Hi, My name is Joe and I have traded the FX markets for several years off and on. A little over a year ago, I emptied all but $100.00 from my FXCM account and decided to challenge myself to take the account to something substantial. I set no time table and no “goal” as far as what I wanted to turn this $100 account into. I just wanted to see if I could follow a set of trading rules for an extended period of time and see where it leads.
I’ve seen many traders post on forums over the years that they are going to attempt to turn “X” dollars into “X” dollars over “X” period of time…99% of them fade out after a few weeks or months. I decided to wait one full year before getting active on some of the forums I lurk on, just in case I fell flat on my face!
This is more a journey to learn about myself. This is about patience, tenacity and discipline. It’s about learning my strengths and weakness as a trader and a person. So far it had been interesting and I have learned quite a bit!
In this thread I will begin to post my results daily so that anyone interested can follow along. My info is also on myfxbook.com. Just a quick explanation for those that are interested in following from “Day 1”
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I started with $100 on November 21, 2011. I switched to an FXCM micro account in March 2012. Unfortunately I do not have a trade history for that period to put on myfxbook. But at that time I was +44%
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The account peaked in August 20, 2012 at $821.00…this was a 721% gain. Wooo hooo!
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I had a 60% DD from that point , taking the balance to $328.00 I stopped trading on September 21 2012, that DD fried my brain and i got really busy with my “real job”.
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I took an 8 month layoff from trading. I came back with the main goal of keeping DD’s below 25%. I realize this will slow my growth rate, but capital preservation needs to come first.
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I resumed trading on May 14, 2013 with the balance at $328.00, the account is currently at about $600.00, the account is up about 82% since I started back
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So far max DD has been contained to about 15%…this is the goal.
A couple months ago I met a gentleman named Nick McDonald at LiveForexTrading.info thru his live trading room. I was invited by Nick to become a forum moderator, which I was very flattered by. Since that time I have been very active on his forum, if you want to learn more about me you can check out Nick’s forum. I’ll be posting my daily trades here on BabyPips, but it will be too much to post everything I post at Nick’s site on all the forums I am a member of. I’ll just be posting a journal here at BabyPips.
Here is where I stand after 54 full weeks of trading:
500% overall gain
721% peak high
2 - 60% draw downs
Original Account fxbook
Current MT4 $100 Challenge Account
I also began trading this on a $50K FXCM MT4 demo account. I am using an MT4 trade-copy EA to copy trades placed on my the FXCM 50K demo to my live FXCM Micro Account.
50K Demo Master Account
I’ll go ahead and post my last week of trading. Looking forward to what this coming year has in store!
Happy Trading!
Joe
Missed an earlier GBP setup, but took a shot at a CHF short setup…price action is HORRIBLE this AM, so I decided to take the quick 14 pips.
I have a basket of long NZD in the works right now. Update you when they close!
Happy Trading!
Joe
Well, I had to work my tail off to milk about 8 more pips…the NZD long position just were not producing even with NZD slowly but steadily moving up on the SM. I pick off what I could then closed out NZDCHF and GBPNZD for small losses, only to watch them finally move in my directions 5 minutes later…don’t ya just hate when that happens?..hehehe
All in all I am more than happy to go into the clubhouse with almost 22 pips. Maybe tomorrow we get a bit better price action!
Happy Trading!
Joe
GBP moved down sharply this AM and saw an opportunity to get in on some ATR trades…Because price action is horrendous and GBP is close to giving me a short signal on the 4HR, I entered with caution, and was only looking for a total of 10-15 pips between the three positions I took against CAD, EUR and CHF…CAD had confluence with R1, so I felt good about that and got a quick 4.4 pips that I took off the table. Once I hit my profit target I took EURGBP and GBPCHF off the table as well for a total 11.2 pips. There is not much to be had out there folks, and I wont apologize for becoming a scalper these last few sessions…when the volatility and ranges increase we can maybe get more pips until then this will be my strategy:
Here is a screenshot of the Dymanic ATR indicator…notice that GBPCAD was projected almost to the pip…I see that almost daily! EG and GCHF were within 2 pips and 4 pips respectively!..I love that indy!
Happy Trading!
Joe
Took a basket of GBP shorts on a 4HR signal. Those dont come along as often, maybe twice per month on each currency and I usually let them run for a bit. But with conditions as they have been I took a quick 40 pips…not bad considering GBPJPY was a 23 pips loss…
With 51.8 pips on the day, I can sit back, relax and watch from the sidelines!
Happy Trading!
Joe
Well I thought I was done for the day…lol!
I got a very rare signal when USD went on a rampage post Consumer Confidence…this signal called for me to short USD across the board…so I took positions on all 7 USD crosses that I monitor…I did not take this one the signal account as I felt it was a bit too risky, perhaps next time I will with reduced position size.
Ended up closing all 7 at once for close to 50 pips…98 on the day…all 7 trades were winners…wooo hooo…get to pad them stats!
Im done for the day for real this time…hehehe
Happy Trading!
Joe
Well sometimes it’s better to be lucky than to be good…at least for the subscribers of the Turtle Forex signal.
This morning I reluctantly took a JPY short (buy GBPJPY but the reason was to be short JPY not so much long GBP). I have a real hard time mentally as far as taking JPY short signals. Two reasons for this are:
- I have made quite of few pips the last couple months on the long side of JPY…It’s so ingrained in my head that JPY is a good currency to be long on that I fight the short signals.
- JPY does tend to give false short signals. And sometime run up like crazy…that makes me a bit skittish.
That being said, I took the signal at 148.65. However the trade did not copy to my slave account…I contacted Nick and it was because I had changed my password on the master account…Me being the knucklehead that I am did not realize this effected things on Nicks end. Nick quickly took care of the issue (These guys are awesome…cant say enough about the service Nick and Will provide)…the good news was GJ unexpecdedly droped and subscriber got a much better fill than the master account. long story short…when I hit my target I got out…I was a bit shaken by 1) that GJ had moved against me…2) that I had made such a dumb mistake with the master.
Part of me wanted to hold out on the master…but “Stats” are not as important as pips for my clients…so I am happy with my decision to exit…if you look at the chart, you will see that I would have got my pips either way. A win for my customers is all that matters…
I always try to reflect on trades like this…I posed on Nicks site what was going thru my head here:
Trading Psychology
Maybe we get a chance later for more pips…but I may sit out until the dust settles after GDP and FOMC
Happy Trading!
Joe
It’s nice when I can have the faith in my set up to play the same currency in both directions on the same day…even if I did not trade either side perfect.
Got a nice buy setup for JPY and took positions in AUDJPY, EURJPY and CHFJPY…took a quick few pips off the table with AJ, held EJ and CJ through FOMC…more or less got the expected response post FOMC, but today I was not 100% on my game…I closed out both EJ and CJ early…but managed to net 9 pips on the basket giving us 21 pips on the day…all in all not bad for a day where I definitely was not running on all 8 cylinders. I left a good 40-50 pip out there for sure.
Looks like we are going to end July up on both the Master and $100 Challenge accounts…Looking forward to a great August!
Happy Trading!
Joe
Congrats to my subscribers…we are off to a great August!
Took a 4HR signal to buy USD in London this AM…went to bed early (I’m in Florida, USA) and woke up early so to get a feel for the market pre BoE/ECB…I am not a news trader and I really disregard fundys in my entry decisions, buy have full respect for them…Some may question my going into an event risk heavy USD and my answer is simple…because it gave a signal that is probably 85-90% reliable. How much do I trust this signal?
- I hate trading USD, have a short bias towards it fundamentally and got a signal to buy
- We had event risk news on the horizon
My feelings were that between getting a very reliable signal and the fact that we have NFP tomorrow, that only a surprise would have a major effect on used…and most likely if there was a surprise it would be to USD benefit
This signal potentially will yield a lot of pips over the next 24 hours…I was happy to take 86 into the clubhouse and be able to relax and prepare for tomorrow.
Happy Trading!
Joe
Turtle Forex.net
There was a nice scalp set up for AUDJPY this afternoon so I took it for 8 pips…:57:
GPB set up beautifully on the SM for an across-the-board short play. The only issue was that I missed the “optimal” entry by about 30 minutes…was still in bed. However GBP was still at a good enough level that I felt 25-50 pips on a basket was very likely so I entered 5 positions, at a reduced size. GBP did what I expected and I closed out the basket for 33.8 pips…not bad for 17 minutes of work…
With NFP on the horizon, that will be all for me today…I’ll spend the rest of the morning chatting and cheering for AMP, TA and the rest of the LFT team!
Have a great weekend!
Joe
www.turtleforex.net
Well again I thought I was done…but there was an opportunity for quick pips after a disappointing NFP print. Long story short I felt USD took an unfair beating so I waited for it to settle and went long USD on 5 pairs…got 30.8 quiick pips…as you can see I could have got MUCH more…but I was not expecting to trade and this was more a trade based on my “gut” and experience so I was happy for the 30 “Christmas pips” and have no regrets on leaving pips on the table for this trade:
Have a great weekend!
Joe
Turtle Forex
Well folks I know I felt I was done for the day…twice…but when certain high-percentage set-ups present themselves I dont consider taking a shot over trading.
A beautiful NZD long set-up materialized so I decided to take a shot at EURNZD and GBPNZD…two very volitile pairs that I happen to love trading…if you trade these crazy guys for a couple day, trading EURUSD will feel like trading in slow motion…hehehe
Long story short…22.6 pips in 5 minutes…the set upp did not lie, both of these pairs have gone another 25+ pips in my direction since exit.
But what is really cool is that these trades put the TurtleForex $100 Challenge at 500%! Just 3 weeks ago we were at about 400%. Keep in mind folks these gains are being made trading just one micro-lot, which shows you dont need to over leverage yourself to make great gains. It only requires discipline, patience and good money management.
Have a great weekend (again…hehehehe)
Joe
Today was a bit of a battle, need to place some recovery trades, but all things considered, it was a good day!
Todays theme was long NZD and CHF and short GBP…they really gave me a wrestling match, but no single position went more the 40 pips against us and it just required some patience and some well timed recovery trades…I tried to look for pairs to “trade around” the other positions, but I just did not see anything so I added to existing positions
Overall got about 100 pips, so not a bad day!
Happy Trading!
Joe
Got another one of those rare signals to short NZD across the board. I am getting more confident with my trading and was able to short NZD after being long earlier without reservation. I am very pleased with how I handled this trade and if you have followed my posts you know I am very critical of my performance.
It was a big day overall, about 175 pips total and a great start to the week!
Happy Trading
Joe
Markets were not offering much in early trading and I missed a USD buy signal…Just when I was thinking the day would see me on the sidelines, EUR took off and then offered a nice opportunity to short. I played this one a bit different and in hindsight could have been a bit more selective in my entries instead of shorting EUR “across the board”. Had a little trouble closing out ECHF which caused me to accidentally close EU, overall it cost us about 9 pips, but with 47.1 pips overall on the “EUR Short” trade, let’s not complain…
Happy Trading
Joe
Played a EUR short basket that worked out well for about 75 pips total…Then had that rare signal (which is not so rare these last few days) on GBP. That is a “Short across the board” signal, GBP not only gave the signal, but advanced to levels I have not seen on the SM (for GBP)…this made me cautious about going in two deep, so I played USD, NZD and JPY, took a quick 22 pips or so (4 minute trade) and closed them out. Decent morning, 97.7 pips…
Happy Trading!
Joe
Got to do the first live screen cast of a trade set up and with a little help from some poor employment numbers from Australia we got got to bag 95 pips! I took an AUD short signal well before news as AUD had run itself up in early Asian trading. Now I am always aware of news coming out but generally dont let it stop me from taking a signal…I always have a plan in place for trades that may not go my way, regardless of what drives it.
So, I will admit to getting a bit lucky on this…it could have gone the other way, and had it we would have taken the JPY buy signals, and you see how well they would have done…so I think we would have come out of this in good shape either way…but not sense in thinking about what “could” have happened…all I care about it what DID happen…we made 95 pips…
Happy Trading!
Joe
Well guys I exited the AUD longs for bout 11 pips total. Since I took the time to explain why I was getting in, I am now going to explain the reason for an early exit…
My reason for entering this trade was based on a few assumptions
- That AUD momentum would continue…that’s normally how these 4 HR trades go, we buy into strength. This was the primary reason for entry.
- JPY would weaken…it had already made its highs and appeared to me that it was beginning its cycle down
- Continued USD weakness…USD had also gave a 4 hr sell signal, so I was very confident about getting a move in our direction with this one.
All we really got was USD weakness. AUD had hit 60 on the Strength Meter last night, retraced and never made it above 58 while we were in the trade. JPY Strength persisted.
AUD strength was the “theme”. That is what I was counting on to propel the trade…any weakness in the cross should have only provided an extra “boost”.
Now I truly think that thing will end up where we thought. But I also know anything can happen and on the 15 minute charts it appeared to me that it was not worth the risk to remian in the trade…so I tool the 10.9 pips and called it a wrap. Even if this goes on to where I thought, better to err on the side of caution. There will be plenty of other opportunities.
Happy Trading!
Joe
Well it had to end at some point.
After 19 straight winning days I have finally had to close one in the loss column. And of all currencies it was an AUD short signal, which up until now has been hands down the safest short signal to take.
I took the typical 15 minute signal, it took about 45 minutes and AUD made a nice move down and I felt that this would surely be another winning trade…with no market moving news due out I felt there was nothing to stop AUD from completing the typical pattern. However AUD showed not only resilience, but flat out strength…I was able to pull AUDJPY off the table for 10.5 pips but then AUD went on a run that showed no sign of letting up. This is why it is so important to have a trade plan. AUD had taken out its daily ranges on CHF, EUR and GBP…with only USD remaining, the plan was to wait to see if AUDUSD hit its range on USD and if so if we got a meaningful reversal then I was going to consider entering recovery positions and try to reduce losses and maybe even close with profit if we got a nice reversal. AUD did finally take out it range on USD…but it only paused a bit then proceeded to take out resistance on the Strength Meter. At that point I felt the best thing to do was cut the trade. My equity stop had we entered recovery positions was .0075 (3/4 of a percent)…we got out at -.59% which wound up being a good decision as AUD moved up strong and even without recovery positions would have stopped out at .0075.
Even though we lost on this one I feel I managed the trade well. My primary concern is protection of capital so that we live to fight another day and I feel I did a good job with that… Monday will be business as usual…
We still ended the week up on the Conservative Growth account and we are at +.78% for the month. The Challenge account is up 2.8% this week and 5.9% for the month…
Have a great weekend!
Joe
