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2010 Trade Journal

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Mr J

Joined
28 March 2009
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I'm starting this because I've barely made any effort so far this year, and a public journal might keep me honest. I've had about 20 opportunities, and taken just 2. As for my method, I trade support and resistance without much discretion. I should average a trade a day, and these will tend to be posted as orders, rather than trades just made. For now I will only posted forex trades, and likely only EUR/USD.
 
It's probably going to be disappointingly simple and unsophisticated :.

You haven't pulled the trigger on trades you found?
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Pretty much. Part of it is because I currently have no routine, and the other part is hesitation since I can't really afford a rough patch (I know ). I've had both of these problems before I got into trading, and they're stupid problems to have because they're easy to fix. All I have to do is force myself to trade and get into a routine. This thread will help with that.

Each post I'll keep track of my open orders and trades, including entry prices, stops, and targets if there are any. For now all trades are on the EUR/USD. The aim is to ride trends with large positions build by pyramiding. I've said I trade support and resistance, but it's really just how I trade trends.

SL = stop loss and TP = target profit.

Order
Short 1.43.
SL 1.435.

No target profit. My overall bias is short, so I'm looking to hold and build a short position. I have no idea though, so I won't cling to my bias if it's not working. There probably won't be much thought in my posts, because I don't think much about my trades.
 
Wow, this section should be renamed "Trade Strategies/Systems and Journals"

Looking forward to it aswell J, how long have you been using this method? Do you only trade EUR/USD? Or others as well and only posting that? Only Forex?
 
I think this could really be a runner and hence, one to go for a pyramiding trade on pullbacks as you are looking for.

That being said, and as this is a review thread, I think an entry at the retest of 144 would have been much better for you, with the first pyramid at 143.

Why 144? Because overall I am bullish on USD. Not only is it looking way overdone, many major markets are looking toppy and oil as usual, was the first one to show this and has frontran it accordingly. You had comments out of a manager at the Chinese Soverign Wealth fund backing this up, saying they like USD from here, but then tried to hide his comments with further comments after the markets initially reacted (don't think he expected this reaction), so he subsequently dug himself into a hole trying to say it was only 'his opinion', his first comments were obviously true (that is they think gold etc are too expensive at these levels and like a long USD) and it was not just rhetoric as could be assumed if he just left the original comments be.

You then had a push up on high volume to hit a previous swing low 6 days ago, and a consolidation for 3 days, followed by a break below that candle (daily) that pushed up on the high volume. Hence, a short at the re-test of this level at 144 was a good entry to me, considering it was also a support zone at the swing low and the bigger picture showed weakness as explained above.

A few thoughts, hope that makes sense.
 
I've been using it for a few months. I guess it would be called position trading, and it interested me in maybe July-August, but I ignored it in favour of shorterm trading. I was thinking shorterm was best due to quantity, but staring at a screen doesn't really agree with me, and the commissions and spread I'd have to cover don't maximise my chance of success.

I'm trading forex because I don't have much capital, and forex allows for extremely flexible trade size. The EUR/USD is just my default market. I still watch the other main pairs, oil, gold, index futures etc, and will get into them when capital allows. Still unsure how to deal with correlation. Focusing on a single market removes that complication, and watching other markets will allow me to get some bearing on it over time.

That being said, and as this is a review thread, I think an entry at the retest of 144 would have been much better for you, with the first pyramid at 143.
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I agree, and would you believe I placed an order for a 1.4410 short 24 hours before that drop? I cancelled it yesterday arvo or evening. I should've also had a short at 1.43 today, and these two trades were the final straw for me.
 
Mr J said:
I agree, and would you believe I placed an order for a 1.4410 short 24 hours before that drop? I cancelled it yesterday arvo or evening. I should've also had a short at 1.43 today, and these two trades were the final straw for me.
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Ah, no good.

As for what to watch in managing the trade, would be high volume coming in here which could signal a false break if that volume is not accompanied by a real quick push lower......
 
Short order at 1.4210. Might've been tempted by that first retrace to 1.4220ish if I was around. Bit of a bummer to miss shorting 1.45, 1.44 and 1.43, but can't live in the past.
 
Mr J said:
Short order at 1.4210. Might've been tempted by that first retrace to 1.4220ish if I was around. Bit of a bummer to miss shorting 1.45, 1.44 and 1.43, but can't live in the past.
Click to expand...

so did you end up finding a trade last night?
 
Mr J said:
No trade.
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fair enough. Good luck with the journal, hope you pick up a few runners soon

What timeframe charts do you trade BTW? I think I remember you saying you traded off hourlies or something like that a while ago but not quite sure??
 
Thanks. Runners would be good (=$$$$$) . I trade the 4h to the weeklies, but use the 15min-1hr charts as well for a clearer picture for the shorterm.
 
Mr J said:
I'm trading forex because I don't have much capital, and forex allows for extremely flexible trade size.
Click to expand...

Could you not take out smaller contract sizes (minis) so you don't have to miss out on trades? That way, once the trade runs in your favour, you could increase position size?

Have you tried trading the Aussie SPI (I thought that's what you were doing last year)? You could perhaps build your capital that way
 
The margin maintenance is too high. If I had a lot more capital and was taking smaller entries it would be fine, but can't really pyramid across multiple markets with my current capital and trade size. I like the eur/usd, and think it can provide enough opportunity for good results, at least for as long as I'm trading it aggressively. But then with the correlation in the markets, I'm not sure how different it would be in the big picture.
 
Took a small short but aggressive short at 1.4130. I'm half-expecting this one to bounce up, but we'll see. My levels have worked time and time again, so it's about time I trust them.
 
Mr J said:
Took a small short but aggressive short at 1.4130. I'm half-expecting this one to bounce up, but we'll see. My levels have worked time and time again, so it's about time I trust them.
Click to expand...

Stop?
 
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