One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Hi Traders,


I decided to start a thread to keep track of myself and for the purpose of self examination as I am always a beginner in the FX industry - only trade since April 2007 -. So please before reading, understand that I do not provide any trading advisory services. Also I trade a demo account.

Here I will be posting some of my ideas, account evolutions, thoughts and comments regarding my trading, everyone can participate. Common sense is welcome !


About my trading approach :


First, note that I am not a mechanical trader, I use discretionary techniques mostly based on technical analysis, but also includes a number of systematic rules.


My favourite idioms :

1. Trend is your friend.
2. Never let a winning trade turn into a looser.
3. Let your profit run.
4. Keep it simple.

As many beginner traders, I have played with lots of indicators for several months and I finally want to stop this "phase" called by John F. Carter in his book Mastering the trade ( excellent reading ! ) "The search for the Holy Grail". You probably know what I'm talking about as I think most traders go through this phase one time in his trader life. The search for that fail-safe indicator that's going to work nearly every time takes a trader down path littered with corpses, broken dreams, and stuttering fools.

So I decided to take a seat and asked me "What do you want to know/see on your chart ?" And the answer finally stopped at "the trend". The next step was to choose from all this number of indicators which one can give me this information with the best accuracy and simplicity. I finally stop my choice on the pivots points ( daily, weekly, monthly, and also annually ).


Why did I choice Pivots Points ?

1. They defined daily trend, weekly trend, monthly trend... I like this way to see of what we are talking about unlike a 50 or 20 ema that mean nothing in term of time to me. It is a personal opinion and I do not want to blame anyone on his own.
2. They are commonly used by many traders around the world and in particular by many professional traders as they have been created by them.
3. They work in every market.

So, pivots points are my main indicator on all my charts. I have to say that I only used pivot line and not resistances and supports lines ( Keep it simple, I only want to know the trend )


Do I use other indicators ?


Yes, I use Fibonnacci retracements and expansions to make price projection. Why ? Because fibonnacci is the first tool that I have used when I began trading, I'm very familiar with and it help me to map the market and define support and resistance levels.


Trigger ?


Mostly, I take a trade based on Price Action. If you are not familiar with it, please take a look at this thread : http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=2331
It's for me, one of the best thread in Forex Factory.
Also I have to say that I trade mainly on Daily, 4h charts and few times on 1h because I found them the most suitables for me ( it can be others for someone else ).


Money management


Fixed risk per trade of 5%.
Close 1/2 of position @ 1:1 win/loss ratio ( Never let a winning trade turn into a looser ). Trailing stop for the other half ( Let your profit run ).


Trading account.


I trade on the Metatrader 4 trading platform and I have recently open a demo account with Water House Capital as they have many interesting features: unlimited demo, no pips limits of the order entry box, provide Gold spot, Crude Oil and USD Index that I use in my trading.



That's it !! So happy reading.


ps :English is not my mother tongue, sorry if I am difficult to understand.

Trades I am currently in :

I'm really in favour of US dollar, the next big resistance on the USD Index is near 82.00 I think... Crude, Gold, EURUSD are also pointing in the same way down very nicely. I also think that Euro is more and more weak that is the reason why I short EURJPY instead of USDJPY.

For my part, I see EURUSD going down to his biggest support at 1.3500, so I let all my position run as I see no reason to cut one of them. Note that EURCHF hit my take profit at 1:1 w/l ratio like the other trades. Stress free trading now

EURJPY

Comments : I'm a little bit disappointed about this trade as I see now that the trailing stop was not set accordingly to my money management strategy. Ok it is a winner and I do not pay for my lack, but I will be more careful in the future.

Trade n°1 : +7,95% <<<<<>>>>> + 184 pips

Open positions :

EURUSD


Trade n°2 : +9,08% <<<<<>>>>> + 89 pips

USDCAD


Trade n°3 : +2,9% <<<<<>>>>> + 40 pips

EURCHF


Trade n°4 : +2% <<<<<>>>>> + 27 pips

USDJPY

Comment: First trade on the account closed before I open the journal


Trade n°5 : +1,15% <<<<<>>>>> + 10 pips

The week is over for me so i wish you a good week-end, see you next week !


Week 1 : +22,46% <<<<<>>>>> +350 pips

Back for a new week of trading, sorry for my big late I had a problem with my broadband connection so I can not go on internet since sunday morning.

First trade of the week on GBPNZD and one pending order on EURNZD :

EURNZD

Trade n°5 : -5,99% <<<<<>>>>> -137 pips

I don't trade USD pairs as Gold and Oil do not go in the same direction.

See my trades currently open :

Hi do you mind posting your pivot indicator? And keep up the good work! Do not get worked up over ur losses. And also, trade your demo as if it's a live account. Seeing from your capital and P/L, looks like you're over leveraged.

Thank you for your comment and support JodyOng.

This is my pivot point indicator