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After being inspired by @PandaWarrior, @GaryD I have decided to start journal is to chronicle my journey to becoming a full time trader.
Many thanks go out to @Big Mike for having this forum. I would not be where I am at today without the many outstanding people I have met here along with the platform to share ideas and most importantly learn from others.
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The first step is too clear the table: I am putting my automated trading aspirations in a holding pattern during the week to focus on manual trading. I continue to work on it in my spare time on the weekends.
My edge: I am trading breakouts based on Support / Resistance and trend lines. After many years of playing around with different indicators I have discovered they cloud my judgement. Simple lines on the chart are my greatest allies. I will use them to exploit the market.
I will post trades and why I took it and why I set the targets. I also want to focus on my emotions. This is the biggest detriment to traders IMO. You can have the greatest edge in the world but if you can't control your emotion your still going to lose.
I am working on a detailed trading plan which I will post over the weekend.
Final Thoughts: I dont know why it has taken me this long to get to this point. Maybe fear, confidence, safety of where I am at in my life, the comfort of my current job... don't know.. But what I do know is this: I love trading and the markets more than any other work / job / hobby I have ever done in my life. It is a passion that is ingrained in every cell of my very being. Trading is without a doubt what I want to do for the rest of my life.
I'm attaching my plan. It is a work in progress, but for the most part complete. It is done in a simplistic manner on purpose. The more complex the less that I will follow it. I have already noticed that I'm not following it and have difficulty …
In order to focus on trading and not worry about blowing out my account I am starting with a small amount of 2000 to trade Forex. This will allow me to experiment with new entries. I will be using Micro Lots which is 10 cents a tick for experimental entries. I will be using 10,000 lot which is 1 dollar a tick for high probability trades. This will give me the best of both worlds.
The one thing which stands out is my risk to reward ratio. I have to figure out how to increase this or continue to hit a high% of trades.
I also pulled this from the TopStepTrader website:
These are good goals to achieve. I added them as 10, 11 & 12.
Name: Robert
Live Account Forex
Account Size: 2000
Max. Position Size: 10000
Loss Limit: 60.00
Market(s) trading: FOREX
Trading hours (in Eastern Standard Time)
Start time: 8:30 am
Stop time: 3:00 PM
Trading style: Discretionary
Trading strategy: Breakouts
Loss limit:
Per day: 60
Per week: 120
Per trade: 20
What is your edge? Trading Breakouts and predicting price movements using support and resistance.
Risk to reward ratio 1 to 1
Mechanics (entering orders, placing stops, etc.): Use OCO orders to set stops and target. Enter on market during a breakout or use stop above breakout point to capture breakout.
Core discipline principles
Trade only high probability trades. If I miss it then I miss it. There is no getting in late on a trade. Never re-enter the market right after a big win or loss. If I lose 3 trades in row then I am done for the day. If I have 3 losing days in a row then I am done for the week
1. I will NOT hit my loss limit.
2. I will NEVER add to a loser.
3. I will NEVER add to a position
4. I will stop trading if my Net P&L is greater than $100 and my Net P&L has pulled back
25% off my high watermark (Net P&L high of the day) for the day.
5. I will take at least a 10 minute break after a large winner.
a. Define what amount you consider to be a large winner: 70+ ticks
6. If I am down for the day, I will take at least a 10 minute break if I experience 3 losing trades then I am done for the day. If I have 3 losing days then I am done for the week.
7. I will always commit to my stops and will never enter a trade without having a stop in place.
8. When my trade goes in the money by 10 ticks, I will slide my stop to breakeven [at the very
least].
9. My largest winning day will be greater than my largest losing day.
10. Overall Average Win greater than Overall Average Loss
11. Overall Average Win Duration greater than Overall Average Loss Duration
My entry was hit on Friday at the end of the day. Here are the support levels. I have an target @ .2786. I think it may go lower but I want to lock in profits. There should be a hard bounce at 2775 if it breaks the 2784 level.
I bought the breakout out of the channel. +17 I may have sold too soon. Upon looking at this I need to develop an ATM strategy which has a trailing stop for these types of breakouts.
Stopped out today -15. I did something different today by adding my thoughts to the chart as the trade progressed. Wanted to see if I could identify what I did right/ wrong . I have no opinion at the moment since the trade is fresh in my mind. …
I have to work on my exits. I bought the breakout down and the price went down and hit my price (see blue line) but did not get filled. I am a little too precise on the exits. On the one hand the channels I am drawing are …
I'm glad you are using naked charts. I have a naked chart I use for various purposes and today I was in sim mode at the time of this set up.
Take a look at the chart if you could and answer the questions for me based on how you would trade it. I am interested in getting some feedback from someone trading only a naked time based chart.
Thanks.
Brian
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci
Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
Leaving entry part ( truly, it doesn't matter much ).
I personally use three factor in stops/exits
1) Max stop i can afford.
2) Nearest demand/supply level.
3) A good winning(/poor loosing) trade would have small MAE(/large MAE) and large MFE(/small/MFE).
so based on that from my point of view i marked a red stop line if entry is as per his definition in/above marked rectangle.
The highlighted area is the time frame showed on your chart. The green line is your trend line.
In short; I wouldn't have taken the trade. On the longer term view (see Chart1) the the price is in downward channel. Entering a trade in the middle of the channel on the trend line break going against the channel increases the risk dramatically of failure and being stopped out. It would be better to enter on a break of the channel line.
Chart1
As you can see on the Chart1 there were 2 downward channels formed. The original which was in purple was breached and a new channel was formed.
Take a look what happens after your proposed entry on Chart2; The price goes to the first outer channel line and pulls back then to the second outer channel and pulls back.
Finally after a large pullback the price retests the outer channel one more time then breaks through with a large bar. This would have been my entry point. I placed the stop and exit points on the chart. This would have been a roughly 2 to1 risk reward with a worse case entry @ 98.91; Stop @ 98.79; Target @ 98.12 Also notice the new upward channel that is being formed. (see Chart2)