Going to kick off a journal for the last couple of weeks of my quarter. If it works for me, I'll carry it on proper for the next q.
This isn't going to be about how I make my trade decisions but more about execution. Besides which results count, all the rest is a good talk. That said, to head off some basics:
Once I work out my bias, I scale in and around that, dividing my risk (not positions) roughly into 2. Risk 1 is scaled in around the entry up until my optimal entry point. Past that, a price at which I'm wrong kicks in R2, which I use to trade out of a losing position. Past that, I'm out.
Going the other way, assuming R2's not been used, R2 is used to build in on a retrace. Sometimes R3, but that requires R1 to move to at least b/e. Essentially, it's a symmetrical MM - asymmetry, as practiced mostly here in FF usually back loaded to recovery is a recipe for disaster. Stops I only use if I'm not monitoring positions.
On other pairs I have less risk and am also much less likely to recover.
Core positons last for a few hours anywhere up to a week or so (that's pretty unusual).
Targets. I often have targets that I'll sometimes move away when close if I think they've more to run. Current circumstances dictate targets. If they change, so do the targets.
Exits are hopefully the targets but a lot of the time, once I've let the trade decision run its course, I'm out irrespective of profit or not. If I'm not there they could be stopped out.
Details of how and why you won't find here, nor many charts - thus the journal - but I'll be straight up about my positions, the good, the bad and the beautiful. Hopefully not too many uglies.
EU's the main focus, which drives positions on the others.
News and fundamentals - purely a volatility consideration, so all I care about is potential vols and speed of such vols to ensure my risk profile isn't exceeded. Fundies do of course eventually drive currencies, but not generally within the timescale I'm looking at. I'll have few views here and there but it's just to keep me in the loop. I never trade opinions, not even my own
Correlation - often I find myself in trades that would be better (cheaper) expressed in the cross, like e/aud rather than eu and au. Complexity stops me from taking the cross but that may change.
On trend vs countertrend. It dawned on me a few years back that there is no such thing as counter-trend. You need a trend to profit on spot. What CT really means is a fractal in timescale of the trend at which you're currently viewing. Spiral within the spiral - and as far as I can, the dominant spiral is clearly the better bet, and the trade I look for.
And finally, the purpose of this journal is to improve what I'm already doing.
With all that said... time to get back on with it.
This isn't going to be about how I make my trade decisions but more about execution. Besides which results count, all the rest is a good talk. That said, to head off some basics:
Once I work out my bias, I scale in and around that, dividing my risk (not positions) roughly into 2. Risk 1 is scaled in around the entry up until my optimal entry point. Past that, a price at which I'm wrong kicks in R2, which I use to trade out of a losing position. Past that, I'm out.
Going the other way, assuming R2's not been used, R2 is used to build in on a retrace. Sometimes R3, but that requires R1 to move to at least b/e. Essentially, it's a symmetrical MM - asymmetry, as practiced mostly here in FF usually back loaded to recovery is a recipe for disaster. Stops I only use if I'm not monitoring positions.
On other pairs I have less risk and am also much less likely to recover.
Core positons last for a few hours anywhere up to a week or so (that's pretty unusual).
Targets. I often have targets that I'll sometimes move away when close if I think they've more to run. Current circumstances dictate targets. If they change, so do the targets.
Exits are hopefully the targets but a lot of the time, once I've let the trade decision run its course, I'm out irrespective of profit or not. If I'm not there they could be stopped out.
Details of how and why you won't find here, nor many charts - thus the journal - but I'll be straight up about my positions, the good, the bad and the beautiful. Hopefully not too many uglies.
EU's the main focus, which drives positions on the others.
News and fundamentals - purely a volatility consideration, so all I care about is potential vols and speed of such vols to ensure my risk profile isn't exceeded. Fundies do of course eventually drive currencies, but not generally within the timescale I'm looking at. I'll have few views here and there but it's just to keep me in the loop. I never trade opinions, not even my own
Correlation - often I find myself in trades that would be better (cheaper) expressed in the cross, like e/aud rather than eu and au. Complexity stops me from taking the cross but that may change.
On trend vs countertrend. It dawned on me a few years back that there is no such thing as counter-trend. You need a trend to profit on spot. What CT really means is a fractal in timescale of the trend at which you're currently viewing. Spiral within the spiral - and as far as I can, the dominant spiral is clearly the better bet, and the trade I look for.
And finally, the purpose of this journal is to improve what I'm already doing.
With all that said... time to get back on with it.
