Trade and Price Action Journal

In order to become a more consistent and profitable trader I am starting this trading and market structure journal. I intend to post all of my trades both winners and losers and my rationale for taking the trades. In the market structure section of the journal I will look through the days price action and look for the best trades of the day and how similar trades can be anticipated in the future. I hope to develop a library of price action that I will be able to refer to in the future and to identify holes in my analysis and areas I need to work on in my trading.

I have been trading demo for about a year and have began to achieve breakeven results. In order to develop my trading skills further I need a routine that will promote my development and keep me accountable which is what I am aiming for with this thread. I find that posting my trades publicly makes me a better trader since I will have to justify taking the trades. I have opened a small live account and trade explorer that will allow everyone to see my results.

My Trading System:

1. Entry; Price action patterns based on Bob Volman's Books
2. Exit; Volman suggests a fixed bracket 10 pip or less stop and 10 pip take profit. I am still experimenting with my stops and need to find out what works for me.
3. Pairs Traded; EUR/USD, GBP/USD
4. Trading hours; London Open
5. Chart Timeframe; 70 Tick
6. 1% Trade size

Resources:

Understanding Price Action and Forex Price Action Scalping by Bob Volman- I like the ideas presented in his setups and most of my trading will be based on his ideas. I have read both of his books multiple times and nearly every page in my books has something underlined. Both books are highly recommended FPAS is probably the one to purchase first though as it gives a system that is a little easier to implement.

Lance Beggs blog; I first heard of Lance Beggs on the Chat With Traders podcast and he was the original inspiration for this journal. He has a lot of good journalling and overall trading articles on his blog. He sells an ebook that I am interested in but have not yet bought but I hope to in the future. Lance seems to have a lot in common with Bob Volman who both trade price action on small timeframes.

Mr. Pip Ratios and Harmonics thread; Mr. Pip has shared tons of great information on this thread the main things that I got from it was the market structure, momentum and projection ideas.

BRV No-Brainer Trades Thread; a great supply and demand resource that has helped me to better understand market dynamics.

I am sure this thread will evolve as time goes on, as will my trading. I still have a lot to learn about trading and that is why I am starting this journal. Like many traders I have struggled with trading a system consistently enough to become proficient, I am hoping that posting my trades publicly will make me more accountable to my system and more consistent as a trader.

6/10 Price Action Review EUR/USD

Trade 1 EUR/USD +5 Pips

Trade 2 GBP/USD +23 pips
Trade 3 GBP/USD -1 Pip
Trade 4 GBP/USD -7 Pips
Trade 5 EUR/USD -4 Pips
Trade 6 EUR/USD -7 Pips

Total 28-19= +9 for day

Price Action Review

The areas I pointed out in the chart aren't necessarily all entry points but more formations that help to get a better idea of trading pressures and where the market is likely to go. Sure this is easy to do in hindsight, but by studying price movements in the past we obtain a better understanding of how to forecast market movements going forward.

2 short trades on GBP/USD today got one decent entry that went for 7 pips and one loser that i shouldnt have taken that lost 6 pips.

1 EUR/USD Entered prematurely on potential range break setup. Ended up stopping out -4 pips for a total of -3 for the day.

Highly volatile price action didn't produce many tradable setups today.

No trades taken today. Low volatility in London session didn't set up many good trades.

3 trades today on EUR/USD. -7 pips, -2 pips and +37 pips. Ill take it! Probably could have done better but I'm not able to trade after 6:30. I'm happy with the day though, I'm sure there are some others that did much better as the setups were there. Its interesting on a day like today to see where others got it wrong thinking that price would reverse and instead their exits had the opposite effect on the market. Had one bad trade right out of the gate as you can see on the EUR/USD chart.

Well that's how you blow up a decent week. Im basically back where I started this week, I made 5 trades this morning all went for losses. Ended up the day -35 pips. Ouch!

It definitely isn't fun to go back and review how and why you screwed up particularly on a day like today. I was just reading the market wrong all morning. I became the trapped trader that I am looking to exploit. That's part of the learning experience though and ultimately what I am aiming for in this process. I will do a more in depth review this weekend of my trades for the week. Until then here are some embarrassing charts for your viewing pleasure.

Subsribed! I feel exactly the same way(the importance of accountability), just didn't forced myself to start a journal yet.

I've read Lance beggs YTC price action course and it is indeed great material. Looking for bob volman material for the last few days, he seems a good compliment to this style of trading.

The thing is, Lance does a great job at explaining the metagame, making you think about why you are doing what you're doing, and always stressing how important it is to review and write your trades, your methods and thoughts about the market, but the setups he offers are not much of my style, and that's why I've been searching for a complement in this area.

Maybe your thread is exactly what I needed as a motivation to start mine. Good luck buddy.

Thanks for posting Trein, I appreciate the enthusiasm! I definitely think it is helpful to journal your trades, especially in a public format like this. There is nowhere to hide from your mistakes! I look forward to hearing more from you. Feel free to post here whatever you like and constructive criticism is always welcome.

6.17.16 Price Action Review

June 13-17 Trade Review

Overall i'm not very happy with my trading this week. I had a few trades that worked out great when I did what I was supposed to do. 3 common themes that I saw this week are premature entries anticipating a break, getting too involved in micro-movements, and trading against dominance.

Premature anticipatory entries and getting too involved in micro-movements can be seen in the GBP trades 5 & 6 on the 13th. I need to look at the range like a person who is in position. At what point in time would I exit. Is there a clear level to use as a signal line? Are there multiple levels that could be looked at by other traders as reasons to hold on? Always anticipate a break to fail until there is no question as to the outcome. Look for double pressure exit/buying.

Trading against dominance is clear on all of the 17th trades and the second GBP trade on the 14th. The first thing to keep aware of is current market pressure. Is the market making higher highs/ lows testing previous highs on its way up. While the 14th GBP trade was in line with pressure something had definitely changed in the market pressure. Is price losing/ gaining momentum? Trading into slowing momentum can be seen on GBP trades 2, 3 and 4. While lower lows were forming the bears were clearly losing strength.

My best trades of the week were GBP trades 2 and 3 on the 13th, and the 1st GBP trade on the 14th. What they all had in common were they were with dominance, and either at a break of buildup or a technical test of a previous level.

Trades Missed this week: GBP/USD 5:50 Block Break with trend on the 13th. GBP/USD Hour long range break on the 14th could have been played as an IRB. GBP/USD 430 Squeeze break out of range. 430 6/15 GBP block break. 530 6/17 GBP squeeze break and second break.

What I learned This Week: Always stay aware of dominance and momentum higher highs and lows or lower highs and lows as well as 20 ema. Technical tests are undeniable and everyone can see them no matter what indicators they have. Resistance at a technical test is significant. Dont get too caught up in every fight within a candle. Watching the candles tick up and down and trying to forecast the outcome can lead to overtrading. A market is most likely to range at the end of a trend. Wait for the range to be broken or a clear squeeze before trading countertrend. Trade with dominance! Best odds trade come from either buildup or technical tests.

-36 pips today. Not using signal lines like I need to be. What I mean is a line across a level of resistance that signals a level has been broken. More anticipatory entries today, If I was using my signal lines like I needed to I could have avoided some losers. When watching a level where a break seems imminent it is easy to just go ahead and enter instead of drawing a signal line and waiting for it to break. The Signal line break is imperative.

6.20.16 par

Trades:
Had one good trade +21
2 mediocre trades -12. Although they were losers I feel the entries were sound the second probably more so than the first.
1 bad trade. Tried the forecast the market going lower against trend after failure. Broke my rules that's why I say it was a bad trade.

Three rules I have come up with to keep myself out of trouble;

1. Trade with Dominance
2. At a buildup or technical test
3. Unambiguous Signal Line

The entry on the third trade was sound, break of unambiguous signal line at a technical test of previous highs but it was against dominance as shown by the red trend line.

6.21.16 par

-18 pips today in 3 trades. I'm obviously entering on less than high odds setups. Market had a lot less volatility today in anticipation of Brexit vote tomorrow. It is interesting to see how much less volume there was today. I had no problem fitting all of today's chart on one screenshot. Most days I have to leave the last few hours off due to the number of bars on the chart.

Although my results haven't been that great this week I feel like I am improving everyday. I also feel like this week was not typical due to Brexit vote. No excuses because price was certainly tradable. I just need to be more cautious with my entries and not be scared of missing out on a big move.

Another thing I have been working on is identifying market dominance with market structure. As Bob Volman says entry setups are simply opportunities to enter the market in the direction of dominance. While it may seem straightforward determining the direction of dominance it is quite ambiguous as the chart is printing. Damian Castilla (Mr. Pip on FF) has some great videos on Youtube on the subject of market structure and order flow.

Weekly Review June 20-24

I didn't make any trades Thursday or Friday due to Brexit and wasn't really feeling very confident with my trading after 3 losing days.

My main takeaway this week was to not force trades. Looking back at the trades that I took the main issue that I am seeing is that I am entering in ranging markets under ambiguous dominance. Having a fixed set of a few hours to take trades leads me to be too aggressive with my entries. Not an excuse just an observation. I cant be afraid to miss trades. If the signal is unclear I cant take the trade. I have to wait for clarity, if a signal shows up under unclear conditions it is not a high odds trade.

PAR 6/27/16

I didn't take any trades this morning, just wasn't feeling super confident after a bad week last week.