SpecTrade

short EUR stop moved @1.2836 and half @ BE CAD long 1st trade stops @1.0154, 2nd trade stops unchanged

long entry order triggered

I checked the dates of my orders: EUR 2011.12.29 filled on 30th Gold 2011.12.30 filled on same day CAD 2012.01.04 filled same day

Another long order @ 1.0132. SL staggered @1.0135/1.0080 (Total SL 125pips). Lower Bollinger Band support (which is also J.Harts' 18-day floating support). Yearly Mean support & 100ema. That's the setup. In each of my setups I want to see at least 2 things converge, so for a long position I'm looking for 2 kinds of support. The trigger on this chart was Heikenashi color change. Order not filled yet.

EURUSD short @ 1.2975, SL@1.3122. Closed below yearly mean reversion (YMR) support, then touch trade slightly below that area. Now half to B/E, half to 1.2911 Gold long @1.5678 SL@1.5171. Pin bar off 365ema on 1 chart. 2nd chart shows harmonic bullish pattern, horizontal terminal pattern (HTP) with spring (SPR), price pivot zone (PPZ). Now SL=1.595 USDCAD long @ 1.0165 S:@1.0065-1.0030 staggered. Reaction of 150ema support, quarterly mean (QMR), yearly mean support YMRS), and DGL setup.

Well, I've decided to really do it. To put every trade I take in public. I've tried that before but never had the discipline to follow through. What I trade is Forex & Gold. I also analyze SP500, sometimes other markets. EURUSD, GBPJPY, USDCAD, GOLD, GBPUSD, alternatively also EURCAD, AUDUSD, AUDJPY. My trading methodology, indicators, etc is two-fold: 1. I successfully use moving averages. I treat them as Floating S/R zones. (Minor ones are ema 8,13,21, middle: ema 100, 150, to some markets 89, major sma200, ema 275, ema 365, weekly ema52 high/low is quarterly mean reversion for me, monthly ema 70 with specific levels is yearly mean reversion for me) 2. Swings: 18-day swings, 10-day swings, 5-day swings. On these I use price zones, for example retracements (37, 50, 62) and other areas of interest. Swings also help me to identify Price Pivot Zone, where demand becomes supply, v/v. Retracements are made in simple way or counting price and time, for these I use Donn Fisher's Dynamic Gann Levels or, Andrew's Pitchforks, or Fib Channels. 3. Price action setups must occur at the areas of interest listed above. 4. Triggers are bars formations, such as: reversal/key reversal, pin bar, inside bar, tweezer. If price reacts from the interest zone but has shown none of the above I use heiken-ashi change of color to get me in. No, my charts are not clean. I usually trade using 3 charts: MA chart, Geometric chart (swings), and on CAD and Gold I also use 8-hour charts. The strategy is a combination of couple of systems/strategies that I've tested for about 5 years. I call it Energy or Market NRG. Many thanks to all the traders who were willing to share, and to all the writers whose books made some difference in my own trading.

When I started to learn how to trade each time I couldn't understand how the trade went against me caused a sense of guilt. It became so bad that I froze completely and couldn't trade even on demo. I've tried to apply some trading psychology from various sources, all to no effect. TITZ was the book that freed me from feeling guilt. I think the test in the beginning and the end of book is very helpful in some aspects. For me the point was made: markets can and will go against me form time to time. The solution is to find what then. Intensive back-testing did just that. I still would recommend it to traders who encounter difficult psychological situations. Obviously, better books exist, but after TITZ I didn't need anything more in terms of trading psychology.

EXIT METHOD: moving average trailing stop (EMA or SMA: 6, 9, 13, 20) PROS: provides dynamic trailing stop based on price average CONS: Subjective as to which MA we choose, what value, and to which market COMMENTS: taking half off on shorter term MA, then with stop set to b/e trail with longer terms MA... but again it can leave too much on the table. However, combined with ATR stops it works for me.

EXIT METHOD: trendline trailing stop PROS: can keep me through minor pullbacks CONS: subjective to draw COMMENTS: good validated trendlines are actually better for re-entry (bounce or PA forming on the trendline), so I would prefer to trail my stop somewhere between trendline and the low

EXIT METHOD: 3-day or 5-day low (for longs) trailing stop PROS: Can keep me in a trade through minor pullbacks CONS: Often leaves too much on the table COMMENTS: Combined with ATR and adjusted from market to market works better

I'm really glad to know that. Percentage, yes. How about comparing the pip amounts of negative vs. positive slippage.

Hello there! A bit late introduction, since I've been on TL for quite some time. I've realized that TL is actually one of the best forums out there, so I'm here to stay. Originally from Poland, used to live in South Africa for 11 years, and in Taiwan for almost 10!!! (time flies!!!). In the beginning it was hell. I sat in front of pc for 16 hours a day, read tons of books, and thought I'm going to go mad or die from some stress-related decease.:doh: I started to learn trading in 2006, and since mid-2008 became profitable. 2010 was a bad year - I've lost discipline for my strategy and messed up with settings and time frames, resulting in giving back most of my profits.:crap: I can't complain since my core invested funds are still up. Now I'm on my way to recovery. What I've learned: discipline for trading is hard. Very hard. Period! I trade only Daily time frame, mostly spot forex with real money, doing some demo on SP500 CFDs. I'm thinking of switching to futures one day. I've tried almost all indicators, price-action, waves, Gann, Ichimoku, SR... you name it. Now my strategies are based on movings averages, which I treat as floating SR zones and indications of minor and major trends. I also employ Bollinger Bands and some oscillator (RSI and MACD) and very long term channels high-low. Backtesting is always in satisfactory profits, but as we all know, real trading is never the same:(. I use fixed fractional % calculation as my risk management and try to get at least 2:1 ratio (profit double the SL). It's going well and I'm coming out of drawdown, but I think I spread my attention to too many markets (EURUSD, USDJPY, USDCD, EURCAD, GBPJPY, EURCHF, USDCHF, Silver, US500). I think something like 3-4 or less should be better, but cannot decide upon which markets to drop. Anyway, thank you for this forum and Best of Profits to All of You!

For Immediate Release For More Information Contact: Larry Dyekman (312) 781-1372, ldyekman@nfa.futures.org Karen Wuertz (312) 781-1335, kwuertz@nfa.futures.org NFA levies $2,000,000 monetary sanction against FXCM and orders refunds to customers August 12, Chicago - National Futures Association (NFA) has issued a Decision imposing a $2,000,000 monetary sanction against Forex Capital Markets LLC (FXCM) in settlement of a Complaint issued by NFA's Business Conduct Committee on August 12, 2011. The Complaint cited FXCM for retaining gains derived from asymmetrical positive price slippage; failing to adopt or carry out adequate procedures to ensure the efficient execution of all customer orders; failing to treat all customers equally when giving price adjustments; failing to adequately investigate suspicious activity in several customers' accounts; and - together with its principal Dror Niv - failing to supervise. FXCM is a Futures Commission Merchant, Retail Foreign Exchange Dealer, and Forex Dealer Member located in New York, New York. In addition to the $2,000,000 monetary sanction, FXCM must credit the accounts of its customers the amount of asymmetrical positive slippage which its customers experienced on their trades from and after June 18, 2008 and provide verification to NFA of these credits. In the future, FXCM is prohibited from engaging in price slippage or margin liquidation practices, as described in the Complaint. FXCM must also enhance existing procedures to ensure efficient execution of customer orders and compliance with NFA's anti-money laundering requirements. The complete text of the Complaint and Decision can be found on NFA's website (http://www.nfa.futures.org). NFA is the premier independent provider of innovative and efficient regulatory programs that safeguard the integrity of the futures markets. Complaint_ForexCapitalMarketsLLC&DrorNiv_2011_0812.pdf

Don't quit learning how to trade, but DO KEEP YOUR JOB. 18 months is really not enough. Take it easy, it will take about 5 years to find the method or a system that is really suited for you. Yes, you need some kind of system. It will form a background, a line in sand, a base. Only later you will learn price action, and even later a "feeling for the market", which IMO is simply experience. At first you shouldn't think of making money for life, just learn, practice demo or even better trade couple of dollars on forex (i only know Oanda to offer trading such small amounts). This will allow you to really feel when you make money or loose. And let's say an accoint of 100 dollars is really affordable. You may think the amounts are too insignificant. But just add couple of zeros in your mind. Right now you are learning. Make sure you learn about risk management and trade management (these 2 are not the same thing). Risk within 1-3% max. At first try to prevent losses by either putting your order to break-even or reducing the stop loss while in a trade. Learn how to put stop-loss and trail it based on technical factors not on fixed $ amount or pips/points/ticks amount. When you find yourself lost touch with the market or in consistent loosing period, take a break for a week. Absolutely take a break if you lost 20-30% of your account. After you become break-even trader, try to look where the trade was profitable. Was it at risk-reward 1:1? If so or more, then start taking 1:1 profits. If less, it means your entries have problem. Re-evaluate the system/method. Once you gather experience you will customize the system, personalize it, or even develop your own. But most important is to find a method that suits you. It doesn't matter what that is, be it linear approach (trendlines, pitchforks, Elliot, Gann) or floating approach (moving averages, volatility pivots, etc). As long as it works for YOU. Understand the system and trade it. If it does't suit you, try another. But DO NOT JUMP from system to system just because it gave you couple of losses. This way often you are out at the exact moment when it would turn around. The key is being consistent with your trading. Back-testing is good, do it by hand, bar-by-bar. If you like it, trade it for at least 3-6 months. Choose your mentors wisely. There are many who have no clue about real trading. Some of them are even "quite famous". Also, find time frame you like. Do you want to be out at the end of the day? If so, trade short time frame and look for systems/methods that are designed for it. If you want to take trades that last 2-3 days or longer, trade on 240min or Daily. There are many people who make good money trading nothing but dailies. I assume you approach market from technical point. If you are fundamental trader, then it's a completely different story and all above doesn't matter. Keep in mind that the amount you've invested is small, so in the end it doesn't matter that much. You can open another account and another with $100. Yet at the same time don't treat it as insignificant. Like I said before: add few zeros in your mind. You are learning how to trade, how to feel when in profit or loss. Just give up after only 18 months? You're probably half way there!

Opening demo account with a broker that has MT4 (Meta trader 4) platform is a good idea. It's free, some brokers require you re-open new demo after 3 months or so, some let you keep demo forever. Many brokers with MT4 are forex, but some also have futures and stocks. You can open demo and write the amount of money, and you trade these virtual money under the exact conditions you would trade real. No data delay. The problem is that if you want to trade futures, better don't use "bucket shops". But as far as demo is concerned, then you have no risk. Plus there is a way to import historical data to MT4 and keep the platform off-line, treat it as your charting software. You would need to update data by hand thereafter, but you know, many people still keep doing this using various charting software using EOD data. I did that to backtest many markets, once I had data on my excel sheet (which you need to obtain from some source, and I really think there are many possibilities to get it free of charge) you import it into MT4. That depends if you need data for floor traded session or not. Anyway, i feel MT4 is worth trying, free, many indicators, you can make your own, etc. One thing I wouldn't trust is MT4 strategy tester. I always test by hand, bar-by-bar. Happy New Year.

Hi, All I can give is an advice based on what I do. I don't use any lower windows on my chart for any oscillators. MACD, Stochastics, RSI, CCI, etc, - don't bother too much with these. What I'm looking for is various moving averages (mostly EMA) - but again, I don't use crosses of moving averages. I treat them as floating support/resistance. Then I look for price action (bars or candlesticks) for a setup/trigger. Bollinger Bands are also fine. When you study intraday market from this perspective sooner or later you will "get it". Try various numbers for EMAs, Fibonacci or Gann sequences are good, i.e.: 8,13,21,34,55,89, etc. Choose 1-3 from which price reacts on your chosen market, backtest manually, observe, device your own system/method. But again, that's what I do. every trader has his/her own method. All the Best for 2011.