JCP's Journal

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April 16, 2010 update

Postby JCP » Thu Apr 15, 2010 11:48 pm

Missed the CHFJPY opportunity. Took half my AUDUSD position at 9293 for +20 pips. Letting the other half go for a bit longer. Moving SL just above todays high at 9339.
Attachments
1_AUDUSD_041510_Daily_C8293.jpg
JCP
 
Posts: 67
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 4:36 pm

AUDUSD

Postby JCP » Fri Apr 16, 2010 4:25 pm

Closed AUDUSD at 9255 for +58 pips.
Attachments
2_AUDUSD_041610_Daily_S9255=+90.jpg
JCP
 
Posts: 67
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 4:36 pm

End of the week summary

Postby JCP » Fri Apr 16, 2010 4:26 pm

Only placed the two AUDUSD trades this week for a total of +77. I plan on making some adjustments to my method before next week. More to come.
JCP
 
Posts: 67
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 4:36 pm

Rules

Postby JCP » Sat Apr 17, 2010 11:35 am

What is Method #1:
1. Trade swing high and lows in areas that contain strong support and resistance with solid confluence.
2. Look for PA on Daily only
3. Once PA is identified make a decision whether or not to place trade at close of bar or wait for retracement.
4. If waiting for retracement, look for PA on lower TFs, 1H and/or 4H.
*I am struggling with #3 and 4 above. Seems I am missing more trades by waiting for retrace versus just purchasing at the close of the daily. This week I will be purchasing at the close of the daily. After reviewing all my charts, seems my success rate would be very high just purchasing at the close.

My Mental Approach:
1. Every trade is unique and needs to be treated as such.
2. Anything from break even and up are winners!
3. Gauge my trading success on a weekly basis, each trade made is working toward my weekly target.
4. This is a business, treat each trade as business transaction, not as a basis of self worth.

Planning the Trade:
1. At the end of each day, scan the daily charts looking for PA in good locations, and update watchlist accordingly. Add to Journal along with charts.
2. Throughout the day keep an eye on the 4H charts for all pairs in my watchlist, watching for good price action. Also keep an eye on other pairs, time permitting.

Placing and Managing the Trade:
1. Once a purchase is made, immediately set stop loss and limit order. If price moves 15 to 20 PIPs past my entry, set SL to BE. This will stop me out of many trades, but my main concern is preserving my capital. Add to Journal along with charts.
2. Once the trade is closed add to journal.

Money Management :
This will be a brief summary. I will have a separate file detailing Money Management strategies and recording profit/loss.
1. I trade in mini lots, $1 per pip. The amount of lots I trade will vary as the account grows.
2. I will be incorporating various MM strategies as the account grows.
3. I will be have a set weekly target amount, in pips, once this target is reached and/or passed, I cannot go back under.

Business Strategy:
This will be a brief summary. I will have a separate file that outlines this in greater detail.
1. #1 goal is to make money, not prove anything to anyone or myself.
2. Use my MM strategies to build an account large enough to trade on a full time basis.
3. I am confident that I will achieve my goals. I can visualize myself making money and trading successfully.

Goal #1 (Phase 1):
I am breaking up my financial progress into Phases. I have a separate file that goes into greater detail.
1. Completing Phase 1 is my first goal. Phase 1 is to reach $500 profit trading in single lots.

Definitions:
Detailed definitions for most of these can be found on the J16 thread at forexfactory.com
1. SR (Support & Resistance): Historical areas that price has respected on multiple occasions.
2. Confluence: Trendlines, 50% & 61.8% FIBS, Round #’s, 200 and 65 SMAs.
3. PA (Price Action): PA consists of 3 bar formations as well as SR on the 5M. See descriptions below.
a. PIN (Pinocchio Bar): Open and close in top/bottom 1/4 of bar. Must noticeably stick out from surrounding bars (at least half the bar)
b. BEOB (Bearish Outside Bar): Bar completely engulfs previous bar. Close must be within top/bottom 1/4 of bar
c. BUOB (Bullish Outside Bar): Bar completely engulfs previous bar. Close must be within top/bottom 1/4 of bar

My Journal:
1. The sole purpose of keeping a journal is to record what I am doing and why. The process in itself keeps me in check. Having pages of charts and thoughts to reflect on are priceless.
2. Why have a public journal? I struggled over this for sometime. There are many reasons why one would create a public journal. Some would say to boost the ego? What about when losing, it could be embarrasing? Honestly, I believe that in my effort to treat this as a business I need some sort of public entity. Somewhere I can exchange ideas, thoughts with others. As we all know this can be a lonely journey, so have human interaction can be very benificial.
3. I will not be posting my account balance yet as I will be shifting funds between accounts over next few months. At the end of each week I will post profit/loss in pips.
JCP
 
Posts: 67
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 4:36 pm

Week of April 18, 2010

Postby JCP » Sat Apr 17, 2010 11:49 am

Nothing on the Daily or Weekly charts, will wait for something to show up during the week.
JCP
 
Posts: 67
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 4:36 pm

USDCHF

Postby JCP » Tue Apr 20, 2010 8:10 pm

Shorted USDCHF yesterday based on the daily pin at 0644, and sold at 0604 for +40 pips.
Attachments
USDCHF_041910_Daily_S0644.jpg
USDCHF_041910_Daily_C0604.jpg
JCP
 
Posts: 67
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 4:36 pm

EURJPY

Postby JCP » Thu Apr 22, 2010 6:19 pm

Shorted EURJPY yesterday based on the BEOB on the 4H TF for +39 pips.
Attachments
EURJPY_042110_4H_S124.78.png
EURJPY_042110_4H_C124.39=+39.png
JCP
 
Posts: 67
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 4:36 pm

Re: JCP's Journal

Postby JCP » Tue Nov 22, 2011 3:22 pm

I was recently going through many of my old personal trading journals and thought about this site, as this is really where I started. I had completely forgotten about this journal, and found it to an incredible gauge for how far I have come. I would like to start posting trades here again, and figured I would continue with the same journal I started with a couple of years ago.

2011 has been my first consistently profitable year. It hasn't been easy, but it has been consistent. Prior to this year I was consistently losing and/or breaking even, with no real rhyme or reason to anything I was doing. I consistently bounced between methods/systems not really giving anything a real chance to grow and develop.

It will be extremely difficult to describe where I am at in one sitting, so I will continue to expand over the coming days/weeks.

I look forward to sharing my trades and thoughts here again.
JCP
 
Posts: 67
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 4:36 pm

Strategies

Postby JCP » Wed Nov 23, 2011 2:13 pm

Over the last few months I have narrowed down my approach to two main strategies:

The first is a long term strategy based on the daily time frame that aims to catch a good solid trend for 1000 pips. It will obviously not have many winners in any given year on a single pair, but it's likely to have one or two per year, with 2-5 attempts, risk being about 100 pips per entry. I really like this method due to the fact that it does not require much work, and with the power of compounding it's amazing how quickly an account can grow!

The second is a short term strategy based on the 5M time frames on EU, GU and AU. I trade this primarily during the U.S. session, and average 0-3 trades a day, making sure to close all trades by end of day, no matter what the outcome.

More to come in the following weeks. I will work on some charts describing what it is that I am looking for in a trade.
JCP
 
Posts: 67
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 4:36 pm

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