Trading journal

[dushimes]

I updated my monthly progress spreadsheet. My account is lower than last month, again.

However, my current profits are healthier. When I say that, it means they were healthier decisions; more strategic. If I were to close my positions, I would have my first green month in a long long time.

Of course, they’re not profits until you close. But, I feel more confident about these profits.

Right now, just making more practice charts.

As I look at the charts, I’m thinking of a bad habit that I have. When I’m uncertain about which direction to trade, instead of focusing on the prior candles, I focus on the candle that just opened, as a clue. This is a terrible idea. I’m trading D1, what a candle does at the beginning of the day has NOTHING to do with what the candle will be doing at the end of the day.

I was thinking of about this yesterday as well, when I was taking a short walk. It really is ridiculous and completely irrational. It’s bouncing around in my head, and I have to knock it off. Just focus on the chart and the closed candles. I wish there was a feature to hide the new candle.

There have been a few times that watching the new candle has helped, though. If I’m uncertain about a trade, I’ll come back to a chart a little bit later to see if price has hit my would-be SL. Sometimes, it has and that let’s me know that my idea was invalid.

Then again, my backtest never called for such waiting.

[dushimes]

When my account was decreasing, until rather recently my position size was much larger. From the moment I started live until I switched to demo, my position size never changed.

Then in demo, I continued the same and gradually reduced my position size. If I want to build my account back up quicker, I’d have to start gradually increasing my position size.

I’d have to reserve such larger position for trades I’m more confident in. That’s strange. I know which trades are riskier and possibly shouldn’t take, yet I still take them. That’s something to think about, isn’t it?

[dushimes]

It’d be cool to try this bad boy out!!

Bluetooth…how cool is this thing!!!

But how dark of a room do you have to be in? And that guy looks like he’s having way too much fun typing. Who’s he talking to? An ex? And his current chick is right there? She probably got really annoying, and he just found out his ex is still hot for him.

Anyway…

I saw this, too. But I wonder if the learning curve is worth it? You don’t just type with it. There are gestures that equal different letters. I wonder if I can customize it? So, if I do a hadouken, could that type an exclamation point?

It looks cool though!!

These are great options for a mobile setup.

I haven’t seen too many options for computer mice. The vertical mouse is great, and I don’t think I’d change that. The horizontal mouse was terrible for my hand.

[dushimes]

Almost done trading, and my margin is getting low. When my margin is getting low, but I still want to take the trade, I’ll trade just 0.01 lots to see if I was right or not.

[ria_rose]

Happy Happy New Year Dushimes! I hope you had a great celebration. Anything special that you did over the holidays? Hahaha. Anyway, I feel like it’s my first time hearing about “speed trading.” I’m trying to understand it, but is it something you coined yourself? Hahaha.

@dushimes

It’s a very helpful technique for me. I take screenshots of a trade, before, during, and after. I have a spreadsheet to note what my trade in each picture is. I’ll write long, look at the next picture and decide to hold. Then I look at the last picture to see how the trade ended.

I would need the patience to go through all those steps. How often do you review these entries?

@dushimes

As far as what got me motivated to try this, I got tired of losing so much. I wanted a faster way to practice. And if no such thing exists, make it yourself!

Love the spirit! Hahaha. I hope we get more and more winners this year, dushimes! Here’s to growing into more profitable traders for 2023!

[dushimes]

@ria_rose

Happy Happy New Year Dushimes! I hope you had a great celebration. Anything special that you did over the holidays?

Happy new year to you too! I didn’t celebrate at all. I just carried on as usual. Studying charts, as usual.

@ria_rose

I feel like it’s my first time hearing about “speed trading.” I’m trying to understand it, but is it something you coined yourself? Hahaha.

The first? I doubt it. But I certainly made it up myself. I didn’t get it from anyone.

I practice everyday, unless I’m making more practice charts. The weekend is the best time. Just because markets are closed doesn’t mean I can’t keep trading.

I examine my progress every time I finish.

@ria_rose

I would need the patience to go through all those steps.

It all depends on how badly you want to succeed.

[dushimes]

I messed up a very nice trade. I was long with a very nice entry, a couple days later I saw some contradictory candles and switched to short.

Now, price looks bullish and it’s too late for a long trade. It’s frustrating.

But, it can’t be frustrating, and that’s the end. It has to be frustrating, and then another step.

Well, I consulted my strategy, and it looks like I didn’t follow it. Or did I? I have to remember that this is a probability game. I just have to do my best with what clues are available. Price looked like it was retesting, but it also looked like it could keep going lower…what do you do??

I’m gonna make a note to try to study similar situations, and maybe I can find more clues. It was one of those situations that I felt like both buy and sell were wrong. No bueno.

[dushimes]

I’m reflecting on that particular confusing trade I lost. I decided to dig up my previous strategy from my other harddrive and put a section of it back on my computer.

I started adding old parts to my new strategy and it started looking like a mess. I recreated the strategy to simplify my approach.

The problem is that there is no 1-2-3 approach in my strategy. There is, but only up to a certain point. I can mark S/R, and after that, I just have to pay attention.

I can have sample pictures for EVERY possible situation because they often never repeat. But there are common characteristics.

So, the best way I can advise myself is to say ¨pay attention¨. As vague as that sounds, it’s rather helpful. The idea is that I have to watch for a clue, then confirmation.

Where I made a mistake this time was that I was in denial. I got worried about the market faking me out, and I forgot to HOLD. That was my mistake.

[dushimes]

I don’t even wanna talk about this. But it’s part of the process.

The trade that was bothering me, didn’t even do yet what I thought it was doing. I saw a the open candle gong bullish and I was upset that I was missing out. Well, it went bullish, then turned bearish afterward. I was pretty much upset over nothing.

Then I saw another trade this morning that I closed prematurely because I thought I was wrong and price was retesting my entry. Price appears to have tested my support then turned bullish big time. If I held to my strategy, it would have been a profitable trade.

I regret closing it, now. I have to follow my strategy and HOLD. I have to be willing to let price hit my SL. I got scared of taking more losses, and that’s why I closed it.

[dushimes]

Oh man. I just realized something. I have a couple trades that price is hitting support, but looks like it might should stay bearish.

So, what do you do if it looks like it’s doing one thing, but the conditions suggest otherwise?

How about just DON’T trade it?? It’s a lose-lose situation! I shouldn’t be guessing trades. That’s basically just random gambling. That’s the same thing as rolling dice.

I feel so much pressure from FOMO that I just guess. What kind of strategy is that? And to be honest, those kinds of trades are the ones that are hurting me a lot. I have a several running trades that were strategic, and I followed my strategy correctly. The other trades, I’m just lost.

I should asses it, draw my S/R and see where price looks like it’s going. If I can’t tell, why in the world should I take that trade? Just because SOMETHING is gonna happen, it doesn’t mean I have to trade it.

I’m doing that nonsense less these days, but I’m still doing it, and it’s hurting my account. It ruins the profits from my good trades. To be honest, I just have trouble letting go of those setups. I really want profits. And the desperation makes me reckless. I just think about winning, and I forget about the risk.

Of course, when I lose, all I think about is the regret and that I should have more patience. I should have thought about that BEFORE the trade.

I went back and deleted one of those questionable trades. Could you believe that I hesitated deleting it? I heard a voice in my head: ¨Well, what if you win? Don’t delete it.¨

It’s a challenge. Sure, I could win. But is it FAVORABLE??? That’s the big question. When price is starting to slow down and it hits support, that’s a favourable condition. But trying to jump in during the ¨random walk in the park¨ is dangerous. Too risky.

You could win, but it’s not favourable. 50/50 is not favourable. 70/30 - 90/10 are favourable conditions.

[dushimes]

I had a trade that I could have pyramided, but I didn’t I got scared to lose my position. I thought about it, and decided to just leave my entry and SL where they were. You could do very very well, or price might pull back and you lose your position.

Sometimes, price will pull push S/R twice. During such times, I’d be grateful to have not pyramided. BUT…BUT when the setup is too tempting, it’s worth the risk, isn’t it?

[dushimes]

I about to prepare another chart to practice trading, and I’m starting to feel like, ¨What’s the point?¨

I think I should keep practicing, but I kinda feel like I just have to make better decisions when trading live. Maybe I’m just get…

No, no, no. I’m getting tired. I have to keep going. This is no time for mental fatigue. Until I’m consistently profitable, I have to keep practicing. Medicine never tastes good.

I wanted to take a cold shower, but actually working a new chart is more productive at the moment.

[dushimes]

When I force a trade, I think about whatever big move is about to happen and that I don’t wanna miss out. If I feel confused about how to trade it, instead of sitting it out and protecting my money, I feel obligated to try to find a way in.

[dushimes]

I’m practicing a chart, and I noticed that I’m still trading impulsively. I’m closing when there’s no actual signal, just some pullback.

When I get scared by some pullback and jump out, I’m regretting it when price keeps running. ¨Why did I close??¨

I didn’t even consult my strategy. I didn’t think about it either. I just panic and close. Sure, sometimes closing with no actual signal is the answer, but long-term that’s not the profitable way.

The reason why is that I had a great entry, in just a few days there were some big candles, and I assumed that I was familiar with this practice chart already. I thought I knew where price was going. I thought ¨I know this chart, it’s about to get choppy, I’d better get out now.¨ Wrong.

Well, it’s good that I haven’t memorized the chart. That keeps the practice real. But I thought I knew it and closed it, despite having NO signal to close.

[dushimes]

I just wrote a loooooooooong post, and my computer messed up when I tried to post it.

OH well…

[dushimes]

I’m gonna take some time today to examine some charts. I’m very upset about my trading lately. It should be much better. I hate when such easy set ups slip through my fingers.

Such easy, and PROFITABLE, set ups.

I draw my S/R, right? And then the random walk in the park begins. The problem is that sometimes, the walk becomes so random, you get confused which way price is actually going.

This is where I’m having trouble. I’d like to look for difficult charts, but there aren’t any. They’re all quite simple when you look at them. The emotions is what makes the charts difficult to read.

Regardless, I’m gonna look for some charts that may be a little more choppy than others, and practice drawing S/R on them.

[dushimes]

I’m looking at a sample chart, I’m drawing my S/R. It’s terrible. It hits resistance, then consolidates for almost three months!!!

During that consolidation, there are some ups and and downs, BUT they’re not actual signals. That means, you gotta watch your mega profits go to $0 twice!!

But, if you hold, and just do NOTHING, after testing resistance twice, price falls thru the floor after the third month. For my strategy, this set up has ONE entry. Just one. Then you just gotta hold, hold, hold, hold.

A problem I often have when trading live is that I’m catching the trend once it’s already in motion. The perfect entry has already departed. Jumping on a moving train is a dangerous business. That train is moving fast and you’re desperate to get on.

When price is moving like that and you don’t take advantage of it, it’s like your friends come tell you that the ice cream truck is selling ice cream for $0.01, but you don’t believe them, so you don’t go. But you get curious and go 30 minutes later, only to see all your friends with melted ice cream all over their hands and clothes and they’re all smiling and giggling.

You regret it now, but the ice cream truck is leaving. You try chasing it, but he’s too fast, and you’re too late.

That’s what it feels like to miss an easy setup because I was in denial.

[dushimes]

I’m examining a chart’s consolidation area. There are so many bounces and mini trends and dojis within the trends. Lots of tempting candles. LOTS of trades to jump on and see what happens. There are at least six trades that I’m sure I would have lost during that two month consolidation section. But following my strategy, there is ONE signal, but it gets stopped out. The next proper signal doesn’t come for another 90 DAYS!!

That’s a lot of patience!!! But the beauty is that instead of taking six losses and getting frustrated, I lose just once. Of course, I have to watch price move from the sidelines. But that period is just not tradeable for my strategy. Trading it will only result in losses.

But if I’m following my strategy strictly, there is just ONE truly profitable signal during a FOUR-month period.

If I were to follow that, I would have just one loss, and one BIG win. That sounds a lot better than 6+ losses.

[dushimes]

OK. Time for some medicine, and medicine never tastes good.

The consolidation period I was talking about… I just learned something.

I HAVE to allow price to trend and retest my entry and watch my profits dwindle to $0. There’s no other way. I thought I could cheat and keep some profits when it retests my entry, but it doesn’t work. It’s more profitable in the long-term, but it’s awful to watch your profits go down, and possibly even get stopped out.

It’s like having an ice cream cone in your hand, and instead of eating it, you just watch it melt in your hand. But when it’s done melting, and you’re done crying, you get a bigger ice cream cone.

[dushimes]

I’m making small changes to my strategy. Very small changes. I delete instructions that are redundant. I’m trying to trim the fat and keep it meat and potatoes.

Simpler.

I take caution when adding anything. Adding too many sample charts can be annoying too. I just added a SGD/JPY chart that had a bullish trend. But it was a bull trend that was above ATH. It was a sample that was different from all the other samples, so I decided to add it.

In my last diagram, there were so many samples and too many instructions. I was trying to be prepared for every scenario, but that’s not possible. Setups are similar but never identical. They conditions are always different and very confusing. I have to be aware of what’s going on and look for clues. That’s as specific as I should get.

Anything more specific than that, and the strategy becomes impractical. There are too many things to look at and it’s overcomplicated.