Cory2679

I'm thinking about keeping a trading journal...maybe just in a Word document. After the day is done (or maybe right after the trade), I'd post a chart or charts and give a brief commentary on what I was thinking and what made me take the trade, as well as anything I see in hindsight that I didn't see going into the trade...probably a little more Justaguy-style and a little less Cory2679-style. It sure beats posting every potential trade and posting a thousand updates...it's almost a little hard to follow the way I've been doing it...I've made an effort to make the charts more or less self-explanatory to make up for it a little. I thought I'd start with a rough draft here... ---------- Trade: Short EUR/JPY, 11/18/2010, 7:13AM Eastern Time Result: 0.31R Loss The Thinking: I realize that very recently, on the 15 minute chart, the EJ was putting in some HH's and HL's, but it had traded up to resistance, backed off, and given an opportunity to get short. Taking a step back and looking at the 4H chart, price had recently put in a lower low, followed by a failed attempt at the recent high (thus, potentially a lower high...a slight downtrend, perhaps). So, I thought it would be a worthwhile attempt to get short, have one PT relatively nearby, and two more far away to capture a potentially large move down that I anticipated when looking at the 4H chart. Afterthoughts: I still agree with the initial logic...and it may eventually still break down...the only thing I might have done differently is had my BE point at the touch of the trendline...to be honest, I actually didn't have the trendline drawn until I saw price bounce...when it did that, I "saw" the trendline in my head, drew it, and indeed it bounced right at the touch of the TL. ---------- Again, this is just an idea/rough draft...I'll probably develop a standard format that I follow for each "post"...although this could very well be the final format, who knows. I've been pretty frustrated this week...I'm doing everything I can to keep my emotions in check...it's hard...it's already Wednesday and I'm actualy down almost 0.75R for the week so far. When I said I'm on a quest to have 4 weeks in a row with at least 2.5R per week, the target was not 2.5R...that was just a bare minimum for the week to "count"...I was truly shooting for 5-10R!! I've just been struggling lately. However, it may just be a tough week so far...Monday pretty much doesn't even count because I was way off the wagon...it's not a good representation of me trading my best...yesterday there was basically one opportunity all day and I missed it...it happens...and last night there was nothing......I dunno...haha

UPDATE: It had other plans...

I'm done for the night and won't be trading this, but I'm looking at a potential short on the UJ...of course, price could easily go on to make a higher high and never break that low...but we'll see what happened in the morning!

Sure beats a full 1R loss (or more if I got slipped)!

UPDATES: EJ never filled and UJ was stopped for a 0.43R loss...

It's a little early, but I have my eye on a potential long on the EJ looking something like this... EDIT: I also have this potential long on the UJ on the radar...

Keeping an eye on the EJ as well... UPDATE: Cancelled the long...it just sort of fizzled out and it's getting late in the day anyway...

Perhaps a potential long on the GU? UPDATE: Moved stop to BE+1 tick...it's not going anywhere... UPDATE2: Stopped for +0.6 ticks...

Looks like I may have missed a decent short opportunity on the GU... UPDATE: Indeed! I guess I was too focused on a potential long/reversal at support. :doh: UPDATE2: Geez! haha Déjà vu...

Potential for a full loss! It's good to be an observer! Potentially a full loss as well.

Everything seems like kind of a choppy mess right now (to me, anyway). I almost think it wouldn't be that bad of an idea to walk away for an hour or so and come back...with the current environment, I can't imagine taking a trade in the next hour. I dunno...just a thought...I may walk away and just check it every 15 minutes or so... NOTE: I wanted to make it clear that I'm not impying that I'm lazy and don't want to trade/stay at the computer...rather, walking away would be my way of "sitting on my hands" and preventing forced trades, etc.

I would consider a short like this on the UJ if it weren't currently in the business of making higher highs and higher lows... Since it is, I'm merely an observer on this potential short...

Currently long the GU...it may have been premature...I just didn't want to miss out on what I thought could be an impulsive rally off of support...it's not looking too good right now...I've moved my stop tight... UPDATE: After it finally moved some, I took off the tight stop to give it some room...a retry at the low (a L-H-HL sequence) would stop me out with a stop so tight... UPDATE2: Stop @ BE+1 tick (to cover potential slippage)....price struggled with and subsequently barely broke through and backed off the breakdown point indicated by my dotted magenta line... UPDATE3: I'm out with +0.6 ticks (see, it slipped!)...I am not getting the explosive move I was looking for. I'd be willing to re-enter long with the formation of a nice L-H-HL sequence, but we'll see...

The GU is approaching the bottom of a recent well-defined trading range...I'm prepared to go long if an opportunity presents itself...

Well, my Monday was kind of a mess (I'm now done for the day)...I overtraded like crazy...didn't even bother posting...I had 7 trades total and in the end was very happy to manage to break even for the day... I won't be able to trade Tokyo this evening, so I will be back ready to trade tomorrow morning an hour before the NY open. I seriously need to take the time between now and then to reign myself in before I do any real damage to my account/progress. :deeeep breath: Starting fresh tomorrow morning...it happens...try to learn something from it and move on... On a positive note, I am actually better off for the week right now p/l-wise than I was at the close of Monday last week.

It looks like the EJ is taking off... I probably should have just said, "Yes, sir." and went long. haha Looking at the 4H chart, you do get a nice, strong reaction off of support and a break of the trendline....like I said, for some reason I was just feeling lost tonight...:doh: I think I'd prob have my stop at BE now had I traded it (with that touch of potential resistance)...

Wow, the MT4 chart looks a lot nicer/clearer than the Ninja chart...they probably start their data at different times for the week, etc. Yeah, (believe it or not) I was actually about to post something similar...but then I was going to say that I feel a bit lost tonight... Sunday evenings are just different than any other day/night of the week (for me, anyway)...I'm just not used to it... I think I might just observe this evening (and "trade" just with lines drawn on the chart)...unless I am just overly compelled to take a position...

I'm tempted by a potential short on the EJ that looks like this... However, I wish Tokyo were open...right now, the current spread for the EUR/JPY for me is 5+ pips... EDIT: and we have a similar potential short situation on the GU...

Hi Gabe, That's what demo accounts and/or micro accounts are for, right? Hope all is well, Cory

It's still going! Had I been trading this like normal, I would have likely had PT's at the red lines of resistance I drew (which would have been filled now). Couldawouldashoulda... (This will be my last post for the week. )

Looks like I'm missing out! It's up almost 100 ticks from my entry. I'm ok with that, though...I knew the risk...I'm actually just satisfied that I traded a (potential) decent winner.

I've actually already pulled out of this long with about 1/3R profit. If you follow my log, you know that I'm currently on a quest to string together 4 weeks in a row of 2.5+ net R per week. Well, with that 1/3R profit, that puts me over 2.5R for the week (2.548, to be exact). This isn't something I would normally want to do, but since it's Friday NY, I went ahead with it. Certainly if it were Wednesday, or even Thursday (or even Thursday evening!), I wouldn't do it. I just think it would be ashame to be up 2.5R, holding out for 3R, only to end up with 2.25R and the week not "counting"...I'd rather just pull it while I have an open equity of 2.5+ R so I can have the week under my belt. I've had sort of a rough week...had a rough first day, had a holiday, and I'm still just getting back in my groove from a venture off into very fast time frames...I'm looking forward to a fresh start next week! Anyways...I posted most of my trades this week...more than half. Some trades I haven't posted because they had already filled by the time I would go to post...but some trades I didn't post because I think I truly knew I shouldn't be in them and I was embarrased to post them. It sounds crazy, but it's true. I must have serious problems. haha Amazingly, on balance, the trades I didn't post netted some profit (<1R I think)...most of the trades I knew I shouldn't be in I got B/E on (probably because I knew I shouldn't be in them and quickly got to B/E at the first chance I got!). I think some of the problem is the transition from fast time frames to trading the main intraday swing...I'm used to action and when there is none, I figure I'm not trading well and I must be missing out. I know this in my head not to be true, but I'm still working on convincing my emotions. But, on balance, I am happy with this week...it was an ok week...profitable...but it was a really great week because I just stuck with it...every day, every hour...I didn't veer from my path that I laid out in my log post from last week... I'm overall very happy...I'm not going to get it perfect, I'm going to make mistakes, I'm going to leave PT's on my platform after the trade has closed! (haha)...but that's ok...as long as I keep to my plan and keep moving foward. Despite some of my mistakes/stupid choices this week, I've managed to keep a positive attitude. I've been doing a lot of reading over TL and I've noticed that when people start getting bad attitudes, start getting negative and having pitty parties, start getting angry and playing the blame game...it absolutely halts progress in its tracks...they even start to retrogress, IMHO. It's just so counterproductive so I want to make a point of keeping my attitude in check...if I start having bad thoughts, I wont' voice them and I won't post them! I'll make the conscious decision to brush it off and move on. Of course, I'm human and I will likely trip up, but I'm going to do my best...that's all I can do. This is for me as much as anyone else...as I'm sure hardly anyone probably follows my posts. haha That's ok, though...I can manage in solitude. I'm simply going to observe the rest of today...I may post a chart, I may not...if I don't see you again before next week, have a good weekend!

Possible short on the GU (with similar situations on the EU and EJ)...price may go on to make higher highs, but I have this short ready just in case it breaks to make a lower low... EDIT: One might also be (even more) tempted to go long...

Couldawouldashoulda...

I had a EJ short in mind like this...though the higher it goes, the less enthusiastic I am... BUT, it won't happen because I'm getting off and heading to bed in about 5 minutes. We'll see what could have been when I get on in the morning.