Thread: MickDs Common Sense journal.

Originally Posted by ;

Ahh, I see where you have gone off to! Fantastic stuff; I'll add your journal to my subscription list.

Great, and you're advised to chime in whenever you like, every bit helps .

Trading update:
Well, while waiting for my major move that I have put to bed for today I've been playing the 5m with fairly good success now. I went short following the close of my long position above and picked up another 30 pips. I've just re-entered long, I was probably a bit early but we will see, the cost was telling me that I had been Beginning to go the wrong way though and it was time for a shift or to take inventory of my position

Ahh, I see where you have gone ! Good stuff; I'll add your journal to my subscription list.

Here's the chart for reference -

Still waiting for the breakout with my long order about the 4h, though I did get bored (itchy trigger finger) yesterday and just started watching cost activity ofter the gap available on the 5 15m charts. The cost started to head north but neglected, I waited patiently for the cost to return below lowest/low for the morning and went short to grab roughly 50 pips.

I sold once I saw that the activity changing by going flat, waited for some confirmation of the change and entered long @ 227.45, I give it a room for the sl and set a trailing stop of 75 and left it immediately to combine another orders should they come good.

So far I'm up about 75 pips and the commerce still looks ok at this point for its longer term although the cost is discovering some good immunity at 228.20-40, I will nurse this one this morning and I may take some gains in case.

Lt;editgt; just closed for 68 pips, the cost was heading south to the tick graph and the range has been twisting up very tight, somethings going to happen, either good or bad for my long-term trade but I wanted to keep this profit, we'll see.

Well, that didn't work out how I had hoped results under.

I need to work with a single time period and stick with it I believe, I'm using the 4h to decide which way I'll play with it watching the 15m all day only to see it move against me.
I also believe I'm pulling the trigger too early, there are a couple of reasons for this, experience and lack thereof for one but I am beginning to believe that the period of day I choose my trading set ups is not helping either. If I can not be alert to the actions I'm really going to have to play it long term, that is just stick to the 4h, put up my orders and allow the market come to me.
The best trades I've had have all come from placing a trailing stop (quite wide) and leaving it overnight. I have picked up many hundreds of pips this way and it was only by knowing 'it's only a demo account' I would have left a commerce open like that - but it definitely works!

Another factor to think about is just how many pips do I want? Obviously I intend to take heaps and it is possible, emotionally though it's quite hard when you see the graphs all day, it's a hard call to see you gain 50 pips very quickly only to watch it return 200 then rise another 300 or so if all goes well.

Anyhow, I've left my buy orders in from the previous trade, I'll place my first stop loss in 2xATR from the 1h graph with all the trailing stop at 1xATR from the 1h and see how that goes tonight.

I called the journal 'common sense' to ensure when I enter a trade here I think hard about what I'm doing and it does indeed make sense given current market conditions.

Ok, first trade amounts attached below (note that gain pillar is in pips with complete being cash amount), I have two units in so far, one in gain, another a couple of pips behind still. Last night using this plan (or a part of, I missed the last half) I pulled 1288 pips from a 400 pip move and also my last entry got stopped out -90 pips before the recent continuation I'm on today.
Let us hope it still has some space left!

Why?
Working with the 'Dr. Bob' gave me a confirmation signal in the 15m, CCI_8534 on the 4H still 'in the zone' (ie. well above 0).
Yen looks weak and pound looks strong with different pairs.

Strategy:
Purchase in increments of 40 pips with buy stops with s/l in 70 pips each trailing at 65 pips. Nurse the initial 2 components until 3rd unit, if it looks like it's going bad in a rush, cut losses short, the first unit may save a number of the second unit.
If all components seem set to go this afternoon, set up some more buy stops then place and leave uncovered overnight

Take profits:
if we made it beyond the initial 3 units safely we should at least come out b/e or a bit of gain, if it keeps going the 65 pip t/s should lock some decent profits for most units, if it's still going in the morning I will nurse it until cost action tells me we are completed, tighten stops up and wait patiently leaving last to the continuation or take it outside based on price action.

My name is Mick and that is my - ideally - 'common sense' trading diary. I will be trading on newspaper for a while untill I kind out and firm up my egy and begin generating some good profits in demonion mode.

I started it for a couple reasons the most important one being to keep me honest, it's just too easy to change your mind on what your egy is half way through a trade . Another is that I was starting to take up ring width on capilist88's journal . Have a look over there since he has some interesting reading at web site and his diary.

A bit of background -
I am 38 and have been analyzing stocks for a couple years using daily charts, I stumbled upon cfd's and Foreign Exchange, there is a couple reasons for this routine, the first is that I don't have a great deal of cash so finding a workable trading instrument in which fees are not as likely to encroach on profits having a small account proved to be a significant consideration. Another is that in Australia, it has only been lately that cfd's have come to the industry in addition to other derivatives into the masses. I have seen Foreign Exchange before but was a little bit overwhelmed by the quick day trading/high risk picture it depicted but now I know that it's no different to any other market, it's just structured differently using another behaviour - one which I enjoy!

Why do I want to trade?
Obviously there is trading for cash, that is probably the driving force behind many traders, myself included, but there is also the challenge.
For instance, I do a bit of programming. I started using vba and finally got to assembler because I just had to know how it worked! It was one big mystery and the markets to me personally are much the same in that there is always something to research, learn and execute.
I don't program in assembler but I know how it functions and it has helped my programming hugely. Learning about the markets is precisely the same thing, as you may not utilize techniques that bankers do it still helps to know how it ticks.
Although I believe I could play demo forever really, it's great fun, if I begin to turn out routine 'high scores' I will then begin playing for real.

Why Common Sense?
While I don't have any real trades under my belt I have been around long enough to realise a couple of things about trading the markets:

- Cost action is king, while historic patterns and support/resistance are no promise of a move in your favour, the price action before and 'at' these points is essential. After all, how a number of different men and women see the very same patterns and act on these if right or wrong?
I also like to observe things in greater time frames and drill down to lower time frames to 'see' what has/is occurring to provide me a much better look at which way I will play it.

- Money management is paramount, not just risk (capital preservation) but cash maximisation plans as well. IOW, cut losses small and increase profits. I seriously think that is where to earn money and will be my main focus over what else, the market holds no guarantees as to management but when I am ready with a fantastic cash egy I will be set for when it moves within my favour (IOW, when the economy comes to me).

- Indiors ' are 'old information' (i.e. lagging) but are handy to perhaps confirm a move or to use simply as another way of looking at price action and 'help' determine entry and exits. I use mainly the stoch for OB/OS levels as a price management index and CCI stations for entrances and exits. I have only started with CCI's but they look promising as a filter for better trades.
Have a look at bobblongs thread for some more info, it's a great thread.


Anyway, I will write some of my egy down with some other criteria for my trading choices shortly, don't hesitate to jump in if you have any questions or guie along the way, both are extremely welcome.
What I would ask though is this is my diary, not a egy and will be subject to change as I see fit so please don't ask me to carve it in stone for you, besides I believe you need to create your own, there is no use after something you don't completely and whole heartedly know and think in. It will not function as system and it will not work, just pick up bits and pieces from here and other threads and piece something together that works for you - and stick with it.

Cheers,
Mick.