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Good job on the videos and congrats on starting the journal. It is inspiring me to start doing video recordings as well. I believe I saw that you are using Koyote recording software; have you had any problems with it? How has TradeStation been for trading Forex?
I am using some free software that I found through a google search. Its called (Free screen to video). It works for me but I'm sure the other ones are probably better. Once and a while it does not want to record audio so you have to do a test video before you start using it.
I really like the tradestation platform and am used to it. I have only been trading forex for a week, I originally went to tradestation because of Futures. I don't have much of a frame of reference with forex yet. But with my limited forex knowledge I can say that it works fine. I am trading small but my fills are good. Some of the spreads are outrageous. The main pairs around 1.6-2.5 pips. I have been focusing on the yen and the euro and those have spreads between 1.6- and 2 pips.
Have you read Bob Volman's book on price action trading? Might be beneficial since he talks about the advantage Forex traders have in getting larger as the account grows.
You are trading two systems at the same time within one account where they just happen to have the same entry point. The first one has no win/loss ratio advantage so its success is highly dependent upon the winning pct. If you can get this system to a 1:1 ratio (W:L) with 70% winners or a 0.80 ratio with 80% winners, you are much better off using the advantages of Forex sizing to grow your account and forget about the second system (what you do after the first half off).
The winning pct and win/loss ratio are an inverse relationship. You either make the sacrifice of having many small losses to get to the bigger winners (i.e., lower winning pct, higher W/L ratio) or have larger losses per losing trade relative to the size of the winners but the winning frequency overcomes them (i.e., higher winning pct, lower W/L ratio). People who use the 1/2 off approach are attempting to become successful with TWO TRADING SYSTEMS (1st system is the latter, 2nd system is the former). What happens in the majority of cases (in my 10 years of full-time futures trading experience) is that the beginning to intermediate trader is blissfully unaware of these mathematical certitudes so what happens is that one of the systems is actually a losing system. The mind doesn't want to accept this until it's too late.
The moral of the trading story is to be really, really good at trading one system, not two, because at least you don't put yourself at a mathematical disadvantage right from the start. That is, willing to risk your greatest amount in a trade at the beginning when you can be 100% wrong (and have to take a full loss on two systems) but then becoming less sure of your future success (by taking money risk off) when the trade is working in your favor makes very little mathematical or common sense. It only makes sense to your emotions because one of the two systems worked out and the 2nd system feels like it's a "free ride". It's not. I never thought of this as an advanced concept but, given the amount of people who refuse to believe this, apparently, it is.
The simple advice summary is to go all-in / all-out for a trade. Your brain will pick up WAY before you come anywhere near blowing out your account that something is not right with your entry / exit techniques and you have time to rethink.
I don't post much and I don't do the PM thing. But I do know why most people fail at trading, given they've got the basic commitment to not "freak out" with what they're trying to do in the first place. The above is #1 on the list. I have met absolute human robot types in trading with unmatched discipline. But THIS is why even they can't make it.
Volman is a very sharp cookie. At least accept his opinion and you will be well on your way.
Good luck.
Added note:
It's fine to have different setups which offer different long-term stats and go all-in / all-out with each one. What I said above is that you do not want to have the same entry for multiple systems. Go with one setup at a time. Your brain likes that.
[Volman is a super lucid read as compared to Brooks.]
Thanks for the advice Steve. It definitely makes me wonder. I will check out Bobs book. In the beginning of this year I was trading all in all out with decent results trying to get at least 2R. I have progressed a lot since them maybe I will give it another go. Maybe me taking half off adds an unnecessary risk and is acting as a mental crutch. Since switching to Forex I can trade small enough where I wont have to worry about it like I did trading the ES.