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Trading Journal (only my take)

  • #1
  • First Post: Sep 13, 2017 5:23am Sep 13, 2017 5:23am
I decided to start a journal of my own for a few reasons. They may become apparent as I post more.

The chief reasons are though... a) I have enough time to between trading b) I've had enough of the b/s hindsight trading from others, and who I refer to as FTs (Fantasy Traders). c) Allows me to express my views

Most of the threads and the majority of traders are rife with nonsense hindsight, with only one or two exceptions. Whilst I may not agree with a traders trade, I will always respect someones' transparency if they post their trade in real time, and someone like Steve Patt is one of the few examples who always fulfils that criteria at least.

So, as you can tell, my principle beef and motive for starting this journal is due to dis-trusting anyone who posts trades after the event.

To prevent that in this journal, anyone (no exceptions) who decides to post a trade must post a chart, and it must contain details as per my example attached. This is the number 1 rule . Failure to comply will not be tolerated, and will be put immediately on ignore it is as simple as that.

In addition, I am not interested in any chart containing an oscillator as an indicator, and I am not interested in messy charts, and they too will be ignored.

I am not out to teach anyone how I trade btw so take note, that is not the main purpose of a journal so far as I'm concerned.

As a result, in theory, only genuine traders fulfilling these initial main rules will post trades and I don't expect many (if any) will.

Here's a Gold trade on Daily that I'm involved in right now.
Attached Image (click to enlarge)
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  • #2
  • Sep 13, 2017 6:04am Sep 13, 2017 6:04am
UC Daily has my interest for a long. I would like price to drop into the green circle kind of area first...one to keep an eye on for me.

Attached Image (click to enlarge)
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  • #3
  • Sep 13, 2017 7:05am Sep 13, 2017 7:05am
As anyone viewing can probably see, I like to keep charts tidy, simple and containing only the information that I'm interested in, anything else unnecessarily added will only become a distraction. I happen to use a few different methods revolving around a central theme personally, depending upon what the t/f is that I'm thinking of trading, and this means that I will post trades with different looking charts, but the core principles that I use will nevertheless always be present, and no doubt most do the same I'd expect.

The longer t/fs, H4 (to some degree) D1 and above eliminate any news issues, and allows chart reading alone to guide the decision making. As soon as sub h4 charts are used, then it naturally becomes trickier to trade because any news related/affected instrument has not only the technical aspects to consider, but equally if not more so the fundamentals to also take into account.
  • #4
  • Sep 13, 2017 11:25am Sep 13, 2017 11:25am
About 50% of my orders are PO's, some trigger, some don't, those that do usually offer decent rr. Regardless, the same rules of engagement apply, and I use them when I don't have either the time or patience to stare at the screen all day.

AN attached is such a case on the daily, and note, I still keep my labels on the these charts also, to enable easy visual re Entry, Stop and TP levels.

Attached Image (click to enlarge)
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  • #5
  • Sep 14, 2017 4:17am Sep 14, 2017 4:17am
Looking at DAX, the underlying long term direction is up, daily is up, momentum is up and I therefore have a clear bias to long....and looks to me like any current short term retrace is an opportunity to buy.

On that basis I now have a long PO in place that fits my approach. It may/may not take a couple of bites to get the right entry, don't let anybody kid you otherwise, especially the FTs haha. Either way, from a logical pov, my target (if achieved) will offset several failed attempts. H1 chart attached.

Attached Image
  • #6
  • Sep 14, 2017 4:28am Sep 14, 2017 4:28am
hi
good luck with your journal!
a small request: attaching a TE would greatly enhance the transparency, for you, and few of those other non FTs you refer too.
would also be a nice help tool to check the afterlife of the posted trades; easy, neat, and objectable.
there is always, always another trade!!
  • #7
  • Sep 14, 2017 5:01am Sep 14, 2017 5:01am
Quoting profitfarmer
hi good luck with your journal! a small request: attaching a TE would greatly enhance the transparency, for you, and few of those other non FTs you refer too. would also be a nice help tool to check the afterlife of the posted trades; easy, neat, and objectable.
Hi... thanks for your suggestion and yes, I am aware of TEs, but the only sure way to sift out the FTs is by applying the rules that I've laid out. A TE may well be an additional need in time, but for now the rules that I've mentioned are adequate for the purpose intended.

It will not have gone un-noticed that whenever I question anyone regarding their so-called trades, that I am repeatedly ignored. This tells it's own story! Now, on here, I have the controls to decide who is full of it and who is genuine. As I've said, very few if any will dare post because they will not be able to bs me with FTs, and that suits me just fine, and should in theory only leave the cream.

It is not about the quantity of posted trades...it's about the quality.
  • #8
  • Sep 14, 2017 5:27am Sep 14, 2017 5:27am
Quoting Landline
{quote} Hi... thanks for your suggestion and yes, I am aware of TEs, but the only sure way to sift out the FTs is by applying the rules that I've laid out. A TE may well be an additional need in time, but for now the rules that I've mentioned are adequate for the purpose intended. It will not have gone un-noticed that whenever I question anyone regarding their so-called trades, that I am repeatedly ignored. This tells it's own story! Now, on here, I have the controls to decide who is full of it and who is genuine. As I've said, very few if any will...
thanks, i see.
if ever passing at my journal, feel free to ask about a trade, any trade.
there is always, always another trade!!
  • #9
  • Sep 14, 2017 7:12am Sep 14, 2017 7:12am
The Gold and DAX trades (that one triggered perfectly for me) posted are both doing ok. We are nearly at crunch time I think, and I'm expecting some decent price moves, or even some indecent ones if it goes unfavourably for me lol. Should be an interesting afternoon I think.
  • #10
  • Sep 14, 2017 7:29am Sep 14, 2017 7:29am
Quoting Landline
The Gold and DAX trades (that one triggered perfectly for me) posted are both doing ok. We are nearly at crunch time I think, and I'm expecting some decent price moves, or even some indecent ones if it goes unfavourably for me lol. Should be an interesting afternoon I think.
At these kind of stages, trades are still highly vulnerable. The stops are designed to do their job and there's nothing needed to be done for now until the trades are in a profitable enough state, at which point of course some mm can then kick in. Neither of the above are at that point yet
  • #11
  • Sep 14, 2017 12:32pm Sep 14, 2017 12:32pm
It's been a surprisingly quiet days trading considering the number of red news events, and Thursdays are usually the moving day. A funky Friday could be in store instead...maybe there's some hot gossip in the pipeline that joe public hasn't been allowed access to yet...NK springs to mind....us retailers are always last in the food chain.
  • #12
  • Sep 15, 2017 3:19am Sep 15, 2017 3:19am
Quoting Landline
It's been a surprisingly quiet days trading considering the number of red news events, and Thursdays are usually the moving day. A funky Friday could be in store instead...maybe there's some hot gossip in the pipeline that joe public hasn't been allowed access to yet...NK springs to mind....us retailers are always last in the food chain.
So NK launched again then...you would have expected a bigger market reaction, and yet it was only retail trader reaction so far. This suggests to me that something else is afoot that we are unaware of right now, perhaps a US physical response in some shape or form, and will be the main catalyst from which the banks/institutions make their moves.
  • #13
  • Sep 15, 2017 4:13am Sep 15, 2017 4:13am
I don't think it's a good time to take any new positions in the market at present. I can imagine that the US generals have measures in place, and it's not difficult to also imagine that their presence will be felt soon I'd expect in the form of a couple of aircraft carriers in the region (not to mention their ever present subs) will be the next logical move.

However it's played, it will be the brokers who win the current market battle, as the average retail trader takes more positions. I will not be adding to my positions personally, as I read the situation as a gambit at this point in time, technically, fundamentally and tactically.

No one knows for sure how the markets play out of course, but Tump has been pretty quiet, and probably been advised to keep his gob shut whilst the military are taking up their positions is my guess. Decisions decisions .....for us all!
  • #14
  • Sep 16, 2017 6:02am Sep 16, 2017 6:02am
Someone PM'd asking what method I use.

I don't want to go into too much detail how I make my trading decisions, but I will say that time and price relative to the t/f I'm trading are probably the 2 most important ingredients out of the 4 (sometimes 5) ingredients that I use.

In my case, it is all then boiled down and simplified for my particular approach, and which will of course be quite different for each individual.

I've seen plenty of weird looking charts (I won't mention their name(s) lol), but in most cases, with a few exceptions, I think they've got themselves confused and usually end up double doubting themselves.

I've also seen some grid threads lately. In my view, grids are a risky way of trading. I was involved in the Quantum thread a few years back, which was a kind of grid method, albeit using a Quantum indicator as opposed to a set grid, but the basic principle was pretty similar.

Drawdown was the problem, and no doubt still is. There will be a number of weeks where everything is hunky dory, and seemingly impossible to lose. But in the case of Quantum back then, and most likely the recent grid methods too I'd expect, there was always a disaster trade, and as I recall occurring every 6 weeks or so. Maybe people have figured out how to effectively trade those kind of systems these days, good luck to them anyway.

I'll be looking to post some more live trades Monday maybe if there's a good looking opportunity, meanwhile my existing trades posted are ongoing.
  • #15
  • Sep 16, 2017 10:45am Sep 16, 2017 10:45am
Quoting Landline
Someone PM'd asking what method I use. I don't want to go into too much detail how I make my trading decisions, but I will say that time and price relative to the t/f I'm trading are probably the 2 most important ingredients out of the 4 (sometimes 5) ingredients that I use. In my case, it is all then boiled down and simplified for my particular approach, and which will of course be quite different for each individual. I've seen plenty of weird looking charts (I won't mention their name(s) lol), but in most cases, with a few exceptions, I think...
correct all said about grids, they are risky.
plain or martingale, doesnt matter.
the only thing one can do is pick as carefully as possible to starting point, and limit the max drawdown to a point where the dent on the account will be relative managable compare to the gains it offers.

that said, all trading is risky per se.
while everyone is out for the sure thing, there is no system that is 100% win ( even if time to time there are such threads by idiots or scammers!), or even if there is some, that messed up with faulty money management, greedy position sizes, ignored SLs, etc...generally the trader's decisions based on his emotions.

a good sytem can still lose money on bad risk and money management,
a bad system still can make money on good risk and money management.
in the end, trading is to make money, whatever works= makes money for each individual, is best practice!
there is always, always another trade!!
  • #16
  • Sep 17, 2017 7:27am Sep 17, 2017 7:27am
I don't want to get too hung up on the different ways people trade. I will say, however, that any method used must have justification for the entry and the exit. In the case of "gridders" for example (no matter what form of gridding is being used), their initial entry is normally based upon a technical justification one way or the other. No problem on that part, but, thereafter it seems that no justification to add further orders other than a grid line level is used. In my mind, that is just plain and simply the wrong approach to trading.

This means that initially, a justifiable technical level was rightly applied to enter a trade on a grid system, but absolutely no further technical consideration is applied thereafter, and means that any additional grid-based orders can easily run against you multiple times before the market returns to the favoured direction. A 30-40-50 pip profit may eventually materialise, but the rr is bound to be lousy, not to mention the duration needed, the accompanying stress, and potentially deep pockets required.

All in all, I could never recommend gridding personally. I think it is far better to accept a loss, and then re-enter when the technical justification to do so returns, and the same principle really applies to all methods btw, not just the gridders out there.

Like I said, I don't want to get too hung up on this, but it seemed an appropriate time to bring the pitfalls of that style to others attention given the increase in threads that promote that technique, either way, traders need to be very aware of the risks involved and to understand the common sense needed as I've laid out, before going down those kind of paths.
  • #17
  • Sep 17, 2017 5:59pm Sep 17, 2017 5:59pm
Quoting Landline
so far as I'm concerned. As a result, in theory, only genuine traders fulfilling these initial main rules will post trades and I don't expect many (if any) will. Here's a Gold trade on Daily that I'm involved in right now. {image}
I've now closed out 80% of the Gold trade and adjusted the stop on the remainder, everything safe now . I chose to give it a chance for a possible favourable gap down, no deal, so happy to take a big chunk now instead and let the rest run. It looks like it could retrace up some to me via the h4 chart attached, and I'll get back on it if it does so and look for another shorting opportunity maybe tomorrow or perhaps Tuesday.

Attached Image (click to enlarge)
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  • #18
  • Sep 18, 2017 10:01am Sep 18, 2017 10:01am
Reckoned it was about time to get involved today. EG h1 fits my kind of tap scenario to short.
Attached Image (click to enlarge)
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  • #19
  • Sep 18, 2017 10:13am Sep 18, 2017 10:13am
Quoting Landline
Reckoned it was about time to get involved today. EG h1 fits my kind of tap scenario to short. {image}
Man...that was taken out in a matter of minutes. I'll hold fire and assess before further action.
  • #20
  • Sep 18, 2017 4:47pm Sep 18, 2017 4:47pm
Not too many pairs have interested me today that fulfil my own criteria to add to what I already have in play.

ECH on the daily though is good enough to short for me, and I now have a pending set in place, which I'll manage if/when it progresses.

Attached Image
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