My way to highway

Those are just amazing statistics PF.
It is great to look at those results, the best being the drawdown.
Well done and keep it up

Just saw that nr99 in the trading Top 100 is 34,5%
How come you are not showing up yet in that list ?

correct. this time i should fit in with the TE...not to mention full results...
but
checked and the rule goes like this:
only the accounts qualify that were opened before the period started...that 1st Jan...my account started in March...
but it isnt that important matter, really.
i am more proud the low dd% as you also point that out in previous post.

Good evening Profitfarmer,

I guess it is my turn to post a “really well done PF” post.

First, thank you very much for your tread that is very refreshing.
In that internet virtual world, you appear like a genuine person with his “head on his shoulders” and the fact that you keep your TE is such a nice DIY learning tool for people lost in the trading fog like me.

So clear and simple to keep a TE (no need to talk really), but oh so extremely rare for obvious "I am fake" reasons.

Hopefully that TE will bring you more interesting investors, so that you can reach your goals, whatever they are.

As said before, by others more qualified than me, you’re doing extremely well at controlling your floating drawdown. You are gifted.
The fact that you will close your position at a maximum of 10% drawdown feels like a good safety net.
It will come up for sure, probably in a rare case when you faded the breakout too early and you have to add multiple times to the position building up your position to quite a high leverage. I am not reinventing the wheel here, and in that case, another push (breakout) against your position and you will probably reach the “10 % close all”.
And then what? 10% will be one good month profit? 2 or 3 “smaller” months? With the kind of returns you’ve generated so far, it is really an amazing deal. It would be just a small inevitable dent in the beautiful rising curve.

I know nothing really, but keep up the good work at controlling that drawdown, and your future (in trading at least) looks very very bright indeed!!

I wish you all the best and thanks again for the tread, the TE and your general experiences (good and bad) with new investors.
Very refreshing and inspiring.

Cheers,
J-F

hi J-F,

thank you for posting, it is always nice to hear feedbacks from those who take the time and read the journal.
your post inspiring me, in turn, and i mean it.
today i wasnt planning to give updates, but now i will, because you raised a few topics

the TE: it is a small touch, but a great tool to see when someone is real or not so...unfortunate few use it, and many who does misuse it to show a gambling run, that clearly visible from daily gains, drawdowns...
to be honest, i discount a lot many "gurus" or self claimed great traders if there is zero evidence they can actually do what they claim they can.
it is just how it works with me this era of internet, and suspect many has similar take on this, and a healthy dose of skepticism.

the drawdown: the -10% equity SL stands there as a last resort, a final safety net. i am in no illusion that it will be hit sometimes, and that i will have time to time losing day ( not meaning i am not trying to trade not to have!)
an acceptable drawdown is part of trading, something hardly can be avoided. important to underline 'acceptable'...even if giving up a chunk of the profit, it still will mean being ahead, and all is good.
the tricky part of when still in the stage of growing the trading account ( i am in this phase), as that means the drawdown will hit worst, from highest equity...once in the stage that there is regular withdrawals, this effect will be reduced a little.
but my target is not to hit a -10% as long as it is possible, i am well aware that it is lot easier to recover a 6-7% DD than a 10%, less profit to give back, less emotional drag, etc. but if prepare, why not prepare to the worse case, and just be happy if not that bad the reality?

days are not equal, sometimes run into a runaway market, sometimes maybe anxious to enter and thus be early, sometimes misjudge my points to add to a trade.
and sometimes all is good.
today it was one of that day.
trading was short, only from the aftermath of the GBP news, all wrapped up in just 2 hours.
all GBP, on various pairs, 1 or 2 a time.
all singles, all winners, 11/11....a relative high net +74 pips.
for a total +0.65%.
all is good. for now. November started, and it is so far looking fine. only 28 days left to complete

thanks also for the well wishes about investors.
it is a slow moving forward usually, takes time, check and recheck trading...
but as of yesterday just about 100k new assets added. not my preferred broker the bulk ( fxcm) but will see how it fares.
also the past week and for now FIXI trial fund was/is on hold, they had some server issues sorting...supposedly resumes all from Monday.
that is a long shot, and always was, and handled in my mind like that.
in the moment it seems like 1M AUM by end of year will remain but a dream, though halfway already met, so, one can never say never!
as long as performance holds, all is well, and apart from the newest accounts ( obviously) every other account can withstand and stay in profit after a full equity SL, and that gives me more ease of mind.
the other important thing, that i trade from a master account, that i keep to a generally constant equity of approx 10-11k...that way the position sizes, the drawdown numbers in $, all kind a familiar territory that my mind can handle easier, vs seeing it all in one.
it is just me, perhaps, but i think takes time to get used to all the bigger numbers, and i dont like to see month's salary, or price of a car as a DD, prefer to keep it in the (max) 3 digit territory

i also like to with great trading for you, and please keep inspiring me in the future to be better!
there is always some ways to improve, always!

NFP Friday.
my trading today started with the news, a small short on EurUsd, that i should hold, from 1 pips of the actual top...but yeah, took 5...
the rest was on the CAD aftermath, mainly EurCad, and to a smaller extent GbpCad.
generally stayed with smaller lots, the many entries are a result of breaking up the bigger ones for better execution.
well, not all perfect, but all was OK enough...
total result today: +0.69% on main.
the week ( 3 days, without those days that fell into October) is: +1.45%.
all in all, a good, strong start of the month so far!

attached the EurCad chart.
for better visibility it is a M1 chart. ( i use M5 to trade).
if wonder, i closed losses on this in the bigger cluster on the middle, felt so hungry, the hunger won!...but overall that time closed the Gcad ones in profit, and was in approx 0.55% profit on the total!
looking at the chart 15-20 min later, it is clear it was one expensive meal!

happy weekend!

just a little update...

there isnt daily update anymore now, because i dont feel there is a need or interest for it.
also most about the basics had been told, involving the risk side, the equity, the realistic goals, etc.
i am always around to answer questions if there is some that needs answer still.
however the trading is going on, just the same.

happy trading!

Fair enough Profitfarmer, it is really quite some work to update every day, a lot of time and effort without adding correlative value really.

And I bet you have much better to do, or at least I hope so!! :0)

Not sure how many were following your trading "nearly live" through your Trade Explorer, but I was one of them especially when it was going a bit "wrong" (sorry, nothing sadistic, but in my case i feel it is how one learns the best).
Personaly, being a visual, I find the "doing" much better than the "talking".
On the long run, it is as well a lot harder to BS on the "doing live" long term.

It is why I've really enjoyed and valued your tread.

Thanks a lot, and I wish you all the best in your trading.
Cheers,
J-F

Hi J-f,

Yes, hard to add every day "value".
I could repeat a few " lessons" more, those I truly think made a difference to me and my trading, and could write up few more essays about the everyday goods and not so goods.

Since you mentioned the TE, and that liked to look of it, I can add it back.
I was/am experimenting more about breaking up larger lots to smaller entries, as that may confuse some.
That said, the drawdown limits kept the same, so, I hope does DD% you saw were not fully out of the chart, lol, as end of the Monty max DD% stayed comfy bellow the gains.

So, TE back, still the same, still live, still consistent, still in profit.
It is hard work to make it, but when I think the last losing day was 14th Sept, that is a good feeling.
Feel free to take a look whenever pleases you!
Happy trading!

Hi there PF,

Needless to add on positive comments (or should I ? ). I think you did a great favour for all of us showing where trading can take us. Not only inspirational and motivating but also very much informing. I think that was the missing part of those successful traders in FF not committed enough to share the start up experience in such broad level. Thank you for your contributions.

I have given up managing money, better get a bank loan and beat the bank rate. Seriously less stressful and time consuming than dealing with clients, brokers, VPS , etc.

Hi Kxeroo,

maybe there is some kind of middle ground between the bank loan and managing money...
my understanding that AxiTrader rolling out (next week?) some interesting funding proposal where one doesnt need lots of cash, but can grow to 150k funds in time, and where you wont need to deal with VPS, clients, payments...
i think i will partake in that, and give it a try.

of course you get things summed up well.
there is lots of potential in trading.
and of course the other side, between the 2 paydays.
but tell me any job which doesnt?

the plus side, that in time, the earning potential can be high, virtually as high as one want to dream, as long as some performance kept.
me only tried to show in this little journal for those who care to read, that despite trading "risky", and not by the books at all, if the money management tweaked right, things can surprisingly turn out good, consistent, and shockingly, low risk too.

it is important to have small milestones to try to achieve, and to have some short of meaningful motivation to keep you on track doing what you do.
for me, apart from the trading goals itself, reading feedbacks here is a motivation.
thank you for your post!

weekend.
some good, some bad, but overall profit.
today GbpAud shorts were reason to pain.
copying seem to have a random week.

but the numbers are what matter, right?
so, this week master acct is: +1.93%
when i look at that number, it isnt bad at all.
half month nearly gone, half to go!

since one of the fake commercial questioned, i have a fresh one from myfxbook...of course, the TE is there too, for someone like visuals.


happy weekend!

Well done mate. Winning become habit

profit "montana" farmer

Hey profitfarmer,

for what it is worth, I thought that you handled that GBP/AUD position really well today actually.
It looks like you scaled out some entries and then scaled back in as you often do (and "mentally" it is not easy at all to do!!), and closed it all at a right moment.
Might have been a bit tense in your head, but all in all another very good job I would say.

And as return goes, an excellent week as well.

Well done.

Cheers,
J-F

great

hi J-f,

basicly, what you say it is true.
how i see it that i was a little eager to be in on a slower market, and thus was a little eager to get out, and that with some slippage on copies resulted mixed results.
overall, i have seen about 2%ish working drawdown today, a little on the high side only when i add in the earlier and heavier scaling in.
it isnt extreme, and it is still far from the -10% equity stop, but when heavier into a position, then the numbers can start to spin faster if ultimately i am wrong.
this still should be a lessen issue, but for the investor's/fund side, i have to keep the drawdown limit.
generally, this whole week, despite the pretty good numbers, i felt the market wasnt really ideal to my trading.
probably because there was a lack of important high impact news, idk.
all i know that right now i am happy for the weekend.
i promised to work on a system#2, what i have to put on a live account to forward test, hopefully it will be by the end of the month latest.
the tricky part, that in about 1 month, mid-December, i will stop serious trading probably, until next year, i dont like to trade around the low liquidity of the holidays, the wider spreads, etc.
if there is a little tenseness, it mainly comes from the "fear of losing days", but of course, take that with a pinch of humor.
there is a certain level of self pressure for myself to keep my string of winning days, a self-challenge that of course also a base for profitable week(s), and month(s).
i am well aware there will be losing days, but i am also very determinated to postpone those as long as i can, and overall avoid having them too often.
going into the next week, the last instance was 2 months back exactly...so, go figure
there is a delicate balance if to run things to equity SL, or take a smaller loss, but when...yet i usually opted the smaller one, but still, it is hard to put specific a number to it. 2-3% DD isnt the number, but 5-7% maybe is...idk.
there is only one thing to do: start every day as fresh, try to take a few entries that close some profit and boost the self confidence a little to take on 1-2 larger scale entries for the real gains. and of course know when to stop and wait for the next day.
it isnt a simple game to figure this out, but it can be a rewarding game, and i dont mean millions, but to compare well to most average joe's salary, like my previous in last job, for example ( and be done with lot less hours, free weekends, and a chance to 'grow')

happy weekend!

it is a hard mental game, i am more interested with the risk side to be controlled than the actual profit side ( except the end of month day!! LOL).
if the next week happen to be a successful one, then maybe take a little more chance on the last 10 days of the month, from a good headstart it is easier to push for the great, and risk worst case a BE, then the other way around.
generally as long as DD% stay low, i am good.
to keep DD% low, there is only one thing to remember: trade small. trade even smaller. profits will compound, and i will be nicely ahead!!
i am the most comfortable with scalping cos the less open trades i carry, the less surprises can happen to me while sleeping!

I cannot agree more. Most of the retail traders focusing on how to make.money; professionals rather look how to keep the money. It is great to see someone demonstrate the power of compounding gain with a very fine way. I am hoping this tread takes attention of all rookies who seeks to be a full time trader some day.

I am planning to launch something end of this year as well. I have seen enough people talking about trading systems holy grails and using bunch of indicators and expert advisers they dont even know its calculations (even worse they dont care).

Cut it to short: This community needs more people like you

what a busy trading day today!
and it all started out to be one quiet day, where i resigned to a modest gain...
and then somehow, somewhere all changed.
part on the unusual EUR strength all pay, part on the later day CAD weakness, and mostly because of both this two.

ended up with a total of 71 entries, and out of all that 30! was EurCad.
The majority of the rest was mainly devided between EurUsd and EurNzd, also traded from the short side, as well as a bit of GbpCad, and others....

today was/is(some places far from over) a school example for me why it is important to change adjust the plan.
the attached chart doesnt show, but i was stating to sell EC at day's high, both EC and EU and EN overextended already.
or that was what i thought.
the position sizes about the same, this time, so, tried to scale into a strong move up...then went on top little lighter, as reaching BRN, hard to tell if there will be a run for the stops or not.
this point original plan was in the garbage bin already....
got a break, almost, and was able to close some, then found myself once more early to fail on the second tap to BRN, and see prices heading higher...
at this point shorting some, but even as confident as i was, started to close some to lighten up the bottom end, cos this point the running drawdown got as high as -3.5%...not too much by any means, but having a heavier position on, things can move fast, and cant take too much risk for others...though the copier would cut at -10%, that isnt the target by any means.
eventually i got my chance to scale out, the last one closed just the very bottom about, before price headed to new high...
this i could, and maybe should ride, but this point the acct was up +0.9%, and my risk appetite almost gone.
nevertheless, still put in 2 little sets, the last together with EN, again, so closing was based on a total gain not only this particular set only. (last 3 entries on chart).

the day ended +1.15%, very strong gain.
i am a little unhappy that working DD passed for momentarily the 3.5% value, my preference to run it bellow 2.5%, but it is still acceptable in face of the gains.
today was also sort of a critical day for me, a small anniversary of a kind....my last losing day was exactly 2 months ago, 14th Sept.
so, that passed nicely.
the month is about the half, and suddenly November doesnt look too bad, actually it is about on par with October so far.
i am very curious to see where things are going from here.

for the better visual the EurCad trades are on M1 chart ( i trade from M5!)

happy trading!