Pip by pip - my trading journal

Hello world,

I've decided that this is going to be my journal of FX trading for a number of reasons, but mainly so that I have more discipline and hopefully receive feedback from the great community of FX traders here as I start this journey.

That is all for now... but will post something later

I wish you become a successful trader!

Many pips in your journey to success

My first goal in trading FX with this journal will be to reach 50 pips (not all in one go perhaps, although that would be nice)

One method I will be using for short timeframes (15 mins & 30 mins) is a combination of EMA's and Stochastics to signal trends and overbought & sold areas.

I wil be mainly focusing on the following pairs:
GBP/USD
EUR/USD
USD/JPY
AUD/USD
(but if significant trends develop, I'll look at over related crosses)

I live in Melbourne, Australia so the time is +10 GMT (at the moment it's +11 because of daylight savings)

More thoughts later.....

My experience tells me your timeframes are too short, look at H1 & H4 for trend, but look at M5, M15 & M30 to look at trading the dips...

Best of luck though....!!

Hi Anthony,

Let me be one of the first to wish you every success with your trading

Kind Regards
Steve

Good luck with your trading and feel free to ask any questions.

hi guys, thanks for your encouragement and advice !!!

markt - i have not yet worked out a longer time frame strategy or signals to gain from the longer trends, but am looking into it (if you have any tips, please let me know !)

Anyways my first trade for my journal

Open 26/01/07 20:06
USD/JPY 12157
Short

Close 26/01/07 23:06
USD/JPY 12151
+6 pips

yay ! (my dad says i have to turn off the pc coz he can't sleep - so closed it out for 6 pips...lol)

Hey Anthony, I just wanted to wish you luck. Looks like you got a good start, so keep it up buddy.

New trades today

Open 29/01/07
USD/JPY 12150.90
Long

Open 29/01/07
EUR/USD 12922.50
Short

Closed 29/01/07
USD/JPY 12158.0

See previous post for opening trade
+7.1 pips

May have closed a little late/early.. who knows but this was a biggish move in a very short period of time rather than gradually moving up, so I thought I'd close it and take the pips - I can always re enter later.

EUR/USD trade still open, reached + 10pips but decided to see where it goes

Okay, my target (20pips) for the EUR/USD was hit (less 1 pip for spread.. have to remember that next time)

Closed 29/01/07
EUR/USD 12903.5 (Opened EUR/USD 12922.50 Short)

+19 pips

total so far
+32.1 pips

ps... the USD/JPY trade is continuing up, if I was still in it would have added approx 13 pips.. oh well thats fx for you and not sticking to the plan 100% ! looking back, I did take profits a bit early than the TP I had set.

New trades today

Open 29/01/07
EUR/USD 12905.8
Long

hmmm.. closed out trade from previous post:

Close 29/01/07
EUR/USD 12908.5 (Open EUR/USD 12905.8 Long)
+2.7 pips

YTD +34.8 pips

I had a TP of 10 pips but because I had to go out and couldn't watch it, I closed the trade early, only to see the price continue to reach my TP about 10-15mins later.

I'm not exactly sure why I did this, but I think it was from fear of losing the trade when it was already in the profit zone. This is not on !!!!!!

I must not do this, because it is not sticking to the plan !! (you leave pips on the table if you do this)

Cheers,
Anthony

New trades today

Open 30/01/07
GBP/USD 19613
Short

(GBP/USD seems a bit slower moving today than EUR/USD) maybe should have opened a short trade on EUR

Closed out this trade @ 19613 (I had moved the SL to break even... I'm not sure whether this is a good thing or not)

So +0 pips

congrats on your pips. Hope u stay disciplined

New trades today

Open 30/01/07
AUD/USD 7731.5
Short

Open 30/01/07
EUR/JPY 15788.5
Short


Closed AUD/USD 7729.9
+1.6 pips
almost not worth it...lol, but better than -ve !

New trades today

Open 30/01/07
GBP/USD 19628.2
Long

Closed
19618.5
-9.7 pips

YTD +26.7 pips

I also accidentally opened a new trade when I was supposed to closed the trade above !

Open 30/01/07
GBP/USD 19621.3
Long

Closed
19616.6
-4.7 pips
YTD +22 pips

Closed 30/01/07
EUR/JPY 15782.1 (Open 30/01/07 EUR/JPY 15788.5 Short)
+6.4 pips

YTD +28.4 pips

try to trade with smaller lots. Looking for trend in minimum H1 charts. Try trading H1 with a 25 pip stop loss. Allow mentally for a 25 pip loss. You will be surprised if you have a indicator in place that will give you the H1 trend, even a simple MACD. Try it.