AUDUSD journal

Goal

End of May balance: 63$ with 0.01lot
End of June balance: 123$ with 0.01lot
End of July balance: 423$ with 0.05lot
End of Aug balance: 1023$ with 0.1lot
End of Sep balance: 2223$ with 0.2lot
End of Oct balance: 4023$ with 0.3lot
End of Nov balance: 6423$ with 0.4lot
End of Dec balance: 9423$ with 0.5lot

There might be change of plans along the way. Life never goes according to your plan c'est la vie. But I'll try to make it work. For now I'm pretty sure I'll stick with May and June's plan. We'll make amends as we go. If I get a good feel I might even increase the lot size with the duration of a week or two instead of a whole month. But what I'm trying to do here is to play safe and still aggressive if that makes any sense. If I bet the whole house with bigger lot few trades could wipe up my acc that's what I'm most wary of. But even if I go with this rather "safer" option by the end of this year there's a possibility that I might turn 51$ acc to 9K !! that's a whopping 176 times the initial investment. And if anyone can keep trading at this rate in another year 9K could be 1.530.000$ in 7 months provided that you increase the lot size every month and in another year if one can increase the acc by 10x rather than the initial crazy 176 after 2 years you'll be sitting with 15million. I'm getting ahead of myself here. But it doesn't hurt to dream a little is it ? Its not that I need that much to be content with life, but it'd definitely allow me to pursue my main passion in life. Well I can still pursue my passion with 4K a month income or a LOT less. But this simple example just goes to show the potential of trading, sky's the limit. There's no other profession or business that you could turn 51$ to 15million in 2 years. But learning to trade takes A LOT OF TIME and dedication. So I guess you the better wording would be if you keep it going, your efforts will be paid off one day, and you might be glad that you kept it going.

You know what I'm going to keep this plan, I might not be able to hit the target month after month but I'll try my best. I need this kind of challenge, a goal to pursue as trading from home can be lonely and sometimes boring and one can lose the motivation easily (especially me). So this challenge will keep me on track.

So DAX played well within the range yesterday. Well behaved ! I have attached 2 charts the first 1h the last 1min. I'm experimenting with combination of 1m and 1h charts for DAX as entering on 1h is very impractical because you might end up missing the more than half of the move with really wide SL.

I'm making an exception for DAX only to trade 1m charts in combination with 1h and 4h should suffice for day trading. And everybody seems to be on 1m chart with DAX anyways. Attached files are to exhibit the possibility of combining 1m and 1h charts. I don't want to look at anything in between as it can be very distracting at least for me. Down the road I might use 30min or 15min oh well we'll see how that goes.

Last note, the thing with DAX is that since everyone seems to be trading 1m (or it could be a whole another reason) 1m chart of DAX is very clean unlike pairs like EURCAD, GBPCAD, EURNZD and GBPNZD if you traded them on 1m you'll have some major breakdown unless you're very experienced with trading these specifically. There's so much noise and random moves in between that unless you're well guarded, experienced and keeping a firm eye on the bigger charts you're going lose yourself real fast with those. It's just really tiring to trade them on 1m.

Now onto my watchlist

1. EURAUD short
2. EURUSD long

EURNZD, EURCAD might head further down but for now it remains uncertain. USDJPY also might be heading down, but I"m following my rule if there's a setup on EUR crosses they're given the priority unless there's no setup on EUR crosses which can be rare I consider pairs like UJ

Hmmm EURUSD is falling I was expecting 1.12 to hold we'll see don't rush into anything just yet especially EURUSD they usually start moving around 12:ooUTC not 8:00UTC.

AUDUSD might break lower 1h 200EMA, not a good sign for EURAUD short.
AUDNZD also headed down down 1h but will it found support at previous low.

EURUSD might be in business for short.

EURUSD

Following chart is a 4h chart of GBPCAD, I'm just in awe of the distance it travelled up from 18th April to 5th May within 19 days it went up 1116pips ! That's something to note of. All the while I was trying to capture 2-3pips on 1m charts. Maybe trading 1m charts isn't for me, chart is a chart regardless of the TF I am well aware of that but the duration at which the price travels on each TF is different and that can be suitable to some and not so suitable to others.

When I'm glued to 1m charts I have a tendency to lose sight of the big picture, everything that's happening on bigger charts dissolve into a background and focus solely on the tick chart, this is why I've lost 80% of my account. Trading 1h charts has been great thus far I've made a decent profit something I have failed for a year and a half. Yes you heard it right I wasn't making 15$ for a full year and a half. Even if I did I would lose it all back, and more.

If I were to trade these with 0.01 lot my SL wouldn't hurt my current balance that much provided that I have win to loss ratio of 80/20. I'm going to give this a serious thought and will be back later.

Watchlist

I'm going to drop GBPCAD its not time for long entry just yet. Its barely holding onto 4h 200EMA we need more confirmation.

For now I'll keeping an eye on EURNZD long and EURAUD long both entries will be attempted on 4h charts. I'm torn in between these two I don't know which one I prefer ,GA has formed bullish upside down square (is it called pendant or something?) excuse my lack of professionalism I don't care to memorise the terms all I know is that this is bullish pattern, I've seen it form over and over again across every TF. But there's no guarantee of course that's the catch.

On the other hand EURNZD long is on 100SMA now compared to GA EUR is doing a lot better and is stronger GA is below the 100SMA. But we're entering on 4h a lot will change in a few days EUR might lose its steam with diversion still going strong on EURGBP that might push pound up in a few days. That's the beauty of trading isn't it ? nothing is certain and nothing stays the same forever ,much like life.

First things first I'll wait for the candle to complete, a little less than an hour to go.

22 May - 26 May

Total trades = 12
Losers = 4 35pips
Winners = 8 150pips

Net + pips = 115

Damn those two EURUSD long attempts
Don't open EURUSD positions until at least 13:00UTC an hour before Frankfurt open.

This week in % = +18.87%

Now that's a lot of improvement (in my book) considering how messed up my stats were.

I'm calling it a day now.

Something really strange happened today.

I opened a position prior London open on GBPNZD it came in nice 35pips an hour into London before taking off to the opposite direction. I locked in that TF right before it departed from +35pips. But since I was trading with 0.01 35pips only totalled up to 2.40$ around there, you get the picture. I'm not being greedy or anything but I just wanted to look down to 1m charts , EURAUD USDJPY GBPJPY and DAX. And out of nowhere something just clicked, I don't even know how to describe what I felt in that moment. I kept looking and looking through them from 6:ooGMT to an hour after London. It's all about "the levels"!! a voice shouted in my head. Sure I'd like some MAs and divergence for structure and extra bits. But levels ! I have been trading the levels on 1h !! and I applied exact same logic and intuition to 1min charts of EURAUD GBPAUD USDJPY GBPJPY and DAX, and I could finally see it all come together. Why price moved from one direction to the other. Slowly I opened up 5min 10m 30min and 1h charts and I said to myself yeah it makes sense. Maybe all this time I'd been doing the multi time frame analysis the wrong way or maybe it just takes A LOT of time get a feel for this. I'm with the latter, 4 more months and it'll be 2 years of full time trading with 0 profit and 4 years with my part time experience. If you're persistent things do actually fall into place, it just takes some time.

I'm out of words, I don't know if this enlightenment would last because I've been disappointed before too many times. But it feels different. And yes I still want to trade DAX during european sessions.

I vowed not to trade 1m charts, but I just got to test this to really make sure, is this it ?? I did open USDJPY trade on demo on 1m it turned out well. From tomorrow I will trade from 6:00GMT to 10:00GMT , and yes I will trade the minute charts.

I also had GBPNZD short opened 10minutes ago on 1m on my demo just closed it for 3.85$ 0.05lots and thats within 10minutes !

Did I actually make 8$ today on 1minute chart ?

If I traded between 6:00GMT - 10:00GMT it would have been so much more. But I still can't get over the fact that I did make money on minute chart ? I've been losing and losing for almost 2 years on 1minute charts. How is this possible ?

How is it all of a sudden I see no difference between 1min and 1h charts ?

It's insane.

And I didn't feel nervous or any temptation to close trades earlier than they should or open trades before it materialised. For the first time I'm this calm on 1minute charts. I didn't feel anything, I just clicked the freaking buy and sell without feeling any emotion.

Following charts are of

1. AUDUSD
2. GBPAUD
3. GBPNZD
4. GBPJPY

I traded 1h chart for GBPNZD yesterday. USDJPY, GBPJPY and GBPNZD I have traded 0.05lot and 1minute charts on my demo all of them worked out in profits. Yesterday I said I was going to trade the minute charts from 6:00GMT to 10:00GMT. This morning I opened up the above charts, all of them are 1h. And do you see what I mean by levels. I didn't do note on the charts as I was lazy. But I'm sitting here thinking, again levels ! levels ! and levels !

Look they beautifully sailed through those levels ! AUDUSD long double bottom 12:00UTC, GBPAUD long wick rejection candles at 100SMA , GBPJPY rejection candles above 1h 20EMA and GBPNZD short would have hit my target but my SL was a little too tight on this one. But like I said I took profit before it reversed on 1m.

GBPAUD short look at those beautiful rejection candles last candle being around 9:00AM US session and there it went 100pips, hassle free set and forget kind of trades on 1h if you of course how what to look for, and how to trade. Trading is getting a bit boring now. I guess its a good thing. I could skill trade the 1m charts for some real action during London but for now I think I want to stick with 1h charts. I know 1h and 1m charts are of no difference. But I like to capture those 100pips while I sleep. Wouldn't it be nice to wake up with 100$ ?

Trading 1min charts yesterday has been a great experience, something just clicked you know I was saying I had the tendency to take profits too early or get into trade before it materialised well from today and onwards I don't think I'll close my trades before it hit my TP. I'll stick with my plan, I have no fear because I know more often than not if I got in the right time in the right direction my TP will be hit unless of course there is some high impact market moving release occurs.

So here goes my watchlist :

1. AUDUSD
2. EURNZD
3. GBPJPY
4. EURGBP
5. EURUSD

I'm going check back in an hour. For now I don't see any tradable setup on 1h. But as we get closer to 12:00UTC 5:00GMT we'll probably see some action.

So I messed up on EURAUD short -4$ with 0.05lot

My plan continue trading 0.01lot at least for a week or so.

And today was month end, surge of unwanted volatility. No setups as of yet and I mean on 1h sure they're many traceable setups if you go down to 1m but I'm sticking with 1h charts.

I'm going out for a while so I don't know if I'll trade now.

Maybe when I come back if I see a traceable setup.

Took this short on EURUSD on 1m chart

I was bearish on EURUSD waiting for a setup on 1h. 6:00GMT came EURUSD rose sharply continuing 15minutes or so and then this fall. I'm practicing on my live account now. I've said that I would trade 1m or wouldn't well the thing I think I should find a way to trade them both as I'm becoming comfortable with both.

Trading 1minute charts from 6:00GMT-9:00GMT can be really lucrative. So if I can make money why not trade them ?

I currently have EURUSD short entered on 1h again. I'm going to keep my TF and SL this time I promise. I haven't been sticking with my TF and SL both on 1m and 1h.

And here is DAX.

As always I'm always mesmerised by the clean moves.

When the time comes I'll transition to DAX. But I also wouldn't give up 1h setups on FX pairs. They're also too good to just dump.

So my EURUSD short position hit SL. Although it was month end I think it was partly my fault.

I didn't analyse the 4h charts and EUR crosses before I went short.

EURAUD 4h it found multiple support @ 1.4949 was trading in a range on 4h, EURCAD 1h was headed up found support on 4h 100SMA. Despite all of this I still tried to short EURAUD and went short with EURUSD.

I really can't blame the markets or the month end fixings for this, it was purely my fault.

I'll be back tomorrow.

I will enter on 1h charts but will do my homework on 4h,12h and daily if necessary

I like your journal...very good idea to air your thoughts in this way, as it helps cement the good things you do, and clarifies the mistakes. Keep it up and best of luck to you

Thanks buddy for stopping by !
Its really messed up, as my thoughts and journey so far. But its getting better and I'm working harder.

I'm trading GJ 1minute around London open, I don't know exactly what happened but I think I'm finally getting it down, the minute charts I don't struggle as much on the direction as I did a year ago or just a month ago. I however do suck at sticking with those trades mostly because I'm not used to trading this way with confidence. If I see consistent result my discipline will improve a lot, I imagine.

So last week I managed to f*%ck things up again.

I had a plan that I would reach 63$ by the end of the week but my account has fallen since to 48$. But on friday I scalped GJ 1minute chart and EURAUD 1h short but as always I managed to close them before it reached my SL. I also attempted EURUSD long but NFP was up during US session and my fear got the better of me and I closed the trade (again).

I'm attaching EURAUD 1h, 4h charts but I did take EURUSD long that day but since EUR crosses move in tandem with EURUSD (most of the time) it shouldn't really matter. As you can see from EURAUD 4h chart, I was selling into a big support on 4h 100SMA , what was I even thinking ? 5:00GMT big green candle closed at the range support on 4h just below 4h 20ema. If I waited just an hour 6:00GMT and see that candle finding support on 1h after 200EMA rejection it was obvious that price was now headed up. This is just one of the reasons why I should NEVER neglect 4h charts 12h and daily if necessary.

Although I failed to reach my goal for the week, I still feel good about how I turned things around despite these setbacks. Yes my account currently stands at 48$ if I don't trade with strict MM I would blow this acc in no time. But I think I've reached a rock bottom it was in the 30$ before I started trading 1h charts. So from here there's only going up and up.

My plan for next week ?

Well I want to first take 48$ to 100$, I shouldn't be too ambitious given my current condition. I'm just going to take it slow, step by step. I will trade GJ 1minute charts with 0.05lot around London open through an hour after US open. I might trade GJ around Asian sessions as I do notice GJ moving 30pips on most days from 7:50-8:10AM UTC+8 so there're pips to be made regardless of the session. But there're times that they're more active if I'm going to trade Asian session I'll be aiming for early mornings but I haven't decided just yet. For now I may be better off with London and US opens. Once I really master those sessions I might want to look into Asian opens. Another thing with adding Asia I might end up sitting by the computer all day, which is not healthy for the body and mind.

As for 1h entries, I will still be trading them but with 0.01lot until my balance reach 1000$. If I'm careful enough with my analysis and observation 1h entries can be done with 80% accuracy with 1:2 or 1:3 risk to reward ratio and you can make money while you sleep or while you go out for a jog or over lunch. You don't need to check the charts constantly, set your SL and TP and you're good to go. EUR and GBP crosses move 100pips sometimes even more overnight or from 5:00GMT until US open. So there're a lot to be made from 1h charts. And its less hectic than trading 1m charts. But you know what as I get more and more familiar with 1minute charts I find that its no different to 1h charts only difference is that like I said price travels at different speed.

EURUSD long Friday

NFP was due in 4hours, I went long on the green candle above 1h 20ema, but I got out an hour into London session.

If I held it through the NFP it would have hit my TF. I think I"m being too cautious around these kind of releases. While I was trading GJ on 1minute on thursday where high impact was due in an hour it really didn't make that much of a difference, even on 1m.

Sure by now I have learnt that anything thats got to do with central bank statements or aussie employment rate or retail sales can shake things up big time that being overly cautious around these kind of events can save your account. I'm having second thoughts about being this cautious around every freaking high impact releases.

Slowly I'm coming to a conclusion " what's on the calendar shouldn't dictate my trading decisions ". It's good to know whats up, sometimes traders won't move the price to a certain level because there's a big announcement coming in few hours, but you see that on the charts where price is almost standstill. That's a sign you should stay out, but if there is activity and levels that are respected I don't see why I should be overly cautious with these high impact announcements. Like I said if I'm lucky my TF will hit on 1h with RR of 1:2 if I'm wrong my SL would save me from the fall.