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

  • #1,381
  • Apr 20, 2010 10:03pm Apr 20, 2010 10:03pm
Quoting fxgrinder
CRAP! on the phone & missed the entry on a signal i was watching to line up at 4pm. sooooo irritating. need to set alarms if i get on the phone. CRAP!
top that off w/ predicting the market so i didn't take then next signal & i have a real dud of an evening on my hands.

i am feeling very frustrated
"Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see." Proverb
  • #1,382
  • Apr 21, 2010 8:14am Apr 21, 2010 8:14am
Quoting fxgrinder
thank you for your post. i am definitely hanging it all out there. i think it has helped my trading because anytime i feel like "editing" or "airbrushing" i stop & think, why am i doing this? for me? for the 2 people that read my thread? so, i go for brutal honesty and it forces me to focus and re-focus and re-group.

Neil Young ... he's in my top 10. i love music for the lyrics, then...


Train wreck ? No. I might be a bit kooky for tuning in though

Its the honesty and the down to earthness that I like. Even if other threads contain a high degree of truthfulness, there is so much ego that it can be off-putting. Although thinking about it, the James 16 thread is exceptional in the quality of the characters that post there, as well as the obvious quality of the content.

I have to say, even though your thread isn't too "noisy", you are consistent in your posting. Which I guess reflects your commitment to journaling your progress and using that as a useful tool.

And the reason for the hiatus is because I didn't have what you do. A method on which to focus my trading. I do also have to pack up the house and keep an eye on the renovation, and relocating my family from UK to France. We are moving again, in May, and it'll be the last time for at least 10 years.

When I'm moved in and set-up, I have quite a bit of free time before having to find a full-time job. Until then, I was hoping to practice. In the meantime I decided to just take some time off as I had gotten a bit over active with my trading while not really having a method or rules which would bring about the required discipline. I wasn't reckless most of the time, and was only trading a couple of tickets each day, mostly respecting position sizing, etc. But once or twice I'd find myself married to some horrible positions that I just wouldn't shutdown (adjusting the stops , etc).

So, I'm still not quite sure what methods and rules I'll be practicing with in the future - I notice you were saying recently that your method hardly leaves any discretion. I probably need that although I find myself resisting and wanting a fair bit of discretion (probably dangerous).

Thanks for letting me gatecrash the party and best wishes with your trading. And I'll have to check out Ben Harper now - had heard of him but not heard his music.
  • #1,383
  • Apr 22, 2010 12:29am Apr 22, 2010 12:29am
Quoting FrenchPips
Thanks for letting me gatecrash the party and best wishes with your trading. And I'll have to check out Ben Harper now - had heard of him but not heard his music.
no worries at all. gate crashers are fun too.

good luck with the move. keep me posted about your progress.
"Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see." Proverb
  • #1,384
  • Apr 22, 2010 12:37am Apr 22, 2010 12:37am
as to my progress ... have recruited a friend to keep me honest about pulling the trigger and shaming me when i dont. i truly feel it's one of the last hurdles i face so i can return to my live account. im calling out my signals and he's taking them on his demo account. if i fail to take a trade or violate my rules because of some "feeling" i have or whatever (as was the case last nite) ... he can say tsk-tsk ... "look i made money using your system." the really pathetic note to all this, was today, when i was supposed to call out the signal, i waffled and didn't at first b/c i didn't want him to take a losing trade. that is messed up.

as for what happened last nite specifically. called out a pullback which we both entered. i screwed up and took the TL break (was not a valid signal per the rules) ... just want to trade CT for some reason. anyway ... he did in fact hit the target per my rules and i suffered 2 losses. brilliant.

tonite. better. one pullback didn't work, but i did pull the trigger. one TL break per the rules. so far in the black ... 2 signals. 2 triggers pulled. check

worked on target/TP rules today as well as i realized i had no confidence in that aspect of my system when relaying the game plan to trading partner.

good news on the swing trade front ... G/U is rocking at 150 pips. woohoo
"Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see." Proverb
  • #1,385
  • Apr 22, 2010 11:24am Apr 22, 2010 11:24am
TL breaks ... still causing me grief. last one turned out a loser after the market spiked down. watched a pullback on the hourly, but got dug into the TL break. why am i so beholden to these TL breaks? anyway, simple reversal entry that i questioned and didn't take. net loser on the TL break and missed opp of about 3% on the pullback.

i feel like im going backward here. next week is my last week before i committed to going live, but im not sure i will be ready. need to trade a set of rules for at least one week w/o making any adjustments. last nite was an example of how when i thought i had the rules solidified, but didnt. once i was in the TL break trade, what i had been trading was a pullback. but i got so stuck in, that i couldn't see how the pullback was even possible or would even work (second-guessing and picked a bottom ... doh) ...
"Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see." Proverb
  • #1,386
  • Apr 22, 2010 1:21pm Apr 22, 2010 1:21pm
golden set-ups ...

take the first anywhere, anytime

the 2nd is a no-brainer
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"Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see." Proverb
  • #1,387
  • Apr 22, 2010 1:25pm Apr 22, 2010 1:25pm
for better or worse, have pulled the trigger on a pullback. my mind is telling me the market cant bear (no pun intended) the 32's, but that thinking has made a fool of me before.

trying to think in probabilities (and stay disciplined w/ that mindset) ... by probabilities i mean MM & PF will make me a net winner at the end of the week.

have already done my postmortem for the week & w/ discipline & a solid game plan, could be nearly 5% net for the week.

am going for 100% discipline today and next week.
"Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see." Proverb
  • #1,388
  • Apr 22, 2010 1:27pm Apr 22, 2010 1:27pm
oh, and my G/U finally busted for a small net (this is one i was riding off the gap fill) ... 1.7% net gain.

daily swing trades are presently net 24.3% since apr. 8.

the bummer for me is if the rules get changed to 10:1, i'll only be able to manage 1 open daily trade at a time; that will require i exercise discretion on which of the 2, 3, 4 or however many set-ups might be spotted on any given day ... if i happen to have one open & running, i wont be able to add any more trades on successive days. the "people" have let the government (and the barney at the CFTC who thought 10:1 would be a good idea) run amock. the public buys into the hysteria created by the media which in turns fuels ignorant positions and opinions ... im on a rant about politics; not a good sign.
"Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see." Proverb
  • #1,389
  • Edited 3:56pm Apr 22, 2010 2:51pm | Edited 3:56pm
Quoting fxgrinder
for better or worse, have pulled the trigger on a pullback. my mind is telling me the market cant bear (no pun intended) the 32's, but that thinking has made a fool of me before.

am going for 100% discipline today and next week.
hooray for discipline. trade reached my take 1/2 spot (yes, im back to that again, b/c i think it hurt my efforts t/b disciplined not having a solid plan for targets & having to watch a winner turn into a b/e) ... netted 0.7% which was my last loss last nite.

i did take my 1/2 off w/in about 2 pips from the target as i saw it running down & w/ oanda's sketchy order execution and flawed market price (my husband ... almost said boyfriend again and his trading friend liken oanda's pricing to Lucas guages ...) i didn't want to take any chances & closed it out. lucky for me, b/w oanda's shoddy execution, lack of representing true market price, & slippage, i lost out on another 3 pips (okay, it's stupid to bitch about 0.1% loss, but 10 of those makes 1% and 100, 10%, and and ... stop) ...

free trade to my next target (3175) ... not really expecting it to get there, but you never know. i WILL enter on another pullback if the opp presents -- and again for better or worse.
"Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see." Proverb
  • #1,390
  • Apr 22, 2010 4:36pm Apr 22, 2010 4:36pm
Quoting fxgrinder
free trade to my next target (3175) ... not really expecting it to get there, but you never know. i WILL enter on another pullback if the opp presents -- and again for better or worse.
the market decided to buy up dollars in a hurry and my trade spiked to 90 pips up ... thinking about this being a live account & money on the table, i took the pips & my 3% net for that pullback

funny, had i left full lots run to 90, i would be up for the week. ahhh, the irony of it all ... but i am not complaining in any way shape or form.

im only a 1.1% negative for the whole week. should be 8% up, but i am going to make major corrections next week.

"Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see." Proverb
  • #1,391
  • Apr 22, 2010 7:57pm Apr 22, 2010 7:57pm
U/J long off the hourly (outside bar after a pullback on the dailys ... not thrilled w/ taking this here, but looks logical at this point); very small lots on this one. set & forget until tomorrow.
"Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see." Proverb
  • #1,392
  • Apr 23, 2010 2:14pm Apr 23, 2010 2:14pm
Quoting fxgrinder
U/J long off the hourly (outside bar after a pullback on the dailys ... not thrilled w/ taking this here, but looks logical at this point); very small lots on this one. set & forget until tomorrow.
In the black, SL moved to above my entry. Gonna leave it and see what happens.
"Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see." Proverb
  • #1,393
  • Apr 25, 2010 1:05pm Apr 25, 2010 1:05pm
Quoting fxgrinder
In the black, SL moved to above my entry. Gonna leave it and see what happens.
wa. oanda's 10 pip weekend spread dumped me out.

watching AU, EJ, GU today on the daily charts.
"Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see." Proverb
  • #1,394
  • Apr 25, 2010 4:20pm Apr 25, 2010 4:20pm
Quoting fxgrinder
watching AU, EJ, GU today on the daily charts.
caught E/J & A/U on the hourly. watching the G/U for an entry.
"Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see." Proverb
  • #1,395
  • Apr 25, 2010 4:35pm Apr 25, 2010 4:35pm
miracles never cease.

pulled the trigger on my intraday E/U ... yay.
"Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see." Proverb
  • #1,396
  • Apr 25, 2010 5:57pm Apr 25, 2010 5:57pm
Hi Grinder i am reading you thread was wondering why you pulled triger for eu can you post chart explanation.

Thanks
  • #1,397
  • Apr 25, 2010 6:07pm Apr 25, 2010 6:07pm
Quoting fxgrinder
pulled the trigger on my intraday E/U ... yay.
have been rewarded for my discipline!

1/2 pxn off at 3385. SL to b/e. target is 3461, but might adjust lower depending on how the market progresses during the HK session.

i thought so much this weekend about how i could consistently pull the trigger on my signals. the one thing i decided that i had to accept was that if i dont pull the trigger every time, i cannot go live. the reason is that i will never know the accurate PF for the system. back-testing the PF is fine, but there is always the "hindsight goggles" --- while i try to factor in how i would trade, etc., forward testing is the only true measure. also, if i cant accept on a loss on this stupid demo account, i'll never cut it live.
"Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see." Proverb
  • #1,398
  • Apr 25, 2010 6:07pm Apr 25, 2010 6:07pm
Quoting ingmarforex
Hi Grinder i am reading you thread was wondering why you pulled triger for eu can you post chart explanation.

Thanks
sure. give me a couple minutes.
"Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see." Proverb
  • #1,399
  • Apr 25, 2010 6:08pm Apr 25, 2010 6:08pm
Quoting fxgrinder
caught E/J & A/U on the hourly. watching the G/U for an entry.
G/U is on too.
"Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see." Proverb
  • #1,400
  • Apr 25, 2010 6:27pm Apr 25, 2010 6:27pm
Quoting fxgrinder
sure. give me a couple minutes.
basic set-up ... (quite frankly, it feels quite amateurish compared to your method for trading oil, but anyway, here it is).

cheers.
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"Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see." Proverb
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