Trading journal

[dushimes]

Just finished trading. I opened one new position. No other signals. I saw some trades that looked tempting, but they’re just random walk trades. Meaning that, it’s too choppy to be trading.

Those are the trades that have been ruining me. There is a point that price is trending. But for how long? How wide is that channel?

If there’s a strong trend without much volatility, well, understanding the direction isn’t that difficult–particularly if the trend is lasting for 10 days or more.

But when there’s a trend with a lot of volatility, and each mini swing lasts 3 or 4 days, that’s when it gets more difficult. It’s not as simple as ¨just buy when price is going up¨ and ¨sell when price is going down¨, because by the time you get your confirmation, it might be too late.

Some volatility can be really confusing. And that’s the game. How to not get eaten alive during that time. For me, the answer is ¨don’t play that game¨. For me, the solution is to just wait.

Yup. I saw some trades that I wish I got it. But, the signs weren’t obvious enough for me. So, I just have to suck it up.

Anyway, I reviewed my pairs rather quickly because most of my pairs are still trending, and I have to wait for the next cycle. I have just 4 trades, running.

This is quite different from about a year ago when I had 20 trades running. It was cool. I’ve had moments of 20 plus trades, all in the green.

How could it be possible for an account to shrink when that many trades are in the green? That’s actually a complicated question. Being in the green doesn’t count for much, if you’re in the green by a few pips. You could be in the green today, then get stopped out tomorrow. After that, you’ve still got a roster full of profitable trades, but the margin is shrinking at the same time. So, it becomes a picture of half truths.

Just because you have a plethora of profitable trades running that doesn’t mean you closed them at profit. And it also doesn’t mean that your margin is growing. And that’s part of what my problem was when I was trading live. But that’s mostly due to too much flexibility in my strategy.

Right now, I feel like I’m doing better. I’m trading less, and that means less losses, which is a big deal for me.

I’m really considering focusing on clue+confirmation trades ONLY. It’s easier said than done, because I have to watch all those nice pretty candles and get no profit from them. It sucks because the voice in my head says ¨man, imagine if I took that trade…woohee that’d be a lot of money…maybe I should take trades that look like that next time…¨

I can’t do that nonsense anymore. I can’t chase money. There are trades that could be profitable…these mid-swing, pullback trades could be profitable, but it’s not working for me. So, for the moment I have to stop. They’re killing my account. I wanna focus on higher-probability trades.

Maybe later, after returning to live trading, I can practice these mid-swing trades in demo. But not now. Right now, I need to focus on properly trading one strategy. Just one. Let’s get busy!

[dushimes]

Since my view of retracements vs reversals has changed, I think it would be good to collect samples of both, just for reference…

This way, I can compare the PA in both scenarios, and see what clues there are.

[dushimes]

I’m making more practice charts. I’m separating them into different categories

1: entries/exits
2: retracements/reversals (particularly tricky for me)
3: retracements

(this post was longer, but the rest got deleted when I tried posting during a dropped connection…and I don’t feel like typing all that again…)

[dushimes]

I just recorded my account balance for the month of March. It’s lower than last month, however, it’s the lowest decrease ever!

I’m not 100% sure that’s worth celebrating, but it’s definitely a positive that I’m losing less. Losing a little is better than losing a lot!

Let’s see how this month goes.

Patience, young padawan.

[dushimes]

I’ve missed some nice entries recently, because I was scared of losing. Sure, some of them would have gotten stopped out, but several of them would have been profitable. I would have made my money back plus the profits.

If I miss the ideal entry, I should be ready to trade retracements and be able to identify favourable entries on trends that are already trending.

I’m gonna start preparing more practice charts for that kind of scenario.

[dushimes]

This weekend I’m taking time to prepare charts for the setups that I’m most troubled by: retracements.

I got porkrinds; I got grapes. I’m ready!

[dushimes]

I’ve been collecting chart samples for practicing retracement trades. As I collect them, I also see my strategy play out as the trade unfolds.

These charts have presented some ideas about retracements, but now I have some questions that need answers.

All my answers lie within the charts. Therefore, I have to collect some samples and do a tally.

I really don’t feel like doing it. I really don’t. I’m quite tired of collecting charts, doing analysis, and doing tallies. But, this is something that could be very helpful for me.

I can whine and complain all day about what I wanna do, and what I don’t wanna do. But your circumstances determine what you will or will not do–not you. I don’t wanna do anymore analysis, but my circumstances dictate that I have to.

I’m finding information that might help me navigate the types of trades that have been ruining me. Why wouldn’t I jump right in??

¨When the distance is unknown, and the ending is unknown, that’s when you find out who you are.¨ -Goggins

[alphahavoc]

@dushimes

I really don’t feel like doing it. I really don’t. I’m quite tired of collecting charts, doing analysis, and doing tallies. But, this is something that could be very helpful for me.

I can completely understand where you’re coming from. Collecting and analyzing data can be a tedious and draining task, but it’s important to remember the potential benefits it can bring. In fact, I can relate to your situation so much that I recently signed up for another FTMO trial challenge myself! The challenge starts next Monday and I know that this spreadsheet will definitely come in handy.

However, I must admit that the process of drawing lines on the charts, scrutinizing them, and manually inputting data into the spreadsheet can be extremely laborious and exhausting. I’m currently in the same boat as you, having only completed about 20% of the work with another 80% left to go. It’s frustrating and exhausting, but we have to push through it to reap the benefits. Hang in there!

[dushimes]

@alphahavoc

we have to push through it to reap the benefits. Hang in there!

Thanks! I appreciate the push!!! Same to you! I wish you the best with the FTMO challenge. How long until you start?

Just looking at your spreadsheet makes me wanna slouch in my chair. haha
But that’s the weak side of me coming out. The strong side should say, ¨ok, bring it on! let’s go!¨ That’s the voice I’m focusing on.

@alphahavoc

having only completed about 20% of the work with another 80% left to go

I’ve heard it’s helpful to sometimes forget about the entire task, and just break it down into manageable piece. You’ve done 20%. Just worry about getting to 40% next. Then 50%. You got this!

The Chinese Bamboo Tree - Les Brown

@alphahavoc What do you do to stay motivated?

[alphahavoc]

I just wanted to reach out and express my heartfelt thanks for the video you shared. It truly touched my heart. The emotions it evoked and the message it conveyed were simply inspiring, and I am so grateful.

A Chinese bamboo tree indeed.

[dushimes]

I’ve been collecting retracement samples for the past week or so. I’ve also collected a few nice practice chart setups.

I’m looking at these retracement samples, and I’m not even sure there’s anything to analyze. Just by collecting samples, I see much the same thing over and over. I pretty much already have the conclusion that I want, without even counting any variables.

Same thing again and again. However, I have noticed something regarding gap candles. So, that might turn into another task.

There are some things TA-wise that I still need to learn to implement my strategy better. But for the most part, I have all the data and charts I need.

At this point, I think it’s all about patience and not allowing fear to disrupt my strategy. That’s all mental. I can keep practicing, just to try to drill in the ideas…but I feel like I’m getting to the point that more data isn’t all that much helpful.

It’s still helpful, but not immensely. More data is more like a polisher. Right now, the game changer for me is patience. That’s my biggest hurdle.

If anything, charts are just something to do. I don’t want to take a break, because I don’t deserve one yet. When I can get some consistent profits, I can just focus on practicing charts, just to keep my mind sharp.

But I don’t need much more information. Statistics and tallies, I’ve got enough of that for now. Now is the time to apply everything, and there’s only one way to do that.

Speed trading is not the live market. It’s a re-creation of past charts, but it’s not the real thing.

[dushimes]

I’m collecting chart samples for retracements. For my strategy it requires being wrong a few times before being right.

I wanted to do some tallies and statistics. However, after looking at all these charts while collecting them, I already know that I have to start trading from the first signal because I don’t know which signal will be the right one. It could be the first one, or the third one.

I collected all these samples, and I already have the answer. Why do I need to continue with any analysis??

I don’t even know. But, I started and I wanna finish. So, I’m still going.

[dushimes]

I’m still analysing my retracement strategy. I’m looking at chart samples, and sometimes I see trades that I could make a killing, and I see other setups that kill ME. Some trades, I’m wrong four times, then I get a nice entry and the trade is very profitable. But sometimes, I’m wrong over 12 times! That’s nonsense!

I’m trying to figure out the difference between the two, but I haven’t found it yet.

However, the simplest and safest strategy for me is the slower one where I’m trading less. To be honest, I like that one better. For one reason, deep down I’m a lazy person. Doing less work is very attractive to me. haha

But that means slower money. Is that such a bad thing considering that there’s less stress involved? Not such a bad trade off I suppose. Slower money, but more certainty, less stress, less work, and less time. Not bad.

Perhaps, I should focus on the slower strategy. The retracement strategy can be rather chaotic. I want less stress, not more.

[dushimes]

I’m thinking about these short-term vs long-term trading strategies of mine. If I miss the ideal entry, I can try to get in with my short-term strategy, but it’s very very tricky. The best thing is to get in at the ideal time, then just wait to see if price starts trending in my favour, or do I get stopped out.

With the ideal entry, there’s just one trade, and I wait to see what happens. With the short-term strategy, I could be wrong four, five, six times before I catch the trend–assuming that I’m reading the trend correctly and that price isn’t doing the random walk in the park (which it could).

So, the retracement strategy has potential, but it’s very risky, very stressful. Jumping in on a moving trend is complicated for me. It really is. I don’t know what kind of random walk price is gonna do. Trying to jump on that trend could be a big waste of money.

Such is the same for pyramiding. I felt pressure from books and such that I have to pyramid. Why do I have to pyramid? I don’t have to do anything! It doesn’t make me a dumber trader. If someone wants to pyramid five times during their trade, well, good for him. I shouldn’t feel pressure from anyone about MY trading. If you wanna pyramid, you go right ahead.

Me, I like to pyramid at the very beginning of the trend, before the random walking starts. If I have a very good entry, why should I risk that?

If I have a so-so profitable entry, and something better comes along, then sure I’ll try taking it.

Just because a professional or well known trader says I should do something, that doesn’t mean I should actually do it. This is a completely individualistic endeavor. No one benefits or suffers from this but me.

[dushimes]

I just looked at a very tricky GBP/JPY chart. The red dragon!

My retracement strategy is more difficult. Looking at a complete chart makes it look so easy. But I think doing it live is overwhelming for me. Price often does things that don’t make sense, and if I sacrificed an early entry for a pyramid position, that would be a shame.

For now, I think I should just try to focus on my long-term strategy and make things easier for myself. Hey, I’m a lazy dude.

[dushimes]

Jeez. I just realized this thread is two years old.

[dushimes]

Sometimes, I just write stuff here as a reminder to myself.

I just had a reoccurring thought: I think it’s more profitable for me to trade at the ideal entry, and just wait to see if the signal was valid or not. That means, I enter the trade, then I leave it alone and wait to see if price hits my SL or not.

As opposed to trying to pyramid later on and taking several losses, trying to figure out which direction price is trying to go.

By the way, I have no closed trades since yesterday.

[dushimes]

I finished my trading. Not much going on.

I continued practicing some charts. I practiced five charts.

The first was just ok. But the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th were horrible. Not because I lost money. I only had one loss each. It was horrible because I missed such a profitable entry. I mean, it was huge. The profit from that trade was so large, that when I saw I missed it, I actually yelled out loud from the shock.

I kept going. I wanted to trade one more chart. Long story short, I traded that one properly.

I saw the set up, and I was trying to decide what to do. Well, I know what I’m seeing, but what if it’s a fakeout and price keeps going instead of reversing?

This time, I showed respect to the signs I was seeing, and it paid off. So, I’m collecting the pictures of the charts that gave me trouble, and I’m gonna review them later.

I’m glad that I got at least one right. I got a small taste of success.

"A small taste of success"

I’m gonna keep practicing later. Right now, I’m going to bed.

[dushimes]

I was practicing trading all weekend, and my results were devastating. Horrible. I pretty much missed all the good trades.

I was wondering why was I doing so poorly. I started thinking that I may need reduce my other activities and devote more time to practicing/studying.

But I realized that more time of doing the same mistakes doesn’t help anything. It’s not more time, necessarily. It’s my process; my thinking.

I looked at my practice charts, and perhaps one problem is that my practice charts are zoomed in. You don’t see the entire picture, and when you can’t see the whole chart, the narrow view can be misleading/confusing.

The weather was pretty nice, so I took a walk outside. I was just walking around outside talking to myself. It so happens I saw a local crazy guy doing the exact same thing. Oh, the irony!

I kept thinking about my trades and setups. I have to keep an eye on the whole picture. I need to know what the recent signals were to give context to the most recent signals.

I went back inside and started reviewing my pictures of complete trades. These pictures show a big picture of the trade I was practicing, as well as the preceding and following price action. I can see what happened before, during, and after.

So, I started studying my completed charts. I spent the next couple hours just staring at charts. No music, no hand exercises. Just staring and analysing the charts and the clues that were present.

¨Why did it do this? Oh, I see. I had to wait until this. There’s a sign there.¨ Trying to understand the movements.

It was helpful. I just have to keep being patient.

[dushimes]

One thing that really gets my wires crosses is when I expect a simple retracement, and then price starts doing all kinds of funky stuff, then price continues in its original direction.

I noticed that sometimes, there are retracements within retracements. There can be swings within swings. It’s pretty wild.