Josh's Journal (JoshDance)

Week equity +/-: +1.38%
Total equity +/-: +1.38%

Opening balance: $3000
Opening balance this week: $3000
Closing balance: $3041.69

Thanks plutonite, I sincerely appreciate the feedback!

I seen all ur trade & counted pips given to borker inform of spread is roughly 70 pips & i m sure Urs total count of pips in profit is less than 70 pips......means broker is earning more than U.

Thank you for looking through my trades. But like I said above, pips don't mean anything. Also, if my broker got more than me, so what? If that's the cost of doing business, then so be it. There are plenty of pips to go around, and as long as my broker is not underhandedly taking pips, then that's fine. The spread is part of the game, like it or not. If your solution is a different broker, then I will wind up paying more in commissions for an ECN and for a non-ECN I will still pay higher spreads. Plus, I like the MT4 platform, and it works well with my wireless, so I'm happy with it.

All in all, I feel that my trading will benefit from keeping focused on MY TRADING, and not really paying too much attention to the whole broker vs. trader situation, because that's not something I can directly control.

I should ask, what is your solution? Should I take fewer trades? Hold open trades longer? Switch brokers?

I should ask, what is your solution? Should I take fewer trades? Hold open trades longer? Switch brokers?

Wats bottomline bussiness its profit,well we should earn more than borker from us bcos we r working hard than broker & we deserve more.
Saving is earning, therefore my suggestion will be trade less & earn more......................IMO

Thank you for your input...

I think what we're talking about here is not fundamentally about trading, but rather business in general, and what it means to succeed in business. It's a little off topic, but I'll quickly give my feedback.

As you said, the bottom line IS profit. So, why does it matter that my broker makes more money than me? If we are competitors in the same field, then I understand that logic. But that's not the case. Even so, especially in the forex world, I find that a "join the crowd" mindset is more helpful than a "me versus everyone else" one. I encourage you to think of creating wealth, instead of competing for it. There's plenty to go around.

Also, you said that we work harder than the broker. How do you know how much time, energy, and money the broker put forth to provide the platform, trading system, and cost of doing business to facilitate my trading? How do you define "deserve more"? That's quite subjective, and can't be answered by one person. Should the broker make NO money? 5% of what I make? 50%? 100%? 200%? Where do you draw the line? That's up to each trader, I think.

You're speaking in generalities, and while I appreciate what you're saying, my approach to business is not the same as yours apparently.

That being said, I do not like high spreads, and as soon as a NDD ECN broker comes out with a decent trading platform, then I'll be on board.

USDCAD

Sell Stop @ 1.0632 | SL 1.0710 | TP 1.0550

Rationale:

Daily short pinbar, nearly perfect. Now, it is not at a fib level or any particular SR level, so this makes me a bit cautious. TP level is at the SR line just below where the recent breakout happened.

Hi Josh.... !!

What size are your trades?? How much are you really putting on the line $$$???

Your chart shows a good PB... my chart do not... not quite a PB...

Now the trade is seeming more tempting to me... but I get burned over and over again on CAD !!!

Hi tiki, I use the %R MM setup for my position sizing, so the larger my stoploss, the smaller my position size, and vice versa, such that each SL amount risked is 2% of my balance. So for example, on this trade I'm trading 0.78 minilots, since my SL has to cover the whole daily pinbar, whereas on another pair like EURUSD 4-hr bars, my SL may only be 30 pips, so I will be able to trade more lots. This is a demo account so the $ amount is pretty useless... again, as I wrote above, the percentages are what matter, not the actual $ amount made! :-)

Well, you've got to let go of the fear of losing, and if it still feels wrong in your gut after that, pass on it... you definitely won't lose money that way... better safe than sorry. But don't let fear cloud your judgement either. It's a personal thing...

I figure my trade sizes the same way you do... and I am trading very small amounts... the most I can lose on the CAD trade is $ 3... so in this case it is not the money... it is that I still lose too many times... which means I still cannot start upping my trade size... this CAD trade does not look so go right now... I will probably let it hit the stop... I always get burned on CAD...

My real happiness today is that with only 45 minutes left to go on the month... looks like we will in the end get a big 'ol pin bar monthly on AUD/USD !!!

And now USD/CAD monthly has posted a nice Pin Bar... maybe has no real bearing on the current short trade... but maybe finally USD/CAD will turn UP for a bit... ( this new month )

Wow, nice charts. I only check monthly charts... well... once a month, so I haven't noticed that one yet! :-)

EURUSD

Buy Stop @ 1.3735 | SL 1.3685 | TP 1.3840

Rationale:
While this pair is currently in a correctional phase, the last two daily bars hit an upper R at 1.3726 or so (a 2BH). A break through this could indicate a strong move up. Also, this is right at a PPZ, as can be seen on a 4HR chart.

GBPCHF

Sell Stop @ 2.4280 | SL 2.4340

Rationale:
Big PPZ level, and yesterday's daily bar was a decent pinbar, indicating selling pressure. A break below this level would be significant.

Update: stopped out for full loss

Hi Josh

Don’t want to get off-topic, especially as this is your journal, but after reading the 'breakthroughs' in your first post, I just want to endorse that Trading in the Zone is an excellent read (I especially learned a a huge amount from Chapters 6 & 7), although the author (without actually saying it) does make the underlying assumption that you’ve already got a potentially profitable method in place. The good news - for whatever my opinion might be worth - is that the James16 candle patterns/price action, especially when allied to heeding trends (possibly in multiple time frames) and chart basics like trendlines and Fibos, is as good as any method I’ve read anywhere.

Hope you're not too mad at me for interrupting the flow of your thread

Good luck & best wishes
David

Not at all David... interrupt with good thoughts any time you wish! :-)

Just a quick note to myself for reading down the road when I come back to this journal (and others now who wish to read it)...

Missed two at least initially profitible trades tonight.. usdjpy short, break below support, and gbpusd pinbar, with the current downtrend correction. At this point at least, they would make up for my usdcad losing trade that I'm still in.

What's the point? Well, I thought long and hard about both, and didn't take them for two reasons, both of which are bad:

1) I had already placed 3 orders, and somewhere my mind said "5 is too many"... how foolish to think this... ?

Lesson: don't skip any trades unless margin is a problem (which it should not be with proper MM in my case)!

2) My girlfriend came home with food, and out of respect for her bringing food for me I went to eat as I was making my decision on the trades, and had to go quickly from the computer.

Lesson: try to be respectful to others first and foremost, but remember to come back and place your damn trades man!

At any rate, these two could turn out to be losers, and it would all be fine. But win or lose, I think the points above stand as logical...

This is a continuation of our discussion in the "EFX Group - Introduction" thread ( http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...=10002&page=67 ), since we went totally off-topic there, lol.

Sorry I had to bring it into your journal, but I didn't know where else to put it, lol.

---------------

Most people if the money is there, they will spend it. If a "new" trader starts out with $40K and let's say they start losing more trades than they win, they will most likely start increasing their lot sizes to try to make back what they lost, because they will look at their account capital and see they still have lots of $$ to work with. Most probably, they will go through that $40K real fast (like that I guy I mentioned in the other thread with his $60K).

If "new" traders start out with $5K (or even $10K is reasonable - whatever they consider money they won't lose sleep over if they lose it) and start losing trades, they will most likely start decreasing their lot sizes when they see that they are getting closer to using up their account, because they will need to conserve in order to stay in the game longer. That way, hopefully they can strengthen their trading method and even if it'll be a little slower going, at least bring their account back up again.

It's a psychological thing. They will be more apt to slow down if they see their money going down to zero, but if they have $40K to start, they won't start slowing down until their account is like to $10K. Then, by that time, they've lost a heck of a lot of $$.

Anyway, this is why I feel that "new" traders should start out with smaller accounts first, only because most are not yet disciplined and skilled with their trading method.

My main point I guess I was trying to make is that discipline and not letting your emotions run your trades are the key factors to successful trading rather than how much capital you start out with

I truly feel that people shouldn't fund their accounts with money that they can't afford to lose, especially if they cannot control their discipline and emotions while trading.

Again, this is just my opinion.

This may not be the case for you, and when you fund your live account, I truly hope that you do well and that you do not fall into the trap of being a non-disciplined, emotional trader

LOL!!

I'll make time to read your entire journal tomorrow. I'm going to see if there's a few more trades to get into tonight and then I'm off to bed.

Have a goodnight, Josh!

USDCAD

Sell Stop @ 1.0540 | SL 1.0580

Rationale:

Break below pivot zone. I'm still in my previous CAD short trade, and have locked in about 30 pips. If this SL is hit, and price goes south again, I'll get back in there. Also, this sell is right below the low of yesterday's BEOB.

Week equity +/-: -2.67%
Total equity +/-: -1.32%

Opening balance: $3000
Opening balance this week: $3041.69
Closing balance: $2960.53

Note: percent +/- calculated as:

(1 - (Closing Bal / Opening Bal)) * 100