Trading journal

Trading Discussion Trade Journals
199

I was feeling that money should be working; not sitting still in my account. So, I’m trying to put every dollar possible to work.

However, my trading rules have been more blurred lately.

And this is what has brought me to the recent realization that maybe I should try the “sniper” approach as opposed to the “shotgun”.

It makes me anxious to just think about how much less trading that could mean. But, I have to think how much more efficient that could be—money and time wise.

You’re not saying what I should or should not do, you’re just talking about your experience. But, I think I’m having very similar experiences to what you’ve had.

And even what Mark Douglas has talked about it in the Disciplined Trader. It’s just a matter of following your trading plan—mechanically.

And while trader psychology may not be the holy grail, it’s certainly a step in the right direction for me.

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200

Being able to trade on margin means even with one position you can make very respectable returns.

There really is no need to push things too far by having too many (and often highly correlated positions).

If I had to trade bigger in some sense I would up my % risk to 5% on one trade, rather than many smaller positions with risk of 0.5, or 1%

Not sure what your comfortable risking but that is the way I would handle the idle capital conundrum.

You’ll find your own answer - but I’m sure many would agree with me 10 positions is excessive.

If it was a stock portfolio fair enough - but it’s forex and the leverage plays tricks on our mind

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201

Thanks. I think I’m gonna take a break today. No new positions. Maybe an entry order…

I’m just logging some trades in my journal—and looking for patterns in my losses.

I think I need some time to digest my thoughts.

Besides, right now EUR/USD is tricky, and I’m watching that closely. For the most part, today I’m not actively trading.

202

@dushimes

By the way, this is a nice little thread, not getting the attention it deserves. I’ll try to follow it more closely from now on.

It’s not easy documenting your progress particularly after a few losses - all motivation can dry up and the last thing you want is to come face to face with your failings.

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203

Thanks for reading!

And I had a moment like that this morning where motivation was starting to dry up. I was looking at all my losses for this month so far.

About 25, I think. But all with risk management, so the losses aren’t overwhelming. It’s just the number of losses that bother me. Because, añl I really had to do was just not take those trades. Probably, at least half them I could have skipped. Sometimes, you just gotta take a chance at being wrong in order to play the game.

But a lot of trades I could have done without.

So, I’m gonna try to do a better job with that.

Thanks again for reading!

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206

For the past two weeks my profits have floated around 15%. It fluctuates…
I have been getting chewed up by EUR/USD because it’s dancing around a TL. I lost about 4% in chasing that breakout.

Basically, things are ok, but hoped for better.

I had a wave of bad feelings. I had that feeling of “oh god. This isn’t working. Maybe I should quit…”

I don’t know how many of you guys have had that feeling before.

I got that feeling, and I decided to just not do any trading today. It’s Friday, and not too much is gonna happen today.

Some markets are are kinda on pause, and they’re dancing around trendlines as they’re not sure what they’re gonna do. And it’s hard to figure out what I should do, but I don’t wanna miss out either. An early entry is everything for me. But this time, it came at its own price.

In the moment, I felt like quitting. I felt doubt. But I know that this is part of the game. I have a profitable strategy; I just have to fine tune it.

Quitting is not an option. Each day, week, month…small adjustments.

If there are times I just have to stay out of the market, so be it. I took some losses. Ok. Fine. This is part of the process.

If any of you guys are in a similar situation, I say don’t quit. This is part of the process. Take a break if you must. Look at your mistakes, see what you’re doing wrong, and adjust your trading plan. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going.

A snake can only shed its skin against sharp rocks.

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207

Great attitude.

I know the frustration. More than once I’ve gone as far as withdrawing all my funds, only to deposit them again the next day. It is a slow process but with determination you will get things figured out. Most traders quit long before they can get to that point.

I also know the temptation of opening, or “sniping” trades as I go down the list. But over time you learn that this only leads to the majority either going against you, or as John said too much correlation, leading to positions hedging each other and your account going nowhere, if you’re lucky.

What I do now is mark potential trades as I go down the list, then go through them again and pick out the best 2 or 3 and take them. Save some of that margin so that you can add to the winners through the week.

Next week will be a better week.

3 Likes
208

Yup. This is what I do now. I changed up my morning routine to include this.

This is a good idea. That’s something I should consider: focus on only proper set ups—not FOMO or “maybe” trades. “Well, maybe I could win if it goes this way, even though it’s only kinda part of my trading plan”.

I can’t take those kinds of trades anymore. It’s turning into either an impulsive or addictive trade.

It’s kinda frightening that my trading quantity could be cut in half. It shouldn’t be scary, but it is. That’s the FOMO voice. It’s not logic. I understand that. Making fewer, yet wiser, choices is a sign of development.

I should embrace this.

Thanks @MattyMoney

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209

@dushimes

On a second reading of this post something interesting hit me - your NEED to have money working for you.

When I initially responded I said there is enough leverage in FX that only one or two positions are needed.

But that response is likely to fall on deaf ears if you have this belief that money should not stand idle.

We always end up trading our underlying belief system - so maybe it’s changing your belief system around that issue that needs to be worked on.

You can say to yourself till you are blue in the face you are only going to take the best set ups, but if your beliefs are tempting you to be in the market MORE not LESS that will override your conscious decision to be selective.

The best traders and investors love sitting in cash, or being on the sidelines.

While I’m far from great, I too now appreciate this position.

Also remember this, by being in cash you are actually performing better than nearly every trader in the market!

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210

I’d have to be selective based on how clean the set ups look. If they look a bit choppy, I gotta choose the set up that seems least likely to go wrong. Of course anything can happen, though.

ONLY when things look uncertain. I imagine they enjoy being on the sidelines waiting for ideal conditions. They’re not anxious while waiting. Is that what you mean?

I’m looking at this the same way. Does it mean by staying out of questionable trades, you’re doing better than the guys trying to jump in and keep losing money?

To be honest, this is something I’ve gotten only slightly better at: staying out. But, I need to improve more.

When the conditions are far from ideal, it’s like trying to take money out of a blender. Your hand will get shredded trying to reap profits. That’s how I felt with the EUR/USD trade this week. So, I stopped and decided to sit it out for a little while.

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211

What’s funny is that I could have just randomly closed all my positions when I got to a 30% profit.

It would have been completely unstrategic but I would have had that profit. I don’t know if it’s smart or not.

My question is: if you’re making profits, does it matter if it’s following your strategy or not?

212

You know, the cool thing about trading so many pairs is that if you’re on the right side, you’re making money.

And when the market starts to shift or slow down, you notice the whole market’s movement because you’re watching so many pairs.

You pay attention differently when there’s profits involved.

So, if I were to do it that way again, and I pay attention to my gut (trend has too much momentum to continue) when the market starts to slow down or several pairs are approaching S/R at the same time, it would be a good time to close everything and keep my profits.

Just a thought…

But this is my first time seeing multiple pairs hit S/R lines at the same time. Actually, not even hit, but dance around and hop back and forth on S/R lines.

I can’t get upset, though. I’ll jump back in once the market starts to move again.

Maybe I just need to enter some wide SLs for now. Eventually, it’s gonna move. So, if I see a proper set up, I’ll focus on just a few pairs, then wait for the market to make up its mind, then maybe jump back in if there are still some proper entries.

213

I went to bed on time, and I tried to wake early this morning…my body had serious trouble. I went back to sleep. I slept for 10 hours.

My routine is to wake up early. If I go to sleep early enough, I need less sleep.

I get about 6 hours of sleep. I love sleep. I really love sleep. But there are not enough hours in the day, so I sacrifice sleep.

I’m awake enough to get thru my morning trading. After 11am, some days I feel like a zombie. There have been days where I fell asleep standing up. Fortunately, I have a job that requires little thinking.

But this morning, I slept late. I needed it. I woke up with little time for trading. So, I didn’t do much. Just looked at a couple charts. Pretty much nothing.

Part of me felt guilty for sleeping, but I really needed it. I might do some trading this evening, but that’s unlikely. I’ll try to go to bed early, and get started in the morning.

Sometimes, I have to tell myself “just relax. Take it easy. Just be patient.”

The thing is that when you do sports or workout, the harder you push, the more results you get. Getting angry in the middle of a lift can help you. Those emotions can help you push your physical limits.

I always enjoyed physical activity. Investing and trading is different. In lifting weights, you make the weights do what you want them to do.

You can’t beat the market. You have to flow with it. Trying to beat the market will drain your account. The market doesn’t care what you think.
The market doesn’t care what trendlines you’ve drawn.

The market may respect them, or it may not. The only thing you can do is wait and jump on when it starts to move. Maybe set your straddle orders.

And sitting on the sidelines too long could either be fear or patience. It’s fear if you realise after that it was a great set up.

I defintely need more patience and a more discriminating eye, but at some point I gotta jump in with managed risk. That’s the game.

214

This morning, I got thru just almost half my morning routine.

I first started randomly going thru charts, but I caught myself and started my proper routine. I got busy with some non-forex stuff, and came back later to check up on my open positions.

The market is pretty much at a stand still for the moment.

I’ve been wondering about my profit-taking skills. If I had several trades in the green, how did I lose money?

I have some positions I wouldn’t want to close right now. But I had a nice EUR/CAD break out trade, and I could have closed it, but it reversed and turned into a fakeout.

Perhaps that’s unavaoidable. There are several instances where I thought I was doing the right thing by being patient. But whats the point of being disciplined if you’re not making profits?

I think my entries are ok, but closing in my next problem to tackle. Sometimes, my exit strategies have to be flexible, I suppose.

If the D1 candles seem to be losing momentum, or if price has been heading towards a strong TL, maybe just close at the TL. Collect the profits after 3 days, rather than giving the trend 3 weeks to work itself out, only to watch the profits go from 45% down to 6%.

I think I’ll try to keep this in mind: it’s ok to alter the exit plan if price action is doing something unexpected.

215

Alg626’s thread made me realize that I’ve missed several opportunities. I could have been trading these consolidations, but I have been so focused on trends and channels, I didn’t even THINK about range trading.

I completely forgot. One of my rules is to look for any three bounces, which makes a range. The past two weeks were full of consolidation periods.

This is something I should keep in mind. Different tools for different scenarios; not just one tool or no tool.

216

I think I have to keep an open mind to what could happen, and not be so reluctant to take profits if my original plan changes because the market is doing something unexpected.

217

AUD_CHF_20210807_10.23
AUD_CHF_20210807_10.231114×602 65.5 KB

(ignore the horizontal red line)

Here’s a trade I have right now with the AUD/CHF. I’m long and entered at the yellow arrow. I’m in the green for now.

Here’s what could happen:
It could bounce the MA20 (red line) and go bearish
Or go bullish until the next resistance, possibly until the blue resistance at the top

So, do I close now and keep what profits I have? Or I let it ride and risk losing my profits?

One solution is using two accounts. One account to close now (short-term) and another account for long-term and see what happens.

This drives me nuts because whenever money is on the table, I don’t want to lose it.
My strategy calls for opening two positions for such trades: one in each account. If I’m getting a good entry, I could risk less than 1% per account.

To be honest, I haven’t been doing that. If I had, I wouldn’t be writing this right now.

For the past two weeks I’ve been meaning to write a new check list. But I haven’t done it. The weekend if probably the best time. I’m gonna try to work on it today…

218

Nice entry. This pair has clearly been in a down trend for a while now, so this would be considered a counter-trend trade.

If you think there might be more upside and if your broker allows you to close partial positions (which they should) then that might be your best option, lock in half or so and let the rest ride.

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219

It is a great way to help each other.

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220

Absolutely. The major trend is bearish. But until what point will it resume? That’s a tough question, isn’t it?

One can only guess.

I have IG, and they don’t allow partial closings. Ally does, however. Great features, but IG has better charts.

Another problem could be, what if the counter trend retraces, but continues up? I would be losing out.

When do you hold? When do you close?