Just blown £1200 in 24 hours.
I'm obviously mentally challenged, a simple stop loss would have stopped the chain reaction.
I'm posting after blowing my account again, I really need to distance myself, that's another £1500 gone this month I can ill afford to lose.
Honestly, in a parallel comedy world this must make great reading.
Thursday, 27 December 2012
Wednesday, 26 December 2012
Today's Profit £64
I wasn't sure if any markets would be open today so when I accessed my IG account through my iphone I was delighted to see action.
I spent most of the day catching up on paperwork and had the EUR/$ trading screen open. During the course of the day I made 10 trades, 8 winning ones for my day's bounty.
As I type this it's late and I have a position I am playing 15 points behind, I shall monitor it a little longer and if I don't see any progress I will close for a loss rather than leave it open overnight.
More tomorrow when I have already put aside as a trading day.
I spent most of the day catching up on paperwork and had the EUR/$ trading screen open. During the course of the day I made 10 trades, 8 winning ones for my day's bounty.
As I type this it's late and I have a position I am playing 15 points behind, I shall monitor it a little longer and if I don't see any progress I will close for a loss rather than leave it open overnight.
More tomorrow when I have already put aside as a trading day.
Monday, 24 December 2012
Today's Profit £57
It's Christmas eve and the markets were only open for a half day's trading.
I made 8 scalps in a little under an hour, all successful. Sensible stake money is the key to my current run, I'm entering at sensible levels and my expectations are for a few points at a time.
Before I trade I'm asking myself a simple question; Would I be happy if someone pressed £50 into my hands for a few minutes spent in front of a screen pressing a few buttons. The answer of course is yes, I'd be thrilled and that's where I'm making progress. My expectations are entierly realistic and reasonable.
I'm looking forward to continuing the same way on Thursday.
I made 8 scalps in a little under an hour, all successful. Sensible stake money is the key to my current run, I'm entering at sensible levels and my expectations are for a few points at a time.
Before I trade I'm asking myself a simple question; Would I be happy if someone pressed £50 into my hands for a few minutes spent in front of a screen pressing a few buttons. The answer of course is yes, I'd be thrilled and that's where I'm making progress. My expectations are entierly realistic and reasonable.
I'm looking forward to continuing the same way on Thursday.
Friday, 21 December 2012
Today's profit £54
Another positive day. Patience is the name of the game.
I'm interested only in posting successive profitable days, I can increase the pound per point value at anytime in the future.
I'm playing with a reduced stake, that way I can afford to be wrong and remain in the game. It's a process of educating myself and becoming disciplined.
The only danger is from me sabotaging my good work by relaxing my discipline. I need to remain vigilant.
I'm going to enjoy my weekend and look forward to trading next week when the markets open.
I'm interested only in posting successive profitable days, I can increase the pound per point value at anytime in the future.
I'm playing with a reduced stake, that way I can afford to be wrong and remain in the game. It's a process of educating myself and becoming disciplined.
The only danger is from me sabotaging my good work by relaxing my discipline. I need to remain vigilant.
I'm going to enjoy my weekend and look forward to trading next week when the markets open.
Thursday, 20 December 2012
Wednesday, 19 December 2012
Today's Profit £81
A little deviation from my preferred method saw me making trades based on 5 minute candles.
I'm not as comfortable this way although obviously that may come with time but its really a question of me excising patience as the same set ups are there, the time frame is the only difference.
I'm not as comfortable this way although obviously that may come with time but its really a question of me excising patience as the same set ups are there, the time frame is the only difference.
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
A Sobering Statistic
Last week.
I made 21 trades last week and here's the bottom line.
20 successive successful scalps for a total profit of £176
The 21st trade lost £620 and I margined out.
Lesson there anyone?
Thanks Ads for the stop loss reminder.
Despite my investment of many hundreds of hours at seminars, reading books, studying videos and sat trading I need to remember I'm a relative newbie.
I have posted the stats above as a stark reminder that I am only ever one trade away from wiping out. From tomorrow every trade I make has a stop loss. GOLDEN RULE.
I still believe my original target of 10 points a day at £50 is easily achievablem however I need a big account to trade at that level. Therefore I'm trading tomorrow at £5 a point to prove I can do it. My target is to close the day with £50 more in my account than I began it with.
I have to trade like that every day, raising the stake gradually as I progress. Post regular winning days and I'll achieve my goal, if it takes me a year to build up to that it's time well spent and most defintely worth waiting for.
More tomorrow.
I made 21 trades last week and here's the bottom line.
20 successive successful scalps for a total profit of £176
The 21st trade lost £620 and I margined out.
Lesson there anyone?
Thanks Ads for the stop loss reminder.
Despite my investment of many hundreds of hours at seminars, reading books, studying videos and sat trading I need to remember I'm a relative newbie.
I have posted the stats above as a stark reminder that I am only ever one trade away from wiping out. From tomorrow every trade I make has a stop loss. GOLDEN RULE.
I still believe my original target of 10 points a day at £50 is easily achievablem however I need a big account to trade at that level. Therefore I'm trading tomorrow at £5 a point to prove I can do it. My target is to close the day with £50 more in my account than I began it with.
I have to trade like that every day, raising the stake gradually as I progress. Post regular winning days and I'll achieve my goal, if it takes me a year to build up to that it's time well spent and most defintely worth waiting for.
More tomorrow.
Friday, 14 December 2012
Oops
Until today (there's the clue to the tone of today's post) I have shown commendable discipline.
I've made 20 trades this week, all scalps and every one succesful for a toal profit of £176. I'd planned to trade a little today if the opportunity arose but work dictated otherwise, including a spell outside the house. I would have been delighted to close the week by taking £176 from the market.
About 6pm I opened my trading account and saw EUR/$ had risen quite substantially. I checked the news and found out why and plotted a techincal point at which to short. As I was hovering over the button my mobile rang, it was an old friend and I took the call.
I watched the price and shorted at my targeted level. The price hovered a little, a point or two either way and so I continued my conversation. A moment or two later it began climbing and as my focus was split I let it ride. At 5 points and £25 down I thought about closing but as I'd had 20 winning trades on the bounce I wanted to protect my 'record'. 20 points later I added to my short and before you know it I'm back into my old habit.
Not cutting a losing trade.
Adding to a losing trade
Trading while not fully focused.
The bottom line is I'm going into the weekend without drawing profit and on paper showing a slight loss on my £500 account. I've plotted a fib retracement and I'm fairly confident of a 25 point retracement which would be lovely.
The positives are I have strung 20 consecutive trades this week and feel comfortable trading lightly. The negative is I have potentially undone 4 days good work with one poor decision. That's why I am playing with such a small account size. I'm not looking to earn bundles right now, simply to pull a few hundred pounds a week would be lovely.
Nice weekend all and I'll update Monday.
I've made 20 trades this week, all scalps and every one succesful for a toal profit of £176. I'd planned to trade a little today if the opportunity arose but work dictated otherwise, including a spell outside the house. I would have been delighted to close the week by taking £176 from the market.
About 6pm I opened my trading account and saw EUR/$ had risen quite substantially. I checked the news and found out why and plotted a techincal point at which to short. As I was hovering over the button my mobile rang, it was an old friend and I took the call.
I watched the price and shorted at my targeted level. The price hovered a little, a point or two either way and so I continued my conversation. A moment or two later it began climbing and as my focus was split I let it ride. At 5 points and £25 down I thought about closing but as I'd had 20 winning trades on the bounce I wanted to protect my 'record'. 20 points later I added to my short and before you know it I'm back into my old habit.
Not cutting a losing trade.
Adding to a losing trade
Trading while not fully focused.
The bottom line is I'm going into the weekend without drawing profit and on paper showing a slight loss on my £500 account. I've plotted a fib retracement and I'm fairly confident of a 25 point retracement which would be lovely.
The positives are I have strung 20 consecutive trades this week and feel comfortable trading lightly. The negative is I have potentially undone 4 days good work with one poor decision. That's why I am playing with such a small account size. I'm not looking to earn bundles right now, simply to pull a few hundred pounds a week would be lovely.
Nice weekend all and I'll update Monday.
Thursday, 13 December 2012
Todays Profit £41
A whopping £41 profit (I do like the way that word resonates) over 9 trades.
Obviously that equates to a little under £5 profit per scalp but the point rght now is to post profitable days.
I guess I may have traded a total of 5 minutes. I evaluate support and resistance points and then get on with my day job (which involves looking at screens anyway). When prices get close I wait, pounce and exit, that's my trading plan in its entirety.
Obviously that equates to a little under £5 profit per scalp but the point rght now is to post profitable days.
I guess I may have traded a total of 5 minutes. I evaluate support and resistance points and then get on with my day job (which involves looking at screens anyway). When prices get close I wait, pounce and exit, that's my trading plan in its entirety.
Wednesday, 12 December 2012
Today's Profit £23, yesterday £100
No post yesterday due to business commitments.
I had a good day. I've restricted my stake to a maximum £10 a point, more often than not I'm playing £5.
I had a very welcome comment from Ads, thank you for your sound advice and for taking the time to post.
I've had my best successes when micro scalping by reading candles around support and resistance levels. I made 8 trades for my £100, the smallest netting me £2.50 and the largest £49. By restricting myself to scalping means I'm not going to leave a trade open overnight which was a weak point of mine.
A further achilles heel was my inability to cut and run losing trades. My solution to this problem is to drastically reduce my account size. I have only funded with £500. This means that I am forced to trade with a small stake. I have also decided to withdraw anything above that figure at close of play on a Friday. I have traded very lightly this week and my account balances stands at £630. I'm pleased with that.
If I can withdraw £200 Friday for spending a minimum time in front of a screen and pressing a few buttons how bad is that?
I had a good day. I've restricted my stake to a maximum £10 a point, more often than not I'm playing £5.
I had a very welcome comment from Ads, thank you for your sound advice and for taking the time to post.
I've had my best successes when micro scalping by reading candles around support and resistance levels. I made 8 trades for my £100, the smallest netting me £2.50 and the largest £49. By restricting myself to scalping means I'm not going to leave a trade open overnight which was a weak point of mine.
A further achilles heel was my inability to cut and run losing trades. My solution to this problem is to drastically reduce my account size. I have only funded with £500. This means that I am forced to trade with a small stake. I have also decided to withdraw anything above that figure at close of play on a Friday. I have traded very lightly this week and my account balances stands at £630. I'm pleased with that.
If I can withdraw £200 Friday for spending a minimum time in front of a screen and pressing a few buttons how bad is that?
Monday, 10 December 2012
3 month sabbatical
I blew my account.
Yep, that's right, I got greedy and burned through my whole budget.
I felt so sick, so foolish and so humbled that I didn't even want to look at a trading screen. I was angry with myself, actually DISGUSTED with myself.
But that's all in the past!
It would be a terrible shame to waste all those man hours spent educating myself only to turn my back on what I still believe can be a very good way to earn money.
I'm recording my thoughts this evening so I can learn from my mistake. I lost it all by playing £60+ a point on the dow. £15'000 gone, kaput, vanished, squandered, thrown into a dirty great black hole. Over £7000 lost in just 2 days.
So how can I even think about going back into this if I've lost so much?
It's simple.
I recognise I lost perspective and became greedy. Also I was so focused on my trading I lost every other area of my life.
So my new approach to trading is to TRADE LESS, WIN MORE.
I have to excercise patience and trade only around support and resistance levels and satisfy myself with scalping at those points. Also I'm ashamed when I look back at some of my daily successes such as £100-£300 profitable days and thought I was only small fry.
I would be delighted to scalp £50-£100 a day for trading just a few minutes.
Today I made two tiny trades just to ease myself back in. A £5 win on the ftse and £1 on EUR/$.
I must be content harvesting money for very little effort and I must also keep into context that it's just a small part of my daily life. I'm fortunate to earn money from my day job, I'm a Father, a husband, a son, I like to read, write and even watch a little telly.
Stike a good balance and I'll be a happy bunny, after all if I'd been content with £50-£100 a day I'd have £3-£6000 extra in my account these last 3 months for very little effort.
Long term plan is still to gain 10 points a day at £50 a point but to do that I must have a big enough account to play at that level, also the discipline to execute maybe just one trade that day.
It's good to be back.
Yep, that's right, I got greedy and burned through my whole budget.
I felt so sick, so foolish and so humbled that I didn't even want to look at a trading screen. I was angry with myself, actually DISGUSTED with myself.
But that's all in the past!
It would be a terrible shame to waste all those man hours spent educating myself only to turn my back on what I still believe can be a very good way to earn money.
I'm recording my thoughts this evening so I can learn from my mistake. I lost it all by playing £60+ a point on the dow. £15'000 gone, kaput, vanished, squandered, thrown into a dirty great black hole. Over £7000 lost in just 2 days.
So how can I even think about going back into this if I've lost so much?
It's simple.
I recognise I lost perspective and became greedy. Also I was so focused on my trading I lost every other area of my life.
So my new approach to trading is to TRADE LESS, WIN MORE.
I have to excercise patience and trade only around support and resistance levels and satisfy myself with scalping at those points. Also I'm ashamed when I look back at some of my daily successes such as £100-£300 profitable days and thought I was only small fry.
I would be delighted to scalp £50-£100 a day for trading just a few minutes.
Today I made two tiny trades just to ease myself back in. A £5 win on the ftse and £1 on EUR/$.
I must be content harvesting money for very little effort and I must also keep into context that it's just a small part of my daily life. I'm fortunate to earn money from my day job, I'm a Father, a husband, a son, I like to read, write and even watch a little telly.
Stike a good balance and I'll be a happy bunny, after all if I'd been content with £50-£100 a day I'd have £3-£6000 extra in my account these last 3 months for very little effort.
Long term plan is still to gain 10 points a day at £50 a point but to do that I must have a big enough account to play at that level, also the discipline to execute maybe just one trade that day.
It's good to be back.
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