Time for Change - Pivots & Harmonics to freedom

Whew! Finally out. A 62 day trade. Long and boring but returned exactly 20%, $1,018 (after swap). That's the 9th winner in a row, going for 10. I did have to deposit extra money during this trade for margin requirements but I'll be taking it back out today, leaving only the $1,700 that I started with along with the profits I've earned. I'm taking tomorrow (Friday) off and will be back at it, looking at other pairs Monday. Smell ya later EG!

Nicely done soo you had too add funds doo to the new leverage/marginrequirements see you use Oanda guess you are from U.S and have 50:1 leverage meaning you can open 0.7-0.9 lots on a 1700 account wouldnt be possible too open thoose EG trades you closed at the same time where 1 standard lot together atleast too my math straight out of my head...."so it doesnt mean i am right"Again very nicely done nice doubbeling account in 107 days not trading for 66 days....Are you trading only longtearm since you havent opened any trades for two months accept the EG trades of course....Good luck with your venture too greateness take out some profits and treate yourself with someting good...Keep it green..

Haha I love the imagery! I started with the $1,700 back in June but had some good trades with profits in July, so had about $5k in the account before entering the EG trade. And yes you are correct I still did not have enough $ to open a full lot on EG from the start of the trade. Drawdown required the additional deposit to cover the margin and when the position came back towards profit I used the extra funds to bump it up to an even lot. I took the money back out and am just calculating percentages off of the balance without those temporary funds included. Thanks for your interest!

Trade number 10! 10 winners in a row now. This one was short term, not wanting to get stuck in another 62 day trade. AU was attempting and failing to reach the S38. Entered 1 lot long on the first test of Friday's low and rejection of the S38 area, added another lot on second test shortly after London open. Was planning on holding to the pivot area but a bearish bat completed at 7080 and I decided to take profits to avoid the conflicting signals. + $522, 8.5%.

AU short for another 7.5%. This one was pretty sloppy, I got in too early, but I stayed in knowing that the Deep Crab shown below was going to complete at 7130, and above that I would have been stopped out. Played out beautifully.

Long UC off the R78. Tight stop on this one....

Well I slacked on the "tight stop" aspect of it, added to it instead, pretty sloppy, sat through some drawdown, but it ended up working out great. + $1,023 (14%). This one may go further but there is high impact news for CAD coming out tomorrow morning which is going to be a coin-toss, so I'm staying flat. Done for the week. That's 12 winners in a row now. At this point I'm ready for a loss any time now...no biggy

Ahhh couldn't help myself last night had to squeeze in one more. Lucky number 13! Beautiful setup, absolutely textbook trade. Only 5 pips drawdown. 12 hours, 50 pips, $1,000, +12.2%. This also makes + $2,023 for the week which is the first time I've ever made more in a week trading than at my day job. Trade was bounce off the pivot and triggered by a M1 harmonic, backed up by a longer term harmonic.

After that last trade, AU had dropped back to that same level, so I bought again. This one wasn't so easy. Had some drawdown but added to the position accordingly and it took 8 days but ended up working out. Certainly not my cleanest trade, but I'll take it. The trade made $1,315 but the nasty swap of almost $9 a day brought the take home to $1,234 (+13%). Got out too early (it continued higher) but at this point the swap was weighing on my concerns even more than the $30/pip position size. I just couldn't wait to get out. I'm too cheap to pay that kind of swap. Overall I see AU being worth far less because of it and will be looking to short it to the .6s. Anyhow, 14 winners in a row now, so I certainly can't complain.

This is also the first time I've ever got an account over 10k. To recap, I started with $1,700 in June and the account is now at $10,436. Not counting the temp funds I had to deposit to keep the EG trade alive (I withdrew these temp funds back out once that trade was over) that's a return of 514% in 5 months. Obviously the trade explorer takes into account the temp funds, which skews the % it portrays.

As a gift to myself for making it over $10k, and with a baby on the way in January, I'm pulling out my original deposit of $1,700. My next goal will be to get back up to $10k, and I'll try not to pull anything else out for quite a while.

Done for the week, NFP tomorrow can suck it!

OK I lied. Snuck in number 15, one more quickie before NFP. Beautiful UJ long off bullish harmonic with confluence at R38 & past structure. Absolutely ZERO drawdown on this one. Take profit was R61. In & out, 7 hours, plus $631 (7.2%).

Didn't get a screenshot of this latest one, it was all done off my phone using ActionForex weekly fib pivot levels and a solid understanding of current market sentiment. Long USD/CHF. +$1,320 (14%). Gotta love the positive swap on this baby at +$11/day! Account is back over 10k now. Next goal is to get to 20k.

That's the 16th winner in a row. $10,687.18 in pure profits off an initial $1,700 deposit that I've already pulled back out. All within 5 months! My TA has certainly been helpful but the real game changer has been the ability to read market sentiment. I'm convinced the only way to truly learn this is to live the markets and trade hard AF, for a long, long time...

Seriusly you have done 35 trades without any losses THAT IS AMAZING REALLY...GOgo...

Shorted E/U too early, but absolutely LOVED that positive swap. By the time I got to full position size and after the Fed last raised rates, I was making $148.26 per week just sitting on that short. I was in it for about 3 months and ended up making about $1,800 off the swap and another $1,000 on the trade itself. Honestly, the trade itself was a mess, a lot of drawdown, so I am not proud of the entry. However I am proud of my longer term fundamental analysis and willingness to stick with the trade. Also proud of my exit, which was spot on. In a way it was my worst trade ever (considering the drawdown) but as far as $ made, it was actually my biggest trade ever. That's 17 winning trades in a row now! Pulled out another $3k for good measure.

Shortly after that EU trade I longed A/C off the pivot, still not a great trade, need to get back to honing my entries like I had earlier in this thread. However it was still a win. +$500 (5%). 18 winners in a row. The trade tracker includes scale-ins as trade counts, which is why I count them manually here. 18 actual trades. The profit tracker is correct though :-). All of this started with a $1,700 deposit back in June, so if you look at it that way, its about an 823% return in 9 months. I know I can't keep that up forever, but it sure has been a nice ride...

Next trade, AJ. This is more by the book (as long as I can maintain a proper stop). Price broke through the R38 several times and is consolidating directly below it. Price failed to get back to the pivot on the retest, and there is a bullish harmonic on M5. Bought right at the low of the harmonic, targeting R61.

Turns out price did want that pivot before it moved up. Added 1 lot at the pivot bringing average price down to 79.31, took profit back up at the R38 at 79.58. Price may make it to the R61 but it's Friday and wanted to get flat for the weekend. +$760 (7%). 19 trade win streak. Going for number 20 next week.

Quick UJ short after it blew north of all of last week's pivots. Figured a retrace was imminent. Only made $307, about 3%. Huge negative swap on UJ so had no interest in holding. That's number 20!

UC long off the R38 rejection, took profit at the R61. Just a quicky. +$222 (just under 2% profit). No pics because these last few trades have been off my phone. 21 winners in a row now.

Sold UC at R61 and continued building the position at R78 and R100. Some drawdown, and not the best RR, but a winner nonetheless. Plus $210 (about 1%). Wanted out before the weekend. This one was a little messy but the other two trades this week were super clean. Overall a good week. 22 winners in a row.

Terrific post on drawdowns from Davit over at his pivot trading thread. Just wanted to post here in order to revert back to as needed:

"About drawdowns
This subject is often misunderstood and twisted into gross forum debates and traders who have history of blown accounts.Very few understand nature of DD
DD is essential part of any successful trading system if anyone tells you otherwise they are lying and deceiving you.There is no such thing as zero DD system that is successful long term.This comes down to stop losses.Are you going to take a loss every time price goes against you 20-30pips?If yes you will deplete your account before you know it. Trades need room to develop!! If executed properly based on the Edge of the system then allow the edge to develop.Running 5% 10% even 15% is acceptable if you are growing your account same time.
This is true of most successful systems.
If you are running 10% DD but gaining your account same time by end of the year you will be still in great profit.This is the truth in trading

The dream of novice market speculators is that they will continually bask in the warmth of profitable times. This myth is falsely promised by the promoters of trading systems and trading training programs. In fact, just the opposite is true. Most long-term profitable traders spend the vast majority of their trading careers either in Trading Drawdowns or recovering from a drawdown. Any slick promoter who tells you different is not dealing from a full deck.
Most successful long-term traders are underwater the majority of time. Welcome to trading!

I have and had DD most of the times.In fact it does not bother me at all because I trust my EDGE to generate more then my DD in consistent bases.

Why there is good DD and reckless stupid DD
Drawdown is necessary part of the system.Let me explain before typical hater gets excited.
Price is at 61S and PA looked going north 15-30 min everything looks great you went long then price drops to 78S Trade still valid but now you got DD (good DD)
Price dropped 100S and you placed more longs but accumulated more DD. This whole area 61-100 is your NET and to me does not matter entries at 61 or at 100 its a badge trade consist of average 10 orders and all together should be considered 1trade like thick ribbon.
Bad DD is when price drops lot lower then 100S and you mismanage the trade and really get in into serious DD this is bad DD"