Ziva's Journal

Hello all,

I will be using this as a place to document every trade I make and the profits or losses that result. I trade using the daily timeframe, using a few indicators using ODL Metatrader: Stochastic (5,3,3), AC oscillator (default settings), and AO oscillator (default settings) with EURUSD, USDJPY, USDCHF, and GBPUSD. I also use candles. I only enter trades at 8pm EST if a set-up presents itself. I've adopted aspects of this system from other profitable traders I've observed on this forum. Here is how I trade:

I place a long trade when all of the following occur on the previous day:
stochastic is crossed in an upward direction
AO is green
AC is green
bull candle
if the first three occur and the candle isn't bull than I don't take the trade and I have to wait for the next setup.

I place a short trade when all of the following occur on the previous day:
stochastic is crossed in a downward direction
AO is red
AC is red
bear candle
if the first three occur and the candle isn't bear than I don't take the trade and I have to wait for the next setup.

Money Management: 100 TP and 100 SL on all trades. After the market moves 50 pips in the direction of my trade, I move all stops to break even.

A little background on me: I've been trading forex for the past two years. I hastily opened a live account soon (too soon) and lost half of it quite quickly. After that I did a lot of reading and demoed for over a year. I have now been trading live again for two months and I have nearly tripled my account size (using extremely high risk money management). I've decided now to trade risking less of my account size, but I realize it's still considered to be outrageously high to some (20%). The main reason why I wanted to start this journal is to improve my discipline. Most of the losses I've incurred over the past couple of months happened because I strayed from my system or tried trading on a smaller time frame... no more! I'm sticking to my rules now.

As for today, there are no setups indicating I should take a trade, so I will stand aside. We'll see what happens tomorrow!

cheers.

I won't be placing any trades today. Yesterday I thought there may be set-ups today to short USDJPY and USDCHF, but the strength of USD today sure changed that possibility in a hurry! Today I will stand aside and I will see what tomorrow brings...

cheers.

I won't take any trades again today as there are no set-ups. I'm anticipating long EURUSD, short USDJPY, and short USDCHF set-ups maybe tomorrow, or more likely early next week. We'll wait and see!

I entered one trade today:

SHORT USDJPY @ 107.55, TP - 106.55, SL - 108.55

USDJPY trade hit SL. Lost 100 pips. Learned many things from this loss. I guess that is the whole point of this journal so from that perspective I can call this trade a success. It's interesting how each loss I incur teaches me something about my approach or the market that I didn't know before. For these lessons I am thankful and I will continue trading my system keeping in mind the lessons I have learned.

# trades taken = 1
# wins = 0
#losses = 1
total # pips = -100

Short Eurusd @ 1.5517. Sl-1.5617, Tp-1.5417

oops! the above post was supposed to read short @ 1.5417. Anyhow, price has moved over 50 pips in the direction of my trade, so I moved my SL to break even. It's around 1.5335 right now and my TP profit is 1.5317, so we'll wait and see what happens.

EURUSD reached TP and I gained 100 pips....

so far:

# trades taken: 2
# wins: 1
# losses: 1
total # pips: 0


I'm not taking any trades today as there are no set ups.

Short Eur/usd @ 1.4482
Long Usd/chf @1.1081

EURUSD and USDCHF trades have moved 50 pips in the right direction so I have now moved my SL to BE for both trades. Both trades have TP set for 100 pips.

EURUSD and USDCHF trades both closed out at BE.

# trades taken: 4
# wins: 1
# losses: 1
# break even: 2
total # pips: 0

I must have been half asleep last time I posted on here. Upon closer inspection of my trading station, my last USDCHF trade closed out at my set out TP. So...

# trades taken: 4
# wins: 2
# losses: 1
# break even: 1
total # pips: +100

No trades today. Maybe tomorrow... I'll have to wait and see!

LONG GBPUSD @1.7986

I'm going to try something a little different with my money management. I decided to open this trade with two lots:
lot 1: SL 1.7886, TP 1.8086
lot 2: SL 1.7886, TP when I get a trade set up in the opposite direction

I'll move SL to BE for both lots when the trade moves 50 pips in the direction of my trade. I decided to do this because I observed how I had cut my profits shorter than I could have with past trades.

My first lot reached my TP already, banking 100 pips. I've left the other lot going and moved the SL on it to BE. That lot will close out when there is a set-up to short the GBPUSD on the daily chart, or it reaches SL at BE. Whichever comes first. So here's how it looks so far for me:

# trades taken: 5
# wins: 3
# losses: 1
# break even: 1
total # pips: +200

the second lot of the GBPUSD trade closed out at BE, so the total pips for that trade remains at 100 pips attained by the first lot.

SHORT USDCHF @ 1.1137
SHORT USDJPY @ 104.20

I opened both trades with two lots, SL for all lots @ -100 pips, TP for 1 lot on each trade at +100 pips, TP for the other lot on each trade left open. I will move all SL to BE when trades move 50 pips in the direction of my trade.

Aomething strange happened with these trades. Upon waking up this morning I noticed that they hadn't reached the SL I had set for them yet they closed out, with USDJPY at -50 pips and USDCHF at +10 pips. Then I realized it was because I unnecessarily had set a 50 pip trailing stop shortly after I placed the trades, and at this point the price action for both had moved a little bit. If I hadn't done this I would've simply moved my SL to break even (because the price had moved also 50 pips in the direction of my trades) and they would've closed out there. Sigh... another important lesson: DON'T USING A TRAILING STOP! With my system it's completely unnecessary. So:

# trades taken: 7
# wins: 4
# losses: 2
# break even: 1
total # pips: +160

Keep up the good work!

I'll be following along

Long Usdjpy @ 106.60, Tp 107.60, Sl 105.60