Trade Journal #2

Another bad trading week as i shave off a big chunk of my account. It appears i am having troubles surpassing a specific account balance range.

Anyways, i have decided to make a new journal here in Babypips due to the amount of missing trade data this one has. I see no reason to keep this one if i can’t even extract precise details on my previous trades. I will be looking at this journal throughout the week to extract as much information on my trades since October.

Thanks for all the hard work put into making this journal, its helpful just to see the trades someone else is making. On another note you give very vague details on the reasons you actually decide to take a trade.

It seems like you are using mainly support and resistance lines as well as candle stick signals. Do you use any oscillators, indicators, moving averages etc. ?

OrtusRex, You do realise that he last posted over 3 years ago

Yes but still he’ll come back and check it some day. Is it annoying because it will bring the journal back into a recents feed?

Hi Ortus! Thank you for your feedback. I decided to take a hiatus from trading and pursued a career in software dev. Now that I have some free time from software dev, I will be trading again and journaling here. Yes, I like to keep everything simple so I use S/R levels as well as candlestick patterns. I do not use any technical indicators nor read any economic news.

Trade#1: 11/13/2018

Decided to get back into it after 4 years of taking a break from trading. Starting account balance is $4,000. Will be using the same simple guidelines to take trades: trade in the direction of the medium-term trend, use candlestick signals for entries and exits, and get at least 2:1 reward/risk ratio.

First trade made yesterday. LONG NZD/JPY 1 STANDARD LOT @76.75 average
Medium trend is bullish, entered too early IMO. Could’ve waited for the 70pip dip down. SL @76.72, [email protected]

Update: 11/14/18 8:33 AM
Before sleeping last night around 11PM, I closed half of the position at @76.25, moved the TP to 77.45 and then moved SL to 76.92. So i had no overnight risk. TP got hit overnight for a total profit of $504. Current account value at $4506.46.

Trade#2: 11/14/2018

Second trade done lunchtime on a Wednesday. Short NZD/JPY @ 77.21. Planning to scalp this trade. I went against my rule of only trading with the medium trend. SL ~ @77.45. TP ~ @76.85. As for TP, I’m hesitant to set a small target since I see it possibly dipping back down to @76.60s.

Update 11/15/2018
I closed the position manually yesterday at a loss of -10 pips or -$98.00. Closed it after looking at H1-chart and seeing a lot of push upwards. Also got slapped with a -$21 interest swap on this trade. NOTE TO SELF: DONT SHORT THE PAIR DURING WEDNESDAY’S JAPAN/SYDNEY OPENING.

Current account value was at $4386.00.

Trade#3: 11/15/2018

Third trade done late last night which is again against my rules of not trading at night or early mornings. Anyways, went with a with the trend trade and seems to be going well for me. Reward/risk ratio is at least 2:1. LONG NZD/JPY @ 77.32 I am targeting at least around @77.75. SL would be ~ @77.20.

Update 11/16/2018
Trade closed yesterday evening for +14 pips. Wasn’t able to record in real-time since I was out of my apartment. I ended up trading another short position before going to sleep. I was short at @77.45. and was able to close the trade this morning at @77.09. Then I traded another long position @77.37 with a TP @ 77.50. It got hit in less than 3 hours. Wasnt able to save any photos of the trade. Anyways, I ended up with an account balance of $5006. I withdrew $500, bringing my starting balance for next week at $4500. Will look to withdraw more money next week until I eliminate capital risk.

Trade#6 : 11/18/18

Sixth trade on Sunday. Long NZD/JPY @ 77.53 Looking to take at least 25 pips from this trade. I am expecting the pair to break last week’s high but then reverse back to form a range pattern on the h1 and daily charts. Closing manually if 77.35 is breached.

Update 11/19/18
Closed last night manually for -$340. Coming into the first day of the trading week, I was planning on going short. But after the gap down, I was tempted to go long and I did. Fortunately, had the discipline to close before it snowballed into an even bigger loss. After closing last night, I went SHORT @ 77.21 and was able to close it manually today @ 76.96. Current ACCOUNT BALANCE: $4391.67

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I just backread to your first post and wow you’ve been here since 2014! Are you still in NYC? (Not sure if you already wrote a post on this!) Also, do you have a post with like a list of things you’ve learned from 2014 to now? Would love to read it!

Hey Purtle. No I am now living in SF. I moved a couple of months ago. Are you based in NYC? I don’t really have a list of things or posts for that. I feel like most of what I’ve learned are the things that experienced traders already repeat over and over again. Nowadays, I’ve definitely learned that the trend is your friend. And that is really the only strategy I have when opening and closing trades.

Trade#8 11/19/18
Opened LONG position @76.92/ SL [email protected]/ TP [email protected]. Still see it as a medium-term bullish trend. Getting sloppy with my entries though. It does look like it’s about to change into a bearish trend.

UPDATE 11/20/18
Closed position this morning for -13 pips. It was going back and forth and it seemed like bulls were failing to push with any convincing force. Immediately when short afterwards. Current Account Balance: $4284

No. But also east coast. Do you still have a regular job? And if so, is it trading related?

Oh and an off-topic one - were you ever lured in by crypto?

Currently I am interviewing for tech-related work, specifically as a web developer. So i wouldn’t say it is trading related, but I do plan on eventually merging it. Right now, I am playing with Quantopian and seeing how algo design works. Unfortunately, yes I was lured by the crypto hype a year back. I sunk in about $10,000 in BTC and XRP. And today, it’s like $1,500 in total value. Do you also have a journal here? I would like to hear about your strategy and opinions about FX trading.

Trade#9: 11/20/18
Medium-term trend looks bearish now. SHORT NZD/JPY @ 76.81 with TP [email protected] and SL [email protected]. Mentally, still calm. I feel like I’ve seen this price pattern unfold many times so I have a good amt of confidence in this position. Looking to hold until Thursday.

UPDATE 11/23/18
Forgot to update this trade since it’s been a busy thanksgiving week for me. I closed it Tuesday for -38 pips and wasn’t able to trade again for the remainder of the week. Account balance currently at $4128.

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Hey eddieb! How’s it going? Getting some serious pips I hope?

We’re on the same sad boat. I even got me some that got cut off by my exchange. Awesome times haha. I don’t have a journal just yet - maybe in the coming weeks. Will let you know when I’m brave enough to do it.

TRADE#10 11/27/18
Decided to go for a SHORT NZD/JPY @ 77.07. I am thinking it is in a range environment so I will be doing shorter target profits and stop losses this week. I’ll close this one [email protected] TP and an SL of [email protected]. Basically if the h1 candlestick suddenly turns bullish upon close, I will be out of this position. Current Account Balance @ $3516. I withdrew another $1,000 from last week so my risk is now only $2,500.

UPDATE
Left this trade all week, got stopped out for -57 pips. Fudge!! Ending the week at $3,000 Account balance. Haven’t been able to trade a lot this week but will trade more next week.

TRADE#11 12/3/2018
SHORT NZDUSD @ 0.6947 w/ TP @ 069.27 and SL @ 0.6962. Short-term counter trend trade. Looking to scalp the pullback and then open a with-trend trade tomorrow which is still bullish IMO. Also withdrew another $250.00 with total withdrawal amount @ $1750. Capital risk is now only $2250. Do not want to keep withdrawing money though. Should really set milestones first before withdrawing a fixed amt. Maybe when account hits $5000. We’ll see. I want to start increasing position size and simultaneously reducing trade frequency since that’s really the key to lowering risk.

UPDATE 12/04/2018
Got stopped out right away which is a shame since it did start turning down and wouldve eventually hit my TP. NOTE TO SELF: DONT SET TOO SHORT of a STOP LOSS ESP OVERNIGHT
Current account balance at $3,029