Barney's Ballsups

[barney]

Looks like a similar play this week as last, a quiet start as the big push plays out before the fades start.?

Another good call Cogs

Week so far...

Been happy with it, sticking to my rules and waiting... allowing trades to hit TP.

The two losses
Gold last night was a decent set up so can't fault it...

Highlighted a couple of your points Joe ..... I did one particular trade last night on the Dax which lost. I reviewed it this morning and I was happy with the analysis/entry etc. so even though it lost it didn't feel like a mistake like many trades do

Its frustrating when "good" trades go bad, but its just part of the business.

 

[barney]

Amongst all my Ballsups I do get a few good ones ...Halleluiah!!

Got on the SPI200 tonight as everything else was weakening. I think there is more downside in it but decided to close it out. Might leave a trawling Limit Sell at around 75% above todays current low although I don't expect a fill on that.

 

[>Apocalypto<]

Another good call Cogs



Highlighted a couple of your points Joe ..... I did one particular trade last night on the Dax which lost. I reviewed it this morning and I was happy with the analysis/entry etc. so even though it lost it didn't feel like a mistake like many trades do

Its frustrating when "good" trades go bad, but its just part of the business.

Hey Barn,

yeh that tests you.... hard to watch a nice ent go sour... while your mind is yelling (flip flip flip- make money you cant lose!)

Hey top stuff on the SPI trade, there were a few testing points before it dropped well done on holding your gut.

Well I had some ballsups on Thursday and Friday... for whatever reason on Thursday night.. I decided it would be a good idea to double my trade size... well that was mistake #1

Mistake #2 decided to take a gold trade off a blow down move with a 50 cent plus stop... put it at 40 cents and GLD rallied right a way to test the high... I was so emotional due to the double risk i failed to see that real short set up... lost $86 on that trade.

Mistake #3trade ent was good but double size was not.. sold WTI this one worked out but i was thinking made worried about blowing through all my wins so i closed it early for 13 pts when it ended up doing what i thought it would and moving down 50 pts...

Mistake 4 took the Gold sell in mistake 2 but midway through the hour... closed early again for 28..pts.
In between this took 3 more incorrect trades didn't hold or wait... small losses and a small win

Overall I was very lucky not to have had a real disaster. Lost 46pts that day... balance 707

Friday went back to 1 and made a withdrawal for 200 in case I really lost it.

So my stupid mind was still there just waiting to come out later that night... first trade good one sold gold but did i hold it no i closed for 20pts then i decided it was a good idea to buy in a freakin range down trend lost 40 pts so stupid cuz when a blow down bar stopped me out i could see sell signal all over the previous bar... I thought i should stop due to that act of stupidity... but i didn't.

so i regrouped had a good think about what i had done for an hour... (charts off) saw an entry on WTI set up took the long... that was a win for 37... acc back to 506 after being in drawdown first time in weeks...

so it's never far away... IMO i am just lucky the damage was so low.... trading is all upstairs that's it

watching GLD atm for a long set up to come along.

 

[>Apocalypto<]

Hey Barn,

yeh that tests you.... hard to watch a nice ent go sour... while your mind is yelling (flip flip flip- make money you cant lose!)

Hey top stuff on the SPI trade, there were a few testing points before it dropped well done on holding your gut.

Well I had some ballsups on Thursday and Friday... for whatever reason on Thursday night.. I decided it would be a good idea to double my trade size... well that was mistake #1

Mistake #2 decided to take a gold trade off a blow down move with a 50 cent plus stop... put it at 40 cents and GLD rallied right a way to test the high... I was so emotional due to the double risk i failed to see that real short set up... lost $86 on that trade.

Mistake #3trade ent was good but double size was not.. sold WTI this one worked out but i was thinking made worried about blowing through all my wins so i closed it early for 13 pts when it ended up doing what i thought it would and moving down 50 pts...

Mistake 4 took the Gold sell in mistake 2 but midway through the hour... closed early again for 28..pts.
In between this took 3 more incorrect trades didn't hold or wait... small losses and a small win

Overall I was very lucky not to have had a real disaster. Lost 46pts that day... balance 707

Friday went back to 1 and made a withdrawal for 200 in case I really lost it.

So my stupid mind was still there just waiting to come out later that night... first trade good one sold gold but did i hold it no i closed for 20pts then i decided it was a good idea to buy in a freakin range down trend lost 40 pts so stupid cuz when a blow down bar stopped me out i could see sell signal all over the previous bar... I thought i should stop due to that act of stupidity... but i didn't.

so i regrouped had a good think about what i had done for an hour... (charts off) saw an entry on WTI set up took the long... that was a win for 37... acc back to 506 after being in drawdown first time in weeks...

so it's never far away... IMO i am just lucky the damage was so low.... trading is all upstairs that's it

watching GLD atm for a long set up to come along.

Happy to report mind is back to normal... traded very well tonight... after my first take 35 cents gold win i started stops to BE once 20 up was shown.. first wti hit my stop for +2 and i just took Profit of 10pts decent return to form tonight.

waited picked them stuck with them and held my gut while in them... most trades over 2 hours in hold.

feeling a lot better but just have to keep it going. will be making one more with drawal this week and a new deposit to have the acc at 1K then moving to $2 a tick.

 

[barney]

Well I had some ballsups on Thursday and Friday...
Overall I was very lucky not to have had a real disaster. Lost 46pts that day... balance 707

Friday went back to 1 and made a withdrawal for 200 in case I really lost it.

So my stupid mind was still there just waiting to come out later that night... first trade good one sold gold but did i hold it no i closed for 20pts then i decided it was a good idea to buy in a freakin range down trend lost 40 pts so stupid cuz when a blow down bar stopped me out i could see sell signal all over the previous bar... I thought i should stop due to that act of stupidity... but i didn't.

so i regrouped had a good think about what i had done for an hour... (charts off) saw an entry on WTI set up took the long... that was a win for 37... acc back to 506 after being in drawdown first time in weeks...

so it's never far away... IMO i am just lucky the damage was so low.... trading is all upstairs that's it .

I know that self sabotage feeling well unfortunately, but recognising why the trades go wrong is half the battle. Definitely agree the mindset has to be in sync with the trading otherwise it feel like:1zhelp:

Happy to report mind is back to normal... traded very well tonight... after my first take 35 cents gold win i started stops to BE once 20 up was shown.. first wti hit my stop for +2 and i just took Profit of 10pts decent return to form tonight.

waited picked them stuck with them and held my gut while in them... most trades over 2 hours in hold.

feeling a lot better but just have to keep it going. will be making one more with drawal this week and a new deposit to have the acc at 1K then moving to $2 a tick.

Good to get it back on track

Speaking of self sabotage ..... After a couple of good days, back to my bad habits tonight ..... Large draw down off the back of some poor Futs trades ... fortunately only on my small account so no real damage, but very frustrating doing the same dumb things when I should know better

 

[>Apocalypto<]

Speaking of self sabotage ..... After a couple of good days, back to my bad habits tonight ..... Large draw down off the back of some poor Futs trades ... fortunately only on my small account so no real damage, but very frustrating doing the same dumb things when I should know better

Hey Barn....

Maybe (some of what i did) pick a couple markets and just follow them. I used to allow myself three trades in a session for me that was about 6-8 hours of market time. Write down your rules... in point form. Before you take trade tick off that it meets all your points. Only allowing three trades can force you to make them good... i did that for a while, really helped. i still go over my ent rules all the time

The set up you're looking for try to make it black and white. this why you can say no sorry that's not it... moving along now.

you will notice i use an ATR this is what its purpose is.. it's a instant yes or no. if it's pointing down no trade for me I only take a trade when the ATR is pointing up or at a flat point and about to go up. i try to use it as a volatility cycle. Then i tick off other rules.

but sticking to one/2 markets on a sightly higher time frame might help. the plan was once i was ready to and had the cash to get back into a bigger acc 10K plus i would trade 2 min CL again but now with how the 1 hour is going.. i will be staying on that time frame. more points per win, less trades but it requires more discipline to wait for good set ups.

not trying to push u anywhere or tell you what to do, i just find the smaller time frames very hard. the moment i moved up things got better. just rolling ideas... i know how bad it feels when u have a good few and throw it away with a bad one.

Plus thought Forums didn’t help me, in fact hindered me... but it’s a good place to be honest and vent. The Good and bad.

 

[barney]

pick a couple markets and just follow them.

Write down your rules... in point form.

Before you take trade tick off that it meets all your points.

The set up you're looking for try to make it black and white.

more points per win, less trades but it requires more discipline to wait for good set ups.

the moment i moved up things got better Forums didn’t help me, in fact hindered me....

Some good point there Joe .... I've condensed them down for reference. Cheers.

 

[barney]

Not posting too many live trades last couple of months ...... however, Short SPI200 2 mini contracts as I type ... Lets see how this pans out

 

[cynic]

On account of my fear of disruption to the friendly ambience of this thread, I was making a concerted effort to avoid posting. However, given that there's been no activity in the past month, I decided to take the risk and give it a bump.

I'm sure that I am not alone in missing the honesty and generosity of the contributors to this thread.

So c'mon ASFers, surely you've had at least one Forex related ballsup between you in the past month!!

Failing that, I would also consider reports of ballsed up ballsups (or in other words successes) to be beneficial.

 

[Dean34]

Hi Barney,
It's been 6 months since you started this thread. I love the concept. I'd love to know what benefits, and even pitfalls, you've encountered as a result.

Cheers

 

[barney]

Hi Barney,
It's been 6 months since you started this thread. I love the concept. I'd love to know what benefits, and even pitfalls, you've encountered as a result.

Cheers

Hi Dean, and thanks Cynic for your interest

Even though I haven't posted much lately, I am still trading both FX and Index's on two trading accounts .... The Account related to this thread is only a 1K account and kind of a "test" account for some of my more outlandish discretionary ideas

Interestingly, since I started this thread, the 1K account has been fluctuating around break even for pretty much the whole time ...... This is actually a large step up from my previous attempts at trading FX where I basically lost money gradually (but consistently) over time

My other larger account has actually grown reasonably well since I started this thread ... the reason being, I test my ideas on my 1K account, and when I get it wrong (often unfortunately), mainly due to bad entries etc, I then go to my larger account and trade my way out of my ballsups .......

So in answer to your question, the main thing I have learned from this exercise/thread, is, as a learning retail trader ...... Start with small lot sizes, and "feel" your way into the market ..... By trading small to start, you are able to scale in much more effectively, and often turn a losing trade into a winner simply because you have not over leveraged your position too early!

Whether this is a good way to trade or not I'm not sure, but for me, considering I am simply not that good at picking short term tops and bottoms ..... scaling in with small lot sizes takes a lot of heat out of trading ...... (i.e.trading without fear is a huge advantage

Cheers.

 

[barney]

I haven't posted much lately, .

Since I'm posting ... here is a discretionary trade I took earlier tonight .....

The trade concept:- The EUR has been gaining some traction against the GBP over the last X amount of time, and the GBP/USD is starting to look a bit toppy .....

This technically may create some short term weakness in the GBP, so I have shorted both the GBP/USD and the GBP/CHF which is kind of a hedge in itself, so decimation is unlikely .....

The trade is currently 15 pips in credit.

 

[barney]

Just before I closed the GBP/CHF position ....... Placed a Stop loss on the GBP/USD leg at a little better than break even ...... Minimum of 30 pips all up even if that gets taken out ..... One of my better efforts

 

[barney]

Just to finish that trade above off ..... The GBP/USD leg was stopped out on a retrace as it turned off the 0.25% move for the day ....

Net 11 pips + 29 pips on the GBP/CHF leg ....... Be nice to do that everytime

 

[Dean34]

Hi Dean, and thanks Cynic for your interest

Even though I haven't posted much lately, I am still trading both FX and Index's on two trading accounts .... The Account related to this thread is only a 1K account and kind of a "test" account for some of my more outlandish discretionary ideas

Interestingly, since I started this thread, the 1K account has been fluctuating around break even for pretty much the whole time ...... This is actually a large step up from my previous attempts at trading FX where I basically lost money gradually (but consistently) over time

My other larger account has actually grown reasonably well since I started this thread ... the reason being, I test my ideas on my 1K account, and when I get it wrong (often unfortunately), mainly due to bad entries etc, I then go to my larger account and trade my way out of my ballsups .......

So in answer to your question, the main thing I have learned from this exercise/thread, is, as a learning retail trader ...... Start with small lot sizes, and "feel" your way into the market ..... By trading small to start, you are able to scale in much more effectively, and often turn a losing trade into a winner simply because you have not over leveraged your position too early!

Whether this is a good way to trade or not I'm not sure, but for me, considering I am simply not that good at picking short term tops and bottoms ..... scaling in with small lot sizes takes a lot of heat out of trading ...... (i.e.trading without fear is a huge advantage

Cheers.

I was reading through your thread and noticed something. You place a lot of emphasis on price technicals, and there's nothing wrong with that especially if part of your trading rules regard certain price indicators, but I was unable to really get a feel for your actual trading rules and plans for each trade once you entered. It seems to me that you are having a go at yourself for things that are completely out of your control (such as predicting the direction of price) whereas it may be worth thinking about writing down exactly what it is you plan to do once this or that happens after you enter the trade, seeing as these things are completely within your control, and seeing whether or not you can stick to them. It might just be that your system or trading style is not conducive to rigid plans but instead you play it by ear as the trade progresses, but I thought I'd just mention it.

 

[barney]

I was reading through your thread and noticed something. You place a lot of emphasis on price technicals, and there's nothing wrong with that especially if part of your trading rules regard certain price indicators, but I was unable to really get a feel for your actual trading rules and plans for each trade once you entered. It seems to me that you are having a go at yourself for things that are completely out of your control (such as predicting the direction of price) whereas it may be worth thinking about writing down exactly what it is you plan to do once this or that happens after you enter the trade, seeing as these things are completely within your control, and seeing whether or not you can stick to them. It might just be that your system or trading style is not conducive to rigid plans but instead you play it by ear as the trade progresses, but I thought I'd just mention it.

Thanks for your input Dean ...... and yes you have nailed me to a tee

I trade totally discretionary (currently) ... I have no rules other than gauging the current sentiment of the market when I log on (which can be at any time of the day)

I am a self taught musician and play 4 instruments (by ear) It is in my nature to "fly by the seat of my pants" so to speak

Is this wise when trading ...... no!

Does it teach you a lot in a hurry ...... for sure!

I have no illusions about my trading style ... it is incorrect for 95% of people ... This thread is about my small 1K account and "testing" some of my slightly odd ideas .... I fully expect not to make money on this account, but the lessons I have learned from it have helped increase my second tier account immensely ... why/how??

The best lesson I have learned from my mistakes on this thread .......... Wait for better entries ...... period!!!!

Regardless of what anyone says, the most important part of becoming a successful trader is getting consistently GOOD ENTRIES!! All the money management in the world will not save you from bad entries in the long run, in my opinion.

I suspect you have probably been through this phase if you are making consistent profits from FX ..... I hope to get to that stage once I have gotten the "testing" phase out of my system

Cheers.

 

[Dean34]

I am a self taught musician and play 4 instruments (by ear) It is in my nature to "fly by the seat of my pants" so to speak

Me too! Been playing guitar and keyboard for 28 years. Played bass guitar and the microphone in a band for 10 years also...what a riot!

I trade totally discretionary (currently) ... I have no rules other than gauging the current sentiment of the market when I log on (which can be at any time of the day)

The best lesson I have learned from my mistakes on this thread .......... Wait for better entries ...... period!!!!

Regardless of what anyone says, the most important part of becoming a successful trader is getting consistently GOOD ENTRIES!! All the money management in the world will not save you from bad entries in the long run, in my opinion.

Seeing as you use sentiment, then this will only get better with time I'm sure.

 

[barney]

Me too! Been playing guitar and keyboard for 28 years. Played bass guitar and the microphone in a band for 10 years also...what a riot!

.

LOL ............. Lead Vocals as well !! ................ I'm impressed ................ When/where were you kicking around? .......... I was gigging in Sydney just before Midnight Oil and Cold Chisel became household names. Supported both of them at the Stage Door Tavern .... the good old days!

 

[Dean34]

LOL ............. Lead Vocals as well !! ................ I'm impressed ................ When/where were you kicking around? .......... I was gigging in Sydney just before Midnight Oil and Cold Chisel became household names. Supported both of them at the Stage Door Tavern .... the good old days!

lol..thanks..we started around the time pearl jam and nirvana came crashing on the scene, but we did everything from beatles, to acdc, to grunge, to sex pistols, to led zeppelin, to smashing pumpkins...we never supported any big acts but started writing our own stuff about midway through our time we were together..think from memory we split up in 2004 or maybe just before

 

[barney]

lol..thanks..we started around the time pearl jam and nirvana came crashing on the scene, but we did everything from beatles, to acdc, to grunge, to sex pistols, to led zeppelin, to smashing pumpkins...we never supported any big acts but started writing our own stuff about midway through our time we were together..think from memory we split up in 2004 or maybe just before

Under normal circumstances I would have consider not derailing the thread with "non-pertinent" information ... but hell, I started the thread, so anything goes

You are obviously a fair bit younger than I am Deano, but music is the universal language and has no age boundaries.

The Band we first travelled to Sydney with from our country town was fortunate enough to have been writing/performing 70% original music to our "home" town peers at a young age. Back then (in the dark ages), people were prepared to actually listen to the content of the music, and not expect it to sound like a fabricated CD playing on the local radio ...... The music scene was alive and inventive, and the punters were able to appreciate the content, even if at times the execution was less than perfect. Unfortunately for the most part, those days are gone, which is a great pity.

People are often intolerant to Original music now days ..... What they should realise; that every "popular" song they hear was once an original idea which no one had heard ....... Personally I still love anything original, even if its badly played and poorly produced ...... as long as it has content which conveys something about the writer it is worthy of attention.

In relation to trading, I think there are parallels with original music and finding a workable trading style ..... TH (Trembling Hand) pointed out on many occasions ...... find your "own" patterns when you look at a chart, prove to yourself that they work, and trade those patterns cause they are "yours" ....... In his words ..... The "best" setups nearly always fail ! Smart man that TH .... Hopefully he may drop in again down the track.