.


That’s YTD running pip totals for the GBP. Anyway. I think their turning the bend. Just 2 days ago their stated trend changed from being in a bear market to being in a bull market. So I’m gonna be on this ride for awhile.

That + 627 pip move for them on Tuesday, I think, made a statement. We’ll have to see what happens.

So. This is what I do.
Stay in my 7 GBP trades. All going long.
GBP/USD 1.2663
EUR/GBP .8957
GBP/CHF 1.1871
GBP/JPY 135.82
GBP/AUD 1.8123
GBP/NZD 1.9219
GBP/CAD 1.7106

All this is treated as one trade.
Account balance of $111.46
222 units on each pair
I will only touch these if one of 2 things happen.
–Take profit - when my account reaches $122.60
– Switch trend - when the stated trend changes and the support level gets broken (that’ll be at the -5327 point on the chart above) (the last red dot)

But then I’ll be getting back in with adjusted position sizing.

Well, I got to go.
But what I’m gonna do with this particular trade is document all of my moves in here. This way it’ll be clear exactly how I trade.
I’ll go step by step.

Alright Journal.
See ya next time.
Mike

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Good morning Journal.

What’s been happening in the market?
Well, we’re about to find out.

Let’s see. I’ll approach it from this angle.
I’ll focus on the individual currencies, where they were coming from at the beginning of the week, and how the week went. I’ll make a story out of it.

How about we start with the most important currency.
The USD.

2020-07-11_07-49-30

  • USD was in a bull market at the end of Jun
  • They peaked that temporary bull market at EOD the 29th of Jun (80 pips in)
  • Fell from there into a bear market at the turn of the new month
  • NFP event pushed them way into bear market territory
  • That’s how last week ended (59 pips in bear)

Let’s back it out a little before we continue. Need a little more context to them.

  • In May & Jun the USD was riding in a deep bear market
  • Then started to come out of it
  • Those last 2 dots (days) are NFP (Thurs) and Friday of last week

So basically, we would be asking ourselves (last weekend at this time) will this bear market continue? Or just range.

Answer please.

  • Went deeper into bear market territory
  • Ended the week bear against every other currency (7 others)

Ok. So. That should make clear about some kind of direction, right?
Not looking good, at the moment.

How about some other context ( I don’t run these numbers for nothing).

2020-07-11_0755
How’s the USD in comparison to the others in the yearly context?

  • YTD running at + 5.89% against all of the other currencies

Since the quarter and monthly will be the same, what’s that looking like?

  • Running at - 6.55% against all the others
  • Only the CAD is weaker

Well, while I’m at it, let’s just spill the beans about the results of this past week.

2020-07-11_08-03-26

  • GBP took the week being +6.77% higher against all the other currencies

Well, now that the cat’s out of the bag, let’s see how the Pound got there.

  • The last 3 weeks shows the bear market turning bull
  • Technically turning bull market EOD Tuesday this past week
  • Ending this week being bull against every other currency, except 1 (NZD)
  • Strength of 164 pips in

  • Been in a long bear market
  • Around the beginning of Jun the short lived bull market ended up being a fake out

BTW…Don’t be concerned with what those actual numbers mean on that chart. What’s most important is the trajectory they are traveling in (slope). But also is what stated market they are in (green = bull, red = bear).
Technically, those are YTD amount of pips they’ve accumulated since the beginning of the year (against every other currency). It’s called the aggregate total. It’s my way of knowing how each currency is fairing against the others. And I believe there’s not a more accurate way of knowing. These are pips. It’s the amount of movement this currency travels. And the only other way to measure is by way of %'s. That’s on my other tables above.

Anyway. Real quick. Look at Tuesday’s pip results. I believe this got things started. They started the day sitting on -5327 pips. Ended the day sitting on -4700 pips. What’s the difference? +627 pips. That’s a lot. Well, something happened that day which turned the tide.

Look. We’ll just have to see. I could be all wrong. This could be nothing but another fake out like we had in June. And if that’s the case, then so be it. I’ll follow the other way. That’s all.

Ok. Well, now that I have something at stake with the GBP, let’s dive in a little closer. This is how the week unraveled, specifically regarding the Pound.

2020-07-11_09-17-04
We have EOD last Friday shown (which is the start of this week).

  • In a bear market against 4 of the currencies (CHF,AUD,NZD,CAD)
  • Monday was the only net negative day (-110 pips)

Against the USD :

  • Started the bull market being 4 pips in and climbed to 37 pips in it
  • We know the USD had a bad weak, so no surprise here

Against the EUR :

  • Dipped on Monday (to the line), only to climb ever since

Against the CHF :

  • Started out in bear market territory
  • By EOD Tuesday officially ended up in the bull market

Against the JPY :

  • Been in the bull market and making some headway
  • Slipped on Friday, but still in it

Against the AUD :

  • Bear market finally turned bull by EOD Thursday

Against the NZD :

  • The NZD is too strong. Actually the strongest.
  • The GBP made some serious headway by the end of the week
  • The last currency to be cracked

Against the CAD :

  • Bear market turned bull by EOD Tuesday
  • The Pound is strongest against the CAD than any other (48 pips in)

Alright. I don’t know how much more detail you can get than that.
Sure. It’s all history. I know. Kind of meaningless. Cause the market moves forward and is not static. But guess what? This is the only thing that everybody has, in the first place. History!

But. If you don’t know what’s going on, then you’re behind. I think it’s imperative to know what’s happening. The best thing we can possibly do is know what the current sentiment is. Will it stay the same, or change?

Well, my GBP complete currency trade is running. I know it’s only been a couple days. So, not much of an update.


All the arrows are exactly where I entered, on each pair. On my previous post I stated the exact prices. And all other detailed data about each one.

But. This is my complete currency trade. It’s how I trade. All of these are considered my one trade. As explained before, my only possible moves will be either a take profit, or a switching of the trend. Other than that, this trade will run. And when the time comes for any action for me to take, I’ll let you know. I’ll even give you heads up when I think I’m getting close to taking any kind of action.

I figured this would be something good to watch. But I do have my other trades running also. My JPY and my AUD trades. All going ok with those. Pretty boring, actually.

Alright Journal.
See ya next time.
Mike

Hey Journal.

Got some time now.
Bored.
How about some more currency analysis. I know there’s many, many analysis’s that take during the weekend. Even B.P’s does a good job with their particular currency look, on the email list. “Here’s what happened to the XXX this week”. Hey. I read 'em. Well, some of them, anyway. Very informative.

I guess mine would fall under the category of technical. Actually…more relational. It is how they are relating to one another in an aggregate manner. See. I don’t care what one currency pair is doing. Honestly. What does that tell you about the currency as a whole? Nothing at all. That’s tunnel vision. You just have to know all what’s going on with that currency. Look. Even if you are trading that one pair and one pair only, there’s no substitute for understanding what that currency is doing over yonder. Plus, you will never be able to answer these questions just by looking at one pair.

  • Which currency is dominating?
  • Are they in a bull market or bear market?
  • How strong or weak are they?

Ok. That’s really nice.

How about we look at the NZD. They are on top. Let’s see the proof.


I’m showing data going back to Jun 1st. So, what do we have here? Been in a bull market the whole time. Being green shows it. That’s the aggregate outcome between all of the 7 NZD pairs. And by how strong? Well, the numbers are right there. In the green, is the actual strength, in pips. And in the white is by how many other currencies are they in the bull market. Trending bull against…is the first number. After the dash is trending bear against. June 24 - 25th was their low point. Came out of that pretty quick, huh?

This goes back to June 1st also.
2020-07-11_1555

This is YTD running daily pip results. Don’t get caught up in the numbers. The slope tells the whole story. You can see that in the beginning of June was when they sky rocketed. Then it retraced. You’re gonna have that kind of dip especially after such a volatile swing high. But it kept on the strong side enough to keep the bull market state in tact. It actually consolidated before gaining the strength needed for another leg up. And that’s where we’re at now. It’s been supported lately.


These are only daily total %'s added up together to show what the latest running result is, on that particular day.

Had a great month of June, percentage wise. And July started out good also. Just look at the particular %'s. It’s all relative. For this month, it’s the NZD & GBP show. And that’s about it. No one else is even close to those two. Right?

Let’s stick with the NZD story.

2020-07-11_1644
Quite easy to see that they are in a bull market against every other currency. And by how much. Kind of boring here. But, we can see some things. They are strongest against the EUR than anyone else. 42 pips deep. Of course we can see that the GBP is clawing back much more than anyone else is. Holding steady against the CHF.

One thing that is evident this week was the amount of total pips they netted.

  • Monday -36 pips
  • Tuesday -27 pips
  • Wednesday -8 pips
  • Thursday +90 pips
  • Friday +10 pips

Those are some very low numbers. Mind you…those are the amount of pips added up from the NZD/USD, EUR/NZD, GBP/NZD, NZD/CHF, NZD/JPY, AUD/NZD, NZD/CAD, for that day. No comparison to last Friday, huh?

Well, what does all this tell me?
There’s not a lot of buying going on with them. Nor is there a lot of selling either. Their consolidating. Or you can say ranging also. But being supported pretty good up there in their bull market.

But, I do have to say. Those are some small numbers in their respective markets. I mean, when you get above 100, then it’s on the strong side. And on the other hand, there is something to say when it’s bull against every single currency. We’ll have to see where this goes.

Will the momentum change?

shrug

Alright Journal.
I’m done talking.
Thanks.
Mike

1 Like

Hi,am a newbie in forex trading and a lady I have had the interest in forex trading but had no one to guide and teach me what to do,if you don’t mind can you be of assistance to me

Hi Mike,
I have just read the feature on your journey journal on the BA weekly newsletter. I noticed that you first started this four years ago, and that was shortly after I last exited my trading, and have just re-entered two months ago. I thought I was the only guy on earth who was dragging my feet or finding an excuse not to trade live, but I think you have beaten me in the patience stakes. A lot of what you have written from your mind map, to your strategy (what and why) and your plan (when, how, who, how much) is something I have been doing for years as a project manager (my day job) but I have only just applied it to my own future investment and trading plans. Having retraced my previous steps and rejoined BP, I thought I was ready again to just wade in and trade. But having reviewed my strategy and detailed trade plans from 2014/2015, I realized that I had not stuck to my own plans. In fact, I was all over the place and had not spent the time to analyze the results, only to conclude that after nine months and about 300 trades I was down 13%, and should have been up about the same, so closed everything down with a promise to revisit. I just didn’t realize it was going to be five years later.

I have started a Crypto investment (longer term hold) plan separately, but find myself wishing to augment that plan with an element of trading Crypto. It is for the reason of past failure that I am being cautious with the trading part of Crypto. Whether by good luck or management that Crypto portfolio is up about 12% by week 9, one of the tokens having doubled in four weeks, which also allowed me to exercise the exit strategy prematurely (on any doubling of asset, sell one quarter of the tokens and leave 3/4 for longer term growth). But the bank for Crypto is now 50% cash whilst I try to find an entry point on any of the top 100 Crypto tokens to justify an entry. I feed cash in on a two-weekly basis as a dollar cost averaging approach. So I am back to BP to make sure I do 100% of the BP School of Pipsology (and another training course with 160 videos to watch and learn from) before I trade myself into a loss in Crypto. As you have your “Mission Statement”, my own first milestone “Objective” in the plan is to “learn not to lose money”. It’s great I have found somebody else with a similarly “slow but sure” approach. Please allow us to keep reading your journal journey. It has a lot of merit. Thanks for being public about it.

1 Like

Good afternoon Journal.

BTW…thanks Mondeoman, for the encouragement. And stopping by.
We all have a journey. And a story to tell. Thanks for sharing a bit of yours.
As long as we are enjoying it, we’ll all be fine!

Ok.
That’s nice.
I wasn’t gonna come on here this weekend, but I kind of feel bad. Cause I started something and needed to keep up on it. Like I said I would.

It’s my GBP complete currency trade.

Unless you were under a rock, last week, you would’ve known that the Pound took a hit. I’ll make known what happened with it. Here we go.

2020-07-19_13-40-44
The top table is what happened on that particular day. Separate.
The bottom table is how the week unraveled. Cumulative running.

Is interesting to see that the EUR and the GBP were on complete opposite sides.

  • EUR top most bought currency +8.79%
  • GBP top most sold currency -4.97%

While we’re at it. Check out the Swiss. They took that hit on Wednesday. -6.58%. But in the next two days they almost made up for it completely. But not quite. +5.73%.

That’s nice. Now. Back to the GBP. And my trade.
Did I make a move this week?
Nope.
I thought about it, late on Friday, but I think it’s still premature. Let me explain.

Let’s look at their trend (the way I measure it).


From the beginning of July to present. Remember last week? 6th through 10th.
Changed from a bear market to bull market. And riding strong in one way. Up.
That made me get in. Ok. So then. What happens this week? 13th - 17th
Straight back down. Even to end the week in a stated bear market.

If figures, right?
Well, I’m staying committed. To my trading plan.
I need to look at one more thing.

2020-07-19_13-58-52
This is not a chart like the Cable. One GBP pair.
It’s the total of all 7 GBP pairs combined into one. Hence, my complete currency. And those numbers are pips. It’s the actual amount of daily pips, running, since the beginning of the year.
Here’s this weeks break down of all the complete currency pips.
Individually, each day of the week.
2020-07-19_14-03-51
The GBP is blue.
And those will correspond to the chart above. Except your just adding onto the yearly running daily totals.
That’s nice. I know.

Anyway. What’s my point?

— My plan is to keep these 7 GBP pairs running in the market. My trade management gives me 2 options.

  • Take profit = 10% account balance increase
  • Switch directions = indicators tell me

Well, we all know that I didn’t qualify for taking profit.
Will I switch directions? No. Not yet. Thought about it late Friday, but no. Why?

Well, the stated trend did turn bear market, as you can see above. But the aggregate pip count chart doesn’t show me that it’s necessarily turning lower. One dip into bear market territory doesn’t tell me anything. This is just chart reading. There is not any lower lows. A support level didn’t get broken. It’s just too soon. In fact, the bull market pretty much started after the -5327 point. We haven’t gotten to that low point yet. Basically, this retracement hasn’t been 100% yet.

Well, those are the reasons why I’m simply staying the course. Long GBP. For now. We’ll have to see what happens next week.

Remember. What I’m doing here is swing trading. My trades run. I’m not playing that silly game of getting in, getting out. Jump. Wait. Don’t jump. Nonsense!

It’s what happens in the long run that counts.
In the long run, the better you follow, the better the outcome will be.

Alright Journal. I’ll keep you posted on anything I end up doing.
Mike

1 Like

You need to change your trading plans as per the prevailing circumstances. Taking some guidance from a mentor can definitely help you. Watch some useful videos on candlestick charts. Pick some different strategies such as RSI, bollinger bands, moving average etc. Keep on analysing your strategies and trades. Your trading plan must include the right type of risk management as forex includes way too much risk.

Hey Journal.

Well, I think I finally got it.
I know I have said this numerous times before, so, this will just be the latest.
I’ve put my head down and been digging in. A lot lately. I think I’ve been stating this in previous posts lately. But I’m done now.

My trading plan.

I feel real good about this.
Actually. I remember now. I think it was only like a week ago. Maybe Sunday or Monday morning. I had a dream. And it was not those crazy dreams either. It was something quite real. I was trying to figure out my strategy. And I was realizing how much I was concentrating on thinking.

Also in this dreamlike state that I was in, I was given a very large sum of money. I was entrusted to use this wisely. Yes. In the Forex market, believe it or not. And guess what? I was scared. Absolutely, I was. Know why? Cause it wasn’t my money. I know that there must be a big difference between how I view my money…as opposed to someone else’s. Surely I would hate to lose their money way more than my own.

Anyway. All that nonsense did give me a good idea though. It’ll all be spelled out in my Money Management section.

I revised some aspects of my trading plan. This year has been going along quite well. I mean, I very much like trading this way. I’m figuring out what is working and what isn’t quite working also. So anyway, I had to go back and revise all of my mind maps. And I believe I am done with that now.

So. All I need to do now is put them all up here.
And like I said. The Money Management mind map was a real breakthrough for me. And I’m thinking of starting all of this for August 1st.

Here we go.

Step # 1 - Total Account Balance
Whatever total amount that is at stake, is this number.

Step # 2 - Apportion
Since I trade my very own proprietary way called complete currency trading, this only makes sense. All I’m doing is dividing up the total amount into 8 ways. Each amount is dedicated to each particular currency. 12.5% times 8 = 100%. I’m thinking of starting this in August with a total of $80,000. Demo of course. And that would come out to be $10,000 for each currency (to make it easy).

I will be choosy which currency(s) I trade. I can trade any of them. I’m not gonna be confined to one or two of them, like I have been this year so far. Although if you’ve been paying attention lately, I’ve opened up to 3 of them. JPY. AUD. GBP. And so. They each have their own allotted amount. You should see how this mitigates a lot of risk. Better, anyway.

Step # 3 - The trade
The position sizing will be the equivalent of what that particular currency’s allotted balance is, in units. So when I start out, it’ll be $10,000 for each currency. And that means on each of the 7 pairs, per currency, I will have on them 10,000 units each.

My trades will run until a take profit happens (swing trading). No stop losses. Although I will have a tentative, noted, stop loss of 700 pips. You can call it an R/R ratio of 1:1.

My idea of a trade is this. Before I first enter a trade, I know that it’s gonna run until a take profit happens. Which will be : 700 pips, 49% of the allotted balance, or 6.12% of the total account balance. They all mean the same thing. I’m gonna let it run. However long that takes.

The only other trade management act that I would do is switching the direction. it’s all noted on my mind maps. I get out. Recalculate the allotted balance. Then re-enter with a new position size (it’ll be lower). And going the other way, of course.


Well, that should about cover it all.
Alright Journal, we got end of day approaching now. Got to get to my numbers.
I’ll be showing up this weekend. Got some monster trades to show you. Unbelievable.
Maybe I’ll even cover a few currencies, again.
Go EUR!

See ya.
Mike

1 Like

Good morning Journal.

It is a nice morning, Journal. The sun just came up. Looking like another sunny day around here. Man…I really wanted to go for a run this morning. But I just can’t bring myself to do it. Why? Well, surely it’s not because I’m lazy. It’s my legs. Boy, I’ve been feeling them for some time now. Actually, it’s in the hips area. Top parts. Both.

To get you up to speed. I’ve been running, still, ever since I told you about it, back around the beginning of May. Been trying to figure out the best way to clock in the miles. Remember that (expensive) Garmin smart watch/GPS devise I bought? It’s like my best friend. It shows me where I ran to. And gives me all kinds of data about how my body did, like my heart rate…oxygen levels…etc. Well, it’s awesome. And I have every run documented, via on this app on my phone. I would take some snap shots and show you, but the app has been down since yesterday. So I can’t. But anyway. The last time I checked I think I ran something like over 160 miles since I started.

My biggest runs were in the 6 mile range. Like 3 different times. But that was a bit much for me. So I started backing it down. I got to a comfortable 5 mile minimum run every other day. And I did that for a few weeks. But then my body started feeling it in the legs (hips). Next thing you know (during a run) I would find myself having to walk back to home. When you’re so far out there…you still got to get back home, right? Then, I’ll be skipping like 2 days in a row. It wasn’t going as good as it was.

See. I know myself. It’s so much easier for me to go all in, than half way with stuff (as you can see with my running…maybe even trading also). So…instead of giving it all up, I decided to work on pacing myself. It’s like a good lesson for me. A life lesson. That principle transcends into many areas. But, in regards to my running, I decided to run only 3 miles. Every day. Looking for the goal of 15 miles a week. That’s better than 5 miles every other day (only then to crash and burn afterwards).

Look. That’s the latest with me. I only ran 12 miles this week. Believe me, I really wanted to just get 3 more in for the week. Today. But I just can’t. The legs are telling me no. What can I do? I guess I’ll just start over on Monday and shoot for it again. 3 a day, till I get to 15. Trust me, I’m disappointed about it (results for this week).

I’m not getting any younger. Man…when I was young…I put on many miles. I’m not a stranger to this. Trust me. It’s just, now, the body can’t do what I used to be able to do. What my mind wants to do, is not necessarily what the body can do. What a disconnect. It’s reality.

Let me tell you. All this nonsense can tie in with the trading journey. Let me back it up a little. “What my mind wants to accomplish doesn’t always match up with reality.” And then, when reality occurs, what then are we to do?

How about learn a lesson.

Mine.
Pace myself.
I’m in it for the long haul. It’s a journey.
I shouldn’t give it all I got, in the short term, cause I have to last for the long term. Basically, in my mind, what’s more important should be to last longer.

And when I think about it. There’s limits to what I can do.
I need to stay alongside reality.

Alright Journal. Gonna ship this. Then come right back with some stuff.
Good stuff.

Mike

1 Like

Journal.

Back at the start of July, my 2 trades kicked off (JPY, AUD).
I did have a good month of Jun.

  • JPY account +4.85%
  • AUD account +6.22%

Then I reset things for July.
My JPY complete currency trade. And my AUD complete currency trade. For the JPY, I was going bear (long JPY pairs) market. For the AUD, I was going bull (long AUD pairs) market. So, they were running. And running. And running. All month long. Quite boring I shall say. Until lately.

JPY.
This is what I look at. 2 things that indicate to me which direction I should be going in.


Bear market for the JPY. Strength numbers inside the red (in pips). That tells me how strong or weak the Yen is running in this bear market. Do I change anything? No way. It’s a bear market.

2020-07-25_08-04-08
This is the other thing I look at. Purple line is the JPY, and the red dots signify bear market. All this is, is all 7 JPY pairs charts all totaled up, into one chart (instead of 7 different ones). Going down is bear, going up is bull. You can see that the bias has been bear. This shows what the stated trend is, along with the direction it’s going in. Right?

That’s nice.
What’s my plan?
All I’m doing is waiting for a take profit to occur. 10% increase. I have that noted. It’s simply what my account balance should look like. The only other thing that could possibly happen, is if the trend changed, then I would have to exit and re enter in the other direction. As you can see, it never even got close to that.

Well, July 20th came (Monday). Up at the chart, that would be between numbers 1731 - 1351. The difference between those 2 numbers = 380 pips. Well, it was at that time when my account reached my take profit point (cause I was bear JPY).

Now what. Did I get back in?
Nope.
Look at the chart, after that. Did it continue to go down? Sure did. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, were all JPY bear days. Did I care? No way. I got my money. And I was happy. My plan was to wait for the fundamentals to line up. Which was to be for a JPY bull market (going up on the chart).
This is what it looked like just before I jumped. All of those small triangles (pointing up) is on the exact daily candle that I got in at.


2020-07-20_13-10-38
My begin balance was $31,456.16
That’s how it looked when I exited out. It’s 10.01%
Success.

So, I stayed out. Till I seen that turn around, on Thursday. Actually, it was at 8:55am for me that morning. That’s about the US session start for that day.
I got in long (bull) JPY. All the fundamentals lined up with that direction.

My plan, for this?
Same thing. Just stay in till I get a 10% take profit.


This is the pic just after I got in. Boy…just look at the USD/JPY, top left pair. Who would have thought that I got in at the very apex on that!

Needless to say, it was only 24 hours later that my take profit took. Friday at like 9am.


This was the pic just before I jumped. Again, check out that USD/JPY (bottom left of center). I don’t think it gets any better than that (unless I’m Biff, in Back to the Future movie, and have the booklet of the future winning sports teams).

So, I take profit. And stay out.
It’s funny. It took like 20 days for my first JPY trade to take profit. Then it takes 24hrs for the second JPY trade to take profit.

I’ll take it.
I’m not in any more JPY trades to date.
So. I’m gonna cut this and come back with my other trade.
The AUD one.

Mike

1 Like

Journal.

My AUD trade.
Beginning of July, I’m in, going AUD bull market. How do I know this?

The stated AUD bull market noted right there. With the strength in the green area. And so, we can see how the month was unraveling. But look at the 13th. Well, back it up a day. Look at Friday the 10th. The week ended at a stated bull market but right on the line. zero (0). You can see the progression of the strength coming down, for like an entire week. Then Monday, comes and goes, EOD ends up with a stated bear market, with a strength of 17. Ok. Do I get all jittery? No. No way.

2020-07-25_09-49-07
This is exactly why I need this other indicator for me. Can you see that one little red dot? Now. Look back from it (left). Does this look like a change in direction to me? No. What about the slope? No way. We ain’t crashing or anything. This is a fake out. I absolutely had to stay in this trade. And it only took one more day for it to tell me that it was a fake out. Cause up it went from there. Back into bull market territory.

Well, this trade gave me my take profit on Tuesday of this week. You can probably tell by looking at the chart up there, 4 days ago. EOD Monday ended at the 875 number. EOD Tuesday jumped up to the 1618 number. That’ll be a whopping 743 pips for the AUD that day. I completed that at 7:37am. Almost at the US session start for the day. I remember boy…they just kept adding on to those winnings that day. Did I care? Absolutely not. I got my money and ran. It’s all about the plan anyway, right? And I stayed out. This is what I wrote in my business Journal.

“Getting back in?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Wait, for direction!”

Boy…good thing, huh? Next day went up a tad bit. But then down it comes. That’s an about face. Well, it didn’t change the stated market yet, but I don’t think it’s all over with yet. Next week should tell the rest of the story. More of it, anyway.


This is the pic moments before I exited this trade. All you can see here is the line of where I got in at (not when).

That ended up being a 11.39% increase. Oh…I’m sure it could have been way bigger if I stayed in the whole day. But nope. I don’t know that it was gonna happen that way. I stick to the plan. Got my money and ran.

That was Tuesday of this past week. I stayed out until I got direction. And yep, I eventually did. It was Thursday morning, at the same time when I entered in with my JPY trade. I went JPY bull market, and the AUD bear market.

But, as I’ve explained, my JPY trade took profit the next day, Friday. But this AUD trade is still running. Oh…I’m in some good profit, it just didn’t hit my take profit yet. Let’s see if I can show what it looks like now.


I’m up 5.01%. So, half way there.
Mind you, that’s only a little over one day in.
At least it’s heading in the right direction. Right?

I’m not sure if I’m gonna get into a JPY trade this coming week. Maybe I’ll just stick with this one. Cause I have plans when August comes. Remember my newly found money management system? That’s what I’m really gearing up for.

Needless to say, I’m having a good month. Profit wise.
And you know why, right? Cause I’m finally taking profit. Instead of just letting things run, like without ever taking profit.

Look. I’m embarrassed about that. Honestly.
But, instead of beating myself up about it, I just have to trust that there was a reason why I went down that road.

In any case, what can I say…
Let’s see…we’re heading into August soon. Maybe by the end of the year I’ll have a trading plan that has been proven. Or at least on it’s way. Cause frankly, I’m getting tired of changing things.

All I know is, God’s working on me.
This is what the process looks like, that’s all.
Alright Journal. I’ll cut this, now.
Maybe I can come back and talk some market.

Mike

3 Likes

Hey Journal.
Got a little time now.
Let’s take a look at a couple currencies.
EUR.
USD.

Everyone knows what’s up with them. So, what’s the point?
Well, I think it comes down to depth. HOW strong & weak a currency is. And how can we know this? Well, we look at where they’ve been coming from. Their respective trends. It’ll be in what context they’ve been in. Right?

Let’s look.

EUR

This is what happened this past week.
2020-07-26_09-33-35
Top table is the single, daily standings.
Bottom table is the week cumulative running.
The EUR was the most bought currency at 7.72%, against all the others.

This is what I see.
All 3 European currencies pretty much dominated all others, with the EUR leading the way. That was this past week.
That’s nice. I know.
Well, how about we back it up a little more. Like what’s the monthly running look like.

Our eyes are on the yellow.
Have they been dominating this entire month? Nope. But they have 2 pretty strong weeks now under their belt.

While I’m here. Check out the USD. White. For the month, what do they look like?
Completely on the other end of them. Although, they’ve been weak pretty much the entire month. This should help explain the big moves between those 2 currencies. See…Comparatively speaking, these are the extreme currencies as compared to all of the others. No other one is stronger, and no other one is weaker. Right?

Ok. Running out of time here.
Let me throw up those 2, looking back 2 months. Jun & Jul.
Their trend.


It has only been in the last 2 weeks that the EUR has gained some real traction. Previously, they were toggling between a bear market and a bull market. Back and forth.
So…I would say that this is meaningful. They’ve started a new trend. It seems like the smart money might be moving this.
Oh…I do need to mention this also. Those numbers on that chart mean their running pip count since the beginning of the year. And guess what…No other currency is higher than the EUR. That’ll be a whopping 3,604 pips, counted against all of the other 7 currencies, since the years start. That’s the total.
What does that tell us?
Money has been moving into the EUR for the entire year. So, this needs to be noted. Do you think there’s a bias here? Of course. Will it continue? Well, the odds are it will, more than if it won’t.

USD.

You don’t need to have a degree to see that what’s been happening here with the Dollar.
This is what’s interesting to me, about them. For the year, this is the first time the USD has a cumulative running pip count that hit in the negative (can’t show you the entire chart, too big). (- 231 pips) . Basically, we’re at an extreme here. It’s a bear market alright.

I’m wondering how much of the fundamentals are behind this.
Remember back in Mar, when the whole entire world needed US Dollars? And our treasury had to open up these lines of liquidity to the other central banks?
I mean what, did everybody get enough of them?

What happened?

Or maybe this is just a little blip on the screen. Nothing but a short term move.
I do remember when the EUR has their problems lately, before the Pandemic struck. They weren’t working together. Brexit. You know…things like that.
But maybe it’s how their handling the new world we’re in now. Like better than the U.S. is.

Peterma.
What 'cha think?

Alright.
Got to run.
Mike

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Maybe they are learning how to work together - I mentioned back last year during brexit that it was unusual for the EU to work so cohesively - indeed the former UK PM.Teresa May as part of her negotiating strategy rang several of the leaders in an attempt to break the unity.

Same thing now with covid - much of the press were focused on division but that’s how the Europeans often behave - much arm waving and gesturing.

The PMI numbers this week are encouraging - my sense is that there will be spikes but with the grace of God the worst is over and the economic recovery will gather pace.

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Hey Journal.
Well, I told you I would keep you up on this trade I have going. So, 20 days later, now, it’s done. Here’s how it all started. Remember this?
July 9th.

Then, this was the next journal entry, regarding this trade.
July 17th.

And now the present. Yesterday’s EOD standing, for the GBP.

2020-07-29_07-58-23

Look. I wasn’t doing a single thing to this trade. All I do is let it run. Very simple.
As I’ve stated before, what am I looking for here?

  • Take profit
  • Switch trend directions

Well, this morning, my take profit took.
And I’m out. Very. Very. Happy.

Maybe this will be a little clearer.
A shot right before I took the profit.


I had to move the GBP/USD pair down out of the way so you can see the proof of the numbers. My target is 10%. And yep, I’m over it.
I don’t know why on every chart that it didn’t show my entry lines going across (only the current price). But at least the arrows of exactly where I bought it are there.

Well, it’s over.
Objective accomplished.
And I’m not getting back in till my new plan starts next week (stated on my previous post).

Sure. It’s exciting. I’m extremely happy. I mean, this month has been some month of profits for me. This is the 4th trade of 10% take profit (2 from JPY, 1 from AUD, and this one).
Well, I don’t know how much more detail I can get, on how I trade. This is how I trade. It’s working for me. (The take profits make all the difference)

Well, I got to jump now Journal.
Got to post one more thing on another thread, that I think is interesting.
See ya next time.
Mike

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