Open Season...Trade Journal

(These are the ramblings of a fun but aggressive forex teammate as I trade…followed by summary of the day. I hope it shows the emotional swings and thought process all can go through while still making it an enjoyable read.)

January 27

The DAY is finally here. After months of reading and learning on various websites, we are starting the 3 month Demo Account. I am excited to see if the effort I have put into the strategy will actually provide the results.

Day 1 is NOT strategy day….This day is dedicated to learning the platform. I will still be attempting to make positive trades, but the timeframes are not important today. I have decided to make Tastyforex.com (IG US) my platform on which to trade.

Account details
Demo
50,000 USD

Trade style is aggressive (2% max drawdown per trade)

1228P Open GBP/EUR -1 @ 1.1893
No review was done prior to opening this trade. I just wanted to see how easy it was to open a trade. Upon review, I would never have opened this position as it was against the Long trend and in the middle of a pull back. Will leave it open to test my emotions against losing pips (assuming it does)…And it did. 253 dollar loss.
However, that was 1 of only 2 losses out of 9 trades with a 77.7% win ratio. There were periods where the losses were approaching the danger zone for SL. The set up remained good and overnight the 3 trades did great.

Day 1 results - $2158.66

Off to a good start. Best of luck with the journal-thread and especially with the trades! :sunglasses:

January 28

Day 2 - Woke up at 0730 and checked the 3 overnight trades. All were looking good at bedtime, and 2 did very well. 1 loser not to SL but didn’t look right in the morning. Today was figuring out the market overlaps and when is the appropriate time to enter trades. During the doldrums (1-6p mst) watched 3 positions just sit, but still looking good for set up.

First mistake - Saw a chart with a great setup, so entered trade…I obviously agreed with the setup, as I already had an open position on this pair. So carrying heavy right now. It ended up working out as the heavy trade closed profitable.

May have gotten a little lucky with the news release out of AUS…had 2 positions open with AUS and/or NZL in the mix, and they broke in my favor. Need to pay attention to the news…It’s the title of my Thread for goodness sakes.

The goal is/will be to use several strategies determined by how the markets are acting. Being in-tune with the movements will see me cutting profits early or taking Loss early if it appears it may stop, even temporarily. My Goal is to be greater than 50% win rate AND avg win amount greater than avg loss amount.

On days like today…where we have locked in the wins already, I’m ok playing with smaller wins/losses just to keep it fun. These totals will not be included in the win/loss avg amounts and will get (*) on the totals sheet.

Showing no HIGH news events until 0630 mst.
Running a high SL on Guppy overnight…setup is good but my personal history with this pair from sooo many years ago is less than optimal. Let’s see what happens. (Sleep) Woke up to the trade being open but significantly down. Let it run…

Other than Guppy…a Perfect day 13 Trades / 13 Wins

1/28/2025 1/28/2025 USD/CAD DEC49 BUY 2 1.43849 1.4392 CAD $98.17
1/28/2025 1/28/2025 USD/JPY DEC49 BUY 2 155.254 155.513 JPY $331.42
1/28/2025 1/28/2025 GBP/USD DEC49 SELL 2 1.2445 1.24338 USD $224.00
1/28/2025 1/28/2025 USD/JPY DEC49 SELL 2 155.649 155.549 JPY $127.94
1/28/2025 1/28/2025 USD/CHF DEC49 SELL 2 0.90512 0.90434 CHF $171.65
1/28/2025 1/28/2025 EUR/AUD DEC49 BUY 2 1.66855 1.67368 AUD $636.03
1/28/2025 1/28/2025 EUR/AUD DEC49 BUY 1 1.66897 1.67368 AUD $291.98
1/28/2025 1/28/2025 NZD/USD DEC49 SELL 2 0.5666 0.56574 USD $172.00
1/28/2025 1/28/2025 EUR/JPY DEC49 SELL 2 162.387 162.251 JPY $174.06
1/28/2025 1/28/2025 USD/JPY DEC49 SELL 2 155.499 155.351 JPY $189.59
1/28/2025 1/28/2025 GBP/USD DEC49 BUY 1 1.24431 1.24492 USD $61.00
1/29/2025 1/28/2025 EUR/USD DEC49 BUY 2 1.04382 1.04421 USD $78.00
1/29/2025 1/28/2025 USD/CAD DEC49 BUY 2 1.43975 1.44016 CAD $56.65
Pairs Total Trades P/L
GBP/EUR 1 -$189.73
GBP/USD 3 $458.00
USD/CAD 3 $190.12
EUR/JPY 3 $1,422.73
EUR/USD 2 -$180.00
EUR/AUD 3 $1,199.08
USD/JPY 5 $1,527.30
USD/CHF 1 $171.65
NZD/USD 1 $172.00
22 $4,771.15
Avg Win $257.56
Avg Lose -$223.87
Total Trades P/L
Day 1 9 $2,158.66
Day 2 13 $2,612.49

January 29.

Woke up to Guppy still swimming. That trade is turning into an experiment of what not to do…even if it closes up.

Quick trade on GBP/USD ahead of the news netted a quick win. My pairs are all away from my setups….so we will just let Guppy swim and go make breakfast.

Watch out for Fed Interest rate decision….12mst. Opening 2 trades prior to release with expected INITIAL move expectation. EURUSD and NZD/USD shorts……Both winners. Fast reaction close once i had a little gain as the whipsaw can be real with news release. Should I have held out for more…maybe, but that was not the strat….30 min later, ended up closing within 5 pips of initial retracement after the news release.

My Goal is to be greater than 50% win rate AND avg win amount greater than avg loss amount.

More specifically…I would have a range Profit goal of 0.1% to 2% daily and 0.1 to 10% weekly. While I would not complain about having a better record, it’s more about account building at this point.

Swim Guppy Swim…this position is still in the negative but far away from the SL I established for this experiment (2% drawdown).

Currently waiting on news conference of FOMC and then the Doldrums (1-5mst) before i enter any more trades for the day.


Someone asked about my setup so I’ll do my best to explain

3 Open positions max, but I try to find at least 3 and take the best

EMA 150 - as an easy to see trend indicator
Adjusted Ichimoku with a lot of the clutter hidden
13 24 44
Chikou hidden
Kinjun hidden
Tenkan hidden

Triggers Original trade - A pierce down into a red cloud AND below the ema150 - sell
A pierce up into a green cloud AND above the ema 150 - buy

From this point it’s PA trading. I am not looking for gigantic gains and definitely limit my losses to Less than 2% drawdown.

All positions will be closed before close of Markets on Friday.


Made it through the Doldrums with Guppy still swimming. Add a couple more (3 open positions) to keep Guppy company.

“Do you want to Play a Game” (war games…great movie)…With all the Econ News coming out tonight in EUR and GBP…setting up plays to ride the news. Lets see what happens. (This is something I would avoid like the plague on a live account.)

Part of what I believe makes me a successful trader is I keep it fun. Grinding and grinding can only take you so far and quickly leads to burn out. Been there. I have to remind myself that I was a very successful grinder, then lost all interest…not from blowing accounts, but I found myself with no life and terrible sleep and social habits. To that end…Im switching gears for a day or two in what I am calling … .Save the Guppy!

My position in GBP/JPY is in a rough spot…Im going to remove the limits and try to trade around it in scalping mode to see if i can outpace it. Let’s ride. I know this is a complete departure from strat…but the “keep up trades” will all be to the usual plan.

So far holding my own….Guppy down 1800…snipers at 1750…time for bed with locks off guppy and limits on snipers.

1/29/2025 1/29/2025 GBP/USD DEC49 BUY 2 1.24188 1.2441 USD $444.00
1/29/2025 1/29/2025 EUR/USD DEC49 SELL 2 1.04177 1.04005 USD $344.00
1/29/2025 1/29/2025 NZD/USD DEC49 SELL 1 0.56537 0.56442 USD $95.00
1/30/2025 1/29/2025 AUD/USD DEC49 SELL 2 0.62385 0.62234 USD $302.00
1/30/2025 1/29/2025 NZD/USD DEC49 SELL 1 0.56551 0.56446 USD $105.00
1/30/2025 1/29/2025 GBP/USD DEC49 BUY 2 1.24465 1.24716 USD $502.00
Total Trades P/L
Day 1 9 $2,158.66
Day 2 13 $2,612.49
Day 3 6 $1,792.00

January 30

Woke up at the crack of 8…I’m retired and don’t set an alarm clock and hopefully will rarely have to. I left 3 positions open overnight…Guppy and 3 news riders. I was able to close 2 of the 3 with wins, as I waited for my coffee to finish. (GBPUSD and EURAUD)

Oh Guppy! While I was asleep, he metamorphosed into a frog with a middle finger. It climbed to a POSITIVE and back down to right where it was when I went to bed. I chuckled when i Saw it

I have noticed a small shift in my strategy due to the Guppy and sniper game. I am much more willing to take a quick retracement, which is not part of what I normally do, but I’m enjoying it and so far it’s been accurate. However, I will keep trying to stay focused on my original strat for new positions opened along the Guppy Hunt.

Strategy Talk - TP and SL. My trades will VERY RARELY ever get to a limit either up or down. I am a firm believer that SL is to avoid Catastrophic losses. I move SLs all the time, depending on PA formations, whether I am glued to the screen or walking the dog, overnights…etc. SL should never be more than 2% drawdown, and depending on position SIZE…it would normally take a global event for one of my trades to get that far.

12p mst - 3 new sniper trades to keep Guppy company. All trades religiously following strat (well…after i noticed my shift). Currently all signals are still directed to the good.

Good Lunch break…Had 3 + guppy running and the 3 did fantastic. Guppy…not so much.

Didnt hurt that I caught the right side of this. USD/CAD

Friday Close and the week’s retrospective.

Guppy never recovered, and as my overall strategy dictates, I will not hold trades over the weekend.

Overall, I am extremely pleased with the week. 43 trades with 7 loses (one was the guppy experiment). It happened, so it still counts. This experiment threw off my win/loss amounts, but again…it happened so it counts.

Win % - 85.71
Avg Win $312.82
Avg Loss $539.94

Starting Balance $50000

Total P/L $6160.62
Carry Gain/Loss $105.13

Ending Balance $56265.75

Overall % Gain/Loss +12.53%

Losses
1/27 GBP/EUR -189.73 Buy This was the first trade opened on the Demo. There was NO research done prior to this trade, as its purpose was to learn how to open a trade on the new platform. A quick review showed it was the opposite of the intended strategy. While this trade should not exist…it happened so it counts.

1/27 EUR/USD -258.00 Buy This trade was entered immediately following a large pullback sending the upward 1hr chart from bullish to flat. The pull back completely blew thru a green cloud on my ichi and the opening for the week was Down gapped. These two items should have stopped the entry. Strategy should have caused a CAUTION.

1/30 EUR/USD -106.00 Buy Hourly chart was flat or even slightly down. This is a VIOLATION of the trading strategy. This trade should never have happened.

1/30 USD/JPY -650.77 Sell This trade obeyed the rules. Above the ichi cloud with a descending 1 hour trending chart. S/L was accurate slightly above RL. Cant win them all.

1/31 AUD/USD -317.00 Sell This trade obeyed all the rules. The stop loss was placed above RL and the break in the open on Sunday.

1/31 USD/JPY -682.46 Sell This trade obeyed all the rules. The stop loss was accurately placed above the RL.

1/27-31 GBP/JPY -1385.86 Buy This trade was well documented during the week in the Journal. It has been established that the rules were not followed. There were times when the losses were at 5% or more. SLs were removed…etc. Due to being in this trade….several other trade opportunities were missed.The only positive was the net gain on carry costs due to interest of $105.

The Weekend

My plan for this upcoming week is to fully implement the pretrade routine. This includes, for ALL trades, the following steps.

Step 1 - Determine the tend - 150 ema on the 1 hour

Step 2 - Determine the strategy envelope is active or close to active on the 15 min

Step 3 - What is the SL

-Determine SR levels + gap

Step 4 - What is the position size with that given SL to achieve max 2% drawdown or less

  • What is 2%
  • Does the 2% need to be converted into USD?

Easy example

50000 x 2% = 1000 (A)

SL = 50 (B)

1 pip = $20 = 2.0 units

Live Example (1)

56265 x 2% = 1125

SL = 73

1 pip = 15.43 = 1.543 units

Step 5 - Are there any Major News events scheduled today.

Step 6 - Rub the Buddha Belly and place the trade.

New week starting, but I’ll be sitting on the sidelines for at least the first 8 hours. The tariff news has the Gaps poppin, so I’ll just wait until it settles down. I am not a fan of the volatile/choppy market.

Out of all the pairs in my strat that I am “allowed” to trade, only AUD/NZD didn’t blow up my plans. Since I won’t trade a stormy market, I have no positions open, so I’ll just sit on my hands until my system comes back online.

1 Like

Very wise. And that’s an aspect of trading that quite a few people have great difficulty with! :wink:

Was able to find 2 small trades that were leaning into my strat, but since they were not exactly what I wanted due to the tariff induced volatility, I severely reduced the position size. Both ended up wins for much less than my average. The hunt continues.

(when I say not exactly, i am referring to it being a Higher Time frame than what I normally look at.)

Feb 8 Week in Review

When the week started, we had the Tariff volatility which knocked all the charts off my usual strategy. At that point, I knew I would not be trading this week, and locked down.

Now…A thought occurred to me. Let’s have a little fun with this volatility on a demo account. Let’s do EVERYTHING we would normally avoid with our Strategy. (Get it out of my system)

RUMSPRINGA……….

Overnight holds, massive risk positions, trade the news, add to negative positions and more!

The results were mixed and the actions mentally uncomfortable. 2 big overnight Losers followed by a huge high risk win. Whipsawed loser on the NFP countered by 20+ scalping winners. After all was said and done….0.5% up for the week on closed positions…with a negative open position over the weekend.

Overall, it was a fun week and I was able to do things I would not ever do in my actual trading. Also, I realize it was a ton of work for no gain or even possibly a loss depending on the one open trade. I am actually looking forward to once again following my strict boring strategy.

Back to normal…and it feels so good. After last week’s trading like a sophomore on Spring Break in Ft Lauderdale, the structure of a solid strategy is like wrapping up in a heated blanket.

Off to a good start…3 trades, 3 wins.

The week ended up being a roller coaster for me…and ended down 1.6% for the week. So, my first 3 weeks are still up 10.3 cumulative and I’m learning all kinds of new things with this new strat.

My SLs could be a little tighter, but I’m happy with the results of my TP levels.

Next week I’ll be experimenting with Entry Orders rather than just entering, watching it go wrong way a little, then come back.