Madhat is scalping EurUsd

I've been watching the price action of this pair for a while and believe I can trade it successfully.
I will post my results and comments. I will not post any charts.
I will trade a simulated account until I feel ready to trade with real money.

My mental goals:

Discipline: Have formal sessions where focus is only on trading platform and the trading. I aim to have two 2-3 h sessions in a day and avoid distractions.

Iron out mental issues, like impatience.

My goals in trading:

Have consistent positive results
Go live when I can make 100pips or more per week.
Double my account every 5 - 10 weeks, until I own the world! -- MUHAHAHA

--

I'm writing this journal mainly for myself to maintain accountability and self-discipline, constructive comments from others are OK, though.

Good luck fellow trader! I hope that you are able to reach your goals.

Did the first session today. 1 hour from about 13:30 to 14:30 UTC.

The results were:

-- 2012.08.23 --
1. -6
2. -1
3. +3
4. -2
5. +20
-- -- --

total: +14 pips
the size traded is 250k
this netted me about 316 imaginary US$ after commissions.

I'm content with this result, also aware that 5 trades is not a reliable sample size.

Notable issues were:
Too impatient, both to open and close.
Forgot to watch/check the market calendar.

I'm back at it. (it's been a while). Thursday 6. sep.

starting at 11:10, watching the price action for a while, also keeping an eye on
the calendar & market pages at FF. Many red icons there! Maybe, it's a day to stay
outdoors. We'll see.

/br

So, here is how this session went:

-- 2012.09.06 --

6. +7.5
7. -1.5
8. +15
9. +1

----------
total: +22 pips
size 250k
netted sweet imaginary US$499 after commissions.

started 11:10 utc
lunch 12:00 - 13:30
end 14:15

Lesson: bumpy ride, market is erratic, the market is, of course in turmoil.
Got whip-lashed out of +30p by -2p (I am a scalper!)
there was a red icon there, so I should not be surprised.

I've been slightly anxious, I think it is because it is emerging whether I have an edge
or not, rather than because of trading or individual trades.

I'm trying to figure if I should stare at the platform relentlessly or have some diversion.
I got the 15 from setting SL&TP, and going to lunch.

Yeah! I'm fine with this.

Not trading today, but going to watch PA. Not in the right mood due to lack of sleep and other reasons. Plan to demotrade on Monday.

well, this day 2012.09.10

10. -2
11. -4.5

lost us$ 160

market choppy & narrow - 'nuff said
cu2 morrow

this market is shite!
managed to throw myself in front of two reversals!

12. -5
13. -3.5

lost 230 usd

lesson: wait until things look right.

edit: stop doing 50:50 trades because you are bored, you'll lose them all!

chers!

Just watching. Market doesn't look too bad today even if the range is a bit narrow. I'm seeing some setups that actually follow through. Also some that don't.

Monday 17. sep.


14. -2.5
15. +5.5
16. -2.5
17. -4.5

total -7pip and loss of usd 170

What can I say? Not a good day. I would like to call it bad luck, but it
isn't. Just lack of patience and maybe over-confidence from the initial
success. Maybe I should find a new strategy with larger SL & TP.
I think I will give this one a shot for few weeks though. Maybe to 200ish
trades. - - With improved discipline..

Tuesday 18. sep.

Was super-careful today, and it paid off, somewhat. Only 2 trades, but no loss.

18. +3
19. +8.5

tot.: 11.5p and usd 260 after comm.

Avoided mistakes and traps. Trading took place in a period of about 120 min. but
total time in trades was about 17 min. I'm working on a graphical reflection of the trades, to put in this log.

ok, here is v1 of the graph, will be adding cumulative pips later.

(also testing img posting)
--



br

No trading today, didn't feel like it, so I didn't. Scalping might not be something to do on a daily basis.

I have updated the graph, cumulative results and stats have .2p subtracted from each closed trade to account for commission.



Average of 1.3 is on the low side imo, plan to bring it to 4-5 at least.

--
I'm also going to start trading on longer time frames with more pairs. I plan
to go live immediately there, with small size, using different (MM) broker. I plan to
start around beginning of Oct. I will put comments regarding that as sub-note
on this thread.

20. sept

20. -3.5
21. -8
22. 3.5
23. 7

tot: -1pip, lost usd 100 w/coms.

mistakes: to eager to put in the 1. trade of the day, 2. trade also
too soon, to make up for the 1. one's loss. Also, went against the
prevailing trend. Will learn from this.

Not trading today, to busy & distracted.

The results have been mixed so far, but I'm above water so far. I still believe I can make this work.

I have been thinking about how my trading will be, when I have become successful and consistent EUR.USD scalper.

Likely scenario: Trading 4 days per week. 2 sessions in a day, each 1-2 hour, with 1-2h break. Time frame: 9:00 - 16:00. Will do about 25 trades. 20 will be small, netting -10 to +10 pips, averaging about +3pip per trade. 2-4 trades every week will give larger results, between 10 and 50 pips.

This would make me over 100 pips per week. Time will tell..

have a nice weekend!

Haven't traded since Thursday last week. I have some lame excuses but the main reason is laziness or even sloth! One more mental issue there.

I need to find a way to deal with this. Maybe some detailed schedule, and reward/punish system? duh! The Q7 looks ok, maybe I should go to the dealer and do a test drive.

MyLongTermTradingSystem is a work in progress though. Done a bit there in last few days. Need to do more on db and chart stuff.

ok, I'm back! I have decided to abandon the scalping and do longer term trades. I will jump in with real cash, but smallest sizes in beginning.
My NAV is about 4k usd, I hope to be able to double it every 3 - 6 months after I progress to full sizes according to my MM plan.

I'm also starting to swing trade US equities, I will include comments about that, as a sub note in this thread.

br

I'm still here! I have a revised plan. I will trade higher number of pairs and on a longer time-frame. Still on demo but sporadic trading is promising. I have now started formal test period that will last two weeks. Then I will decide if I go live.

Still looking to trade equities on the side.
br