Trading Journal (only my take)

A dramatic week behind us and no doubt much more drama ahead, an update on GJ

I soon realised after 2 healthy stops were easily taken out this week, that I needed to make unusual adjustments, by extending my normal stops.

This was effective, and allowed the triggering of 2 po’s and the tp of 1 position. I now have 2 positions remaining in play, and am about net level against all 5 trades taken thus far.
Stops on the 2 remaining positions have been re-adjusted. I am still not safe of course, and that will depend on where price goes next week, but I’m expecting it ultimately to head south, albeit with much volatility up and down.
Not bothering with a chart, but can do if necessary

A great many traders will have lost money this week, mainly due to their intra day trading, where the extreme market volatility was even less conducive to that style. The brokers win every time, and with the current market climate continuing, then they will be relishing much more of the same.

Traders must learn quickly and adapt accordingly!

The market has been kind, both GJ trades just hit tp’s, meaning that all 5 trades now completed…2 hit stop loss as reported previously, 3 hit target for an overall profit of about 400 plus pips or so.

A solid set of trades, easily found, and will obviously continue my amended approach as described before.

EU mo and 2 po's in place satisfactorily conforming to what I look for.

That said, I don't usually like to get involved in the markets this early on in the week, but we seem to be in unusual times for now, so worth the chance so far as I'm concerned.

No point posting a chart, but can if asked for

EU long update

Closed mo trade for a no hassle nice 70 pips, and left the 2 po's as is for now on the expectation of a retrace at some point which may trigger 1 or both po's.

With the market being what it is recently, I'll be taking what I can as often as I can until the market settles into more stable environment, which it is most definitely not at present

I have no immediate plans to document further live trades for the time being, I've proved many times with live calls already that a sound and well considered approach, without any need for all the confusing indicator nonsense that the majority use is all that is needed to identify the likely direction, and once direction is clear in your mind, then it becomes a case of deciding the entry level(s) etc.

So, as said, with no input or interest, I have no reason to supply further live calls and charts for the foreseeable future, but I may pop up here and there if something interests me enough.

It’s been a while since posting here.
Trades going very well, even though the orange nutter and his sycophants in the White House are doing their best to upset the global status quo.

That said, I am involved in a set of ongoing trades at present on a particular pair which are not performing as I’d ideally have anticipated, but are still within my acceptable levels of tolerance, and may turn around favourably….nothing is certain!

My style is different to most that I see on FF, where people are in and out in and out continuously. Each to their own of course, but stress free trading is my choice, which naturally requires patience… a pretty rare commodity it seems!

I suppose the real point of this post is to say that whilst the majority of my trades work out well, theres always a fly in the ointment, which I’m currently experiencing. Posting a chart is unlikely to serve any purpose to anyone, so won’t bother to do so.

Ill maybe update in time

Yesterdays news was very favourable to me, (cad/jpy) 2 of my 3 short trades now closed profitably, a partial still open and 1 pending yet to trigger, and will probably cancel this one.

A long run of winning trades since the start of the new year confirms my particular pattern approach is sound, and I’ve made it even easier for myself to detect now by creating very simple indicators to pick up any trading opportunities that fit what I’m looking for….this looks like it’s going to be an extremely profitable year based on results thus far, but as everyone knows, a U turn could be waiting to happen just round the corner….who can say!

I realise that everyone has their own trading to focus on and develop, and I’m no different in that respect.

Nevertheless, I could post a live trade/chart when I open a new set if anybody is interested enough. It would show entries, stops and notional tp’s etc if nothing else.

Most traders lose which is a well known fact, and I suspect the majority of those losers operate on low t/fs.
Whilst low t/fs offer many more trading opportunities for a particular pair, the nature of the market will always snag a trader into a trade and then snap you out of it, and I’m pretty sure most losing traders experience exactly that.
On the other hand, longer t/fs but using all the markets provides a much more selective and imo a more stable way of making better decisions.
The markets in general always try to induce a trader, usually to trade in the wrong direction, so obviously any approach, even on higher t/fs should be taking the market inducements into account and develop their strategy to take advantage of that likelihood.
Most if any wont take any notice of any of this, and then wonder why they win a low t/f trade but lose the next 3 or 4. Well you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink it!

The market pattern(s) that interest me occur in all markets regularly enough, hence why looking at all markets is advantageous with my particular approach. Sticking to just 1 or 2 markets means that a more desperate entry is likely to happen simply to feel involved, and more than likely to fail as result, especially when low t/fs are added to the mix.
In addition to all that, it seems quite clear that there is little conviction to those traders that operate on small t/fs, whereby they either commonly lose the trade full stop, or get out at b/e. Either way, what is the point of their trading if there is no profit in it.
That naturally leads me to suspect that practically all of them have no real belief in their methods, yet have somehow convinced themselves that their approach is the way to go, even though their monthly bottom line reads flat or more often than not negative.
Again, I expect people to be able to relate to what I’ve said, and if they do, then you’d think it would be in their best interest to re-set, start afresh, consider and understand what really matters when looking at a chart, and stop wasting not only their money, but their time as well.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not right every time, but I learnt as I went along, I wasn’t led by a herd which is of course dangerous, I found the correct balance of identifying a trade set-up, trusting that set-up, and then managing the trade, and once again, all of these aspects are fairly easy and comfortable to do on longer t/fs imo.
Is there a takeaway from any of this? For most people probably not, but 1 or 2 might take a step back and have a think….who knows!

Obviously any venture that involves personal funds must have a positive expectancy of returns as an investment, otherwise it is simply not worth it.
Trading Forex is no different in that respect, or at least it shouldn’t be, and yet the large majority according to the stats lose.
There are plenty of reasons why that is, and I suspect influencers would account for a big proportion. Sites such as this one for example, allow all and sundry to preach that their system is the best etc etc.
Of course 99% talk nonsense, but they unfortunately repeat their rubbish approaches so frequently that the unwitting end up believing, they end up copying, they inevitably end up making no progress, and in most cases probably losing their deposits.
The lower t/f gurus (hmmm) often swamp their threads with all their mumbo jumbo buzz words as if their new found technical term carries weight…but it’s just bs.
These so called gurus are failed traders remember, swamping sites like this for donkeys years, and have learnt nothing, so it must beg the question to any aspiring trader, if they can’t figure out how to win consistently after all these years, then why would I waste my time listening to their propaganda.
Again, most won’t take any notice of any of this, which doesn’t concern me in any way, but getting my point across on a lazy Sunday works for me haha

The funny thing is though, that trading profitably is not actually that difficult. The market is either going up or down to varying degrees, and some stagnation here and there. Why make it more complicated than that, then build a trading approach on that basis, but I’d recommend longer t/fs ie minimum 4 hrs. I personally profit weekly with a well planned and thought out method that doesn’t need bs phrases and fancy looking charts. Less is more so long as it’s thought out properly!

There are of course plenty of things to consider especially when a new trader starts out.
All aspects of trading come under the umbrella of the strategy, from signal detection right through to trade completion whether it be a winning or losing trade.
I most commonly opt for pending orders, but I’m aware that most prefer market orders and on its own, I think that is a mistake. Sure you can miss the boat, but a single small market order accompanying pending orders takes care of that possibility.
Today, I’m gonna talk about having the flexibility to be able to manage trades
Ok, so let’s say you’ve looked at some pairs, you’ve spotted what looks like an ideal entry on a particular pair and you place a small trade. The market invariably runs against you, and you find what you thought to be the perfect entry is now in deep water.
This scenario occurs often for every trader, unfortunately though most don’t learn from it and repeat the same time and again due mainly to their urge of needing to be in the game, along with their egos telling them they are right!
The fact is, that in most cases the entry is poor, and with just a single market order entry, any flexibility is obviously non-existent.
So I’d always recommend a small negligible market order entry followed by at least 2 but preferably 3 more worthwhile pending orders at more favourable market levels in the likely expectation that the market will probably run against you initially.
Now there will be flexibility in your trading, and the added benefit that you won’t be overly concerned whether the market runs in favour of the initial market order, or whether it’s heading towards the po levels, either way is good!
All of this btw, is based upon the premise that the strategy that mentioned up front is proven and sound in the first place.
If any of this rings true with anyone, and you have a situation that you’re not sure how to play, then post it and I’ll try to explain what I’d do.

I don’t suppose any of this helps anyone as usual, but hey ho

Ok, the markets have been relatively slow the last week.
As these kind of forums show, there are a great many different approaches, some complicated, some simple. All designed to identify the likely market direction whether it be low or high t/f. In the main, the markets will obviously either be going up or down…just 2 choices in other words, and yet there must be thousands of threads all trying to convince people of where they think the markets will be going along with all the complicated mumbo jumbo and flashy looking charts.
In my view, simplification is the way to go, but I do happen to consider a number of factors which in my case creates the pattern of events I want to see and only then generates the signal(s) on the chart which is a recent addition, making what was a laborious task into something simple and easy to see, but most importantly, effective!
Whenever I might happen to look at other peoples charts, I occasionally see their direction coinciding with mine, which will inevitably occur on occasions, and I chuckle to myself that they are unwiittingly aligned with my view also.
There are plenty of threads that bang on about price action, market structure, s&r, ob/os, blah blah blah.
Sure this stuff has meaning, but why isolate each element as though it’s some kind of mysterious dark force, far better in my book to consolidate each of the elements into a simple indicator and remove all the hassle and hype associated with such analysis.
My personal charts apply this rationale, making my decision making ultra simple and accurate particularly for the longer t/fs that I prefer.

I think it’s clear, that I don’t think a bare chart is enough on its own to make a valid trading decision as some will claim. Context is required also, and that context is likely to be different in some form or other for most.
I don’t know that theres anything to take away from any of this today, other than to simplify the important stuff in order to make directional decision making as easy as possible!