My way to highway

profitfarmer now high impact member!

unfortunately, the GbpJpy position trade opened from last night is making all the wrong kinda impacts on my account right now...
scaled in a bit more, current open drawdown is -0.3%.
the plan calls for taking part off before the news release later today on GBP, but right now it doesnt seem to be a viable option.
since the price now about the 3rd time touching the 146.50ish, hope this was for good luck, and finally we are heading back bellow 146.
of course hope has no big part in trading, and i have my plans for this position too, for better or worse. but rather for better.
will update on this later.

the update:

i am out of GbpJpy for now.
it did start to fall before the news, so, 4 min before the release of the high impact news i took out the top half, positioning myself better in case of an unfavorable spike on the news. i know it also limits the favorable spike's impact, but trading in a bigger part should not placed on luck, but be some calculated gamble of probabilities.
this case my probability said to close half, and doing so lock into some profit.
the other part was off 1 min after the news, when the BRN stalled the fall for the time being.
all in all having profit on this part too, the best decision was for me to stand aside, and wait to see how things panning out.
do i believe GJ will fall further? yes.
am i willing to reload my positions? if there is opportunity, yes.

attached a M15 chart purely for visual, first exit at 10:26 ( 4 min before news), second exit 10:31.
today so far this is the only "action", but looking for some more aroound NY.
the total result so far: +0.4%

Good job so far and good strategy.
Nice to follow your updates.
What is your longest open running trade by the way (any problems with negative swap?)?

Once again, thanks for following.
I tend to not hold any positions overnight with bigger negative swap. In case of GJ, the negative swap is minimal.
For exotics where it is more to check, i often dont scalp the negative swap direction, or with moderation, so to avoid a possible carry to the night.
See pairs, like UsdMxn, UsdTry, UsdZar...i am careful with longs.

There is no what is, only what was, when it comes to longest running trade, as 90% of the time i end my trading day flat, all in cash.
For position trade the longest i remember was maybe July one that lasted 4 days, though i think parts were on and off during it.
Normally they last 1-2 days.
Scalping of course is intraday affair, and while i mentioned carrying it, happens very very rarely. But as is, best to be prepared to all option BEFORE the trade, so, usually have a general plan about where i want to scale in, how much, what drawdown i expect out of it for worst case, and yes, how much the swap would cost if things get expanded from my initial plan.

I tend to focus only on trades with direction in favour of +swap.
Works for me and therefore I am more prepared to hold for longer.

Can you describe any examples of' scaling in' that you have used recently just so I can follow that bit.

Thanks and good luck

without going too much into details, GJ is/was obviously oversold, the news gave it a final push.
my initial entry ( the scout, small size) was placed some pips above the BRN, 146, cos i am a bad shopper, and want discounts.
my thought was that BRN will be breached on strength, and good chance to pick some obvious SLs above...so went entry pending at 146.12...and shortly after got filled.
was a great scalping entry too, but this was for position, and as such not to take 10 pips, if possible.
price eventually headed higher, against me.
at entry, looking at the chart, i decided that if all goes sour on me, price can head up maybe as far as 147.50ish.
normally my trades divided into up to 4 parts, the first 2 adding up to one, together. and slight progressing on the rest afterward.
the spacing about an equal distance from first entry to expected last, dependent on range, extention of move...well, looking on my favorite RSI, it is very well into overbought on multiple TFs, and was more so yesterday when entered first part...
generally this made me decide to put next pending on 146.55....that got hit, few turns there, a false breakout, then the fall, and exit was detailed before above a past or two. so, in this case approx 50 pips wide grid, with target further usually, but i am always flexible on that.
just as i wrote to someone, i believe during the life of a trade the probabilities change constantly, and you need to adjust your views. sometimes the next 10 pips not worth risking your 40 pips at hand...sometimes being in position (but minimal) at high impact news time expose you to chances that you cant calculate that well, ie even if TP hit might be hit by large slippage, etc, that makes it less inviting, or find yourself with a spike against you that is not preferred...
thus adjusting yourself before news, by lightening up by closing some, or hedging some, may be good idea.
wont bring max profit, but wont risk max loss neither.

as for now, i have a pending on 146.40
if hit, the pacing shift about 1 step up, the big picture unchanged, i expect some GBP weakness and JPY strength...a reversal after some very strong move.

hope i am clear on most points.
if not, feel free to ask.
as for lot sizing, the risk of DD and tolerance is up to everyone's own preference, but i maintain a -10% equity SL to cut all trades if reached.
working drawdown, and position sizes generally, try to maintain -3% max, overall.

Well it is great that you can close out/stay flat at the end of the day with no DD.
My grids tend to be bigger, I like to have at least 75-100 pips between a scale in trade that tends to keep DD manageable.
But I hamstring myself by favouring +Swap direction as because of that I have a lot less opportunities.

It is all about what works for you.
I like to keep exposure low, especially weekends. So many things can go wrong, that is inevitable that time to time some will.
Having no position IS a position, too

agree with you,if we enter the most probable trade,the trade goes in our way earlier or later,so I also hold it until it comes back. Patience and knowledge is the key.

calling it a day, got what i thought i would, no need to force it.
apart from the GJ short positions mentioned earlier, had a small EurUsd and UsdNok scalps, and that is all.
some contrast from the busy scalping day yesterday.

total result today: +0.43%
no open trade, took out that pending GJ as well, tomorrow news heavy, probably sideline and scalping will dominate as theme.

some morning fun scalping EurAud after the news.
not my usual trading time though, but if up and there is some opportunity why not.
clearly little early on the first entry, and a nasty slippage ( negative) on last single etnry's exit...not to mention, in 20/20, waaaayyy too early exits in general...but WTF!
profit is profit, and i am up +0.07%.
knowing last week's lottery numbers wont change the present, just as in the end there is not much to overthink the what if on a chart's left side.

btw, last night i took out all pendings in the end, that included GJ. big mistake, i would be done for the day on that single trade, but no beating up oneself on stupid mistakes, right? right??

today is heavy on news, expect more scalping to some as the day progress. while i dont like to attach targets, i think today has the potential.

here is another scalp, not my typical pair or timeframe, but worked out fine enough.
EurChf, M1 TF.
8 pips net. if there is a chance, and by the PC, why not?
(this isnt the news, but the aftermath 90 min later...)

Good job
You must have a lot of charts open; you seem to scan or cover a lot of currency pairs and opportunities

basically 7 charts.
5 stays usually, 2 change as per currency strength hints where i might find my sort of preferred setups.

update:
the GBP news i was little too early...like 100 pips or so.
pretty upsetting, then to compound the "mistake" after GU, opened some GJ positions too.
drawdown ran out of hand rather quickly, to as high as approx -6-6.5%!
cant tell for sure, cos i was in and out some positions, and then back again, so, not quite glued to the drawdown like 'deer in headlight'.
well, bad things can and do happen, thus the -10% equity SL, what didnt get triggered this time.
for the time being, things back to control, current DD is hoovering around -0.5-1.2%, not great, but what is manageable.
will update once the trades closed, preferable soon!

Well it was a good job to get the DD back under control, otherwise you would have been a bit grumpy during your evening meal tonight lol

I used to trade GBPJPY but I stopped for a few reasons;
- Daily volatility can be huge
- the historic movement is a big envelope from 119 through to 253 so without a SL you have a long way to go if you take your eye off the ball
- no swap in either direction (for most brokers)

update:
back to squire#1...got a power outage when i just had the chance to lighten position at approx BE, and by the time got tablet on, was enough to have a huge jump of extra 60 pips drawdown...tough life.
drowdown back to about -3%, give or take a little.
still within the -10%, still unhappy about it, LOL.

SoStopXXL,
i dont mind the pair, normally if enter a second related it is somewhere a later stage. this time it was not late enough stage, and i am paying for that.

the final update:
well, it cost me, dearly.
pretty much wiped the past 2 weeks, some "salary" i was counting on...cos the month was up, nicely...was.
part of why i am uhappy that "friends" were nagging me one to close the drawdown, one to hold on to all...WTF! who is the trader?!

anyway, closed all. even though i have a max DD limit of -10%....
even thought the final close only :-2.2%!!
even though nither the running loss reached the -10%, especially the tally adding in the profits i was closing scalping around the position.
the running drawdown got as high as -8.7%....yet it had as much as +5.6% profit to prop it up...

yes, not happy, to be sort of forced into closing at a very point where my system screams to hold for reversal.
for the month of September i have been left with +0.27%.
not much, but green!

here is a chart of GbpUsd entries.
ignore the TPs, i decide them manually, they are just standard precaution in case it moves very quick to my way...which it did not!!
some points i was close to BE, some point as far as a combined -4%...
due a rainstorm had the electricity cut off 3x.
the second was the last BE/slight profit, must be just before entry 10...
the smaller scalps with higher lots, but obviously not high enough to fully compensate this move.

the fund trial account also started today ( couldnt yesterday, when i had a great up day?!!)
anyway, there i had to be more careful, the drawdown allowed is extremely low.
managed to keep it around -1%, finally ending the day with +0.1%....consider everything, acceptable.

ugly day, but survived it, the performance still solid enough, the month still green however slightly, and tomorrow there is another trading day!
plenty time to bring back the month to something a bit more meaningful than the 0.27%!

PS: posted the chart, because it is a good example why you should trade relative small, so, even an adverse 160 pips move on GU, and another 200 pips on GJ could not deal a major blow on the account.
if you are cornered, you can give up, or fight!!! ( not for the life, than you did some major f@ck up in the trade sizing!)
those scalps were good enough to bring down the drawdown from 8% to 2%, -a big reduction-, and preventing it anytime to pass -4%.

also, there is always the debate about if weather possible to trade low risk without SL, or it has to blow up the account.
obviously, if i use "standard 2% risk" today would end up costing me probably a lot more!

and finally, the grid and 'martingale' issue
( i more like use progressive lot scaling, not per se doubling down at any point).
again, it is possible to stay in "the game".

personal opinions vary, but this is my journal, my way of looking at it.
of course the TE is there to look, and i think i post enough charts to be able to plot those for some who interested.

tomorrow

Yes, it's bad, but this is trading, sometimes you eat the bear, sometime the bear eat you.
But GU is still under control of daily resist from 2016.9.6

A good honest post which captures I think the essence of trading - and the difficulties

Traders who are only ever doing demos will never appreciate the difficulties of live trading; not just the position and placing but when and where to take profit (normally we take it too quick) and when and where to take the loss (very hard to close it quick).
The latter is the hardest.
And you will find that most people who 'advise' you of when to close the trade are those with the demo accounts !

As you said, you are the trader and you took control and the decision to close. Have no regrets.
Your account is still there, you are up on the month and well up on the year
Keep going and keep positive.

My worse trade in one of my accounts is EURUSD.....shorts ..... still open.... the only positive thing is that it is paying positive swap...... I have mothballed it for a while and I watch it with one tiny eye, and may try to trade it back some other time. But i have many other accounts that I use.
Forex is fun