December 2011. results and year end

December

-158 pips
-44 %

Year

- 88 %

Rest of December

 8.
-17 pips

9.
-46 pips
Didn't capture chart.

 16.
+2 pips
 

 21.
-58 pips
  Raging after good start.

First few days of December

1.

+3 pips

Probes on the downside didn't work. Upside was later also limited. I did trade only when I see possible opportunity and didn't bother with rest of it.




2.

- 11 pips

I forgot that I should trade only fast market and skip market like this. Old habits die hard, and when start is wrong I usually keep going same way.


5.

-31 pips

This is brilliant example how bad is it to do things wrong way. Just because I thought that market will break massively I left great scalps on the table. I couldn't believe that I could pick that many good entries one after another.

November 2011. results

-31 %

-108 pips

Nowadays I use my account as some kind of demo platform. I prefer trading with small account to trading imaginary dollars. Emotions are real even if amounts are really small.

My intention is to stabilize my trading. Trading inside my risk boundaries, picking only market that is suitable for me. I still breach discipline, look for home runs and forget not to trade on days that are not fast and directional. Still I'm making some progress, like I accepted daily loss limit (daily stop) and on most days I stick with it. When I breach it, I know I don't want to do that and it's harder and harder to be undisciplined.

Rest of November

21.

-1 pip



22.

+7 pips



23.

-16 pips





25.

Didn't took screenshot, random market, random trading.
-10 pips


29.

+34 pips

Like shooting duck in a barrel. This is the only kind of market I should be trading. Sometimes duck can shoot back, so better to make everything as easy as it can be.

Last week

Finally I started to trade in between boundaries. Limiting my daily downside to acceptable 15 pips or so. Trading last week in those boundaries wasn't fruitful but I'm happy that I stayed with it. Basically it was all scalping in small range and that's hard for me. Exception was Friday when I really wasn't trading but I had charts open doing some profile setup experiments. Price started to fly and I took profitable trade. If I could only wait for that kind of fast momentum driven market and abandon everything else.

14.

-15 pips



15.

-15 pips




16.

-18 pips

Breach of discipline but after I made and lost on that last trade after -15 pips limit I stopped trading and wasn't tempted.



18.

+11 pips

Great market movement for scalping strong and decisive not usual lately.

More of a bad

My disease continues. Numerous losing trades, looking for runs. Very bad scalping. Going against the trend when I don't believe in it or don't see opportunities to go with it. Trading every few seconds so I don't miss any opportunity. In fact I don't see any real opportunities but I can't wait for it. When trading feeling like I'm buying small lottery tickets. Also I don't want to limit myself. Ugly spiral. 19 (-) : 2 (+) trades, ridiculous -88 : +25.

-63 pips

+8 pips

Practice

Let's call this practice or playing around. I wasn't weighted by trying to make money. I just traded like it's demo.
+4 pips

Gamblers Anonymous

Gambling possessed my trading in full.
-34 pips

October 2011. results

+4 pips

-8 %

(size varied a lot)

Spectacular bad trading after being up eighty percent at first part of the month.

More bad trading

I even moved stop because I made it available to do it. Not taking profit, not taking break even. I'm kind of tired of reporting this stuff.

-61 pips

I have trouble controlling myself

From +17 to -26. I had hard time implementing daily stop. As usual chasing imaginary reversal. It isn't even funny anymore.

b/e

Addicted to drama

Still looking for big runs. Had a close eye on daily stop. I even entered territory but didn't want to make of it child's play so I had one more trade. Refused to take scalp profit on many occasions. Didn't want to cover break even for the day after twenty pips loss. That strong was my emotional need for the runaway market. Not good but it will subside and daily stop will stay, so something good out of difficult situation.

b/e

My trading is flawed

It's crystallized now that I have another compulsive behavior in trading. First there was averaging (adding new position in the direction of previous that is in the loss) I averaged and averaged, there wasn't day without it. Somehow I managed to leave it behind by trading full margin (so there is nothing to average with any more). Then came moving stops (widening). I couldn't stand stop being hit, so from small initial stop some trades run to five times bigger stops. Now I compulsively enter so many trades and take small losses on them all in the anticipation of big run. Big run that will cover all those stops and make some profit on top. So again today I had 22 losing trades in a row and one scratch. Average loss on them was 3.7 pips, you do the math. That's simply unacceptable.

I need to abandon trading without clear setups. All this today were anticipatory trades in which I try to catch big move. I don't have clear scalp setups. There are no setups that I see or wish to take, but I trade anyway. Sometimes that big move comes and all is golden, but on days of smaller range there is no real move. So I'm left with my numerous small losses. That is not the way I want to trade.

So finally I decided to use max daily loss of around twenty pips. It's not to prevent big losing days, but to prevent my mind from looking for that saviour trade. It wouldn't matter if it comes or not because it will be to late. It will be unpleasant at first, but that's the point. I expect that it will hurt so I will not do it again. I really don't have a problem with getting stopped on a trade in which I believed and get daily stop that way. But if those nonsense trades bring daily stop I will be probably enough frustrated to be wiser next day.

-47 pips

Cautious day

Very cautious today with this out of nowhere move. Few scalps and bye bye.

+21 pips

Madness

I didn't capture chart on time so only madness shown on 5min chart. In first red part I had 33 losing trades and one scratch. I really need to limit my downside somehow effectively for me to banish this kind of days.
All started when there was downside spike that took my stop. I was immediately short but didn't take profit of around ten pips on that one. I was looking for epic break down. Well it turned to be fake move, market reversed but I didn't reverse my beliefs. I knew that I was wrong from very start but that's spiral of death when you can't acknowledge something and you press on doing wrong thing. I didn't trade chart or market but my false idea that maybe market will turn back down. But anyway it's not the way to trade in the first place, looking for some home run, just to cover losses.
On few occasions I didn't take 30 pips profit when I had it. That strong was my madness.

-81 pips

2-way market

Hard to trade. Nasty jumps of eight pips in a second. I burned out waiting for something to happen.

+6 pips

Great session

Win by win I managed to climb up to thirty pips of profit. Then I had minor psychological meltdown. On next trade I lost and then I didn't trade the market but my p&l, trying to get back to the highs. So I managed to lose around twenty pips on next three trades. I couldn't close those losing position at small loss, but had to leave them to take out full stop. Fourth trade after those losses could easily be another loss but it turned out a win and my mind went back in normal predatory mode.

+41 pips

Quitting while ahead

Nasty little losses made negative whole session until the last trade. At first I was very close to throwing down the towel after -25 pips in five pip range. I was afraid that emotions will kick in. After next winning trade things were easier but not too easy.

+10 pips

Sneaky and weak market

This kind of market can drive break out trade mad. All there is are false starts of a move.

+5 pips

Corrective move

It took me long time to realize that I can make something on the down side. It started slow as were up side probes so I didn't believe it's potential at first and then it's hard to enter thinking it could stop any moment. It did get some real momentum on the bursts to the down side so I was able to take scalps.

+20 pips

Trading for the buzz

At first too many trades for the buzz and not for profit. I started late and then didn't have proper setups so I imagined things. After twenty plus pips loss I made it all back plus 15 or so pips of profit with that gbp/usd trade around 11:00. Then I made mistake of continuing to trade. It went pretty much downhill. I finished the day with forty pips loss or so. I had to go to work. There I opened charts to capture screens for blog and started trading again. At least I was concentrated. Too bad I had to close last long at the trendline around 15:50 because I had to move from screen. But move up started and scalping brought positive day.

+3 pips

Scared of profit

After my first trade I got scared of profit. So I entered some garbage shorts into strong uptrend. After that I came back to zone and managed to take few great trades. Finally after 10:50 high I started over-trading. Addicted to good emotion that I had previously while I was in profitable trades. At 11:35 things changed, price started to move differently. Somehow my last trade wasn't stopped and finally price flew to new high taking my intraday profit back to the highest point.
Movements of price in first part were very nice and friendly so I could enter with ease.

+36 pips

Healthy profit

Ugly market movements on small time frames last few days. Today also. On my first trade 2-3 pips slippage and fast stop loss. I held my second trade even it didn't look so bright at the start. I thought that at least I have a trade with good entry and it's questionable will I get another opportunity to get in at reasonable chart point. It could go south any moment. Then forty pips in minute move came (there is no entry for that except some limit order). Now I had to decide where to exit. It's hard when at one moment there is fifty pips profit and seconds later it's thirty five. On next push weekend gap down was filled around 385 but it wasn't so strong to go through round figure so I took my profits before market change it's mind.

+51 pips

September 2011. results

+40 pips

+1%

(size varied a lot so only small percentage up relative to pip gain)

Break even month in which on second day my account was at -50 % intraday and followed +100 % move in next four trading days.

Out of phase

It was hard for me to figure out good trades and direction. I guess my general view was bearish and market was retracing at the time from the lows. Two good entries helped to finish positive.

+13 pips

Difficult day

I didn't lose temper but it was hard to make profitable trades. At the end buying spikes to the downside and quick exits saved the day and dig me from -22 pips hole.

+11 pips

German court ruling

+22 pips

Radical forex move

Again forex day when I can say that I didn't know that this was even possible. I was trading eur/chf because of it's bullishness and made nice profit. Minute later after the radical move I was able to enter eur/usd and make some profit there as well.

Oanda for some time had hiccup and didn't update price nor chart on eur/chf betwen 1.1760 and 1.2100

+106 pips

Mini blow up

You my wonder how I not quit with this trading game when I have ridiculous days like this, how I'm not fed up to the point of leaving it all behind me?
My answer is that if we put money aside I really like discovering hidden rooms of my own psyche that get opened this way. Money on account is small now so I'm not getting killed financially. There are many interesting points for me to think about after today. Like why I'm so inclined to trade so impatiently with fear that I will lose opportunity? After I lose some and decide that I lost opportunity is that self aggression from that point (after yellow mark)?
In hindsight I was holding my ground until those two stops at 10:40. Five pip stop with 4 pip spread wasn't enough by just few pips. Then I lost it. I was buying and got stopped out. Then after some point it was obvious if I get bounce it wouldn't mean a thing, but I kept buying and getting stopped. Maybe getting bottom is ego thing (probably like getting top), so if I get it I wouldn't feel so bad?

-100 pips

Not good

Approaching markets too lightly not taking it serious as it should be. I have energy and focus to take myself out of the deep holes, that kind of thinking is needed in the first place to make profit. It's example of trading not to lose. Lack of attitude of trading to win.
-12 pips

August 2011. results

+165 pips

+64 %

From longer term trades to trading drunk in the middle of the night, then some good scalping to bad trading and gambling. Interesting August.

Gambling

Yesterday I was telling myself that it's enough of drama. But I'm probably lying to myself. Today it was all about excitement and tension again. First I was at -43 pips with unsuccessful trades and then I covered that and earned big when gamble payed off.

+49 pips

Bad day

Locked in in my mind patterns and emotions. Recovered third of a loss in the end. Just three positive trades today show desperation that I was in. Totally lost.

It's hard to break out of the cycle when you are in the middle of it. Later I can only look at the chart in wonder.

-61 pips

Forex brokers spread comparison

I've had valid comment and question from PRD trader about brokers on last post. I answered that Oanda can't be beat in spread for small trader. Then I realized that it was true before but is it now? So I look around and found nice web aplication by FX Intelligence for live spread comparison for various forex brokers.

On first view Oanda looks totally uncompetitive. But you need to get little deeper to see is that so. For example MB trading that is known broker (at least for me) have spread plus two way routing fee. It's great for someone that uses limit orders, preferably on in and out of position because you get paid back on limit orders and you lower your cost. I do not, so Oanda is still better. Then I decided to check FXOpen that had very competitive spread in comparison table. But on their site they state that spread is fixed to 2 pips on eur/usd. And guess what I read something there that induced me to write this post. It states: "Scalping With limitations. (1) Stop Loss, Take Profit and Pending Orders 10 pips or more away from the current price; 2) Most of the trades must be open for more than 1 minute".
No comment needed.

In comparison with big forex brokers like FXCM and Forex.com Oanda have best spread. In last 12 days average for normal hours 1.3 vs. 2.2 or 2.8.

At the end of my investigation I found out that you can chose to show data with commission included on that site. Then Oanda is around the top of the list even if spread now in Europe morning is 1.4 pips. Some other brokers have spread higher then 4, 5 or 6 pips. Go figure.
While I wrote this post spread came to 1.1 pips and Oanda is at the top if we exclude Alpari Direct with Currenex, that is certainly not broker for me.

So conclusion is that I'm pleased with Oanda from the first day and that I'm grateful that there is broker like that. I can scalp, spread is tight, I like their charts, they are fair and transparent.

Two part session

I missed initial morning run up and movements slowed down. Trading in range didn't gave good results because I was hoping for continuation of the move up. After some time I quit trading with small loss of around eight pips for a day.
My charts were open and sudden sell of started. I really didn't have any idea what was going on. After my entry I realized that Oanda widened spread from 1.2 to 5 pips but market continued down and spread came to normal. I was thinking that maybe this is start of some major thing but selling dried off. Some more classic scalping for another push down and it all gave nice profit for a day.

Later I read at 4CAST News: "A US investment house has been a good seller of EUR/USD in the last hour or so, taking out Russian and Middle East buying reported first thing."
It's interesting how marked sometimes can be moved fifty pips by one entity selling.

+27 pips