Rufus

Great trades, congrats!
I opened a couple of shorts just similar to yours but I closed before the ZEW release and I smashed my fist on the desk when I saw it .... too bad I wasn't still in ! but anyway, still a positive day!

Have a good day!
Lorenzo

GU Long. I should have taken this of the 61.8 fib bounce which also coincides with a swing highs on Friday of last week and Monday of this. So I am entering a little late.

First target is 10 pips, next is 20.

The EU would have been a great one to have jumped on as well.

10 pips in the bag.
20 pips in the bag. Stop moved to BE. Last bit I will let ride


Closed last out at 10 pips.. Now I will wait for London to open

9/15 12:15 am EU long….Tokyo Box.

This one started out scary. Plus I inadvertently set my stop at 30 pips. Now looking pretty good. Set initial target at 10 pips. Not sure what I will do for the next two targets. I should have stuck with the pound on this one, it just ripped out of there.

10 pips bagged

Rufus


Closed it all out. EU just stoped advancing.

Quick 10 for breakast

Rufus

Great day for me in the futures markets. My sugar bull spread options expired at maximum profit. October sugar needed to close above 20 for this to happen.

For those unfamiliar with an option spread it works like this.

Bought October sugar 20 call for lets say $2000
Sell October sugar 17 call for lets say $1300

So my cost is $700

The number of points between the two is 3.... 20 - 17

each point 1s worth $1120

so the maximum value of this spread would be 3 x 1120 = $3360

Needless to say it is a great thing for an option spread to close out like this. This is the first one ever for me to close out at maximum profit. I usually close them out to collect the premium long before this point. But as you can see with the chart sugar was on a mission and nothing was going to stop it.

It is not as complicated as it sounds. Once you get used to it, it works well. Spreads limit your upside potential but you are able to get into a position cheaper. Options on commodities tend to be quite expensive. The use of a spread gets the cost down. You are still looking for an at least 3:1 ratio.

Enough for now.

By the way I have opened a new call spread on April heating oil. I will lay this one out latter.

Right now I think I will be going to bed early tonight and get some rest. Hit the Forex tomorrow.

Rufus

I did not catch this. I was watching a TV show with the family. Plus I don"t normally trade at this time durring the Tokyo session.


BUT.....It moved right on queue. It is flat remarkable to me to see this. I will never tire of it. Somewhere somebody is building a position. My job is to tag along.

Rufus

September 17, Planning for the week

Price stopped at 61.8 fib basically to the pip. If this holds the targets are 1.5145 and 1.5028.
　
Price will have to go through several demand zones to get there so we will see.


Let this be a reminder to me that I need to be constantly pulling fibs and analyzing where price is at all times. This 61.8 pullback was an early indication of a 100+ pip move.

Rufus

Know you risk

I like this, dont over confident, it get burnt

I thought I would post my money management rules...I have changed a couple things and I am really liking what I see..

1. Risk no more than 1% at ant one time.
Prefigure my risk in relation to a 20 pip stop.

2. Stop trading for the day. If I lose 2% of account.

3. Goal for trading day (This is what I have changed) 30 pips on the whole 1% position. (I start scalling out at times at 10 pips. So the 30 pips will have to be figured with the 1% risk) Or 1% increase in account.

4. Goal for trading week 3%

Write down all the above information in my personal trade journal before the start of any trading session.

Rufus

My trading desk...........................LOL

Notice the absence of charts.. Can you say order flow.. Must be tied in with the banks. This would be trading with supply and demand..Sam Seidon style with the stacks of orders.

Rufus

Wow, that is a great set-up, it rocks Rufus!

I am back to the beginning of my trading carrier. I don’t understand anymore when to enter a trade. I thought I understood a lot more than at the beginning (fibs, pivots, trend lines) but what is the meaning of it when you can’t produce a positive amount of pips on a weekly basis.

I am trying not to give in but I am lost… All the things don’t seem to work anymore. Sometimes you see a good trade coming; you wait for the good candles to arrive. I enter, but the trend doesn’t continuous and falls back. It makes you creasy when this constantly happens.
You constantly loose 10 pip’s and sometimes you win 6 a7 pips.

Rufus,

I remembered some days before you said you trade with one screen only........ now I know how "big" your screen is

All the best.
Happy trading
Eric

PS - Your MM seems good, keep our trading dicipine

Hi Forexmist...

Everyone runs into trading frustrations..Last week was hard at times for me. Seemed like every time I sat down to my charts things were flat or in a tight range. Having 4,5, or 10 losses in a row is hard on your mind especially if your mind is filled with high hopes for that trading day.

I have attached a few things for you to look at if you have not already.

I have come to the conclusion that a successful trader has mastered his mind more so than his understanding of the markets. There are a million books out there with the perfect trading system. There must be 10,000 trading systems here on FF. There is actually very little written on the mind in either format. If you are trading intraday I don't care what system you use, most successful traders are taking positions at the same general areas. The difference I believe between the successful ones and the rest is their mind. My favorite book so far "Trading In The Zone" by Mark Douglas..."Be rigid in our rules, flexible in our expectations". I have to constantly remind myself of this. It is easy to have great expectations it is how our mind will see things. When it all falls apart we blame ourselves. From early on in life kids are taught that "mistakes are bad". They happen to us every day while trading. Mistakes are not bad if we learn from them or understand them. But the key is to be a master of your own mind...The minute frustration starts to set in we are no longer thinking clearly and will have a tendency to make stupid mistakes and then this in turn adds to the frustration and all starts to spiral down hill. This is how most accounts get blown in my opinion.

So what to do now??????

Maybe read some things about how your mind works. If you have the things I have attached let me kinow and I will rummage arround and see what else I have.

I took a personality test and found out I am an INTJ... This enabled me to read about how my mind works and to potentially see where frustrations may enter in. There are free tests all over the Internet. You could try this one http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm

Money management is in my opinion the most important thing we can do. Then manage our mind. If the money is taken care of it is easyer to look after our thinking.

Risk no more than 1% of your capital. So if you have a 20 pip stop, and this stop is hit you have lost no more than 1% of your account. There is nothing wrong with risking 1/4 %. Whatever works for how your mind functions. The key is be comfortable with your risk.

Then to manage my mind, you see in a previous post I will not trade beyond a 2% drawdown in the account for that 24hr trading session. Set smaller goals. I was shooting for a 3% increase in a session. But have lowered that to 1%. When I hit 1% I am going to shut down any new positions, and only manage any open positions.

I will attach an immage of our neurons in our brain. Those electrical impulses become trained to our habits or thought patterns, good or bad. The key is to train these neurons to only the positive or profitable way of thinking. The emotional spirals down also wear grooves for the eletrical impulses to move in. So we want positive learning experiences. Having ten losses in a row can become a positive learning experience depending on how we construe it in our mind. "I am an utter failure" or "What can I take away from this that I will never let this happen again?. The point I am trying to make is that we are 100% in control of what we put or allow to be put in our minds.

I am careful of the music I listen to or the news I watch or books I read. I don't even like to talk to people who drain my mind, you know the type. Always negetive or gloomy. Anything that can be done to build I am looking for it. We are either building or tearing down our minds I don't believe there is any status quoe. If you leave a garden untended the weeds take over. The same is true with our minds.

I have been going on here. I don't know if this is some of the stuff you were looking for or not.

Pick a trading style or system and master it. Most bank traders specialize, one currency pair, one trading system, etc. To me now it is all about price action. I don't care at all what indicators are telling me in less I first understand the price action. If I don't understand the PA I stay out of the market. Let someone else have the pips.

Manage your capital. We want the preservation of capital our top priority.

Manage our minds.

Then we can take the trade when all the rules line up. But the two things above are in order first.

So what if you miss a 100 pip move. Learn from the move. What spured it? What stoped it? We build our minds. No frustrations from missing the move we take mental advantage of it and learn.

I believe a mediocre system with proper money management and mental management can still be profitable. Start each trading session mentally fresh.

I guess I shold wrap this up or it will turn into a book. This is an area of trading that I give a lot of thought to and have become quite passionate about. So get the pips, that is more important then large monitary gains. The gains will be there if we start with the pips.

http://stockbee.blogspot.com/2010/01...-exprtise.html

Trade safe

Rufus

I have seen the picture above quite a few times, is that your actually set up? Would love to know what is all going on!

My only real set up I look for is my "Tokyo Box"

http://www.forexfactory.com/showpost...&postcount=427

Other then this. I look for retraces to fib levels. Or into supply/demand zones. Look for setup locations on 4h. I watch on 1h & 15m chart primarially. Take entries on 15 or 5m

Rufus

That is great post. Very helpful for me. Thanks Rufus

You are welcome.

It was a lot of fun to think it through and write it down.

Rufus

Yogi Berra.

"Ninety percent of this game is half mental."



I would say the same for trading.

It looks easy but at time while trading, it becomes extremely difficult for me. There are many factors variables involved in it
like.....
- Market seems to reverse every time when I trade
- Setup was good but I missed some thing, s/r or round number or news etc so it become loosing trade.
- My method looks not good..or it is good but not for now a days.. should I test other one .. and use two methods...
- Why I am not consistent profit able trader... when I will quit my job and will do full time trading ...


ohhh maaaaaaan........... too many things hit in mind while trading.. ... very difficult to prepare mind as trader.... at least it is difficult for me. but i am trying.