Little and Often Makes Much

Hello all,

This journal, like the others posted, is here to not only make a record of my trades, but also to “put it all on the table” for all to see and make comments on. My trading is based on a philosophy that was found in a fortune cookie not to long ago...

“Little and often makes much.”

I have a few benchmarks I’d like to maintain as I trade.

 

1. Have a win percentage of at least 85%.
2. Average at least 50 pips each week.

I’d also like some help, from those of you willing of course, to help me define some other benchmarks to further help crystallize my trading a bit.

Max drawdown? Pip won to pip lost ratio? Others I’m not tracking yet?

Here are my results so far... I’m hovering just about 80% win rate... and as I stated, I’d like to improve that to at least 85%. I’ve had 58 wins averaging 10 pips a trade, and 13 losses averaging 19 pips a trade for a total profit of 330 pips.

On a slightly more detailed basis here are the results for my last 5 weeks...

Week of : Apr 22 – 90% Win, 10 Wins averaging 8 pips, 1 loss for 17, Didn’t track Max Drawdown
Week of: Apr 29 – 93% Win, 14 Wins averaging 13 pips, 1 loss for 18, Didn’t track Max Drawdown
Week of: May 6 – 83% Win, 10 Wins averaging 8 pips, 2 losses averaging 25, Max Drawdown of 45
Week of: May 13 – 73% Win, 11 Wins averaging 8 pips, 4 losses averaging 17, Max Drawdown of 65
Week of: May 20 – 72% Win, 13 Wins averaging 10 pips, 5 losses average 19, Max Drawdown of 85

As you can see the trend has started to sour since that second week and I need to refocus and get back to where I was to average the 85% win rate I had. I’m still pip positive every week... but something feels amiss.

I’ll be making every effort to post every trade in this journal as they occur (with a chart snapshot) and will update the numbers each weekend.


I’d also like to thank Spud and TEB for their threads... MAJOR inspiration for how I trade and the primary reason I trade using multiple time frames (MTF). Hopefully I won’t embarrass either of you with my results here!

“Little and often makes much.” We’ll see... J

glad to see you follow teb/ spud great guys , great idea s.....

which of their setups are you using?

your succes rate seems good dont be to hard on your self,...

cheers

Rye

Thanks for the vote of confidence Rye! I don't use any of their setups exactly... but I've studied both of them fairly extensivly and then used the "backbone guidelines" that I learned to build my own system. It's real rough right now, but it's there. Now it's time to refine things a bit.

I do use stochs, RSI and EMA's across different timeframes to trade. I'll post an example chart shortly with an explanation.

Now you've got my curiosity ...

Tebs /Spuds threads were my first 'oh yeah ' moments and for that i can only be grateful it just made sense

i,m also a big fan of fozzy's thread . It has alot of mileage..

so interested to see how you get on

speak soon

Rye

That's funny... I'll called them "Guiness Moments" (aka "BRILLIANT!")

I had a ton of them when studying their threads... Fozzy's is on my list too... as is Jacko's, EricFX and countless others!

As for the charts...

I use 3 main indicators... Stochs... RSI and EMA’s. I use the following timeframes...

5m, 15m, 30m, 1H, 2H, 4H, 8H ß Used with the actual trade
Daily, Weekly, Monthly ß These I use just for general trend info

Here are the technical settings...

EMA’s... 4, 13 and 50
RSI – 14 (with 72 and 28 instead of 70/30)
Stochs – Slow with 5,3,3

The trick to my success is the fact that I zoom into the charts to stay focused on what is happening NOW. I only allow myself to look at the last 2 complete bars with the 3rd bar obviously being the present moment.

Via TEB & Spud I use the Stoch’s to show signals for entry.
Via TEB I use the EMA’s to show potential “pip room” for each trade.
Via Aggietrader J I use RSI to give me an idea of how much fuel the trend has.

Here’s a screenshot of what I typically stare at. All the charts on the right are linked to the list at the left. As I click on a different pair, all the charts change... keeps it easy to monitor many pairs.

Starting from LEFT to RIGHT the charts are 5m, 15m, 30m, 1H, 2H, 4H, and the 8H.

This one actually shows a nice long setting up for AUD/USD.

i suppose its like getting used to 70 mph when youve only been driving at 30 mph ... a bit fast for me ..... but makes sense ..

I must admit i like simple( it matches my brain capacity) i am using a mixture of spud/teb/fozzy but unconciously i.e not defined as is your method.

I'VE been waiting for a cross on fozzy ...then getting in on teb line up of mtf to keep s/l tighter and get a head start.

What kind of t/p ..s/l are you using and how did you define them ???

cheers

Rye

How'd you set that up?

Been taking just a few pips here and there... every once in a while I catch a major move where I end up taking 20-50 pips. The losses I take only when the stochs turn against me (long term stochs like 4h and 8h).

That's part of the reason for this thread... my trading works, but it a little to discretionary... I want to be able to nail it down a bit better.

That's a feature with Accucharts... right click on the price and then "link to" the pricedata. Not sure if something similar can be done with MTF or others.

Good work Aggie!

awesmome aggie,

Just to respone to your first post.
I would say max drawdown for me is 20%. Anything more makes me nervous. One of my mottos is "Keep what you got and add to it if you can."

I would also say that a win ratio of 80% is very good. I'd be happy with 80% if that is a consistent number as opposed to trying for 85% one month and getting 60% the next. The farther you push the envelope the more risk you open yourself up to.

Have a great day!

Thanks for the support Spud!

Good advice on both counts... perhaps I will go for the 80% consistently... better to have good results long term than stellar results short term...

Hi Blueruby,

You can save different profiles for each pair multitime frame.
It's very easy to swith profiles with F5 button. See the image posted for an example. Hope that it helps


P.S.
My compliments to AggieTrader! I hope that you continue like that

Good luck with your trading! As far as the philosophy "little and often makes much"... the same holds true for options sellers. Looking forward to seeing your trade results.

Hello AggieTrader

Though it's not my style of trading your results tell much. Outstanding!
Wish you all the best with it. Looking forward to following this thread. All the best.

Bill

Fozzy 8 RSI 8 SMA cross works well on all time frames try that.

If you're not watching Traex's Harmonic Wave Journal you are missing out big time. Very profitable and very consistent.

All the best.

Hello all,

Here’s the most recent trade I’ve entered:

USD/JPY SHORT @ 112.58

I entered this trade because:
4hr Stoch trending down, though 8hr stoch suggests there may be a drawdown on the way
15m,30m,1h and 2h stochs all heading down
EMA’s show “pip room” on 4h and 8h charts
RSI’s show room for either direction in trade

I plan on exiting this trade when one of the following happens:

1. 10 pip profit reached
2. 2HR stoch reaches 20
3. 30M stoch crosses back and 1H shows signs of reversing
4. Major trend change in 4HR



OPEN POSISTIONS (Including above trades):

USD/JPY SHORT @ 112.58


CLOSED POSISTIONS (for week of May 27)

**NONE**


(From left to right: 15M, 30M, 1HR, 2HR, 4HR, 8HR)

Hello all,

Here’s the most recent trade I’ve CLOSED:

USD/JPY CLOSED SHORT @ 112.48

I entered this trade because:
4hr Stoch trending down, though 8hr stoch suggests there may be a drawdown on the way
15m,30m,1h and 2h stochs all heading down
EMA’s show “pip room” on 4h and 8h charts
RSI’s show room for either direction in trade

I planned on exiting this trade when one of the following happens:

1. 10 pip profit reached
2. 2HR stoch reaches 20
3. 30M stoch crosses back and 1H shows signs of reversing
4. Major trend change in 4HR

I exited this trade because:

1. 10 pip profit reached
2. Yeah... it probably has room south... but I’m working on following my rules!


OPEN POSISTIONS (Including above trades):

*** NONE ***


CLOSED POSISTIONS (for week of May 27)

USD/JPY SHORT @ 112.58, CLOSED SHORT @ 112.48 (+10 pips)


(From left to right: 15M, 30M, 1HR, 2HR, 4HR, 8HR)

Hello all,

Here’s the most recent trade I’ve entered:

EUR/USD LONG @ 1.3428

I entered this trade because:
4hr Stoch trending up, though 8hr stoch suggests there may be a drawdown on the way
15m,30m heading up, 1 hr shows signs of turning
EMA’s show “pip room” on 4h and 8h charts
RSI’s show room for either direction in trade

I plan on exiting this trade when one of the following happens:

1. 10 pip profit reached
2. 1HR stoch reaches 80
4. Major trend change in 4HR



OPEN POSISTIONS (Including above trades):

EUR/USD LONG @ 1.3428


CLOSED POSISTIONS (for week of May 27)

USD/JPY SHORT @ 112.58, CLOSED SHORT @ 112.48 (+10 pips)


(From left to right: 5M, 15M, 30M, 1HR, 2HR, 4HR, 8HR)

Hello all,

Here’s the most recent trade I’ve CLOSED:

EUR/USD OPENED LONG @ 1.3428
EUR/USD CLOSED LONG @ 1.3432


I entered this trade because:
4hr Stoch trending up, though 8hr stoch suggests there may be a drawdown on the way
15m,30m heading up, 1 hr shows signs of turning
EMA’s show “pip room” on 4h and 8h charts
RSI’s show room for either direction in trade

I planned on exiting this trade when one of the following happened:

1. 10 pip profit reached
2. 1HR stoch reaches 80
3. Major trend change in 4HR

I actually exited this trade because:

1. 1HR stoch crossed the 80.
2. Yes, there is more room here for northern move and I didn’t let the 1HR close, but swaps are coming and when you trade little and often swaps can erase profits. J


OPEN POSISTIONS (Including above trades):

*** NONE ***


CLOSED POSISTIONS (for week of May 27)

USD/JPY OPENED SHORT @ 112.58, CLOSED @ 112.48 (+10 pips)
EUR/USD OPENED LONG @ 1.3428, CLOSED @ 1.3432 (+4 pips)


(From left to right: 15M, 30M, 1HR, 2HR, 4HR, 8HR)