Arthcub's Day Trading Journal

As many members here know, I have been a scalper for quite some time now, but due to recent changes by my broker, scalping has become less profitable for me. As a result of this I have decided to return to swing style day trading. I have backtested a trading system that is neither extraordinary nor radically innovative. It does, however, have a positive expectancy, and with proper money/emotion management, I should do just fine.

My maxim will be to cut losses short, and let the winners run. More losses can be expected during choppy or range bound conditions, but once a trend is established, losses should be made back quickly.

Beginning today I will be forward testing this system from a live account. Actually, I have two accounts that I will be using. I have one for aggressive trading (2% risk per trade) and one for more conservative trading (.5% risk per trade). I will trade one currency pair (EUR/USD), one timeframe (5 minute), and I will have a maximum of two positions open at any one time. My broker is Oanda, but I will be using MT4 from Ikon-Global for my charting needs. Indicators, theory, etc should be somewhat apparent from the charts, but if you have questions, I will do my best to answer them.

I only take trades from 6am-11am EST. I don't trade news announcements, and I take off days when there is news that creates high volatility and unpredictability such as NFP and FOMC (which is why I won't be trading tomorrow).

Here are some statistics from my backtesting (3/1/08-7/31/08). I did my backtesting manually bar-by-bar, so it is susceptible to all the flaws inherent to that method of testing. The best month netted around 700 pips and the worst month ended around breakeven. All the other relative stats are below.

The European session was caught in a range below the 1.5600 level. I entered my first trade looking for a trend to initiate and break out of the range. The reversal at the bottom of the range continued and stopped me out at my initial stop.

In the 2nd trade I was still looking for a break in the range. Price did make an attempt at the bottom, but it quickly pulled back. My stop was moved to break even where I was taken out.

I tried to trade the pullback of the range break, but was stopped out as price continued north to test the top of the range again. The NY session expanded the range established in the Euro session, but no real trend emerged. Tomorrow is the FOMC announcement, so I will be taking the day off. I will be back on Wednesday to trade again.

The results for today were 3 trades with 2 losses and one BE trade.
Today yielded a 27 pip loss.

It's a shame I have to sleep. There have been some good setups the last two days during the European session. At the start of my day I could have entered at a better price for a pullback entry signaled prior to my trading hours, but for discipline sake, I decided to only enter trades that initiated during my screen time.

Today's trade was a continuation trade for a trend that initiated in the early AM. Price made a small move south before it pulled back and took me out with a trailing stop. No entries that met my criteria during my trading hours followed.

Results:
Today +29
Week +2

We started off the New York session by coming into a double top, but my system signaled no entry. After a big wipsaw at news time, I got in on a trend initiation. I am currently still trailing this trade, but I will provide an update once its closed.

I entered a second position on a pullback per my system. It was trailed until stopped for a profit of +74 pips.

My first trade of the day has finally been stopped out after a period of consolidation. The trade ended with 92 pips profit.

Todays results:
2 trades/2 wins
+166 pips

Weekly results:
6 trades/3 wins/2 losses/ 1 BE
+168 pips

Here is the screenshot of today's first trade ending.

Another big day with lots of volatility. Price moved almost twice its ATR and came close to touching the 1.5000 number, which is above some major support around 1.4950. If this number doesn't hold, we may see a test of 1.4600 or even 1.4300.

In the Euro session a trend continuation was signaled, and I was able to enter on a pullback at the begining of my trading day. Price moved down to form a new low, but it then returned to its previous range to consolidate further, stopping me out in the process.

The first trade of the day closed with a -3 pip loss.

After forming a new low, price retraced and gave me an opportunity to enter on a pullback. Price then dropped again, and afterwards, I was taken out of the market with my trailing stop at news time by 1 pip (most likely due to spreads widening).

The second trade of the day ended with a +20 pip gain.

After being stopped out, price formed a new low, retraced, and then signaled a new entry on the pullback. After price formed a double top, it moved south until almost touching 1.5000. Afterwards, it began its retracement and I exited the market at my trailing stop.

The third trade of the day closed with +24 pips profit.

Today I took 3 trades with 2 winners and 1 small loser.

Results:
today +41
Week +209

I hope everyone has a great weekend and returns on Monday refreshed and ready to trade.

The market gapped downward on the open last night; then it double bottomed around support at 1.4950 before the Euro session saw a 150+ pip retracement to Friday's move south.

This morning I began with a short trend initiation trade, but I was stopped out in short order for a loss of -17 pips.

My second trade was off a pullback to the downward movement. I trailed until stopped for a 30 pip profit.

After some consolidation, price broke downward and I took a trend continuation trade, but I was later stopped out at break even.

My last trade of the day was off the pullback of the last swing low. I trailed until stopped out for a -4 pip loss.

It was a choppy morning with a downward bias, but we saw no real selling pressure.

Today I took 4 trades with 1 win, 2 losses, and 1 break even.

Results:
Today +9 Pips
Week +9 Pips
Month + 218 Pips

The direction for this morning was north, but the lack of momentum and high voltility caused my stops to be repeatedly hit before any profit could be realized. This is one of the most difficult trading conditions for my system, and today's results confirmed that.

Here is my first trade where I attempted to catch the upward breakout. Price reversed at news time and stopped me out for a -20 pip loss.

Here is my second trade where I attempted to find the continuation of the upward movement. I was quickly stopped out for -20 pip loss.

Yet another trade stopped while looking for an upward entry. This trade resulted in a -20 pip loss.

In this trade I entered on the pullback, but price moved further down and stopped me out for a -12 pip loss.

For my fifth and final trade of the day, I entered short looking for a new trend initiation, but price formed a double bottom and then reversed to stop me out with a -20 pip loss.

Today I took 5 trades which resulted in 5 losses.

Results:
Today -92
Week -83
Month +126