My GBPJPY trade journal

Gday John

No i don't know anyone who trades this method on the dailies i'm sorry, i have pm'd Greg before and he has been kind enough to reply so maybe shoot him a message and get his thoughts. I'm not sure if he is in a position to reply or not but you can only try. I have found him to be forthright, succinct and extremely helpful in everything i have quizzed him about.

You mention in your next post that you find it hard to settle on one method that is proven. In my opinion you have found it but it does take work. I had some help early on which by coincidence matches nicely with Greg's approach. His method has all the ingredients i think you want from a system, to me the following is a logical way to approach it.

1. He looks to get on early when trending momentum kicks in. ( in other words he is patient and sits on his hands until he sees momentum start ). You can do the same but apply it to the daily

2. He then trades with that momentum so effectively is trading with the current trend in relation to the timeframe he trades. You can do the same but just apply it to the daily

3. If he is wrong then he looks to get out as quickly as possible if the trade turns on him, by the same token he gives it room to move and allows the trade to breathe.

4. he looks to just take the easiest part of the move, sometimes that has been 30 pips sometimes 70 or more.

5. he banks his profit and sits and waits again til the next set up.

so all in all he is patient in waitiing then trades with current momentum, gets out as quick as possible when wrong and banks profits after he gets a good move. sounds like the old analogy of patience and discipline, trade with the trend, cut losses quick and ride winners. his idea of a trend and the amount he looks to cash in on might differ to many others who will look at a trend over the course of a week or month etc but you can apply the same to the 4 hr / daily chart. you won't get as many trades and losses and wins will naturally be bigger pip wise but Greg's approach can be copied to any timeframe be it 1min chart to weekly.

Put his indicators on a daily and start taking notice of when and where momentum kicks in, go back over Greg's charts and look at the patterns and forget that it is a 15 min or 1 hr chart and look for those patterns on the daily BUT you will have to be very very patient cos there simply won't be as many.

Personally i use 3 ma's ( not in a crossover way or anything like that either ) and no stochastics etc but it's only because i am used to them and not used to Greg's stochs and other indicators. I was using my approach before i ever found Greg but his thread has really reinforced what i was doing. The thing is is that our interpretation of price action and momentum quite often is the same. I don't even look at Greg's indicators to be honest because it is the momentum of the actual price that is the main common denominator. How we both come to that conclusion doesn't really matter because we are both looking to do the same thing. TRADE WITH TRENDING MOMENTUM, RIDE THE MOVE, GET OUT QUICK IF WRONG, BANK THE PROFIT AND SIT BACK AND BE PATIENT FOR THE NEXT ONE. Look for when price is running out of steam in one direction, goes quiet/sideways/pullsbacks be patient and wait for it to either begin momentum in the new direction or resumes it's current direction.

I heard a great webinar with Mark Minervini from the stock market wizards fame the other day and he mentions just how important it is to have just one strategy and stick to it and not to chop and change. Whether it be a breakout strategy/ trading off pullbacks/support and resistance or anything. Work it out what you are comfortable with, stick to it and only do that strategy. Mark is only right about 50% of the time and look where it has got him. If you look back at Greg's charts you will notice he does the same thing over and over and look how it pays him. I know it's hard to settle on a strategy but if you like Greg's then don't look any further in my opinion. Just work hard and go back over all his old charts and see how they line up on your own platform.

Hope this helps somewhat.

z

Z,

This is great! How kind of you to take the time to respond the way you have. There is a wealth of information and inspiration in your text and I will give this a good deal of thought.

Regards,
John

John

A pleasure mate, i had some time to reply and i just hate seeing people go down the track of chopping and changing and jumping from system to system. This is no easy game, if you read through the thread you will see where Greg was down to his last 2k or so and had spent 10 years working on his method before it came good for him, my original mentor had made and lost 2 mill by the time he was 19 and then spent 8 more years winning and losing until itfinally clicked so all i am trying to convey is that this method is a great one but you need to spend the time working on it til it sinks in. You HAVE to go back to your own charts though to see where all this fits, i just don't think you cant do it off Greg's snapshots alone. You really need to look at the price action leading into the moves that he captures and then the momentum he catches.

Even just go back over the recent trades of his and follow on for any that he posts from now on and really look hard at the moves that happen. Forget the timeframe and apply the same method to a daily and you will begin to see it.

Cheers

Z

P.S sorry Greg if i'm out of place, give me a kick in the guts if need be

Hey Greg, there is a wealth of information in this thread and it is much appreciated. PLease keep us updated on your trades, so we can continue to learn from you.

P.S. Ive spend 8-9 hours so far reading you log and I'm only half done:nerd:

Thank again for sharing your knowledge, keep it up.

Hey Greg, Ive been trying to study your charts and learn your trading system. The hard part it identifying a entry as its forming. I know you are busy so I am not asking you to critic my chart, just tell me if my thinking is on track or not.

Thanks again for your continual posting.

Hi,

I have been following the thread since the start of the year. Greg's method appealed in the way that he is taking up only momentum trades and exits relatively quickly once the momentum shows signs of dying down.

I can see how it helps to manage one's life outside trading as you are always taking money off the table and then leaving the table for another life out there. The next day you see the same setup and do the same thing or if you dont see the same setup, you do nothing.

Sounds simple but it takes load of discipline not to confuse your mind to see setup when they are not there.

I have a question to really learn from reading the postings. From Greg's trade, it usually show the trades around 3-4am. Can I ask if you are using Eastern Standard Time (EST), the time zone New York is in, which is 5 hours behind Greenwich mean Time (GMT).
Therefore, for example, doing trades at EST3.30am, as shown on your trading statement, would be equivalent to GMT8.30am, 1/2 hour after the start of London Market Opening hours.

Faithfully,
Jensen

Greg, hope you caught some of those 200 pips going down, wish I didnt set my SL so low.

First off I would like to thank greg for taking the time to post his journal and his trading system....It has put a different perspective on the market for me. Thank You!

As I read through this thread I keep seeing the "CPP" line. Can someone explain the meaing of this, is it an indicator line or a line that is entered manually based on pivot points?

Thanks in advance and I wish you all profits!

Central pivot point.

***

I was asked by another FF member to take a look at this journal some time ago, and I've been biting my tongue ever since.. However, since many of you seem fairly new at this (and willing to risk money), I would be remiss if I didn't finally speak up.

I would take what's being presented here with a grain of salt. I would also suggest that what's being posted are only Greg's winning days (and possibly hypothetical at that). No system is nearly as accurate as his postings suggest. Virtually 99% of Greg's postings are winning sessions, either he is the most successful trader ever to walk the earth, or we're not seeing the full picture. His performance, if legitimate, would crush every hedge fund known to man. This journal has 'cherry picked' written all over it, and I'm trying my very best to be polite.

Greg, you seem like a nice enough guy, so don't take anything of what I've said too personally. I've been around trading forums long enough, and unfortunately have seen this pattern before. Hindsight trades that look golden all the time, building a rapport & a following, then when put to the test.. au revoir. If you'd like to prove me wrong and post your trades in real-time, I will gladly apologize, take back everything I've said, and eat my hat.

I think Greg has mastered the market, when you look at charts day in and day out you can understand how markets move. He also posts losing trades, ive seen some big hits taken but also some big wins so im not sure what the issue is.

either way you look it, if you've come from $2000 and are now trading $2m to $10m lots, cherry picked or not, that is a fantastic achievement. $20000 to $100000 profit sessions is what he is achieving. Sure he may of had a bad session or 2, maybe not. Where is you point? He clearly states that the journal is a take it or leave it, and is more perhaps for himself than anyone else and if you want to get something from it or not than that is up to you. I for one have gained alot from this thread and believe that his consistency is achievable. I dont think you have read many of Gregs posts as your 'opinion' is nothing but 'whatever', one of those guys who has seen it all before blah blah but is still battling away'. I would suggest if you spent more time practising trading rather than waffling on in forums about seeing it all before that perhaps you too might see what is achievable - but hey this isnt forever one

Look guys, I took no enjoyment in writing that post, and I hope I'm proved wrong. I just felt the thread could use a little caution disclaimer for all those who seem ready to jump in with both feet.

There were a lot more things I wanted to say, many more pieces that don't add up in this picture, but in trying to be respectful, I just stayed with the basics. If you've been trading long enough, you'd spot the odd peculiarities here as well. And again, if I'm wrong, great, I take everything back.

Lastly, coming from a fellow large lot trader, I again mean no disrespect to Greg for these accusations. I just have my doubts, and I thought I should address them. I will leave you all in peace.

Hi TraderKGB

I know where you are coming from and you should be commended on one front at least and that is being considerate of the new traders. There has been many instances of people jumping in too early on a method and losing money.

However your post can also be a bit scary to new traders because you have effectively put the fear into them now not to bother to do the work required or be bothered to learn Greg's method here.

To the new people here please take note of this.

Greg has never offered any paid service or tried to flog anything.

From the outset he has said that this journal is for him and his development alone and if you want to follow along then feel free.

He has always helped when he can and been honest and consistent in his answers.

I have been a follower of this thread for ages as it directly mirrors how i trade and it has been an enormous help in confirming that i was on the right track.

I have no idea whether the trades here are all of his trades or cherrypicked. I couldn't careless if they are or aren't. What is on here though are consistent trades that look and act the same and give you the picture of what his WINNING trades look like. That is key!! Do you want to have that drummed into your head repeatedly or his losers.

Stop and think......the good ones may only be posted for a reason and that is to show you and more importantly Greg what his winning trades look like and the set up behind it. I certainly don't have a problem with that, so long as there isn't some promoting of a paid service behind it, that's when i would be sceptical. Which as i said earlier Greg has never shown an inkling of doing.I would hazard a guess and say that his losing trades look almost like his winning trades at entry time but just fail to gain momentum and then reverse and stop him out. There is a post here early on where Greg says he used to have a w/l ratio of 60 - 70% and is always aiming for 100% but will never get there. Maybe then he has improved his discipline, patience, skills, psychology to a point where he is now getting 90% or so winning trades. I can totally see how you can achieve that if you have all those things under control BUT (before anyone bites my head off for saying that) if one of those things is not in control then that would cause that %age to slip. Maybe Greg is at a point where he has that ability now.

Before any new people go running off to other methods all i say is this. Think about the approach and delve into it a little first before you make a decision.

Greg's approach is to capture trending momentum.......now to me that makes a lot of sense. Think about that for a second, it means he is effectively trying to capture the momentum or smoothest easiest flow of a market for his particular timeframe in the direction of the trend. He then takes his piece, sits back and waits for the next set up.

One thing i noticed when i started going over his trades is just how similar they are, if you listen to what a lot of the best traders say it is that they aim to do the same thing over and over. Greg's approach means he sits and waits through consolidation or pullbacks etc then when things add up he gets on hopefully for the start of momentum, rides it, gets out when it looks like it could stall or pullback and sits and waits again. The consistency of doing this time and time again should be what is really attracting you new people to this.

Alot of the trading mantras say, enter, ride the trend, cut losses short, let profits run, get out , be patient and repeat. Greg's approach does all these things and it doesn't matter which market or timeframe you are looking at. He chooses the ones he does because that is his personal choice but you are dealing with how the market moves here. You aren't countertrend trading, you aren't in scalping haphazardly, it is the price action and how it sets up that determines when Greg gets interested in a trade, not his indicators, he has said before that they are only there to add weight to his idea.

Finally, if you are a newbie then all i would say is to give it a chance. It will take a lot of work and patience ( no one on this thread has said anything different) but once it comes then you will see the benefit of his approach and you will have it for life. I'd start by going back over some of greg's trades on your own charts, stripping all the indicators off and then adding them one by one beginning with the ma's first and looking at the price action in relation to each. You will also have to look at all the timeframes to see when he takes a trade on a 15 min chart what it looks like on the 60 min and 4 hr etc. If you are willing to do that then this method can be very very good BUT if you aren't then i would say this isn't for you.

All the best

Z

If it is true that he posted primarily his winners it would be no different to 99% of peoples in this forum. There is the desire to attract the mind of unknown lurkers and to boost the ego within ones self, for what ever reason. I find this journal different, hence why I subscribed to it, in that it is all the same pretty much the whole way through. it shows that the member has a sound system that he trades by and hence he has my respect, for an unknown, whatever it may be worth.

Razor

well said Razor

One other impressive thing with this thread is that there is very little hint of any emotion. It's not like other threads where you see giddy emotion up or down depending on people's winners and losers. In this one, Greg just posts his analysis and trades and moves on.

Z

Hi all. Sorry I haven't been on my thread lately. I was in an auto accident and I'm still hurting. No broken bones and getting better day by day. So I haven't been trading much either. In fact the market has been rather wild lately, and prior to last Thursday, nothing real exciting day by day since the first of year or before. My take on it. A quick reply to a post: I don't know anyone who is using my strategy on daily charts, or position trades as they are called. I do know a trader who is interested in trying down the road. Of course with position trades you have to allow for much larger stop losses....As for me, If I have a loss much over 100 pips on a given trade, I get skitterish. Another reason why I trade intraday.

Cheers,
Greg

Chart and trades summary

Nice to see you back Greg and hope you get well soon. I was in a massive accident years ago, no fun at all, very lucky to be here and in a way esp lucky as i have no recollection of it other than the months and months of recuperating. Anyway mate, all the best.

z

Thank you, zorroz

Chart and trades summary