Let's get to work

OK, looks like it's started. Going to use the next retrace to lower my base a bit. AU looks like it wants to complete H&S so dumping that here, concentrating on UCHF while I can. Got to keep it fairly tight because I can't babysit anything tonight.

Just to polish off here, selling UY at 100.40. UY, I know the one that's going to the moon. Add 66. No recovery. Just hope and a prayer.

UCHF adding on 9501 hopefully and that's done for the day.

Don't often come back to trades at this time of day, but the latest pop up at 71 on uy is not a healthy sign. uchf is ok but this isn't. going to do my damndest to trade out without damage.

Ugh. Closing down the UY last night - which I did - has cost me a very, very, very healthy profit. Lot of work as well. And to add insult to injury, I went long AU last night born out of who knows what, and am making up lost ground this morning. Today if I can get out at b/e or better it'll be a good day. Then I'm going to do a bit of analysis of what I did and when, because there's been a few mistakes on the way here and my hunch is that I'm trying to do too much and taken my eye off the ball.

For this week I'm still on track, but I've raised the bar as my returns have increased and introduced daily targets as well as weekly and I'm behind today.

In terms of winding out, AU was way too heavy to shift in size so I closed it and now I'm making up for lost ground via fresh tight trades on the crosses at the moment. Should be done soon...

Done. Right, time to break for a bit, and do some dissection. And see if there's any way of turning this day back on track.

Got half my (daily) target yesterday thanks to a very quick in and out GU so some recovery. I'm back in again at 278 short at the moment, see how that goes.
Also, long UY from 54. I don't have massive conviction about this - if it falls lower than where it is currently I'm trading out but if I have got it right, targeting 101.30.

More importantly, the dissection yesterday. Basically, daily targets encourage to cut 'early'. I say early - my strike rate has improved massively since I started persuing them so I can't entirely knock it. But unless I've already made target, I'm unlikely to hold a longer-term position because of the potential to lose whatever's gained on the day. The answer to that is to reduce the dailies and maintain the weeklies and compromise somewhere in between.

Then there's the bouncing around entry point. Often it'll bounce around the entry point several times before taking off (so timing issue), and then there's the problem of missed entries - UY at 97 is a great example - finding a 'safe' way of getting back in without risking a retrace all the way back to entry point. This cuts straight back to what I've been working on for the past year but still not done.

So in summary - reduce daily targets but maintain weeklies, keep working on timing and rolling triggers.

Just bailed out the GU because I don't have any long term plans for it and it seems to have halted. UY coming up to a critical point here,let's see...

GU fatal! That's 159 pips I didn't get. But good to look at extreme reactions like that, and think how I'd trade out of it if I was positioned long. First pause was at 106, then at 154, still dropping but I don't see going much past 081 (not a recommendation for long)... it's now at 073.
Either way, i'd be in pretty deep right now as it breaks 2 week lows.
that's the kind of reaction you need to be prepared for if you trade out of positions. Going to keep an eye on it for learning purposes but also for the turn.

UY gradually climbing, going to take days before I see 150 pips on that pair upwards. Nevermind.

Something else I thought of about long-term positions (ie more than intraday). Holding overnight means placing stops or having a very low position size. Because retraces back to entry are so common it's a losing proposition if the stop's placed anywhere near your entry (ie at b/e). Case in point AY yesterday, got stopped out by return spike to my entry.

It's tricky. I was looking at another trader's account who'd executed a beautiful 10R trade over the course of a couple of weeks. In those couple of weeks though, I've absolutely trounced all over his return by the simple fact of executing a lot more trades, which is only possible because I'm not chasing bigger returns. Question is ... what's the mathematical sweet spot between number of opportunities vs longer-term returns?

I've crunched some serious account numbers now, and confirmed what I thought might be the case. The result of trading so frequently and for smaller gains is what generates a smooth equity curve. The only way of really improving is figuring a way out when the trade becomes 'safe' from retraces back to base. Not sure if that's even possible.

Done some more crunching and projections and I'm on to next phase of my plan. About time too. I'm going to run this journal till I hit my next target. doesn't matter what it is, but if I continue current form till then we're looking at early september. For those that give a monkeys

Trades wise, I'm back into long UY lightly though with orders beneath it to scale in. And GU has obviously tanked -looking for a bleeding accounts retrace to 70ish and shorting from there.

GU still heavy expect we'll take it to the US figs to see a proper retrace, it's long for me at these levels, again possible shorts at 170 on PA. UY still long from yesterday, looking through the others. UY I want out around 80, but it could retrace, if so I'm piling in down to 925.

It's all set up for both sides of the range to get taken out at US. We'll see.

Well that was a proper fuck up. UY fine 100.80 as planned, but GU. I ask you. Going to lick my wounds a while.

Friday was too grim for words, but I may have found something that will (just about) make it more palatable. In the meantime, taken a quick scalp on GU for 20 but more importantly, looking at a yen turn here, shorting EY right here. No recoveries.

Closing for 25, possible furher short later

Was a very short short for a handful. So this morning, not got a lot of golden opportunities to date, looking at eurchf for a short . IT's at 440 right now, having just spiked up, looking for a retrace to nudge the highs, maybe even top them for a good short just for the day.

that'll do perfectly. shorting from here.

Quick work. Taking some here at 435, leaving the rest till later this pm.

Great, back where we started - scaling in to go again - short ey.

Anyone for a third crack at this? Currently at 52, short from here.
If it runs to 67, I'll trade out, otherwise this one could run to 28