My way to highway

found issues with myfxbook. i'd just stick to TE

https://www.forexfactory.com/showthr...ok#post9434371

https://www.forexfactory.com/showthr...k#post10197257

Thanks!
I try to use this journal to give the full 360 feel of how real trading feels day to day, including those good bad and ugly moments of day-to-day.
I am glad if you (and hope another few too, maybe?) appreciate this!

Thanks Hilmy83

Btw, talking about TE:

some of you guys may notice my TE numbers had changed a little.
Nothing major change, decided for the moment to split my capital into 2 account.

so, the new day...

GJ and GBP generally on a mad run, so, no point to be down about yesterday upsetting events, the show -trading this case-must go on!

call it revenge trading if you wish, but today i found again GJ the best candidate to do what i like...
So, GbpJpy, scaled in, what a wild horse today too, OMG!
but this time it is me, no nagging, no BS to listen too!!
i make my decision without having to please anyone, period. like it or leave it, investors friends! lol
anyway, probably today they will like it as much as they regret maybe that they bug me yesterday into closing at the wrong time and wrong price.

the result: +1.71
not yet recovered the loss of yesterday's -2.2%, but it puts things back to track.
i am both tempted to trade, and tempted to stay away for the rest of the day. each has benefits. i am still "hot". but i might push harder for full recovery if in sight than i should.
talking about full recovery, actually my account had, as for the split capital and part on higher risk. for the others, all above Aug HWM.

as fixi fund trial account, it has also gained today, though for the lessen drawdown limit, it trades lower risk, but up +0.77% today too.

first dinner, and then see if there is some small scalping to do in NY session...i start to make up my mind toward taking it easy for the rest of the day.

Friday, the trading week is over! Finally!!

Turbulent yesterday, and even today, GJ, and GBP still running wild.
Only today no external influence, and i just do what i do, counter trade to tame these wild things.
GbpJpy, was +1.71%, then later during NY session some GbpCad scaling fun ( small scale) added another +0.16% to the day.
Today ended with a total of +1.87%
not a full recovery completely, but not far from it. ( did actually at an all time equity high on my own finances, after the account split, when combined)

The week ended at +0.59% ( thanks to yesterday )
The month of September at +2.14%.

All factored in, it isnt too bad. At all.

the fixi fund trial account now at +0.93%, a good start with that.

happy weekend!

Monday, Japan bank holiday.
Despite these two, the day turned out busy, numerous scalping entries.
The last on EurTry gave me some headache, slippage when i didnt need and nearly 1% drawdown.
All closed now, +0.27% on 1x risk.
Had some problem to copy some trades, and my broker just closed case without a satisfying solution, so, tomorrow will have another chat about it.
Use local copy (too)..3 acct right time in and out, 4th acct OK in, seconds and pips delay out...for that to say my connection the problem without reading that all other accts also trade on this same PC, with local copy, and even so some of the accts had matching server to good execution.
Another great suggestion was that maybe the liquidity was low...BS of course, that would explain the worst price,thought not 5-6 sec delay on 1 out of 4 accounts.
Since writing from tablet this, won't add chart, not too exciting anyway.
Tomorrow another day.

Realistic expectations:

Was a post somewhere in the beginning of the journal dedicated to this, but the topic does and will come up often in our minds, being one of the important aspect of our own trading.
Currently I wrote an answer to another thread, that I would like to include here too...
Little longer read.
If there is thoughts on the topic, happy to hear.

The 50% a month as reality for many traders 8/12?

Maybe this distribution:
month 1-2 make 50%, month 3 blow acct
month 4-5 make 50%, month 6 blow acct
...
The reality is that an open forum isn't the reality.
Most for whatever reason like to boost their trading skills, results, expertise.
And strangely this can be all done without a tiny proof that they even trading a live account.
I can tell you all the winning lottery numbers for a year...the past year!! Will that make me a millionaire?
It is easy to post a trade without entries marked, purely hindsight, or just claim it without even that.
It is easy to post a screenshot conveniently omitting the fact the account is demo, often every few days a different one, for various " important" reasons, surely.

I can tell you as much that by posting a TE with 1000$ real money, you are ahead of 80% of the members here!
By having +10% profit on it, you are ahead 90% of the members here!

9 month into the year, and the leading #1 real account TE is @ 571%....even that is approx 20% a month compounded return "only"
In contrast #100 is @ 34.2% currently, that maybe 4% a month.
This is the top list on FF.com as of now.
If you feel, check them, and discount any bellow 200$ starting capital, as often they are sort of free bonus or such, always traded heavily based on luck as " nothing to lose".
Will be surprised how many you will find bellow 1000$.
Sure, great, you have a 30$ account you double in a lucky 2 month...and gain 30$....vs you make 10% in your account of 1k in 2 month, and up 100$...who is better trader? The line who can at least pay the internet bill from the profit or the one who can't?
Even think if someone such a great trader, why they trade 30-100-200$ accounts?
Most gurus are at best questionable if profitable traders at all, or only forum demo jockeys...you decide.

All the above little essay, because it is really important to have realistic expectations.
Instead of 50% a month, maybe put as goal to make it before the end of year to top100 TE? A realistic and achievable goal, without chasing illusions!
If you need reality, that TE top list still the best reality out there.
To put it in context, FF.com has like 400k members...and that the top100 of those who can stand behind their words with some proof.

A TOP100 TE for a part -time trade is probably a good objective and one that would give new focus.
TE's are good in that you can easily analyse where you are going.
It bugs me though the people that attach to their signatures the 1 week old TE's on Demo accounts showing 5000% or more gains ! Very misleading and nonsensical really. That should not be allowed.
It is good the FF Leaderboard is filtered for Live accounts, but I would prefer that only 1000USD equity at least is eligible

to continue on your thoughts, it isnt only that some attach a fresh demo account with large gains, but some deliberately "forget" to remove old or not updated TEs, demo or live, the same, that havent had a trade in weeks or months...misleading indeed.

yes, i would also like filter on TEs that would ignore sub-1000$ if ticked...i consider around the threshold to show at least some semi-serious commitment that you looking for more than just a quick round at the casino table of forex.

also, have to add, i am aware that TEs are not always full reflection of performance, but in general they still can give a picture, if not only the percent gained, but on drawdown, profit factor, or the equity slope to show consistency.
of course, if you are at a stage where you looking to grow your account by additional deposits like me, the %result will suffer on TE presentation.
but then, if you serious about your results, comparing it is fine, but you wont be chasing a rank on the list.

that said, if a motivational target is needed, i think that still may be the right kind of motivation, vs. a random monthly % gain, or getting to millions.
by nature, the target is evolving, and it also keeps you focus on longer term performance vs a short live success, as the year ends -well- in a year from the start, so rather a marathon than a sprint in that manner.

for the game i can have the target of top99th spot, that is reachable goal, or just plot my real return (time weighted) to the list to see that i would be 51th if not adding funds to the account few times. it is, like a game.
and importantly some sort of motivation, and we all need something for feedback and motivation to stay on top of out "game".

You have not far to go,.... No.99 is at 35% methinks?

correct, for the fun of it. it isnt far.
as other goal, i can set myfxbook gain for 100%, also not too far.
even have a dollar target for myself this month, a rare thing, but that i wont tell out loud.

trading today was all scaling, pretty good, 9/10 ended up in plus.

yesterday had some issues at ICmarkets on some trade execution, being tired i think i will only include details of that, tomorrow.
while that just isnt nice,
trading today was, up +0.29%.
the main currency involved was JPY.

as promised...

The importance of order execution

ECN ( or so called ECN) account is nice, usually no broker interference, quick enough execution, good spread and not too much slippages are few advantages.
But having a smooth sail normally doesnt mean to fall asleep, a trader has stay on the lookout, things can take a bad turn at any time.
Good executions can go bad, good brokers cant turn bad too, where suddenly little by little conditions might change for the worse to the trader, for various reasons.

a recent problem i had with my broker:
will edit some lines out from the log to shorten the post, but keep the important ones...the example is a small scalp trade, the mail isnt about the few dollars lost, is about finding the reasons...

"hi

I had today some rather strange thing on my small trade today.
as the setup, I use one of my account to send trades to friends account, + one of my other trading account.

today it looks like this on my account: live-2 server
2017.09.18 13:25:16.117 '#': order #44842027 sell 0.08 GBPJPY at 151.366 sl: 0.000 tp: 151.152 closed at price 151.303
2017.09.18 13:25:15.691 '#': close order #44842027 sell 0.08 GBPJPY at 151.366 sl: 0.000 tp: 151.152 at price 0.000
2017.09.18 13:22:57.129 '#': order was opened : #44842027 sell 0.08 GBPJPY at 151.366 sl: 0.000 tp: 0.000
2017.09.18 13:22:56.653 '#': order sell market 0.08 GBPJPY sl: 0.000 tp: 0.000

looks like this on friend #1 live-3 server
2017.09.18 13:25:16.597 '$': order #43773967 sell 0.07 GBPJPY at 151.373 sl: 0.000 tp: 151.152 closed at price 151.309
2017.09.18 13:25:16.170 '$': close order #43773967 sell 0.07 GBPJPY at 151.373 sl: 0.000 tp: 151.152 at price 0.000
2017.09.18 13:23:02.925 '$': order was opened : #43773967 sell 0.07 GBPJPY at 151.373 sl: 0.000 tp: 0.000
2017.09.18 13:22:57.205 '$': order sell market 0.07 GBPJPY sl: 0.000 tp: 0.000

friend #2 live-10 server
2017.09.18 13:25:16.604 '%': order #6079936 sell 0.31 GBPJPY at 151.380 sl: 0.000 tp: 151.152 closed at price 151.309
2017.09.18 13:25:16.175 '%': close order #6079936 sell 0.31 GBPJPY at 151.380 sl: 0.000 tp: 151.152 at price 0.000
2017.09.18 13:22:58.337 '%': order was opened : #6079936 sell 0.31 GBPJPY at 151.380 sl: 0.000 tp: 0.000
2017.09.18 13:22:57.205 '%': order sell market 0.31 GBPJPY sl: 0.000 tp: 0.000

and finally my other account, also on live-10 server
2017.09.18 13:25:26.424 '@': order #6079966 sell 0.21 GBPJPY at 151.374 sl: 0.000 tp: 151.152 closed at price 151.334
2017.09.18 13:25:21.119 '@': close order #6079966 sell 0.21 GBPJPY at 151.374 sl: 0.000 tp: 151.152 at price 0.000
2017.09.18 13:23:00.466 '@': order was opened : #6079966 sell 0.21 GBPJPY at 151.374 sl: 0.000 tp: 0.000
2017.09.18 13:22:59.999 '@': order sell market 0.21 GBPJPY sl: 0.000 tp: 0.000

please kindly take note that both this last 2 accounts on the same server, live-10, yet the last one, acct. # 1000026503 at exit suffered an extra 5 second delays compared to the others, thus an extra approx. 3 pips slippage too.
I kindly like to find out the reason for it, if I may, as going forward I would like to avoid in the future similar outcomes!

kind regards
PF"

well, my good broker is as usual full of shit, and it must be every reason but not a word about the real thing what has happened, and never even a hint that they might have something wrong on their side.
i got the answer it must be my internet speed...well, easy, locally copied trades, then go over the net, same on ALL accounts.
i got the answer that it must be the latency...well, again, same latency then for ALL accounts, including those on the same server especially!!
i got the answer that market liquidity...well, that wasnt the biggest lot executed, and that on ECN still not explain the time delay, as price should be executed at nearest as market order. not to mention it is during London session, not in the mid of night.
i got the answer to move my account to another server...well, there are accounts on other server as seen, and all seem to correspond, but the last one. ( even there are other accounts of mine that server too)

a total waste of time on broker support in the end!
of course.
honestly, i havent think much they would do, but i dont know, sometimes just hope for the best? maybe something like "sorry", or even to compensate for this little mistake that doesnt seem to come from my side ( maybe a 10$ deal for the broker)...
something to feel good. after all they have 100s of $ commissions made from me already.
of course, i must live in a dream world.

the lessons:
- if not each and every trade, but randomly worth to check on executions.
- the broker probably will do everything to blame things on the trader
- as trader there is little to do apart from being upset
- there is no need to quick decision, but this goes to my red flags collection. there is many brokers out there, similar conditions too.
- if the broker so much not interested to keep my business bt keeping me content, maybe i shall be more on the lookout to change the broker.

Some personal trading related post, those who not looking these kind of posts, hope stopped early in the reading.

Personally I think every trader should have several brokers.
There is no disadvantage, you do not have to actively trade them all, but they are there and if you have a problem with one you can immediately start trading with another without time lag.
You can also compare Broker performance and even favour different brokers at different times depending on their spreads etc

I have had problems with 3 brokers in the last 10 years - 2 into administration and one just closed the account.... in the most recent example, although it pissed me off with small losses of DD, it did not hamper my trading.
I have other reasons for multi brokers which are money management (profit taking/lot sizes), .... I know most people will call me crazy so I will not go into details on that.
Hope you all have a good trading day

i trade directly with 2 brokers.
to be honest, there is no major issues with ICMarkets, generally both spread and execution is good. they fast on withdrawals, and deposits.
but such small issues are annoying nevertheless, and since scalping already has small margin, lot more on the lookout to make it worthwhile the effort.

all in all, they are surely better then those i used in the past, eToro (lol, my first forex exp with 20$ that lasted for an hour!), Fxopen ( a decent bucketshop then), Exness (went from OK to bad, on supposed ECN that never was ECN). not so good old times, lol.

hi PF,
concerning brokers: I have accounts with 3 different British brokers for the government guarantee of 50k pounds.
find ActivTrades the best - positive slippage, reasonable swap and spread, no commission.
spread E/U 0.5-0.6 pips at the moment.

hi yonnie,
thanks, i am also leaning toward adding a British broker. Or should i say another. As i have account with fixi, for the fund trial, and they are British.
for now Australia had some supposed benefits for me, and maybe once UK is out from EU...lets wait and see how the things are then.

is this real?
6 million to nothing, ActivTrades...what a TE.
https://www.forexfactory.com/789878#...explorer.68372

Hey Z

Mmm, not too sure about your assumption that this is broker related...
Can't tell for sure, because you edited out some important info.

Anyway, FWIW.
On the master account (sender), a GJ short opened 22 minutes, 57 secs, 129 millisecs.



One of the slaves on the live2 server picks this trade up, but more than 5 seconds later !!!



This delay is totally unacceptable, especially in case of scalping.
As far as I know, as soon as the receiver is instructed to mirror the trade it will do so in "no time".
In case it does not manage to do so, it will retry x times and this will be logged.
I do not see any retrials, so this leads me to think that the bottleneck is on the copier PC (enough RAM, CPU in overdrive, polling frequency too ambitious, .... ?).

Here's an example of what it should look like.
From top to bottom, sender and 3 slaves picked at random.
Notice the delay between "Successfully sent open message for ticket XXX" on the sender and "Created market order with ticket XXX" on the slaves ?



As a reference: 8 platforms running on Intel i3 with 16GB RAM.



If you copy on a VPS, make sure there's enough power under the hood ;-)
Hope this helps.

Happy trading & keep up the excellent results !
LuXing

there was one good move today so far, that nice 100 pips up in GBP pair on the news, perfect to trade for counter guys like me...
exactly the time when my parents thought it would be great to chat for half an hour.
i am happy for them. but yes, that was the very time. a miss. could make my day on that move...
well, instead it was a grinding scalping day, many entries, many small pips...
not sure if the day is over, i am very tempted to stay for the FOMC, but i am very sleepy as well...it will be at 1am my local time.

today scalping was exclusively on EurAud x7( will include chart, not sure if all visible though) and GbpCad x4....all EA was win, however small, and GC did 3/4, like a sniper!!
could be better but not much better, for the win%...there is plenty room for the pips, but buying into something still somewhat overbought...effective scalping in the direction of the trend...it isnt my natural way.

in case if the day ends here, it is +0.36% (and only 43 pips).