One day

Thank you, leebsurag, you are very encouraging.

Hi,

This week has been split into half. First half was very good, the later, not so much on account of me dragging along SL and letting it hit which I shouldn't have, especially on this small account. I'm learning to let go bu this is hard.
Towards the end of the week, my basket had hit two full SLs which should have fully paid for if I was there to re-launch the basket after it had hit BE before diving down but my grandfather had passed away and I was no where near my screen and quite frankly, I would have more than happy to lose a thousand times over the amount I lost just to have him back, Alzheimer and all. It has been hard but a new week is upon us and as my grandfather, who was the fastest walker I have ever know, even at his age, used to say "There are great things to be done, come, let us go and take our place in life", which is a poor translation but words I carry with me since youth so now, a new week, same life, more great things to be done.

So I continue on.
Let's kick some pips' ass.

N! How is this for kicking some pips' ass?

My condolences to you and you family, N. I like that spirit your grandfather had. An optimist and believer! That's my type of guy.

Come now, N, let's do something great.

Looks like someone's been shoveling up the pips! YeY!!!!!!!

But what's that with the red thingymabob?! Tsk, Tsk, Tsk.

Well, I got up this morning and snoozed the alarmed only 5 times, didn't growl at anyone at the office and managed to swallow only a decent amount of water while swimming at the pool this morning, I was also very quiet and didn't wake the lifeguard who was snoring gently on a chair by the pool.
If that ain't Grand I don't know what is


And thanks. He was one of a kind, they don't make 'em like that anymore.

That red thingamabob is now 241 pips green thingamajig. Red bull gives you wings!

Grand indeed, but what is still more grand is that hammock and those fluorescent drinks. Come! Back to trading.

Really? I always thought it gives you this numbing yucky taste in your mouth.
Green! Green! We love the Grinch!

We're working on it! A fluorescent hammock..... oh, man.

300 pips TP coming up and then 1.27500 buy limit just below, no confluence, just quarter number and pivot. Watch this space.

Canceling buy limit. Was 10 pips too low. Sigh.

It has been a while since I've updated here.
I have been contemplating lately about my road in Forex so far and where I would like it to lead me to.
I have fed my MiniMe account several times, starved it to margin call several times and one time I was able to take 150$ and turn them into a staggering 2800$.
Yey Me.
But the same flaws had surfaces and I was sure I was tending to them slowly but all this time, I was actually imprinting myself over and over with bad habits, faulty routines and sweet tells of nothing.

When I first started trading, I took a course trading stocks, it was very basic and I have learned a lot from it, when that year had ended, I made 2200$ out of my initial 1000$ and it would have been more if I had not signed up to their signaling services, I wasn't kidding myself I was better, but I did make more money on my own yet I was losing money over those signals and I didn't know why.
I mean, they were showing great results while I was losing on their signals.
Took me several years in Forex to understand that you can win even if your pips count is negative but that's for later, back then I was banging my head trying to figure out how to better myself, started reading, tried several strategies, thought I was developing my own and all that time after that initial year, I was slowly but surely, losing my path.
I wondered off to Forex because someone had told me I could use a robot to trade for me and make money out of it and since I was laboring under the yoke of my day job I was amazed and was quickly captivated by it.
As you've guessed it, I lost a lot of hard earned money that first year in forex, fell under the wheels of a truck full of scheming traders whom, I am ashamed to say, had me for a fool to play with, I was lost, brokers were offering me bonuses I wasn't aware were actually baits, removing the bonuses from the equity in crucial times just to clean my trading account of my hard earned money.
I was angry at myself, annoyed and after watching a 1000$ trade go up in flames in a matter of minutes ("put some money in Oil" advised my new broker's marketing lady and I did) I took off on my own, not listening to anyone.
It was hard and lonely and it still is as I have no friends whom are trading Forex or any other instrument and I can't share my frustrations and joys and the path I have walked and still walking.
But I did discover this community and learned a lot from it and as someone here once told me, trading Forex, it's all about the story you tell yourself about that trade and me? I was maintaining two blogs at one time (in my native tongue, not sure I would have fared well in English), I was good at telling stories but the stories I told myself were Sci-Fi and Fantasy instead of documentaries as it turned out and most of them, as you've probably guessed, turned into horror stories.

So I tried again, and again, and again, I've discovered Renko and Basket trading and for the life of me I still can't calculate a pip's value nor the risk out of a given SL but Forex became fun.
I'm losing like hell but each and every time, it takes longer for me to clean out my account and I find myself afloat for longer periods of time.
I can read charts better, understand strategies better but still, when shit hits the fan, I'm there to catch it all and it took me a long time to understand that while I was always beating myself up for my Greed it wasn't about that at all. A few days ago, can't remember in which thread I've picked it up, someone said that those with small accounts try hard to make them grow fast and then it clicked.
It's not greed, it's a plan. A way for me to nurture my account. And I forgave myself all thoe Take Profits I let turn into Stop Losses and all those Stop Losses I have changed hoping for a change of direction.

And so, I've set off again in search of a different method to trade but all the while I was feeling that something was missing, I actually took a basket trade when I was sure it was going to lose because "Hey, everybody's doing it" and people were showing good results so I followed.
I wasn't supposed to follow. I was supposed to stand on my own two feet and make my own mistakes and I've let my account burn and while I will try out different strategies, maybe even develop one or two of my own and maybe lose my account again I would like to think that those 220$ (started as 150$) were burning bright to shine some sense into me and that I will, eventually, learn to be disciplined enough and knowledgeable enough to find my way into (a consistent) profit.

Leading a life means exactly that. Being a Leader, learning, improving and better oneself every day.

Time to Lead and Learn, take gazillion and one.

XAUEUR, M15

It's a new instrument for me and I'm curious about it.
In this template, I'm testing out the Synergy Pro APB with TDI along with two channels (I love channel trading, it's a hell of a ride, both ways).
Going through all of the time frames, in each and everyone, there are short term trades opportunities but those channels either collide or beginning to, that and given the range/box the price was into, for the first time in my entire trading life, I was aiming for a few pips out of the fake breakout.
Of course, price spiked and the market order was filled way higher than I intended, I've placed two pending trades (limit and stop) and since each trade I'm opening is actually made of two trades, I was able to pick up even more pips then intended on the way up.
And look at that head dive! I was so happy I was able to get out in time but more than that, I was pleased with my trade story.

AUDUSD, H1

I was actually picking out pairs out of the CCFP weekly FF indicator suggestions, I picked this one as it was offering the best opportunity.
I've managed this one while I was attending a family dinner so SL wasn't moved in time as I forgot my broker is still in GMT+3 while we're already at GMT+2 after DST was over last week.

First TDI cross was at the left red vertical line, I wasn't comfortable with it so I waited, second vertical line was where I wanted to place my trade but my niece was showing me the drawing of a mouse she had made for me so the hell with trading, there are important things then pips, so entry was a bit late but still good enough to take two small profits and manage the other two trades that I left to run.

[EDIT]
SL was moved and both trades are now at combined BE+5

My status so far

This. Is. Tempting.

I'll wait till tomorrow, though, start of the week and all.

I'm not pleased with myself regarding my trades yesterday.
There's no point in uploading screen shots here as I was tempted to check and trade the M5 charts while I was at work and was trading using my phone, which was connected to my PC at home. Tiny screen, meetings and a heck load of problems at work had led to rushed decisions and eventually to loss, it didn't help that I had lost connectivity and by the time I got home to fix it, I was tired and frustrated and didn't care much anymore, I'm still holding on to several positions, I'll see how today goes in the markets and decide if to close them or try and salvage any of them.

I hope today will fare better, I shouldn't go below H1 when I'm at work, it's too fast for me and while I have learned this lesson I seem to be needing a new wake up call.

So, after a hectic couple of weeks in which I was working like crazy and wasn't allowed much time with my charts I've lost about two thirds of my capital.
I would have liked to say that most of it is not my fault as I'm mostly trading using my cellular which is connected to my PC at home (best scenario I could think of as we are not allowed to RDP into outside machines at work so a VPS is out of the question) and when I lack the time to manage my trades they go berserk, I can't say that.
I'm responsible even if I don't sit glued to my screen all the time and if I don't have the time, I shouldn't be trading.
That lack of time also led to me jumping on each new signal arriving from a certain strategy I was using and let me tell you this.
It didn't fare well.
At all.
I also noticed I'm either setting my SL too high or moving it a lot and it got me to thinking that this might not be a good practice. I mean, SL is, in effect, how much I believe in the trade and if I'm moving it it means that I'm grasping for straw as price had moved against my trade and I should get out as fast as I can, not linger on and suffer even greater losses.

So, all of that and a bit more, had led me to think that something needs to change so I went back to the basics and removed most of the indicators and went back to my very much loved Renko charts.

I don't say this is going to change everything but I need to look at PA and not just colors, I hope it was the right move to set me, again, on my path to become a profitable trader.