Start of my journey towards profitable trading with PA

This thread is started for myself to monitor my progress/trades, and to allow me to review my mistakes plus identify my traits as a trader. Hopefully, with this, I can fine-tune my strategies/trade managements to suit my personality well, and finally arrive to THE destination.... Profitable trading.


UPDATE: 1.4.2013
Further studied on supply demand, mainly from Kenneth Lee's BS trading journal, and fell in love with the simplicity and the logic behind this type of trading. Came to realize that Jarroo's PBT method and Wizard's RR was somehow using the same supply demand concept, just with a more objective approach. I will start to incorporate Supply/Demand trading from April, and see how it affects my overall performance.

I trade 1 time frame:

30mins - Using supply demand approach.
30mins trades will be taken at night (London+US market hours). If some nice oppurtunities present during London open, I might take the trade depending on my availability.
Edit*: This will be my main timeframe. I may take trades based on other timeframes ONLY IF the setup is extremely convincing.
Added a trade explorer speicifally for the 30mins trading, to compare the results.
1st post of Supply Demand trading on 30min TF:
http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...09#post6562209

Update 29.5.2013:
Added 3 simple rules to stop myself from overtrading:
1. Trade 6 pairs (forex):
AUDUSD, GBPUSD
EURJPY, USDJPY
EURAUD, EURGBP
Rule 1: Only take 1 trade for each USD/JPY pair at a time. If I HAVE to take more than 1, positions have to be reduced to the same as per holding 1 position.

Rule 2: Never add new pairs. 6 is good enough.
Rule 3: Never take counter-trend trades on the 30mins UNLESS all higher timeframes suggest otherwise.

*XAUUSD on 4H for larger swing trades.
*I use EURAUD, EURGBP, GBPAUD to find correlations, and select the best pair to trade on the main pairs.


UPDATE: 1.6.2013
It's been a long 7+ months demo trading. Finally, I've decided to fund a trading account with Armada Markets.
Let's hope for the best, and most importantly, "Plan the trade, trade the plan!"
*Note: TE will show high % profit/loss (10x) because I will only deposit 1/10 of my initial capital, and make use of the leverage to trade my intended capital. Reason being I want to protect my capitals. It makes sense to me at least.
1st post for live trading
*Note: Some of my screenshots may be taken from Pepperstone's demo account as that is my main charting. Live trades are taken off Armada Markets.

Update: 20.6.2013
Will continue my Journal here:
http://www.readthemarket.com/index.p...rading-journey

Update: 1.8.2013
I'm back again, with materials I've learnt from RTM. Will continue to post in both forums.
I've opened a new trading account, and decided to deposit full amount of capital instead of only 1/10, because the % of the gain/loss somehow messes with my psychology, even though the actual $ value is according to my intended trading capital. Will start anew, and hopefully, see a better equity curve.

Feel free to drop by.
Common abbreviations used:

PB = Pinbar
BEOB = Bearish Outside Bar
BUOB = Bullish Outside Bar
RM = Range Market
PPZ = Price Pivot Zone
PBT&CA = Price Breakthrough & Closed Above
PBT&CB = Price Breakthrough & Closed Below
D, W, M = Daily, Weekly, Monthly
LCS = Lowest Close Support
HCR = Highest Close Resistance
DCC = Daily Close Confirmation
FTB = First Time Back
SFP = Swing Failure Pattern
RR = Rounded Retest
PAZ = Price Action Zone
QM = Quasimodo
FO = Fake Out
FTR = Failure To Return
FL = Flag limit
TT = Touch trade
SL = Stop Loss
TP = Target Profit
BE = Breakeven


Here're the materials which I learnt and combined to shape my trading style from:

PDF for the summary of The Wizard's strategy:


PDF for the summary of Jarroo's strategy:


Kenneth Lee's Journal:
http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=311095


James16's thread (first post, where I used this as my way of learning):
http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=2331

IFmyante's thread/website, with pure S&D + PA materials:
http://www.readthemarket.com/

The attachments above are just a brief summary of the strategies, and it needs to be tweaked to fit my personality, which I'm doing right now. Feel free to use them if they interest you, because in my opinion, these strategies are AWESOME!!

Important note to remind myself:
Always look at the setup/price movements, and try to understand what price tells us, NOT focus on Profits/Losses.
This helps us make better judgement based on PA.

If there's anyone that has any opinion/thoughts about my setups/trading, PLEASE, feel free to drop a reply. ANY comments are GREATLY appreciated.

We are here to share and improve. Let's get it rolling shall we?

*note: I'm using Pepperstone demo MT4 as my charting tool as it has 5PM EST daily close which is also the New York close. Setups of the charts will contain 30mins (main chart), with 1W, 1D, 4H at the right side of the screen to keep track of the larger timeframes PA.

Here's a trade that i'm currently in.

Reason for trade: Biggest BUOB in multi-months at a swing low + 150 EMA + 61.8% fib ret (not shown), with strong close over BRN 1.2500.

everything is in the chart.

EURAUD

Update on the EURAUD trade:

Price almost hit the FTA (sell half position there). Moved SL to below daily swing low, just below my entry point to give price enough room to breath.

Another trade that i'm currently in. USDCAD.

Reason for trade: big BEOB break out of previous RM + LCS.

SHORT at the break of the BEOB bar.

Update on USDCAD trade:

Having some draw down, where price retraces back to the previous small RM.

A close above the LCS invalidates the break of LCS as support, however, broken TL has not been tested.

Stop loss remains un-moved. A retest of broken TL will trigger some trade management.

Update on EURAUD trade:

Price hit FTA. Sell Limit order triggered to close half position. Another half moved SL to below Price Pivot Zone (PPZ)

Update on USDCAD trade:

A pinbar formed, and invalidated the broken LCS.

A wise play would be to tighten SL to the high of PB to reduce some risks.

Lesson learnt.

Update on EURAUD trade:

A doji formed after FTA was hit, signalling indecision.

SL moved to 10 pips (excluding spreads) below the Doji to lock in some profits, at the same time give it room to breath.

A new trade: AUDUSD.

PBT&CA the D + W HCR on last Thursday, but HCR didn't hold as S.

PBT&CB on Friday, with DCC as Resistance yesterday.

TT Short @ HCR.

Price hit FTA @ previous D + W + M HCR.

Half position closed at 1R. Prefer to close half position and take profits at FTA.

The rest at BE to trail until final target.

*unable to post chart as in the office

Updated on AUDUSD trade.

Stopped out at BE, and price turned and hit final TP..

Updated on EURAUD trade.

Stopped out.

Total profit 1.2R.

This is in my watchlist:

NZDUSD: Price squeezing tight towards a PPZ. Last daily candle closed as doji signifying indecision between buyers/sellers at this PPZ level.

Will look for entry IF 4H shows strong BUOB/BEOB.

Pending Sell Order @ 1.6000 placed in GBPUSD:

Reasons:
1. Break of TL, retest and confirmed TL turned from S to R
2. PBT&CB D + W + M LCS with DCC, with a close below BRN 1.6000

*Note: I was late for 1 hour, when price already touched 1.6000 once, and worked out nicely so far. Anyway, pending order placed at 1.6000, if price hits FTA before hitting the order, I'll pass.

Pending Short @ 0.838 in NZDUSD

Stop placed at the apex of the triangle. Price breaking through this level means failure of the break of triangle.

Reasons:
1. Price broke out of triangle with a strong DBHLC
2. Good space to short as compared to long

*Trade based on 4H chart.

New trade:

SHORT @ 1.2682 EURAUD

Reasons:
1. 4H PB at PPZ
2. SFP (The_Wizard's strategy)
3. MACD bearish divergence

Update on EURAUD trade:

A bullish pennant formed on the hourly chart (small pennant visible on 4H)

Tightened SL to 2 pips above RN 1.2700.

*Note: different chart as in the office, using Dailyfx free online charts.

Stopped out few minutes after tightening SL...taken 0.6R loss.

Updated on NZDUSD trade:

TP hit at 1.2R.

Bought at the high of the bar, TP hit on the same bar.

Cancelled order. Priced went passed my marked FTA. Let's wait for a Ret on the next few days.