2nd December

Tuesday trading broke the spell

Dear John

Well today was better. I traded by myself. Leigh also traded but he never told me when he entered trades. I was hesitant at first not because of the money y because of the money (I have decided I’m putting away money as a training so I have taken a more relaxed attitude) but I was bothered by all the losses.

Trade 1 = 2 pips, trade 2 = 4 pips and trade 3 = 34 pips. Trades 1 and 2 were on the Euro which wasn’t good today but the 34 pips were on cable. We didn’t get into the climb of this morning. We were away from our computers and when we got there it was in a good trade but we couldn’t make out if it was ending the run or not. You did tell me to trade breakouts and I had a trend line indicating break out. Yes the breakout happened as I predicted and over 100 pips were to be made. What fascinated me was that each candle was over 50 pips long and the drops in each candle were 40 pip drops. That is serious volatility and if we’d been in that trade we’d have been re-quoted time and again.

I took the smaller pips today and when it hesitated and I got out. I don’t think the Euro was the correct currency to trade today. I was also in profit almost immediately which again showed me my entry was good albeit short lived.

The 34 pip was showing a decline and we both decided to enter that trade. I went in later than Leigh as I waited for it to retrace more before entering and it did go as much at 15 against me at one point but then it turned and kept going down. I thought to get out at 0 because it was messing about so much between -5 and -10 but when it raced past 0 it was ok to stay in. I then trailed my stop till I was 15 pips in profit. I kept trailing it. I feel very secure when I have my stop in. I’ve had trades that went so fast there was no time for a stop before I got out but when the stop is in place its ok and I can then decide where to get out mentally. When it reached 34 pips I saw it was approaching the support level and the hesitation started again between 32 and 34 pips. When it reached 34 pips and hesitated I said to Leigh I’m getting out and he followed suit. We closed VT immediately and didn’t keep looking in case we were tempted to get in again. I find when I’ve reached my target I’m quite happy to walk away.

Right now I’m concentrating on pips and not $’s I see the sum in my account as pips and that’s helping me to keep the money side away. With my recent losses I’ve got so nervous to loose even more than I’ve not taken the plunge when it looks good but this afternoon with cable I said to Leigh ‘sod it I’m going in’ and I’m glad I did. It feels good to be able to write and tell you I made a few wins.

Working on my own is also better. I have two computers running and I can watch and work. I have set alerts a few pips before my entry point so I can decide what to do. The cable was in an interesting position today. Not only was it in a horizontal channel but there was also a diagonal channel within it. I had trend lines for both and I said to Leigh when it pushes beyond the diagonal trend line it’s a buy and wasn’t it just. We just stood there and gaped. Had I been alone I’d have entered the trade and traded the 5m candle on its own. I really need to separate myself from everything around me.

I want to learn more about the various triangles. I use trend as well as support and resistance lines but know too little about triangles although I do draw them in I need to work out when the breakouts occur. I find at time when there is a strong buy or sell that the support lines give false signals and they cause me to hesitate about going in.

Today I started on the Deal Book 360 tutorial and spoke to GFT a few times. They have assigned Yamile Moss to me and she’s been amazing. I have inconsistencies between my desktop and laptop and the platform doesn’t like two instances running at the same time. VT doesn’t mind if you run your account on more than one machine but I need to work a way round the Deal Book and see if it’s possible. Anyway they showed me how to put the bid and ask lines in and I was even able to help them with a problem they couldn’t work out. So now I’m setting up my charts and trying to get used to the layout. VT has spoilt me but I think I’ll love this too. The few demo trades I’ve done have been super. I will follow all their videos.

Re our conversation and the Dealbook and difficult for beginners. If you teach them DealBook from the getgo they wont know any different and will learn to read the charts from Deal Book. Its only us who’ve been spoilt with VT that know different so don’t be deterred by that. I will help in all ways I can being a newbie myself and I like to keep my workplace clean and simple. Once I get the hang of exporting setups I’ll email them through to you.

I think putting a blog on your site is a brilliant idea. I’ve feel I’ve disappointed you in not reaching my target as I had envisaged. I am still determined to give up my day job and today was a quiet day and I was able to concentrate on the charts and get zoned in. However I think a fall after a good run should be shown to folk that its not all roses and you will have times when things just don’t go right.

Great chatting to you. Hope you win tonight at ten pin bowling

Cheers. I’m off for a walk

Desiree