Trade #2 July 15th, 2009 2:15 a.m. Sold 10 Lots of EUR/USD @ 1.40865 7

The market has me currently in a dilemma. I was awoken last night round 1:30 a.m. As my alert for 1.4100 break through had been penetrated. I was gaining confidence that it would go lower past the 1.4080. The market went back up to 1.4090 – 1.4099 several times. I bought twice 5 additional lots as I knew that this was the down trend I was so patiently waiting for. Then, it went past 1.4100 to almost 1.4120. I was down $40.00. It finally went past the resistant level of 1.4100 again. I sat there and watched the market until 4:40 a.m. I finally closed out the two 5 lot positions as it retraced back to 1.4120. I lost $20.00. As I wanted to get some rest, I placed a stop at 1.4130 and went to bed. Now the market is at 1.4087 which is around my entry point. In 1 hour I leave for work. Do I keep my position and my stop or do I close out the position and possibly loss the move as I can’t be here to watch. Subsequently, I would be breaking another rule I made too. Never be in a trade when not at the computer. If I get stopped out, I would loss about $30.00. The reward is much greater as a head a shoulder has formed and looks like a potential downtrend will establish. I plan to let my trade ride. We’ll just have to see what happens. Will I get stopped out? Will I make money?

The reason I entered this trade was because the market got close to going below the 60 minute SMA and I was going to buy. It never stayed below the average line.

Lesson Learned

Wait for confirmation before entering a trade if market falls below the SMA.

Trade # 1 7-15-2009 Sold 10 lots @ 1.40858

At 6:13 p.m. I placed a sell of 10 lots on the EUR/USD. It’s now 7:21 p.m and it has bounced back above the 15 minute movnig average. I’m currently down $12.30. I decided to test a trading stratagy of buying above and below the moving average. I brought my account up to $200.00 so I wouldn’t be shaken out of my trades on fear. I should have waited for a confirmation of several bars below before trading but again, I became impatient.

8:25 p.m. I bought 10 lots @ 1.40766 for a profit of $9.20. I sold because I wanted to profit at least $10.00. I felt I would lose all of my profit. It turns out that as of right now I was right. It has retraced back up to 1.40831.

I think I’m to switch to trading of the 30 minute chart to see if I get better results.

Patience

Patience is one of the weaknesses I have to work on. I’ve noticed that in my trading and musical pursuits I lack a lot of patience. I’m at the kindergarten level at all of my endeavors. However, I want to be at the college level overnight. Patience isn’t something that can be learned in school or a book. It is however essential to succeeding in anything.

I’ve been practicing guitar songs, playing the piano, and of course trading. I’ve changed my approach to watching 15 minute charts on the EUR/USD to execute trades now. Signals take longer to develop but are more reliable. The five minute charts had me jumping in and out of trades to quickly, subsequently, losing money. As far as practicing, it’s very painful to hear myself playing Skip to My Lou, but I must master the song.

Over the last few trading days, I’ve taken some losses but still been able to maintain a balance high enough to trade five mini lots without getting a margin call.

Sunday and Monday EUR/USD session, I decided to try a simple moving average trading system. The volatility was so low it was impossible to make any money. Last night I had entered a trade and was right but get shaken out because of fear. Another lesson I have to master. I took an $8.00 loss rather than a $20.00 gain because I was over leveraged. Is there any other way to get my account up in value other than over-trading. Yes, patience and hitting just a few singles.

I had a chance this morning to reflect on my dieting experience yesterday. Amazingly, I didn’t die. I was able to stay under 1500 calories. I didn’t have any meat, sugar, nor caffeine. I did feel better when I woke up this morning. I didn’t have a headache. I did however have some coffee this morning. I thought, maybe just in moderation, once a week, but no sugar.  Tomorrow, I will impliment jogging in my routine. Early in the morning, I’ll start around 6:00 a.m.

Revelations 

Life seems to be no more than a series of cycles. Habits repeated over and over again. This week is no different than last week. I went to work. I got off work at the same time. I ate at the same places, had the same types of food. Understanding the cycles and being aware of them seems to be the key to be able to move into another cycle or set of habits. In turn, life transforms itself into a new experiences.

Diet

Breakfast

8 oz of fruit juice – 130 calories

2 pieces of wheat toast  with margarine – 300 calories

1 Venti coffee with half and half cream  100 calories

Today I’m going to venture on a new journey. I’ve thought deeply about the subjects of love, relationships, happiness, money, health, and life. I’m going to start focusing on my health and relationships again. Yesterday, I went to the movies to see Public Enemy. Afterwards, I stat outside with my sketch book and started drawing. Nothing can replace companionship. Not art, my photography, music, writing, singing, or how much money one makes.

Diet

I once kept a journal of my diet.

Morning – 10:00 a.m. – 10 oz of juice – 130 calories

I just jumped on the scale and I’m 223lbs. I’ve gained 18lbs since last year.

Lunch – 12:18 p.m.

10 Crackers – 260 calories

2 oz of Cheese – 200 Calories

2:10 p.m.

I have an extreme headache now and very low energy. I’ve had no coffee or sugar. I feel like I’m withdrawing. It’s time to take a nap.

5:15 p.m.

8 oz of juice – 130 calories.

I just signed up at diet.com. I was pretty impressed with their website. I was in need of learning about dieting since I can’t figure out what to eat for dinner.

7:30 p.m.

Salsa  7 tablespoons – 70 calories

Blue  Corn Chips 15-20 chips – 300 calories.

I’ve had a good few trading days. The book that I’m reading, High Probability Trading by Marcel Link has been a tremendous help my trading. Over the last few days, I’ve had 13 trades, which 11 of them were profitable. I still need to continue to read and learn.

On July 7th, I had to add another $25.00 to my account.

I’ve set a few new rules for myself.

1. Don’t trade within consolidation periods
2. Don’t try and time a bottom or top
3. Always use limits

As a part of my earnestness to become a trader, one of the ideas suggested in Marcel Link book is to keep a diary of your trades. I plan on doing this here as painful as it is. Last night, my loss was $84.98. I lost 80% of my account… Again. What happened? After reading not to overleveraged myself, knowing that I’ve lost most of my money through over-leveraging, I over leveraged several trades. Eight in total. Not only did I over leverage my trades, I over traded, chased the market, didn’t wait until a pattern was developed, and traded much to early.

I thought of trying a new strategy. Trading within the Bollinger Bands. I did this too prematurely. It seems it would have worked if just would have waited for a breakout. It hugged the bottom.

Lessons Learned – Rules

• Don’t trade during hours of 4:00 p.m. 1:00 p.m.
• Don’t overleverage my trades
• Don’t over-trade (Eight was just too much)
• Trade only Breakout
• Don’t trade during consolidation periods
• Trade 15 minute charts

For the last couple of days, I have been reading a new book I bought, High Probability Trading by Marcel Link. I have commited to improve my trading by reading daily. For the first two chapters, Marcel discusses all the mistakes and pitfalls novice traders make. It’s the main reason I bought it as I was reading it in Borders. Overtrading, chasing the market, being overleveraged have been all the mistakes I’ve made since I’ve been trading.

If there is any constant patterns that I have noticed about myself from blogging, it’s my constant pattern of changing directions. However, I think I have finally found a passion that I’m going to follow through on. I’m going to become a trader. Why a trader? Trading will allow my to earn money, while still exploring my other interest in life. Trading is not subject to any economic downturns. One can make money if the economy is going bad. And since a person’s life is reduced to making money, why not focus on making the most of it.