Mike's journal

[babymonkey]

Being a newb is so frustrating. On the other hand, it's exciting to learn new things everyday. I have already lost $50.00 with my new forex account. I'll spare you the details, but it was typical stupidity you could expect from someone with so little XP.

I have an order in to Scottrade for 50 CBS at 26.50, set to buy Monday morning, We'll see how that works out. And I have my finger on the trigger of my new forex account, ready to get some payback from Friday's loss.

Still having fun,

-Mike

 

[babymonkey]

All right. Just three-four weeks in, and I am pulling out. Between Scottrade and FXCM I have lost about $150.00. I can see how trading can quickly escalate into an addiction, where the desire to earn back your losses can make you take risks and lose even more.

Thankfully I have put a stop to it early. Thanks to all of you that warned me. I am heading back to the real world with plans to just stack money and one day invest in real property. I like the steady returns that come from buying apartments without the bank. Forex is great for quick returns, but I'll take slow steady growth any day.

Mayb one day when I have more capital I'll come back and play this game again. I certainly don't regret the experience, or the lessons it has taught me. I feel much better having tried and failed than not having tried at all.

-Mike

 

[Splitlink]

Congratulations. I think that you are very wise. I thought that you would have lost more of that $10000 than you have. I'm glad that you have most of it intact.

 

[babymonkey]

I am back. Happy to be here. It has been almost a year since I first started learning about the markets, and I have been studying, not trading, ever since. Thankfully I have built up a nice income from my real profession (programmer). and I am still free-lancing so I have lots of time to do as I please.

I have good news to report, by not trading just saving consistently, I have increased my account to $40,000.00.

So recently I got bored, and decided to put $100.00 back in my FXCM account. I had left $2.50 in there to keep it open (thanks FXCM). So in my first week, I lost about $10.00 and my account was down to $92.50. I was doing all the typical newb stuff, clicking buy when I meant to click sell, setting entry orders that cancelled out each other, not setting a stop and getting called away, etc.

This week though, I am more comfortable with the FXCM platform, I understand how to set stops/limits and entry orders. I have been scalping 5-minute charts with just some simple Bollinger Bands, setting my stops fairly wide at first and then chasing the profits with them. Everything is manual, no trailing stops, just keeping my eye on the chart and deciding when to move. I am trying to discipline myself to only trade Fiber, and only when both London and New York are in session.

My trading goals have changed completely. I am not interested in the money, just in the trading. It is becoming a video game and I am having fun. The knot in my stomach has loosened considerably, now I just want to win for the sake of winning, rather than the money I could make. Trying to make 1% per day, so far this week I am on track.

 

[babymonkey]

Period from 10-21-12 to 10-25-12 Account balance $97.70

 

[babymonkey]

Well I have a story to tell. After posting about being so "disciplined" I really went and stuck my head you know where.

Drinking and trading certainly don't mix well. I was up late suffering from a touch of insomnia, just excited by my successful week. I thought, "I'll stay up and try trading when London opens". The chart below shows the results, I got bored of watching and decided to get in at a bad time rather than waiting for a breakout or a steady trend. Ugly and Scary. Probably some of the riskiest trades I have ever made. I watched my carefully earned profits from the week vaporize with one stupid decision. I was so mad! >-(

The story does end well though. After my loss I was determined, I summoned all of my willpower and trusted the words "What goes Up....". So I setup a trade immediately after my loss and rode that baby back down recovering about half. Then I set another one and went to bed, thinking I was done for, fully expecting to wake up to a sorry account balance.

This time I got lucky, I actually made a dollar off the whole ordeal! It is still unacceptable behavior, but hopefully I learned from it. Posting this chart as a reminder to myself from the future. ;-) At the end of this week, my account balance is 98.71, Profit $6.42 or about 6.5%. If only I could maintain such growth consistently, we will see.

 

[shauniekent]

Apolgies i skimmed the thread and read your last post. Trading because you are bored = losses. Go play roulette instead.
One of your first posts suggested you were prepared to hold on to a loss in the hope it goes up. This sounds like investing to me. Holding onto a loss is grasping at straws - only invest after proper research. Just my thougths.
Perhaps read some articles on investing pyschology eg anchoring and confirmation bias etc.

 

[babymonkey]

Thanks kent, I appreciate the advice and completely agree. I am learning more discipline day by day. Thanks for reading my journal.

 

[rsh01]

The story does end well though. After my loss I was determined, I summoned all of my willpower and trusted the words "What goes Up....". So I setup a trade immediately after my loss and rode that baby back down recovering about half. Then I set another one and went to bed, thinking I was done for, fully expecting to wake up to a sorry account balance.

funny joke.

 

[babymonkey]

Well, today has been sort of a non-event. With Sandy headed toward New York the afternoon action on fiber was nonexistent. This morning went OK, got a few pips. Anyway 3 trades all winners for a grand total of... $.70.

Balance as of today $99.41- My goal is 1% per day, today it just didn't happen. Tomorrow looks a little bleak as well, waiting to see how things go with the stock market closed.

 

[babymonkey]

I've been practicing these four rules.
1. Only use Bollinger Bands 20 periods 2.0 deviations on a 5 minute chart.
2. Get in when it breaks the top band against the 1-2 hour trend.
3. Set a stop and chase it down locking in as little as one pip for safety.
4. Only trade when the range is 4 times the size of the spread, and only when volume is near 1000.

 

[babymonkey]

And one more I forgot: Only watch one currency pair at a time! Gets too confusing trying to play several at once. At least, at my current level of experience.

 

[NVP]

Thanks kent, I appreciate the advice and completely agree. I am learning more discipline day by day. Thanks for reading my journal.

Hey Mike

Boredom is a killer.........you need to find a strategy that suits you when you
have time to trade

if your an A-type personality you need to become a scalper.....thats constant activity when you are trading and then you turn off screens and walk away

N

 

[babymonkey]

Thanks NVP, I think you are right on track. I am definitely A-type, and I think that scalping is all that I have the stomach for at the moment. Thanks again, Ill take it to heart.

Well I hate to report losses, but I am forcing myself to do so. I can't really give any explanation other than I deviated from my defined rules, and I went into a trade right as the servers in New York started shutting down due to the hurricane. Lost $6.00 in the time it took for my broker (FXCM) to process my order to close. First time that has ever happened, and I don't think it is necessarily their fault. It's a lesson learned. You can't ignore world events, and you shouldn't try to trade when the markets are going crazy. Crazier than normal crazy that is.

Current account balance: $93.97

 

[babymonkey]

Well I have been taking a break from "real" trading, made very few trades in the last week or so.

Current account balance is $94.39.

I have been playing with forexdesk, made a few hundred bucks in last months comp, and I am in again this month. Paper trading certainly improves one's confidence. Confidence is definitely what I lack, still can't stand losing. Even when I am winning, I have a tendency to set my stop to close when I am "chasing the profits", and the result is I get stopped out early without much reward. :-(

I did just place a "real" trade, and so far so good. I am trying to control the urge to close it early...

 

[babymonkey]

Well I closed the trade in a matter of minutes. I just can't help myself, LOL.

Real account balance: $95.09

Here is the link to my account on forexdesk, tells the picture of what kind of trader I am: https://www.forexdesk.com/traders/babymonkey - a scared, cautious one. Don't follow me, because there won't be much action, though you are pretty safe in betting that you won't lose any money...

 

[babymonkey]

Did pretty good today, well on my way to recovering my recent loss. Doing it the slow hard way though, scalp, scalp, scalp.

Balance: $96.99 at the end of today's trading.

 

[babymonkey]

Placed a trade, both on my paper account (forexdesk) and my real one (fxcm). Lets see if I can stomach this one out and make some profit.

Stop 1.27800
Open 1.27630 Sell
Limit 1.27500

Posting this to give myself courage, and so I can laugh at myself later.
Ok, great, as soon as I placed it, volume dropped out.
So I panicked, (normal behavior for me) and closed the trade with just 5 pips of profit.

I guess I really am a scalper.

Account balance $97.57

 

[babymonkey]

Wow EUR/USD is extremely ripe for scalping this morning!! Ranging 10 pips or more in just 5 minutes.

The range is so big it is almost scary. 1.2740 seems to be the magic number. Every time someone from the ECB says anything, wild spikes occur.

Account Balance $98.55

 

[babymonkey]

Gotta turn off the screens and get to work. Been a great day. I am up in both my forexdesk practice accout and on FXCM.

$99.79 Real

$1069 Practice