forexnoob101's journal

A little synopsis of my journal to come. I am a trader in the foreign exchange market for a few years and have decided to start a journal to help myself and to be able to study the trades I place. I do not give out signals, recommendations, or an analysis, so please do not ask. This journal's purpose is to post results only.

Thanks again for understanding.

forexnoob101

The Seven Laws

1. Always use a mental stop loss. If you walk away from the trade place a stop loss.
2. Never trade to get revenge on the market. Never enter a trade just to get your money back, or increase your lot size to make up a loss. Make sure you are mentally prepared for each trade.
3. There will be losses. Not every trade will be a winner. If you get several losses in a row, walk away and trade the following week.
4. Expect the unexpected. Do not get trigger-happy, be over-confident, trade for no reason, predict the market, or think it will go your way.
5. Do not expect to make a million dollars by tomorrow. Be patient with your trades. The market will be there tomorrow. Will you?
6. Use proper money management that fits each trade, and your overall trading style.
7. Follow the laws. Memorize them. Make sure to use them before entering each trade.

forexnoob101

Trade #1 will now be referred to as "Frequent Flyer"
Trade #2 will now be referred to as "Sneak Attack"

Rules

a) Open trade with 2 lots until take profit or stop loss is achieved,
b) First lot is to be closed at 50% of take profit. Second lot is to be moved to break even.

Each trade can be modified slightly to the rules depending on market conditions. Typically meaning take profit, stop loss, or break even can be adjusted.

Averages

Frequent Flyer
average take profit - 100 to 200 pips
average stop loss - 100 pips

Sneak Attack
average take profit - 50 pips
average stop loss - 50 pips

Lot sizes are only increased once a set amount of profit is secured and locked in. We only begin to play and have fun when we have the houses chips in our hands. Enjoy.

forexnoob101

Mini Account

Balance - $500.00 USD

Lot Size - Maximum $1.00

Leverage - 200:1

Broker - IBFX

forexnoob101

Attempted to get in on a sale on some Euro crosses. I should of closed at a little less then +100 pips, but market reversed before I could lock any pips in. The market moved against the trade a little past break even. Staying out of the trades for now, looks to be like a strong reversal on Euro crosses at the moment. All together at the end of the day including the triple Wednesday interest ended up losing both Euro crosses for a total of -2 pips.


Trade # 008-06-SAVA-001
Frequent Flyer - Euro
Result = -1 pip

Trade # 008-06-SAVA-002
Frequent Flyer - Euro
Result = -1 pip

Balance - $498.64 USD

Managed to make a few pips off the US Market for the Core Retail Sales news this morning. No other trades were taken due to choppy market conditions.


Trade # 008-06-SAVA-003
Currency Traded - USD
Result = +18 pips

Balance - $516.78 USD

I was unable to catch any good trades during the US Market on Friday. I traded the USD for a few pips going back and fourth in the range.


Trade # 008-06-SAVA-004
Currency Traded - USD
Result = +10 pips

Balance - $526.37 USD

Clearly, since not every trade will be a winner, you have to develop a winning system that you feel confident with, on a currency pair or two that you must get to know.

I have some PDFs for you -- one is advice for stock traders, but it can apply to us too. The other shows how to take advantage of volatile markets so we can capture greater price movement (40-100 pips a day). I plan on implementing the latter one next Monday.

Both are downloaded from trading mags and websites like this.

I started this journal in the middle of the trading week, so this weeks trades do not represent a full trading week. I have to be very, very cautious of my first few initial trades as I do not want to risk my original balance in any way, shape or form.

Looking back at last weeks trades I realize what a tough trading week it has been. It was very hard to place some good trades. The market is not always going to have such great trends each week, reasons being because bigger trends are in play, a trend is setting up or ending, or we may just be having a choppy week.

I think for the upcoming week I will attempt to lock in trades with a few pips here and there. Once I have a set amount of pips/profit locked in I'll look for trades that have a bigger reward ratio. My first two trades (008-06-SAVA-001 and 008-06-SAVA-002) I was doing just that, looking for a bigger swing with a better reward, but ended up just missing my take profit and closing the trade with a -1 pip on each trade. Looking forward to this upcoming week.

forexnoob101

Balance = $526.37 USD
Performance Between 06-11-08 to 06-13-08 = + 5.274%
Total Performance = + 5.274%

Thank you for the kind comments, I hope the winning system you are implementing this upcoming Monday works great for you.

forexnoob101

At Sunday's open I took a trade on a sell position to take advantage of the gap on the euro currency. Once this was closed I opened up another position for a buy after seeing the price did not move past the double bottom, and made a few pips on it. I still have a euro pair opened that is hedged at the moment. I closed one of the hedges at a loss after realizing we might not see the price again for a little bit. Will close out the rest of the open trades once a small profit is taken.

Trade # 008-06-SAVA-005
Currency Traded - EUR
Result = +35 pips

Trade # 008-06-SAVA-006
Currency Traded - EUR
Result = +50 pips

Trade # 008-06-SAVA-007
Currency Traded - EUR
Result = -22 pips

Balance - $589.14 USD

Closed all previous hedges.

Trade # 008-06-SAVA-008
Currency Traded - EUR
Result = +86 pips

Balance - $675.77 USD

I shorted one of my most favorite but dangerous pairs during the London Market, and got to make a few pips off of it. I still have a trade open looking to either close it sometime during the US Market or leave it open for a little while longer.

Trade # 008-06-SAVA-009
Currency Traded - GBP
Result = +66 pips

Balance - $741.49 USD

I decided to close the open position because I'm not sure what is going to happen during the US market open, and do not want to take any chances at the moment.

Trade # 008-06-SAVA-010
Currency Traded - GBP
Result = +10 pips

Balance - $751.66 USD

FXNoob what system do you use? If you care to share. Apparently it is serving you well. Take cre and God bless.

Hi eagle47,

I wish I had an EA or a 100% mechanical system made for the way I trade. If this was possible life would be much easier. I've tried over and over to look for the "perfect system" for many years realizing that a system that fit my trading style did not exist. I can't depend on any mechanical system as market conditions are always changing. You will find that many systems created work well only if certain conditions are met. This is not to slander any EA's or mechanical systems as I am sure there are many good ones available on Forex Factory itself.

I've been trading currency for a few years now, and have studied a few pairs on a more intricate level. I have never been happy with my trading style as I always wanted more pips, more trades, more, more, more of everything. With this attitude I kept searching for the perfect system to even compliment my trading style. As a result my accounts would suffer greatly.

After awhile I realized that nothing works without patience, money management, following the seven laws, learning how to hedge effectively and learning everything on your own without relying on anyone or any 100% mechanical system. So I came up with this kind of trading style and am testing it for the first time.

As for your original question there is no "system" I use. Just trading with what I have studied, using only the knowledge I have gained to influence my trades without having any outside voice effect my trades along with a few handy indicators.

As for the indicators I use that may help you out the most. I love, and I repeat love using Fibonacci retracement tools. Fibs are your friend. Along with fibs I use Patterns, Gann lines, Elliot Wave Patterns, Candlesticks, Ihimoku Kinko Hyo, Moving Averages (10,20,50,and 200 most of the times), and a few other indicators.

On H1 timeframes I use MACD (12,26,9) Stochs (5,3,3)
On a M15 timeframes I use Stoch (5,3,3) %R(14), RSI (10)
I use other timeframes as well depending on what type of trade I am looking for, and what currency I am looking to get in.

Along with this I also use the original version of eASCTrend 6.0 (not the one made for MT4, the original version)

After years of trading I realize that everyone on here has great indicators they use but after many losses on the account they are on the hunt for something better. This is what I have done for many years.

I would really advise you to really, and I mean really study and focus one currency pair at a time alone, and then with one indicator at a time. Start with a M1 timeframe. Don't rely on anyone else, because as soon as they fail you will be disappointed. I have tried this many times.

You can trade currency and not have to rely on anyone or any system. It takes a lot of work and many challenges will arise. It may seem complicated at first but after trial and error you will realize that trading a pair is not as difficult as it seems. It will become easier in time, and trading will be fun.

I am not sure if my trading style will work 100% for me or for anyone else. That is the point of this journal, to help make the trades I enter much better.

I hope this helps in some kind of way, and hope you truly take what I have written to heart. I wish I could help people, but in all honesty keeping this journal along with trading, having a full-time job working 60 to 70 hours a week with multiple shifts a day in construction, getting ready for marriage in one year and everything else has me at a full plate. I must say I am very, very blessed to be able to have a job where I am able to use a laptop for sometime during work. Along with friends, family and a girl that stays on my side good or bad. Thru God's grace, anything is possible.

God Bless,

forexnoob101

During the Asian session I really didn't see much for me to trigger a trade. I got in a small trade but got out early because there was no real direction for the British Pound. However I did invest in some good sales on a few trades involving the British Pound and the Euro. These trades may take a couple days to close which is fine because I have locked in some profit from my original balance. I am using a longer term strategy (Frequent Flyer) to close the trades out. If the trades go against me, I will hedge the account. Right now the open trades are in positive pips. At the moment I am not looking to get into many trades because I do not want to over leverage the account until the open trades close. I will open one trade at a time if I can get in and out real quick for a 5 to 30 pip profit. In the meantime I will continue to update the journal if there are any changes.

Trade # 008-06-SAVA-011
Currency Traded - GBP
Result = +6 pips

Balance - $757.84 USD

Closed the open trade on the Euro in order to get a better discount. Made a few pips before I closed it. I have two GBP orders in for Frequent Flyers and I am adding another one since I closed the Euro trade. The trade went against me during the US session so hedged the GBP order for +30 pips. Balance includes triple day interest.

Trade # 008-06-SAVA-012
Currency Traded - EUR
Result = +5 pips

Trade # 008-06-SAVA-013
Currency Traded - GBP
Result = +30 pips

Balance - $793.01 USD

During the Asian session I was able to close all my trades. I didn't expect these trades to close so early. I was kind of hoping that the trades would take a few days, and I would not trade, but instead take a break as I am really busy with work. All three Frequent Flyers for GBP are closed.

Trade # 008-06-SAVA-014
Frequent Flyer - GBP
Result = +140 pips

Trade # 008-06-SAVA-015
Frequent Flyer - GBP
Result = +140 pips

Trade # 008-06-SAVA-016
Frequent Flyer - GBP
Result = +108 pips

Balance = $1,180.78 USD

During the US Market and a little afterwards I opened up two trades one for a buy, another for a sell. I lost a few pips on the buy, if I was a little more patient I would of been in the green. Next trade made up for the loss, plus a few. Still looking to get in on a Euro trade if I can get it at a good price.

Trade # 008-06-SAVA-017
Currency Traded - GBP
Result = -17 pips

Trade # 008-06-SAVA-018
Currency Traded - GBP
Result = +55 pips

Balance = $1,218.29 USD