Long AUD/USD 19,179 units (add 9605 units), -123pip/-$236
S/L=0.87752 which is 123 pip from current price, and slightly > than 14 days ATR (110pip). If the S/L got hit, the loss will be $472, or 1.37% of total account value.
I trade less since I need to spend more time with my new born daughter.
Long AUD/USD 2829 units at 0.9283, S/L at 0.90818 (about 2 x ATR). This is a very conservative risk of 0.2% of accout equity. This fits my psychological tolerance too about the draw down and risks. This may seem too conservative. I will run it on the simulator.
Account Value: 35,600.00, +7% vs. initial capital.
current trade size = 0.5% account value so that the risk per trade is within 1% of account value. (initial s/l is within 200pip for the pairs I am trading, which is also within 2*ATR).
First time ever feeling that I am controlling what I can and should control: my trading exposure and risks which I can accept.
It has been quiet for the past two days - holiday in US.
NAV: 35,996, +8.2% vs initial investment (in 7 months). I know this return may not be impressive compared with many other traders in this forum. But I feel comfortable with it given my own risk tolerance.
So far my learning is that money management is the most important controllable variables in trading. I use different entry and exit rules, trading systems and what makes the difference to both result and my personal well-being was the trade size and money management.
There are so many great traders sharing their trading ideas on this forum. I occasionally try some of them. Sometime I get some profit and of course sometimes I end up with some loss. What I learn is again the lessons I learn many times: control the risks with the trade size based on volatility-based S/L then most of the trading ideas should work in certain market conditions.
Open positions:
AUD/USD long 10,046 units, -$8/-8pip
EUR/JPY long 11,801 unit, +$46/+43pip
Close position: GBP/JPY 4367 units, +200pip or +$80.
Account value: 36,520.00, +9.8% vs starting capital.
I ordered the book Left Brain Trading...I am curious to know what it is about. I still believe that position sizing is critical. So far, my learning can be summarized in mathematical expression as
Stop Loss = Min(ATR, 5 days S/R)
Risk% = Min(Kelly%, My risk tolerance) I choose 0.5% at this point
Each Trade/Position Size = Risk% * Account Value/Stop Loss
Close partial positions of AUD/USD and GBP/USD for little profit.
Current positions:
AUD/USD long 10,468 units @0.88493. +$148/+141pip
GBP/USD long 4,503 units @ 2.0400, +$40/+89pip
NAV=$37,240.00, +12% vs initial investment.
risk factor has been adjusted to 0.3% to reflect the current volatility of the market. Both AUD/USD and GBP/USD's ATR are close to their 12 months high points. So I guess it is wise to adjust the trade size (risk % of account value) according to this increase of volatility.
current positions:
AUD/USD long 20,364 units @ 0.86426, -$139/-68pip
GBP/USD long 4,490 units @ $2.02, -$6/-14pip
USD/JPY long 1,844 units @ 113.202, -$0.18/-1.1pip
Net Account Value: $37,119.00. +11.5% vs initial investment