ZSX - Fifty To Freedom

I'm not going to say who I was...
... or what I have seen, felt, or heard
I'm not going to say where I've been...
... or why I was there, nor why I left

There is only who I am...
... and who I am going to be
There is only where I stand...
... and where I know I belong

This is me.

I have created this journal to track my progress. I now stand looking to tomorrow to bring me and my family our dreams. Starting 2010 I will begin trading my live account. I have a new netbook and internet that goes with me, which is what has been holding me back so far. *UPDATE* My wireless broadband doesn't work in my work building. So for now, my micro account will only be traded between 6 PM and 11 PM after work. My mini account I have set up that I can trade from work, even though it is a difficult process to work around.

I have traded demo for a year, trying many different methods. I have been able to consistently find profits, and now seek to establish the same pattern of success with a live account.

It's not about the money though, as much as it is about the success. I consider myself more successful earning 100 pips with 1 micro-lot, than if I won 30 pips with 50 micro-lots. It's about the success. I know that the moment I start reaching for the money, focusing on it, and making it the goal of my trading, I will no longer find success. This is the paradox I have encountered. Success comes from recognizing what is important, and acting accordingly. For me, the only thing that is important is my family's happiness and well-being, in that order. When we seek for true happiness, everything else seems to follow.

My method is simple. I trade PRICE ACTION around WATCH ZONES (WZ). A WZ can be a pivot point, previous support/resistance, trend line, or fib line. If the price isn't at(or very very near to) a WZ, I won't trade.

I am currently making a study of pivot points, both standard and camarilla. Every day I will post charts with analysis of how these could have been traded.

I will be starting small, with only $20 in a micro account, and soon $250 in a mini account. By earning 20 pips a day and consistently increasing my lot size I will quickly arrive in a position where the money I earn will be significant to me. I will also track my progress in a spreadsheet, comparing my results with my goal day-by-day. January's goal is to grow my micro account to $500.

Feel free to follow along, and share your thoughts. This is my journal, and I want it to be a place of inspiration and drive. If you think my goals are unreasonable, please don't spread negativity. If you believe in every person's ability to carve their path in life, then follow one as it starts.

good luck , as you seen on my journal i am in the process of trading on a demo account with what i would initially start with, hoping that i make my mistakes now and can learn enough info to be profitable. i have tried different strategies and the one that seems to be working, well so far, is how you describe your trading style. I think one of my biggest flaws is getting to anxious and trying to trade to much, looking at that i will make lots of profit but not thinking of how bad it could be if it goes wrong. One thing i have learned is to stick to your plan and nothing else, no spur of the moment trades. im very new to this and probly dont kno what im talking about ..lol

hi how can i find a SHEET like this to keep my trades in order

Nice... good luck to you! I would like a sheet like that to keep track too, if you don't mind sharing. Thanks in advance!

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

- Robert Frost

I believe greatly in the truthfulness of this poem. I have known my entire life that I was not meant to sit in an office, 9-5 every day until retirement. I am meant for loftier paths, where I can bless the lives of my friends and family, as well as those I don't know. For me, trading is the less-traveled path.

While this isn't officially a part of my Fifty to Freedom goal, I am continuing to trade live every day so I don't feel rusty. Right now I trade EUR/USD. It's all I've ever traded.

I logged in late tonight, missing a trade that is exactly what I like looking for. Had I been here I probably would have entered right below 1.4400 for an expected 50+ pips.

My only concern are the consecutive bottoms if you look on the left side of the chart... the price could turn around here, so I tightened my trailing stop here at +7.5 pips. I will not let a winner turn into a loser. Had I entered at 1.4400, I would be very willing to let this retrace on me more.

POST-TRADE ANALYSIS

Trade stopped out at +7.5 pips. Would have been an excellent trade for me had I been watching, but I'm always happy to bank any amount of positive pips.

hi where can i find you trading strategy?

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

- Langston Hughes

Never let anything get in the way of living your life. When you decide that trading is the path to your dreams, take care that it doesn't become the very obstacle that keeps you from success. Remember what you are trading for, and that it is the means, not the end.

Quoting mattchu96

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good luck , as you seen on my journal i am in the process of trading on a demo account with what i would initially start with, hoping that i make my mistakes now and can learn enough info to be profitable. i have tried different strategies and the one that seems to be working, well so far, is how you describe your trading style. I think one of my biggest flaws is getting to anxious and trying to trade to much, looking at that i will make lots of profit but not thinking of how bad it could be if it goes wrong. One thing i have learned is to stick...

Ignored

I have been reading every journal I can of successful traders, and I notice one thing in common with all of them. They are willing to wait. They don't look at a chart and immediately say, "Looks like it's going up, I'm going to buy!", they wait for the chart to tell them. No matter what your trading method, you have to stick to it.

My method is mostly 5 and 15 minute trading, but I am looking to extend my timeframes more as my account balance grows.

Quoting keithhobbs

Disliked

hi how can i find a SHEET like this to keep my trades in order

Ignored

Quoting antinomian

Disliked

Nice... good luck to you! I would like a sheet like that to keep track too, if you don't mind sharing. Thanks in advance!

Ignored

I have attached a small excel file that you can modify to fit your needs. If you aren't familiar with working with excel you might be able to make a request and I might be able to post something else for you.

Quoting keithhobbs

Disliked

hi where can i find you trading strategy?

Ignored

It's pretty simple. I watch price action around SUPPORT and RESISTANCE. Whether these are previous Highs/Lows, Pivot Points, Trend Lines, or Fib Retracements, I wait for indication of price continuing or reversing at these levels.

I also like to trade ranging markets using Bolinger Bands and CCI.

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

- Robert Frost

I love this poem. Eternity is enticing, peace and rest are divine. However, I have my entire life to enjoy this mortality, and make the best out of it that I will. I don't like to say things like 'I can, I might, I could'. There is no point. What I will do is all that matters.

When I woke up this morning I saw a possible trade setting up, and right before I left for work it started to look good to me. Not a perfect setup, but one that I certainly think is useable. I will have to post the chart later to show why I entered. Currently +70 pips with a trailing stop set currently around +50. If I could, I would be looking right now to possibly close the trade and re-enter long with some confirmation that this level is going to hold. I'm more inclined to think that this drop is going to continue after a slight retrace/consolidation and continue down to 1.4280

UPDATE: I realized that the pivot points indicator I was using wasn't giving me the right pivots. From now on I will plot these by hand each day. I read in Greg Wilson's journal that he likes to take the time to do that because as he places each one he is analyzing the situation, taking his time, etc... I agree with this. Better to be more involved in the process. On my break I fired up my netbook as price was stalling. I tightened my stop to +90 pips, which was shortly hit. I will post my chart next time I get a break.

Decided to give GBP/JPY a try. I like the potential for profit with this pair.

Attached Image (click to enlarge)

8:20 Commentary: Price broke through the Pivot, but stopped just short of my entry below the 0.50 Fib, forming a possible double top. Still very confident, don't expect anything to close above the Pivot.

12:00 Post-Trade Analysis: Took longer than I thought to start, but price finally started moving. My entry did hit so I had two positions. Decided to set up trailing stops and go to bed, stops were hit at approximately +30 pips per position.

Have two trades running tonight. I'll keep my eye on them as I relax.

Attached Image (click to enlarge)

10:15 Commentary:Price is starting to turn, currently +12 pips. I'm so used to scalping that it's hard for me not to just take it and run. I will take my trade off the table at this point if the price falls down to 7 pips, I can't see a winner turn into a loser...

10:50 Post-Trade Analysis: Wasn't confident enough in this trade to treat it as a day-trade or swing, only a scalp. Stopped out with +7 pips. If I had more than 1 micro-lot I would have closed one at +10 and left the other with stop at B/E.

Yoy have inspired me. I have been thinking about setting up a trade journal. I like what you have done with poems and all as well.

Rufus

Quoting Rufus

Disliked

Yoy have inspired me. I have been thinking about setting up a trade journal. I like what you have done with poems and all as well.

Ignored

Thank you. I hope I can be an inspiration and help others to find success.

I am looking forward to starting this trading. I am changing a few things slightly. My tracking sheet will no longer show the day/month, but rather consecutive trading days. This way I won't have to adjust for holidays, vacations, etc... I will simply count each day I trade as the next trading day.

Secondly, I am opening a new mini account with a different broker that will allow me to make trades at work from my web browser. I will be trading GBP/JPY with this account, and EUR/USD with my micro account. Each account will have a separate tracking sheet.

I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year
'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.'
And he replied,
'Go into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way!'

- Minnie Louise Harkins

I love the new year. It is an opportunity to look deep inside yourself. It is a time to consider what you have done with one more year of your life. This new year is my time to bring the freedom to my family that we have been looking for. If I find my path, it will only be because God has led me there.

Happy New Year!!!

Good luck bro. I'll check in from time to time.

Balance - $22.40
+24 Pips

Thank you GulfCoastPip, I appreciate it

Not shown in the chart, I also liked how price was stopping at the same level as the most recent low, and still higher than the lowest point on the chart.

Right before I went to sleep I set a trailing SL at +20 pips. Shortly after I was stopped out for +24. Price reversed back to DAILY S1 before rising all the way to DAILY R1, over 120 pips. When I am trading enough lots for it to be worth it I will set alerts so I can wake up and enter such trades. Price returned to almost the exact spot I had entered earlier, I simply would have taken that as a stronger support and entered again. Still, not bad for only having 30 minutes to trade last night.

At the end of each day(New York close) I will post a chart showing the day's price around pivots and S/R with analysis on what I could have done better.

I Love Pivots!

I had a hard time deciding what to do around the last ranging market. What would be more important, Daily or Weekly pivot? My mind says weekly, expecially since there is an important WATCH ZONE right above it, but I didn't want to bet either way. I only got to trade during lunch and my break, and those aren't trades I really want to enter if I can't sit and watch.

I also have a chart with Camarilla pivots. I can trade with either type, but when they line up perfectly with Price Action, look out!

Sadly, I haven't funded my mini account yet and can't take advantage of these opportunities. Only when they line up with my break/lunch/evening at home. By July I will be trading full-time from home.

Balance - $26.40
+20 Pips

My reporting is screwing me up a little. I realized if I wasnt' careful I would end up with 6 trading days a week, but I don't want to short-change 2 of those days. From now on, my trading days will be as such:

DAY 1: 4 PM SUN - 4 PM MON
DAY 2: 4 PM MON - 4 PM TUE
DAY 3: 4 PM TUE - 4 PM WED
DAY 4: 4 PM WED - 4 PM THU
DAY 5: 4 PM THU - 4 PM FRI

I'll see how that works out for me. That means tonight at 4 PM was the end of my second day, so I have attached today's chart with standard pivots only. Not a lot of trading available, but still easily enough for 20 pips.

Balance - $34
+25 Pips

This trade started out against me and stopped out. When price reversed and started coming back my way I re-entered at my old stoploss. I felt confident to do this because price had reversed off of the DAILY S1. I recovered all my lost pips, and ~25 more. I have one micro-lot still in play to catch any more profit, but my 25 pips is guaranteed even if this lot stops out.

This trading is stressing me out tremendously. I can't deal with looking at a chart while I work, wanting to enter or exit a trade, and not be able to. Stop Losses and Limit Orders are ok, but I need more control of my trading. I found a broker with a web trading platform that actually runs on my work computer(old I.E., old java,etc...) I don't know when my funds are going to clear but I will be doing my daytime trading with that account.