2nd trade of the trio above fails
Short EUR CAD 4 hour
Lesson: Let price first surpass the pinbars high/low before entering a trade.
Lost 22 Euro on this one
[B]3rd trade fails[/B]
Long USD CAD 4 hour trade posted on previous page has also failed.
Three questionable trades = 3 losing trades
Another 39 EUR loss on this one.
Confession: In my emotional frame of mind while the 3rd trade was going south I took an impulsive long trade on Gold as it produced a 4 hour pin on my IG market chart.
It ended up being a winner and I got about 100 E out of it.
The thing is this… It was a revenge trade and could have ended badly. Also I said I would not trade of the IG platform charts as they are not U.S close charts.
[B]Although I am making progress with my methodolgy, I am still being too emotional after losses and losing discipline.
I know this is largely due to being undercapitilized making every string of losers cause a big dent.[/B]
Reason: 2BR (good size) at swing high in direction of dominent trend
R:R - 1:1
This time, will wait for price to break low of 2bar blended (pin). Order in place
Order was triggered while I was asleep, but instead off waking up to a profit I am sitting with a losing trade.
Stops in place.
This string of losers is getting me down.
Hi GetThere
Nice to see a fellow South African.
One of the reasons I like PA and in particular Johnothans method is that we look for the best possible setups, not only are you avoiding bad trades but less trades to deal with bad emotions.
Best of luck.
Thanks Spongy,
Nice to hear you’re from SA! I’m based in JHB.
I hear you on JOnathans method. I think my biggest problem is that I am really battling with being patient.
When I suffer a few losses or whe I see a good opportunity I just missed I go looking for trades that arent really there.
I have to admit, I did feel the above trade was decent though until Dudest pointed out the errors.
I am learning a bit more everyday.
Its good though that you realizing your mistakes and bad habits, just remember Rome wasnt built in a day.
Johno has said and it has always stuck in my mind, Any person can place a trade, but its the people who manage there trades correctly that come out on top.
I honestly feel that you HAVE to master patients and control your emotions to succeed in this game, its as important if not more important than the trade selection you take.
Keep at it and you will get there.
Cheers
New Trade
Short EUR GBP daily
Reason PB reversal at swing high
Concerns: Arguably not the swing high…basing decision of old support now acting as new resistance
R:R Approx 1.2 to 1
Closed this trade at breakeven :15:
Have just entered 2 more trades
1st Counter trend trade
Long AUD NZD 4 hour
Reason: Bullish engulfing bar
Modest target set due to counter trend trading
2nd
Short EUR USD daily
Reason - 2BR
Target about 150 pips
Concerned about chop in blue
Had 2 opportunities to lower risk when price retraced into the 2BR candle, but didnt take it…
[B]Update…[/B]
AUS NZD almost hit my target and retraced
Closed now at about 11 pips profit - Was not comfortable holding this long in such a strong downtrend even though was at good support (swing low)
EUR USD seems to be going my way with about 60 pip profit - Will leave this one as is
Ok, so this was one of my reasons (excuses) of messing up. So I have increased my capital from 1000e to 5000e.
The second thing have realized from reading through my journal is that I have an urge to take a trade or a series of [B]questionable[/B] trades after a decent winner that makes me [B]end up losing more than I made[/B]…This I realize lies in the realm of trading psychology and the subconcious mind… Without getting all psychoanalytical basically I think my subconcious is conditioned to believe that I should not keep this money - And hence I throw it away.
Case in point is the series of 3 trades I made on page 2 straight after my 70 pip winner.
[B][I]I EVEN SAID RIGHT UPFRONT I DONT FEEL GOOD ABOUT ANY OF THEM. AND YET I STILL LEFT THEM ON AND THEY ALL WENT ON TO BECOME LOSERS.[/I][/B]
Chickened out of EUR USD short with only 40 pips profit after EUR aggressively surged higher togther with equities.
However I am in a sense glad to be out of the EUR USD trade as I will rather be short EUR AUS right now and not double up my short EUR exosure.
I have taken the below EUR AUD short a few moments ago based on a 4 hour Bearish Engulfing bar setup at swing high which is also in line with 61% fib retracement. Feel more comfortable with this trade and if it loses I will be at peace with it.
I am showing a pic of the daily below and not the 4 hour to get a sense of where the 61% level is.
The daily still has 3 hours to close but if closes in this state will also be a BEEB.
Above trade still on and has formed a bullish 4 hour pin countering short trade, but leaving on
New Potential Setup
Short GBP CHF 4 hour
30 mins to formation of 4 hour pinbar reversal
Set entry at break of pin
Risk 70
Reward 90 (FRA) - First Resistance area?
Concern… As with above Short EUR AUD trade, am going against a recent strong uptend (IF TRADE IS TRIGGERED).
12 hour later update: Trade was NOT triggered…
Have also noticed a decent BUEB on AUS CAD 4 hour chart
(with retracement into BUEB for reduced risk entry)
Will not take this as do not want to double up on long AUD exposure
Closed out short EUR AUD short. Scratch trade.
April result: 1.5% loss
Lessons:
Dont take risky trades after a winning trade.
Wait for price to break Pinbar/Engulfing bar/2BR high or low to confirm entry
ok its happening. And I thought I might as well journal it.
I am tiliting. Havent been able to spot a decent setup in a while and missed the recent EUR USD short opportunity.
No I am starting to take wild punts on 5 min charts (and losing off course)
Need to get a grip and stop.
How valid are the price action signals in the small time frames or for that matter any technical indicator. They may be valid temporarily but is it worth the risk ?
I stick to the daily chart and refer to 4h or 1 hr to help in decisioning.
I think we should sit back and wait for the right signal. Forcing a trade by looking for signals at the smaller time frames just to scalp is just not worth the effort and the risk. And the pickings are meagre too.
My 2 cents
Quick update on P&L
In the month of April I topped up account to around 5120E
Up to today have lost 320E (6.4%)
Need to cut the crap on this 5min bar gambling
Of all the dodgy trades I took recently, I moved the last 3 profitable ones to BE.
2 closed at scratch
1 was a decent runner (Short AUD USD) which I just closed now for 150E profit
A trade which I really wanted to take but didnt was the weekly BUEB long USD SGD
The reason I didnt take it was cos it required a large stop loss and I set an order to go long at the 61% retracement into the BUEB (which just did not happen)
GOLD LONG - HAMMER TIME
Took a gold long due to BUEB
Mistake 1- Did not happen at the swing low
Mistake 2 - Overleveraged
Mistake 3 - Placing the proper stop is too big of a risk in terms of capital loss
Result - Getting hammered to the tune of E230 thus far
Stop at 1353 / Take Profit at 1440 (Differs from pic below as execution platform (IG) different from Metatrader charts
Edit - Next Day - Closed this trade out for 200E loss… Leverage was way too high for me to be comfortable. Price did shoot upto 1415 for a minute during the day but crashed back down and formed a very bearish 1 hour candle.
Dammit
