[ff journalists'] live trading league (alpha, Y2009)

[why]
to have a log system that we can trade to log our performance & discipline

[standardization]
pick a standard live acc, so that it's easy to count return and risk
right now I think ibfx's new 0 deposit / 50$ free mt4 mini acc will do (min position 100$)...look above the banner on ff

[how to join]
1. have your own journal in ff/trading journals section and optionally explain your trading philosophy, style and money management on 1st page
2. registered in ff for more than 3 month or posts more than 100
3. open a 50$ free live mini acc with ibfx, do not deposit, just trade this 50$
4. weekly publish closed position, open position and equity (pls don't publish only closed position)

[money management rule] in order to discourage gambling, I borrowed this rule from another well regulated live contest:
1. only open 100$ position with this 50$ acc
2. hold a maximum of 3* 100$ positions at same time

[risk/drawdown rule]
1. if equity suffer a dynamic drawdown of -15$ or -30%, i.e. acc down to 35$-,
will force to exit the league for 1 month, trader can deposit acc back to 50$ after 4 week and restart
2. if a 100$ position suffer a dynamic drawdown of -5$ in one trade,
trader will force to liquidate the position and self-discipline to no trading for 1 week (this could be an optional but necessary rule?)

[order claim rule]
1. for daily/weekly time/frame trade, opened order must be posted within 30min after position open, a chart is optional
2. for limit orders, order entry can be posted ahead of the day, and reply that by end of day if limit order is hit when trader is away
3. for scalping (doubt if this broker is okey), opened order must be posted by end of day regardless of if it is closed or profit/loss

[weekly report rule]
1. publish weekly report every week, if busy then apply for leave ahead
2. 2 consecutive absence from weekly report w/o leave, or total 3 absence from weekly report, trader automatically exit the league
3. optionally you can duplicate your weekly report in your own journal

[weekly ranking]
1. ranking will be done by traders in turn, that week's ranking trader is responsible
for validating report against money mangement rules, order claims and drawdown rules
2. ranking in terms of current acc size (deposit not allowed except exit-restart)
3. ranking in terms of trader's max history drawdown from start (lowest equity)

[reward]
no reward so don't gamble, just we help each other to keep the discipline...
we have it running like this since 5 yrs back in home stock investment forum... time and patience is our friend! greedy and fear is our enemy.

above is rough proposal... coming up soon...

I opened a live mini at ibfx this week.
wait till free 50$ granted into acc, and will start trading & report weekly starting August.

welcome to join... basically to audit ourselves against discipline
angler/xaron you can be our senior auditor if interested...

On it mate.

I opened the account today but i had a W-8 form signed in Jun but their form looks different from the form fxsolution requires so would that be a problem??

I signed ibfx's W-8 form and sent it. did not use other.

I think live mt4 stats would be useful and who would be the winner first to reach 1000$ how bout that??

base on the rule not many will survive half year.
this is not a money making game, but survival, discipline and loss control...

gambling is not recommended, (I copied the rule from another contest)
only trade 100$ position with 50$ acc, max 3 (pairs) positions so no way to reach 1000$ any time soon.

dynmaic loss of -5% a position or -30% acc will suspend the player for 1 week or 1 month... so a s/l is to be used

orders claimed on open (when no one is sure it'll profit or not)... both open, closed trades and equity disclosed at weekend... 2-3 absence of weekly then exit the game.

think it over it may not be fun

we've running this tedious game in home stock forum past 5 yrs.

most people manage all his life fortune in this way, serious business.

it's not a 20x or blow up in a month game... no award so no point to win or target how much...

treat it as a real account of all your money in it... survival, beat the market, manage risk and then survival.

everyone has only 1 life to live... so not to gamble it.

my free 50$ live acc works now, will start trade next week

0.01lot on mini = 100$, not tried trade yet.

still following all the rules above in post#1.
starting value 1.00=150$/150$.

1. forced exit position at -10% acc and -30% acc dynamic loss
2. live claim of order, weekly report of open/close order and equity
3. trade only 1 order off daily chart (700$ oil) out of 150$ acc, no 2nd order allowed
4. I will be using fixed t/p and s/l of +-1$/oil price or +-10$ of acc (6% risk), accept loss when it's hit.
5. hope to have 50% win rate or break/even except 4pip spread for the 1st month

short oil limit at 71.50, s/l 72.50 (end of pin), t/p 70.50

did not hit yet.
reason: simple pinbar, but limit set higher than yesterday close, s/l higher than end of pin, not sure if can hit.
est. win probability: 51%.

reason:
1. double bottom support up from 70.6
2. 10am EST news risk, avoid gambling!
3. move sell limit entry to yesterday high 72.25, s/l to 73.5

1. move sell entry back to yesterday close 71.25... was hit while editing.
2. move s/l to tip of pin 72.25
3. move t/p to 70.65 before double bottom support. risk:reward=100:60 or -6%:+4%
4. expect win ratio: 40% (what? why shall I trading 40% win, risk/reward -6vs+4? >_<... thinking..)
5. I ignore news info itself, just trade the chart.

ok now just wait for either s/l or t/p hit. no any order edit. no 2nd order. no manual close.... maybe close the software and ff... >_<
back tomorrow to see order closed.

1. 15min channel: higher low, higher high, moving up
2. probably will just take out my s/l at end of pin 72.25
3. distance of s/l vs t/p from now: 100:60
4. feeling of win chance according to current movement: 30% or less.

still let it run till anything hit, just leave it run, hit something, learn from it, and place next order.

ok... actually we know what's going to happen in 24hrs right?
however I'd wait the daily bar close and tell by itself instead of gambling ...

anyway. 150*(1+4%)=156$, net value 1.04
no trading tomorrow unless see a good one (60% chance win)

daily bar closed still ramping at slower speed.

open a trial order entry at yesterday close. not hit.

s/l at previous high in Jun. t/p=s/l. expect win chance=49%.

no fancy bulls in europe open
moved back to old entry 71.80 and stop 72.80

move entry limit to 72.25, s/l 73.25 to avoid US open

will move entry limit to 73.25, s/l 74.00 before employment report

avoid typical optimistic moments

moved pending order entry to 73.25, s/l 74.25, avoid employment report.

from chart it may still break above 72 today I guess. but just try...

will move pending order before c-oil inventory.

moved pending entry to 72.25, s/l 73.25
avoid 10am and 10:30am news.

I think I probably will miss the trade today.
anyway. stay with pending orders...

moving pending order, entry 71.60, s/l 72.60, t/p 70.80.

stop watching it now.