Aox's trade journal

Success in any endeavor begins with Awareness. Before preparing to create my plan for any trade I must be aware of

- My mental state: Am i open to making profit today. I am what I think I am and if I feel deserving of good trades, they will flow to me if not I will find a way to lose money.

- Market condition: I was once told that forex market trades 24 hours a day, I found out later to the dismay of a past account that I should not trade just any time during a 24 hour day. Pick my spots and learn the attributes of market flow through each region for the pair you trade.

- Risk: It would be foolish to risk climbing a 20 foot tree in order to grab one apple. If a good entry has been missed, move on the the next Trade (tree).

- Long term outlook- Support and resistence on 4 hour + timeframes are always noted on my charts and I must we aware of price action near these levels. They could provide good chances for entries and/or exits on lower time frames.

- $ Goals- Either long term or short. I have intraday goals and postion goals. I must Know which I'm working for when I create my trade plan.

Lastly, Who am I, and why do I trade. Do I trade because I feel like I have something to prove to myself or someone else, or maybe I think I need a get rich shceme so I can retire at 35, I hate my boss and rather be my own, a little extra cash can't hurt, or my kids college fund, my retirement money can be manage better by me. Any of these? The point is I know why I do this and I think about it everyday and it keeps my head straight when trading gets tough and the darkside of my inner trader tries to lead me astray.

Proven Horizontal support & resistance lines from higher timeframes- The advantage to my trading aroud these consolidated levels is that my entries are taken with a low level of risk compared to higher potential gain.

Lot size management- The further away from S&R price consolidation the less risk I'm willing to take. Decreased risk or even passing on the entry in order to await a better entry is always an option. (Retracement swings after breakouts offer me high probability entries as well.)

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Disliked

- Risk: It would be foolish to risk climbing a 20 foot tree in order to grab one apple. If a good entry has been missed, move on the the next Trade (tree).

I like that analogy. Risk management seems to be one of the last things a trader learns. I know it was for me.

I promised myself that on slow days like today I would begin to document my limited but expanding knowledge of the ichmoku and hope that it will assist in my learning. This is only a test.LOL to myself

I never went long but because of the time of the range break. I chose to wait for at lease one short to enf the week.

Lessons I take away after this weeks trading.
1- Patience to wait is important to me. I did not always take what the charts were telling me on face value. (The sheep follow the herder but the wolves follow the sheep.) I traded like an old wolf this week but that's better than trading like young sheep.
2- Take profit when I think I should. I did not do that well with this week and had to settle for less than if I would have if I just took what was being offered to me.
3- Self meditation through deep breathing and self reflection has once again proved valuable in keeping me alert and focused on my weekly goals.
4- overall it was a profitable week for me and I can't dwell on missed trades. I must continue to focus on the next trade and try not to repeat needless mistakes

I have not added to my own journal for a while but I will post one of my latest trades if for nothing more than a confidence boost for myself and I know that in this market sustaining confidence is half the battle. I used a system that I like which uses a single deviation BB (20) and a channel that is comprised of two smoothed 5 bar Moving Averages of the Hi and Lo as well as RSI (14) that I use for bias confirmation, divergences TL breaks.

I look for the 5 smooth ma to begin trading outside the bb and follow the momentum in the direction of the trend. That is the basics of it. There is more that I will not get into involving TL, Fibs extensions using other timeframes, etc.

A more clearer Bollinger Band

I always expect to trade with caution during the Asian session. This session calls for the ability to range trade with alertness and keen awareness of S&R levels on multiple timeframes.

I always take what the market offers especially during Asian.

Good work

My reason for entry was that I noticed an oversold condition on the 5 minute eur/usd chart. Divergence was presented as well and I entered the trade at 14688 with a target set for the 20 simple move average which also was the 38.2 fib level. My stop was just below the last swing low. Price started to stall on the 5 Min so I went to the 15 to see if any congestion was causing it and found that price was within a tight range but still within my initial target and exited at 14700.

Trade size was 3 standard lot for a profit of 351.00.

The price action within the horizontal range speaks volumes. The TL break as well as the Mac-D proved to look very bullish. I planned on giving this trade little pullback because price was riding the upper band so it was either going to work or not.

Entry 14712
Target 14750
Lot size- 1 standard

Entry 147345
Target and Exit 147037
Stop 14744
3 standard lots
31 pip gain

I'm at break even with a target at the bullish trend line resistance. My stop is just below the swing low.

Risking 1 Standard lot
Enrty ar 14678
Stop at 14672
Price at the time of this journal entry 14691

price hit the 26 ema and 38.2 % retrace level so I decided to take the 22 pips off the table. The trend line might have been too much of a target at this point so i'll take what the market gives me.

Two profitable trades before 10 pm est. I'll take that anytime.

show me a man that knows what he wants and I'll show an unstoppable force.

Trade entry 14788
Price target14767
closed trade 14772
16 pip gain
risk 1 standard lot

The review of the trades i've made and the growth in my account may sometimes mask and even distract me from digging deeper within myself in order to really guage my growth as a trader and enhance my ability to learn from every trade i take regardless of its outcome. Success of any kind can dim the blaring glare of that one tendency I can't shake that can sabatoge any trade at any time. However, once I'm able to identify the culprit that must be constrained then I can learn to work around it and even note it in my trade plan. It can be:
-overtrading- reached my profit target for the day prior to the euro session. Close shop for the day or If I do not ajust I run the chance of giving it all back by over trading and/or not adjusting my risk.

- Closing a lossing trade quickly. No matter howe often I prove to myself that I can recover small losses quickly and remain profitable, the human nature of resisting the realization of being wrong is a strong pull. Practice and pain has become my answer. Practice closing losers quickly until it becomes a badge of honor to keep losses small then this usually becomes almost a painful gut punch feeling i want to avoid when the mere thought of these types of depletions in my account might occur. Remember that one must truly know and believe that any small loss can be recouped at any time.

- Overconfidence- Remember why your confident in the first place. It's because you've had success that is not promised to anyone. Get cocky and the market will kick your a%# . Stay humble and remember your past trading mistakes.

- Be myself- I can't want to trade like him or her or that guy, I do not have the time or desire to fit my trader profile into someone elses system. Find what works for me and become an expert at it. A truly customized method of trading takes into account my own phsycology and thoughts on how to achieve profit before greed and fear become a deterrent to that. Everyone has to look within themselves first sometimes not within someone elses strategy.

Just some thoughts I wanted to come back to later.

I believe 100% that the trend can be our friend. With that said, Counter trend trading has its place in my toolbox as well. It is worth it for me to understand and respect because it provides me with chances to make trades that are available and profitable as long as it is respected, understood and exits are quick and precise.

Entry 14959
Exit 14940
Pip gain 19
Risk 3 standard lots

I took this one on my PDA because I was not at my computer at the time and I want to add it to my journal.

Follow up to my last post on the 4 hour chart. Price dropped today to get back in tune with the converging 8 sma.

A trade based on support and congestion breal out.