Hi John
I hope your course went well and you are enjoying your trip.
I'm sorry I wasout and unable to chat to your group. I'm flying to the States tomorrow andwill be on holiday so am thinking of taking longer term trades. Setting them on the 4h and daily and see what happens. I've spent a lot of time on the larger time frames and this past week and only looked at naked charts using my Murray Math indicator and fractals. It gave me a much clearer picture and my trades were better. I ended the week with good pips and today Monday made a quick 30 on cable. By looking at the larger time frame I'm less likely to get out of the trades as fast as there is only one bar to watch and not the 1m bars which I've not traded in several weeks now I'm finding the more I look at charts the more I am moving away from indicators.
When I draw trend lines on my charts and with my support and resistance I can decide where I'll get in and wait for my entry. If it happens fine and if not that's also ok. I'm still only trading EU and GU. I do enjoy talking to other traders. There is so much to learn and I love hearing their stories of how they made it and those who are still struggling to get there. It puts it all nicely in perspective.
I know you are not in favour of too much research and studying up but I have such an enquiring mind and I'm picking up a lot of new things. I try them if they work I keep them and if not I dump them. Most of the traders I talk to are full time traders doing very well and they are very encouraging. I don't follow their trades. I decide on my own and enter them on my own as well. My EU trade last week I was short while they were long. I regret closing my short as I'd be in serious pips now but that's part of the learning curve. It never came close to my stop. I also check out the free trade calls and if they coincide with what I'm seeing I will enter the trade. Right now the FX360 are saying buy the EU at 2948 but it's dropped quite a bit so I'll wait before I make a decision.
It's quite late in the day as well and I need to pack for my trip to the States so I think may be content with my 30 pips today. I also practiced hedging and I don't like it at all. I can see folk losing alot of money this way. I'm also going for pips and consistency. I will remain on $1 a pip till I make consistent pips. I am not seeing it as money and if I could trade smaller lots I would do so. I find I need to push this time limit of going full time right out of my head as it came very close to destroying me. Everymorning I used to get up and say I need 10 pips today and I have to make this target and wham my first trade took that and more away.
Imagine had I resigned from my day job end of December. I'd be a basket case now. Now I don't care if it takes me a year or two to make it. Where as before I felt I had to get this right so I can replace my day job. Now I've given that idea up as a pipe dream and when entering trades I don't care and worry so much anymore. I'm more relaxed and it's showing in my trading. I need a comfort zone. I know you disagree with this as you feel once I have one I won't make it as a serious trader but my outlook has changed drastically and I have made such strides in the last two months that I believe I will make a better trader as I am not terrified a trade will go against me.
My determinationto do well is as strong as ever. The only thing that's changed is how I'm going about it and the time limit. I spoke to a chap in because his partner feels he's goofing off and having this pressure is affecting his trading. He makes some weird trades and I think he is desperately looking for trades. Enters them and makes one loss after another. This is one of the reasons I love chatting to other traders. Shows to pack for the USA. I will not be around much over the next three weeks due to travelling around the USA and visiting and spending time with Leigh as he's on leave for the first two weeks in May.
Chat when you get back and hopefully my Skype will be performing better Regards Desiree
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
12th April
Hi John
I hope you are having a good Easter weekend. I'm home alone. Leigh is in Shanghai, the markets are closed and for me the best time to kick back and cruise the net. It was great chatting to you with Darren this last week.
I've not written many emails as things have been ticking along nicely. Every day I learn something new. I am spending hours on the forums reading different threads and finding out what folk do. There are so many systems out there and its great to see end of the day they all come up with the same results. I'm still working on my system but before I enter a trade now I open the daily, 4h, 1h naked charts with no indicators and draw my trendlines and support and resistance. I do put in the fibo levels to see if they coincide and they do almost every time.
Then I look for possible trades and go to the lower time frames for my entries. I have three trades in mind for tomorrow or Tuesday depending when they happen. If they do great if not that's also fine. I'm seeing that the less indicators you have on the charts the better off I am. My system of late has let me down and it's my fault. I use a system based on the daily and 4h for shorter term trades. Yes they still give me profits but the entries are less reliable. So over the last two weeks I've concentrated on the 1hr chart and although still using my system as a safety net I've been concentrating on looking for entries around support and resistance. Not watching the 1m and 5m bars go nuts I concentrate on 1 candle and with a stop a good distance away and I feel far more relaxed and I've even walked away from the computer.
The big thing is to take profit. On Thursday I entered a Dow trade, was 15 pips in profit and as we had decided to let the trade run didn't take profit. It turned against us and I stopped out at 20. My stop was actually at 35 pips away but once I saw things turn I added new trendlines and saw immediately I was in the wrong trade and stopped out at resistance. I'm mad at myself for not listening to my gut feeling to get out when I had the opportunity. But it was only 20 pips and they are easy to get back. I'm also entering trades and if they go against me go in the opposite direction and make back my losses. This way I have been able to either break even or make profit and out of 14 trades I've had 1 loss. I try to only trade with the trend now and if my entry isn't correct and it goes against me enter at a higher level and then have two trades running. I'm not usually greedy and take my profits when I see them.
My son is trading with me and when I make 27 pips he'll be making 50 by having two trades running using what I just described. I am still nervous about losses and my kibbles and bits strategy has paid off time and again. I've signed up to several rss feeds for free trade calls and although I don't always take them I do like to check on my own charts and what they are seeing saying. Gft have a good one that I've followed for a while now. If I like what they see I enter the trade.
I'm using three websites for these trade calls and it's interesting to see how close they come in their calls. I won't follow these trade calls blindly but it's very satisfying seeing that I am on the right track. I keep learning and when I think back to 6 months ago when I went live I shudder. I wasn't ready. What I thought I knew then was total ignorance and wishful thinking. Only now do I feel confident to go live. Demo trading isn't a good indicator at all of how good a trader you are.
Rather open a micro account and trade at 10c a pip using real money than demo. You get to practice without killing you and you can make money while you learn. If you lose money you've not lost your shirt. I think I mentioned this in a previous email. I've also read so many reports and spoken to folk who have had beginners luck when they go live only to have it turn and bite them and clear out their accounts even faster.
Thank goodness I've not had that problem as I'm overly cautious but talking to traders who could not go wrong at the beginning I am becoming seriously sceptical because as Gabe my friend said you become over confident and think this is a breeze and wham it bites you in the butt. He made $15 000 within a couple of weeks and lost $30 000 even faster. So it will take me longer to make a living but when I do make a living I will understand what I am doing.
There are days when I don't trade and I wait for trades to come to me. I easily make 50 pips a week sometimes in two trades but some times it takes a few days to get those pips but I don't feel pressured to trade every day. And that's it for now. Take care and kind regards Desiree
I hope you are having a good Easter weekend. I'm home alone. Leigh is in Shanghai, the markets are closed and for me the best time to kick back and cruise the net. It was great chatting to you with Darren this last week.
I've not written many emails as things have been ticking along nicely. Every day I learn something new. I am spending hours on the forums reading different threads and finding out what folk do. There are so many systems out there and its great to see end of the day they all come up with the same results. I'm still working on my system but before I enter a trade now I open the daily, 4h, 1h naked charts with no indicators and draw my trendlines and support and resistance. I do put in the fibo levels to see if they coincide and they do almost every time.
Then I look for possible trades and go to the lower time frames for my entries. I have three trades in mind for tomorrow or Tuesday depending when they happen. If they do great if not that's also fine. I'm seeing that the less indicators you have on the charts the better off I am. My system of late has let me down and it's my fault. I use a system based on the daily and 4h for shorter term trades. Yes they still give me profits but the entries are less reliable. So over the last two weeks I've concentrated on the 1hr chart and although still using my system as a safety net I've been concentrating on looking for entries around support and resistance. Not watching the 1m and 5m bars go nuts I concentrate on 1 candle and with a stop a good distance away and I feel far more relaxed and I've even walked away from the computer.
The big thing is to take profit. On Thursday I entered a Dow trade, was 15 pips in profit and as we had decided to let the trade run didn't take profit. It turned against us and I stopped out at 20. My stop was actually at 35 pips away but once I saw things turn I added new trendlines and saw immediately I was in the wrong trade and stopped out at resistance. I'm mad at myself for not listening to my gut feeling to get out when I had the opportunity. But it was only 20 pips and they are easy to get back. I'm also entering trades and if they go against me go in the opposite direction and make back my losses. This way I have been able to either break even or make profit and out of 14 trades I've had 1 loss. I try to only trade with the trend now and if my entry isn't correct and it goes against me enter at a higher level and then have two trades running. I'm not usually greedy and take my profits when I see them.
My son is trading with me and when I make 27 pips he'll be making 50 by having two trades running using what I just described. I am still nervous about losses and my kibbles and bits strategy has paid off time and again. I've signed up to several rss feeds for free trade calls and although I don't always take them I do like to check on my own charts and what they are seeing saying. Gft have a good one that I've followed for a while now. If I like what they see I enter the trade.
I'm using three websites for these trade calls and it's interesting to see how close they come in their calls. I won't follow these trade calls blindly but it's very satisfying seeing that I am on the right track. I keep learning and when I think back to 6 months ago when I went live I shudder. I wasn't ready. What I thought I knew then was total ignorance and wishful thinking. Only now do I feel confident to go live. Demo trading isn't a good indicator at all of how good a trader you are.
Rather open a micro account and trade at 10c a pip using real money than demo. You get to practice without killing you and you can make money while you learn. If you lose money you've not lost your shirt. I think I mentioned this in a previous email. I've also read so many reports and spoken to folk who have had beginners luck when they go live only to have it turn and bite them and clear out their accounts even faster.
Thank goodness I've not had that problem as I'm overly cautious but talking to traders who could not go wrong at the beginning I am becoming seriously sceptical because as Gabe my friend said you become over confident and think this is a breeze and wham it bites you in the butt. He made $15 000 within a couple of weeks and lost $30 000 even faster. So it will take me longer to make a living but when I do make a living I will understand what I am doing.
There are days when I don't trade and I wait for trades to come to me. I easily make 50 pips a week sometimes in two trades but some times it takes a few days to get those pips but I don't feel pressured to trade every day. And that's it for now. Take care and kind regards Desiree
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