Cory2679

And the trend continues... Sorry for the after-the-fact post...I just thought it was relevant... I've realized that I need some work...after Thales's post, I was honestly thinking to myself, Gosh, he's picky! My trade was ok! But then later I began to think, if he's so picky, shouldn't I be, too? I'll be back to posting real-time tomorrow...taking my trades but letting them mature on their own according to my initial analysis...I will most likely be doing this exercise with a demo account for the month of July...then I figured maybe during the month of August I could gradually work in some stop-management...cutting losses is important, after all...I'll basically test the waters in August after hopefully I've benefited from a month of not moving my stop at all except as dictated by my initial analysis...

I've posted a chart with my thoughts on why maybe one should have had an eye out for a long rather than a short (much of which has already been discussed while I was away). I guess all I could say in "defense" of the trade was that it may not have been ideal, but I thought it worth a try...it was the only thing I had in that moment. I did after all get about 1R of favorable movement...right to support where one could anticipate a reaction/reversal. That's why I was so frustrated with my break-even placement...if I was going to take a trade in this situation, the break-even point clearly should have been placed at that level of support or even a little above. Perhaps I should just be more patient and wait for the ideal situations. Anything else I/we are missing?

FINAL UPDATE: Losing trade. I got a pretty good move in favor, but it wasn't a happy ending. Perhaps I should have had my break-even line just a little higher...in line with the break-up...

Potential EU short... UPDATE: Order filled...per Thales's advice, I will be letting my trades mature on their own according to my initial analysis, so I won't need to post a million updates...basically just a before and after...

POST-TRADE UPDATE: Reading back through the week, I just realized that I never posted a "post-trade update" for my first GU short. It's something that's helpful when looking back through...knowing what eventually happened... I cut this trade short...wasn't a crazy runner, never even really approached PT2, but it could have been a small profit. I squeezed it too tight...I probably should have taken my cue from the most recent runs up, which were slow and steady...I was expecting/hoping for an explosive move and when I didn't get it I squeezed too tight....

Potential EU short... UPDATE: Order canceled...

FINAL UPDATE: Well, it was a good call, but a poorly managed trade...I cut my profit short pretty bad...

Potential GU short... UPDATE: I have to go to work now, so I won't be posting real-time updates for this trade...just one after-the-fact update. UPDATE 2: Well...just one...stop moved down...

Thanks for the advice. I've been down that road before, too! I'm not too worried at this point about what people on the internet think about my trades or me. I've posted on and off (stopped posting for the very reasons you present) and I've found that consistently posting, at this point, personally does me more good than harm...it helps keep me focused and accountable in a way. It's also nice to be able to scroll back through my week, although of course that could be done via a private journal, too.

UPDATE 2: Stop moved up, again... FINAL UPDATE: Stopped out...

Potential GU long... UPDATE: Stop moved up...

Thanks so much for the post, Thales. It means a lot. Thanks for the advice. I have indeed played around with faster time frames and focusing on only one pair. With the smaller time frames on the currencies, I found it was a bit noisy for my taste, plus the huge spreads I'm trading with have a larger impact with the smaller swings. As far as focusing soley on one pair, such as the EUR/USD...been there, too. I've kind of come to the point now where, since they're so highly correlated, I basically look at the four pairs I trade (EUR/JPY, EUR/USD, GBP/USD, & USD/JPY) as one market, more or less, and try to pick the best opportunity in the moment. For example, there may appear to be a trade setting up on both the GU and EU at the same time, and based on such and such, I'll choose the EU. And don't think that because all I post is 15 minute charts that it's all I look at. I frequently pull up a 5 minute or even a 1 minute charts in certain situations, as well as hourly, 4-hour, and sometimes even daily charts. I'll also pull up range charts from time to time. I just think the 15 minute is a good primary chart and a good timeframe for posting when daytrading currencies.

POST-TRADE UPDATE: Could have been a full 1R loss, as opposed to the -0.17R I took...

Potential EUR/USD short... UPDATE: Stop moved down... UPDATE 2: Stop moved down again (not quite to break-even, yet)... FINAL UPDATE: Stopped out...

Just out of curiosity, I decided to chart my P/L since I went live on 5/2...

I have an idea... For the rest of the week, starting tomorrow (to give myself time to cool off), I'm not going to trade. I'm merely going to watch price. With where I am right now, I think it could be a good idea to watch/mark up the charts for a few days without all the pressure and stress of actually trading. I think it could do some good. I may also take some of that time to review the thread, etc., but the primary exercise will be just watching price freely.

UPDATE: Full 1R loss. Price bounced at an area where a bounce could be expected (I've marked it on the chart). A short was probably not a good idea just above support. I saw the support but I guess I just hoped price would break it and not look back. I think I've just really fallen off the wagon. I'm not sure what to do. I feel like it's fairly obvious at this point that I will never be successful. You may not hear from me for a while...

Potential EU short..,.

The moment my account shows a net loss, I'm going back to sim. I was up over 7.5R at one point. This is ridiculous. I was obviously on a lucky streak that has been struck. I was convinced that maybe I was getting somewhere. Obviously I was wrong. I am so demoralized right now. I cannot believe after all this time I am still as bad as I am. I guess I'm just not cut out for it. I wonder what it will take for me to finally throw in the towel.

Potential GU long... UPDATE: Stop moved up... FINAL UPDATE: Taken out... I'm about to lose my mind. I'm convinced that delusion is the only thing that keeps me going with this.

Current look at the UJ... I'm about to leave for the day...I wouldn't be extremely enthusiastic to be short the UJ right now...not unless we get a clear break of that trend line...

Shouldawouldacoulda GU long...

I probably got to break-even a little quick...my confidence level (in general and on an individual trade level) is pretty low right now after last week, which leads to getting to break-even quickly for fear of an innevitable 1R loss otherwise...just something I'm going to have to work through... Anyways, with the GU trade, it would have been a break-even trade regardless. Time will tell with the UJ trade...

One could argue that religion is a gamble...

I've basically been trying to master the same approach on and off for the past year and a half. No major changes, really...just minor changes here and there as I gain more knowledge and understand via practice/experience, reading/studying, etc.