21st October

Dear John

I promised to detail my days trading into an email following our phone call and Skype chats.

The day started really well. I picked up three pips in two trades but then I lost control of two trades and it went wrong. I stopped out on both at the max. I am guilty of committing the worst offence and I got them back. I had walked away from them and thought I would try to get them back by increasing my stake which I found is wrong but I did this because the trend was strong, the fall was strong and I regained the pips back without any problem. One can look at it as revenge but I did it as an exercise as well and when I entered the trade I knew because I told myself I’d never do this with real money. It went my way both times but I do realise I made a massive mistake and I learned through this. I learn from my mistakes and this was a good one. Today happened to be a good trading day and after recouping my losses I went on to make a further £250 using £25 per pip. I baled after 4 pips each time. I made my final £50 in two pips. I went very wrong here as well. The trend was a strong sell with long and regular candles and I increased the size of my stop to accommodate spikes. All indicators were strong and in my favour and I entered in when the parabolic dots were quite wide apart as well. I need to get it into my head to reduce my stops for scalping. It will come with practice. I need to practice to get out without a loss being more important than a win.

The lesson I learned here is yes it was a great trading day and I was able to make good money however it could have been a mediocre trading day and I could have gone out with losses. I am frightened of loosing and once I can accept that a days trading can go against my by 4 or 5 pips I will be able to relax. To see a minus on my Trading Analyzer kicks me in the gut every time

I also learned that the smallest distraction costs me dearly. Both trades went out of control with the phone ringing and an email coming in for my attention. I have decided that when I trade my MS Outlook will be closed down; my phones will all be in a box in the kitchen cupboard where I won’t hear them. Distractions and loss of control due to distractions have been the reason for my worst mistakes. When I am focussed I enter trades relaxed and get out relaxed as well.

Trading £25 a pip is a whole new ball game and I don’t enter trades unless it looks promising. Because a smaller number of pips add up to larger sums of money, my approach is different and when I do enter a trade and the run is good I tend to be more relaxed than when I traded £1 a pip and took more risks. I’ve got it into my head not to look at a range under 40 pips. There must be enough time to have two confirming strong candles before I enter the trade. I will practice with the veridical line ruler on VT as I found when I put that in place when the MACD converges and moves over 0 that it gives me a good indicator of an entry signal. I saw several times when the market did random things yesterday while trading with Darren. It convinced me indicators are just that – indicators.

I could have kept quiet and just absorbed the losses and regains but I’d not have learned by it as I had to be chastised for cocking up and breaking a cardinal rule. To be honest I feel worse at the thought that I disappointed you than in the loss. I value you as a mentor and to be honest you must have a mentor to guide you. It’s part of the whole package

My interview went well. They tried to talk me down and I told them to go pound sand I was not backing down. They were amazed and then backed down as they thought I desperately need the job. Now I can decide when I want to give this job up when my trading will slot in place. I am lucky I have an inheritance that I can fall back on but I don’t want to. This is purely for emergency purposes and I’m good at money management so I’ve good savings as well. I also have many jobs so fingers in many pies. I need to amalgamate and get a life.

Enjoy your beers -

Kind regards - Desiree