go live or bust ... diary of an fx live-trader-wannabe

what do you know ...

i saw a 2-bar RP form at the same spot as that pin bar (price ended up testing the other end so that's why it was a loss); however, 3MA traveled inside the bands, price closed beyond both 3MA & 6MA, & the ADX traveled outside of DM+ indicating a correction could be due ... i couldn't seem to get my head wrapped around it fast enuf so i traded on the papertrade subaccount. lo & behold, i took 5, 10, 15.

the reason i took 15: price bounced off the 4hr & mid-bb so i decided to take the 15 pips instead of risk losing it all on a retrace back to my break even point. i got out at 88; had i stuck w/ it, i might have nabbed at least another 8 pips (by trailing my stop each time by 10)

another papertrade ...

took the break of a pin that followed a doji IB that followed a TBL/mirror (which was the corresponding PA following the break of the 4hr MA that i was just in); the ADX had not confirmed at the time so i started this on the papertrade account. formed a triple bottom b/w the pin & the doji, but the ADX was still ambiguous so i continued w/ my papertrade instead of starting a new trade on my goals account. took 5, 10, & b/e on the balance.

earlier this week, i decided that b/f i went live, i first had to double my goals account AND bring the papertrade subaccount to breakeven (it has really taken a beating, but that was the point) ... anyway, successful trades on the papertrade bring me closer to my "going live" (again) goal, but i am still going to rely on it for times when i am tempted to over-trade or break the rules or experiment w/ something up until i double the demo account.

wow! great tokyo open for me. i feel like im really in the zone.

another trade on my goals account. saw a straddle forming; 3MA bounced off the 6MA & a DBHLC formed followed by an IB ... my finger was on the trigger for a break of 57; at the open of the 5 min bar, price spiked down so i decided instead of panicking i would see if it would correct back up to the starting point where i could simply enter on the bounce off that ... the ADX was also setting up for a trend ...

ended up w/ 14, 14, & 14.

im up 2% for the day so far.

papertraded this one for a 10 pip loss:

short off a BEOB followed by a TBL/mirror; straddle/pullback pretty good, but momentum below 15 & bear strength couldn't pass 20; as i kind of expected when i made the decision to papertrade rather than take this on my goals account, it went sideways for several bars. i trailed my SL until i was finally stopped out.

1. quad top that never broke; followed by a quad bottom ... i was definitely waiting for a breakout; didn't like the looks of the ADX so i tried a breakout short on my papertrade ... for a loss ... no worries
2. IB w/ the straddle where it closed beyond the 4hr MA; ADX looks good; got 5, 10, & b/e (made another one of those mistakes where i hit a duplicate entry trying to scale out of my position; i was able to finesse my way out of that mess & ended up at break even for that mistake.

ended up missing subsequent PA (a PB off 3MA & 6MA) as a continuation straddle play; made a mistake on this one ... meaning it was a clear buy

i may or may not continue w/ my scaling out exit strategy, but for now i feel like it's my water-wings even tho i know how to swim ... however, in the meantime, im gonna re-train myself by using the "BUY" OR "SELL" button instead of instantly choosing "BUY/SELL" where the default is buy ... boy ... when i read about "flawless execution" ... it was the real deal!!

counter-semi-straddle; BUOB; price closed below the 3MA & the entry would be below both; as price began breaking, the ADX began showing me a correction was due & i jumped in short ... this was a really good trade following my rules to a tee, but for some reason i took this on my papertrade account. i took 5, 10, 25 ... price proceeded to drop another 27 pips ...

okay, i had no reason to fear this price action; and ... had i stayed w/ it, i could have banked an additional 17 pips give or take (depending on how i decided to trail my stop)

the wins & learning continues

i think i will take one water-wing off ... gonna try taking 1/2 at 10; 1/4 at 20; & the other quarter at 30 or more ...

i did it!! 10, 20, 30 ... no explanation required. okay, just quickly ...

price is traveling short; 3&6MA's cross over the 12MA & both the mid-BB & the 4hr MA & close below it creating PA ... bulls are losing ground & momentum.

aside: papertraded this one b/c i wanted to test the waters.

EDIT: took another one after that; pin bar as a continuation straddle play; 10 pips at 1/2; other half was stopped out at break even

EDIT #2: i had no idea until now, but i made 7.5% on my papertrade account tonite ... that includes all the losses ... wow

make that 8.7% on my papertrade account ...

straddle play; BEOB off MA's; bearish momentum; 10 pips on 1/2; rest b/e

not an actual 9.7% day (including my goals account, but it happened just the same)

wanted to trade the london close, but i overslept. however, i caught one after that as the market seemed to have a little life left in it.

counter-straddle (my set-up B) ... hammer/pin (this is not one that i would consider strong), but the break/entry would be below 15min & 30 min MA's; ADX was still showing bullish momentum but it was going nowhere at the time; price did in fact test the 4hr MA & bounce up during the trade.

under my one-water-wing exit strategy ... 10, 20, 10 (1%)

papertraded b/c of the weak pin & the ADX still hanging around bull territory (makes sense tho since it just bounced off 4hr & price went right back into the upper bands). not sure if this will make the list for tradeable PA patterns, but it might if it consistently shows itself to be reliable at least to the 4hr MA.

papertrade; rules not followed for setting SL ... turned into a loser.

pin bar bouncing off MA's w/ the straddle & ADX on board ... instead of setting the initial SL 2 pips & spread below the bottom the of the pin, i used a straight 20 pips which was just about where it stopped & turned around. i would not have been stopped out (barring oanda stop hunting for that extra 3.5 pips i would have included to safeguard the trade due to oanda quoting the worst prices in & out of the trade) ... anyhow, had i trailed the SL according to my RULES (isn't that why i have them turkey?) ... price would have reached my 10 pip mark & SL moved to break even (which would have been hit for sure) ...

following that trade, i jumped in again at a similar spot on a subsequent pin bar ... decent enuf set-up ... but ... didn't follow my rules again & took 5 pips off at 1/2 & moved the balance to break even SL; would have been a 10, 20, b/e trade ... goofy stuff im doing here ...

ummm, then, i traded a box TBL/TBH off the 15 min w/o any corresponding PA on the 5 min ... i managed to pull off 10 pips on this one (after price nearly hitting my SL), but the thing is, this trade was not in the play book ... it was a MTF special missing the MTF confirmation ... not smart ...

uggh, got distracted by chat & missed a continuation straddle IB; ADX just crossed 25 ... entry would have been 61; 10 pips on 1/2; b/e on the remainder.

this was probably the last one for the week b/c oanda gives no warning b/f it spikes the spread to 15 pips. (and interestingly enuf, last week closed right around here at 2762 ... so we'll see)

break of another continuation IB which created a 3-bar RP in the 15 min that was breached during the trade; 60 min resistance level also tested; price ran straight into resistance 2800 (shy a pip or 2) ... got slipped by 3 pips so i adjusted my exit strategy accordingly ... ended up w/ 8, 18, & 7 ... not bad

weekly results ...

goals account: -3.4% (still have some profit, but the rough start on sunday & monday hurt me & not being able to pull the trigger after that compounded the problem) ... despite this small step back, i feel like i am moving forward in my trading discipline

papertrade account: using this account has helped me w/ trading discipline, overcoming fear, etc. next week, i am going to try & rely on it less ...

okay, so i tempted fate ... i took the break off a TBL/mirror that closed below 3MA & 6MA & ADX showed a correction was due ... still wasn't too comfortable w/ the oanda spread spike possibility so i took 5 pips on 1/2, 10 pips on 1/4 & price started goofing around so i took the balance when it jumped back to 10 ... price did spike down another 50 pips from where i got out, but i wasn't really supposed t/b messing around at this time of the day/week anyhow, but the set-up was just so obvious i couldn't resist.

UPDATE: price blew thru last week's close of 62 & headed straight to 00 ... it's now hovering just below there at 2690 ... almost 100 pips from where i entered off that price action pattern.

weekend review material.

no kidding ... after reviewing my account activity ... i was a real mess at the beginning of the week. then, after i worked on following the rules, using the papertrade account to train me to become more disciplined & overcome my fears, etc. i did really really well

made 8.4% on my goals account after i pulled myself up by my bootstraps & 9.4% on the papertrade account despite the fact that is the account i started using in part to learn to love losses ... weird.

Here's some reading material. Maybe it'll prove useful.

1. took the break of the TBH/mirror, but i entered upon the high of the bar 2 b/f it where price couldn't close; however, i failed to recognize the divergence that resulted from this price action & was stopped out for a loss (i.e., didn't follow the rules) ... goals account ... uggh -2%
2. while #1 was being stopped out, i jumped over to the PT act & traded the break off the BEOB; confirmation of ADX based on divergence missed on the last one ... was looking for a pause at the 4hr which did in fact hold ... took 10 pips here & the rest was stopped out at b/e