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james16 Chart Thread
- #129,744
- Feb 3, 2014 4:31am Feb 3, 2014 4:31am
Thought I'd mention my disastrous week in the hope it may aid other newbies out there!
First three weeks of Jan I was playing only on the dailies, took about 7 trades of which I won three and ended up 230 pips up. For my last week of Jan I decided to make every rookie mistake in the book
Having not placed any trades for 4 or five days, I started to get itchy. I decided to expand the 12 pairs I was trading to the full amount my broker has, about 24. After still seeing no signals I decided to expand my timeframe from daily to 4 hourly. I then started looking for pinbars, looking for outside bars, double bottoms - i mean really looking for them, instead of waiting for the trades that jumped out at me...
Consequence? 5 days later, I finished the month with 30 pips having blown 200 on bad trades. At least it's all on demo eh
So, back to dailies for Feb, back to my 12 pairs, and back to my sniper rifle, shotgun well and truly locked up in the cellar.
First three weeks of Jan I was playing only on the dailies, took about 7 trades of which I won three and ended up 230 pips up. For my last week of Jan I decided to make every rookie mistake in the book
Having not placed any trades for 4 or five days, I started to get itchy. I decided to expand the 12 pairs I was trading to the full amount my broker has, about 24. After still seeing no signals I decided to expand my timeframe from daily to 4 hourly. I then started looking for pinbars, looking for outside bars, double bottoms - i mean really looking for them, instead of waiting for the trades that jumped out at me...
Consequence? 5 days later, I finished the month with 30 pips having blown 200 on bad trades. At least it's all on demo eh
So, back to dailies for Feb, back to my 12 pairs, and back to my sniper rifle, shotgun well and truly locked up in the cellar.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit
Thought I'd mention my disastrous week in the hope it may aid other newbies out there! First three weeks of Jan I was playing only on the dailies, took about 7 trades of which I won three and ended up 230 pips up. For my last week of Jan I decided to make every rookie mistake in the book
Hi Berserker, don´t worry, a lot of traders here did these mistakes (me too and I´m still doing mistakes), it´s okay to make mistakes, that´s part of learning, important is to identify what was wrong, so you won´t make them again. When I started on demo I did exactly the same thing as you did and lost more than 10% of my account (I lost a lot on continuation bars and trading PA in heavy traffic). 4H timeframe is tricky (especially when you´re new to this material) because you will find here much more signals than on daily (especially outside bars) so location (and the story) is much more important. As for the number of pairs, personally I think it´s okay to watch as many pairs as you can, because it helps me to keep my patience and be more picky (but if you feel more comfortable) trading less pairs, then no problem
).Mav
- #129,748
- Feb 3, 2014 7:55am Feb 3, 2014 7:55am
{quote} Hi Berserker, don´t worry, a lot of traders here did these mistakes (me too and I´m still doing mistakes), it´s okay to make mistakes, that´s part of learning, important is to identify what was wrong, so you won´t make them again. When I started on demo I did exactly the same thing as you did and lost more than 10% of my account (I lost a lot on continuation bars and trading PA in heavy traffic). 4H timeframe is tricky (especially when you´re new to this material) because you will find here much more signals than on daily (especially outside...
The annoying thing is that all of the mistakes I made I have read about numerous times, but they are made almost without me being aware of them. This stems, I think, from second-guessing myself. Should I be trading more pairs? Am I missing out on signals on other time frames? Am I being too conservative? Is that a pinbar? Is it in the right place? ( your comment about trading in traffic - I hear ya! ), etc etc.
These things can only be resolved through experience I guess! So, onward and upward. I think I will stick to my 12 pairs for this month and see what happens - I see your reasoning for more pairs being valid but want to set a baseline for myself before I start experimenting with more pairs again. And will keep away from 4H for now.
Cheers, Steve
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit
- #129,749
- Feb 3, 2014 7:56am Feb 3, 2014 7:56am
{quote}Not sure I fully get what you mean... Go visit http://www.james16group.us/Guests/guestmaterial.html and take the time to watch Mike's video. There is one about cherry-picking the pinbar which is worth a lot of pips. Can't remember which one though so you'll have to watch them all
Have watched a few of those videos and plan to catch up with the rest over next week or so. It's all good stuff, cheers
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit
- #129,750
- Edited 9:02am Feb 3, 2014 8:48am | Edited 9:02am
- Joined Jan 2008 | Status: <<--(-$-)-->> | 5,571 Posts
{quote} Thanks for the encourgement
Trust me, you don't have to fret about reading something and not following it. We've all been there, and we've all done that. I did for YEARS.
Its ok to be making mistakes given that you're willing to learn from them and move on, which I see you're willing to do.
Also, being picky has nothing to do with restricting the numbers of pairs you're watching. We always recommend to watch as many pairs (and heck different markets) as you want, but as has been highlighted in post 1, start with the higher time frames. As you've already experienced its easier and more soothing to the new eye. We can always save the more advanced, adrenaline pumping action for later eh?
g.
I believe . . .
- #129,751
- Feb 3, 2014 9:00am Feb 3, 2014 9:00am
- Joined Jan 2008 | Status: <<--(-$-)-->> | 5,571 Posts
{image}
I can see how you've employed the fake out story here, but you've got to be very careful with that bar close. It needs to be comfortably above the LLS/LCS. Furthermore, in situations where instead of a single bar low/high creating the swing point, you've got a cluster of smaller swing lows creating a bigger support "zone" I always prefer a decent close above the entire zone as opposed to just the LLS. The reason obviously being, that you're straight into traffic unless you wait for the entire area to get cleared.
g.
I believe . . .
- #129,752
- Feb 3, 2014 9:13am Feb 3, 2014 9:13am
{quote} Thanks for the encourgement
I've just lost 3%+ of my account because I miscaculated my exposure: took 2 positions of 10% instead of 2 x 1%.
Ouch.
Could have been worst: I realized that early in the trade...
Oh, and I just noticed your name is NOT BeerSeeker
Slow & steady
- #129,754
- Feb 3, 2014 10:25am Feb 3, 2014 10:25am
{quote} How we all wish reading alone could gift a trader the right mindset, but actually trial and error is the only way to get better. That's why it takes time to master this business. Trust me, you don't have to fret about reading something and not following it. We've all been there, and we've all done that. I did for YEARS. Its ok to be making mistakes given that you're willing to learn from them and move on, which I see you're willing to do.
As for adrenaline pumping action - I think it was mbqb11 who said sometime back in the early days of this thread that good trading was boring trading, so I'll put away my lower time frames for now
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit
- #129,755
- Feb 3, 2014 10:29am Feb 3, 2014 10:29am
{quote} yep, we all make mistakes... I've just lost 3%+ of my account because I miscaculated my exposure: took 2 positions of 10% instead of 2 x 1%. Ouch. Could have been worst: I realized that early in the trade... Oh, and I just noticed your name is NOT BeerSeeker
'BeerSeeker', ha ha, not a bad name - and one which I could imagine becoming more appropriate the smaller my account gets
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit
- #129,756
- Feb 3, 2014 10:35am Feb 3, 2014 10:35am
Just opened up the charts and was scanning the dailys and 4H's and noticed this. The cable currently has a pin that's at an extreme low and shows confluence with the 365 EMA ( light blue ). I got in on a retracement of the pin and am looking to take profit at the first trouble area which looks like a PPZ ( note the blue box and arrows ). Please share your thoughts as this is my first month demo'ing. Thanks gf {image}
I'm in my first few months of demoing, and as you can see in my previous posts, I've been burnt dipping down to 4H after doing well on Dailies. I like the look of cable hitting that weekly pivot ( i have the same one marked ), but given the consolidated advice I've recently received here, I'd like to wait to see a nice pin forming on the daily
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit
- #129,760
- Feb 3, 2014 12:13pm Feb 3, 2014 12:13pm
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Demo I treat as much as possbile as a live. Last few adjustments I wanna test before going live.I wasnt aiming at such ''adjustments'' though
{quote} Was that on a live account? I did the same in my demo back in December by putting on £10/pip instead of £1/pip by mistake. Big loss!! 'BeerSeeker', ha ha, not a bad name - and one which I could imagine becoming more appropriate the smaller my account gets <img src="http://assets.forexfactory.net/images/smilies/yim/big_grin.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Big Grin" smilieid="79" class="inlineimg" />
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Demo I treat as much as possbile as a live. Last few adjustments I wanna test before going live.I wasnt aiming at such ''adjustments'' though
Slow & steady