The apprentices second journal.

[DuCaan]

cool, you seem to be doing the right things. Keep it up!
I was interested in learning from others how they like to get out of a trade, i.e. where they would like to take a profit etc. That is one part where I struggle quite often

 

[AspiringTrader.]

I think its best to observe momentum, strong momentum could indicate to set a limit order at your target where a slower moving trade could be exited after the close of bar against your directional bias. Also depends on strength of of an area where it may consolidate, could be minor disruption and a closed bar in the opposite direction on the hourly could indicate nothing. Taking profit is the hardest part, but remember there will always be another good trade to put into practice what you have learnt from the previous bad exit.

 

[AspiringTrader.]

NZD/USD stopped - 35.5
AUD/USD stopped - 35

 

[AspiringTrader.]

been on two week hiatus due to health issues. Hopefully back on it Monday.

 

[AspiringTrader.]

It's certainly been a while..

 

[AspiringTrader.]

Anyway, back to it

watching some areas of interest on the EUR/USD, looking for a either a correction or a break lower on the dollar chart to hopefully add a bit of weight behind any eur/usd trades i may make as well as keeping an eye onGerman unemployment figures out tomorrow morning which could give clues to some direction there.

Happy trading

 

[AspiringTrader.]

Anyway, back to it

watching some areas of interest on the EUR/USD, looking for a either a correction or a break lower on the dollar chart to hopefully add a bit of weight behind any eur/usd trades i may make as well as keeping an eye onGerman unemployment figures out tomorrow morning which could give clues to some direction there.

Happy trading

Eur/usd broke straight through resistance, had a small correction then rallied again over the next day, i missed both boats unfortunately. But there will always be another trade

 

[AspiringTrader.]

Took 3 shorts, Eur/Usd, Gbp/Usd and Aud/usd.. Am hoping for a us correction, all three pairs are showing hourly rejection candles on the hourly and the us doallar chart is trying to bound off of resistance. Hopefully it holds

eur/usd short @ 1.1306
gbp/usd short @ 1.4468
aud/usd short @ 0.7064

currently all trades are up at least 5 points

 

[AspiringTrader.]

Take profit set at:

aud/usd @ 0.7006
gbp/usd @ 1.4378
eur/usd @ 1.1243

aus/usd i hovering around + 2pts
gbp/usd i hovering around + 8pts
eur/usd i hovering around + 20pts

hopefully it will hold out.

Haven't trailed any stops yet

 

[AspiringTrader.]

All three trades closed out while i was at work.

eur/usd +62.1 [Limit Order]
aud/usd -39.7 [Stopped Out]
gbp/usd -82.9 [Stopped Out]

Overall -64.5

Well it hadn't come off like i had hoped, but it wasn't all bad news, through sheer dumb luck when i opened my gbp/usd trade i accidentally selected a 1k lot instead of a 5k lot like the other 2.

So although i actually lost 64.5 points overall, i still made $3.38! Go figure...

Happy trading trend setters

 

[AspiringTrader.]

Good data out soon

EUR Euro-Zone Gross Domestic Product s.a. (YoY) (4Q A) came out as expected.

USD Advance Retail Sales
USD U. of Michigan Confidence

Maybe if USD data comes out well i will look to short Eur/usd

 

[AspiringTrader.]

USD advanced retail sales:

Previous
0.2%
Forecast
0.1%
Actual
0.2%

Short:

Aud/Usd @ 0.7098
Eur/Usd @ 1.1246

Stops:

aud/usd 0.71330
eur/usd 1.1332 (it's quite a wide stop, though its at the top around the resistance zone so i think it's needed)

Targets:

aud/usd around the 0.7000 area
eur/usd around the 1.1100 area ish

Lets hope i have better luck this time around

Happy trading!

 

[AspiringTrader.]

Im not so sure what to do here,

Eur/Usd is around -14 pts, and not looking so great technical wise, but the Aud/Usd is + 30pts.

So maybe i should close the Eur/Usd until at least better confirmation of a sell off.

EDIT:

I closed out Eur/Usd for now at -18.6, i really didn't want to let this run into my wide stop, if it falls away again, i will look to re-enter

Aud/usd short is currently +25 pts

 

[AspiringTrader.]

Well Eur/Usd has retraced a little and had i not closed out i would have been maybe +10pts up by now, worst part is i broke my number 1 rule, never manually close out a trade, it should either hit a stop or hit a profit. I had that rule in place specifically to try and take away the emotion aspect of it, though i guess it still gets the better of me, though it's kind of hard having such a wide stop. Anyway, i wont re-enter, even if it does fall away, im not in a clear head to do it, i'd probably end up revenge trading it and lose more points.

live and learn.. well try to anyway

Going to just let the Aud/Usd run it's course, hopefully i dont get stoppped currently at +20pts

 

[AspiringTrader.]

Well my Aud/Usd trade was stopped out. ehh and eur/usd end up hitting the 1.1000 area.. yup

I will try to recover mentally!

 

[AspiringTrader.]

Short Eur/usd

open: 1.1025
stop: 1.1080
1st target 1.970
2nd target 1.930 ish

 

[AspiringTrader.]

My trade was looking good was roughly 35 pts up, though now it looks like it most likely will reverse and probably stop me out... again

Was looking to move lover, but it rejected lower prices, so im guessing it will reverse. I am hovering around break even, though i wont close out the trade. Too many trades have i closed out early like that, then only to watch it return and presume the direction i chose.

 

[AspiringTrader.]

If getting stopped out was the aim of the game, i'd be a pretty successful trader!

Not long now..

 

[AspiringTrader.]

It doesn't know what it wants to do on the hourly, i was -23pts before, now i'm basically back to break even, it's been up and down for the last 4 hours.

Though i have had an oversight on the daily, it looks pretty technical to have a bit of a reversal there at least for now, so.. once again im pretty sure i will get stopped.. but lets see

 

[barjon]

My trade was looking good was roughly 35 pts up, though now it looks like it most likely will reverse and probably stop me out... again

Was looking to move lover, but it rejected lower prices, so im guessing it will reverse. I am hovering around break even, though i wont close out the trade. Too many trades have i closed out early like that, then only to watch it return and presume the direction i chose.

Seems to me that you are now living in hope with this trade. If it does turn round and go right then it will be a matter of luck.

Your initial stop is to cover the possibility that price is not going to do what you expect. In this case it did but then didn't follow through beyond your +35 which meant that price was no longer living up to expectations. The rationale for your trade is no longer there and to hold on is to rely on good fortune.