I was wondering what some more experienced forum members think is a good, efficient way of tracking and evaluating progress for newbie swing traders. I keep a trading log, but I work over 60 hours a week and have little to no opportunity to get alot of chart time. This means that I can trade only a few times per month and the low number of trades makes comparison and evaluating a slow process. I also tend to keep my position open for 2-10 days, aiming for higher pip gains.
So, is there something I should or could be doing besides keeping a detailed log and trying to read as much as I can, when I can? Or is it just a matter of trial and error, and time?
The issue you have is "I have less trades over longer period of time, is it going to work long term? "
Whenever I have lulls in trading, I use my available time to manually backtest my strategy on random pairs, analyze my trade history for consistent thought analysis, andante previous trading behavior to look for bad habits, and compute statistics.
Doing all those things besides just a trade log should take up the rest of your free time. You don’t know survivability without statistics, so this is what you do to obtain stats
I had the very same thoughts over a year ago (I too work long weeks and trade using daily/weekly time frames). I didn’t want to trade a system for years only to find out it was no good. I wanted to know sooner. So I set up an account using an amount I was comfortable completely blowing out and over traded like mad. I traded breaks of 3 and 5 day ranges in both directions (even against the primary trend) to see how risk and leverage interacted with my implementation. It lost money (of course it would when over trading that much), but not near as much as I thought it would. I was shocked to see how much risk and leverage I could put on. Now I am confident in my implementation. I used myfxbook and my dealer’s reports to track everything. Just food for thought, there may be much better ways of handling this. But my method is precisely trial and error.
Trial and error is something you can’t avoid. As far as your problem in regards to hours is concerned you tend to get what you put in. Don’t fell forced to take positions because you don’t have sufficient time to look for a proper set-up. You only place a few trades per month which is perfectly fine. It may take longer to get the data you need, but at least it will be relevant data.
Well I put 500 euros in an account and just trade 1 microlot per position. At the moment, it’s not about making money but about learning and building experience. A much larger account will of course demand proper in depth money management.
Either way it seems like the only way to learn then, is studying my own trade history dilligently.
I just don’t like to trade setups that I am uncomfortable with, but then again I’ve missed out on good trades that I was eyeing, simply because I am at work and I’m busy 12-14 hours a day before I can sit down for a while.
Ok. Basically this is your account and you are in charge. So please consider if you agree with the following:
Consider trading also with a demo in order to have a larger account and to be able to apply normal money management. For instance 1 or 2 % per trade. This in order to get the good habits your way of managing money on your live account does not allow you to assimilate.
All the more as if you are really busy, you will have to trade from large timefranes (H4? Daily?), where sl may be more than a hundreds pips, and with a 500 USD account even with a micro lot this is going to be a lot. That way you will not fear to miss a trade. Or you try and developp a pending orders method.
We are Tuesday Feb 24th, and is going to be hard to find good setups with speeches from Draghi, Yellen and BOC pres. May be for long seetus you would like to conside the possibility of a trend reversal (bearish to bullish) on EURNZD H4. It seems we could get pretty soon an inverted head and shoulder.
