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jamiecassar's trade journal

  #51 (permalink)
 jamiecassar 
Rochester MN
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: Oanda
Trading: Micro-FX
Posts: 82 since Jan 2014
Thanks Given: 178
Thanks Received: 29

seems all the M6E is always doing stuff in the morning before work. I kept checking in on it all night and nothing was really happening, sort of sideways mostly. I took a trade where the circle is, then the market went down. I was trying to do some OCO stuff and sell but somehow I can't control the ToS platform very well. I miss NinjaTrader. I bought 2 more times when I thought there was a turnaround but no... I feel I should have made my stops WAY closer, that way I only get in while it's trending, and get out early. I just remembered it's friday, and the market is really crazy on fridays I shouldn't be trading at all. I should probably take my $15 loss and not wait for it to hit my stop. I need to learn ToS alot more, why did they make it so weird and difficult to do stuff? found a new website, forexpeacearmy or something like that. I can't believe news announcements move the market so much I haven't tested it out yet. Was going to wake up early to watch the USD/CAD when they made some home financing announcement, but I can't get CAD or CHF or JPY to load ever. Not sure it's offered. This is a trading nightmare I don't know what to do, should I reverse, or just sell ?

I also noticed that to control one micro-pip, it costs $300. I don't see how that's good leverage, seeing as how it's only 0.64 cents profit per tick. Why would I risk $300 for 64 cents, or 1.25 etc. Seems like all my answers lead to more questions, and all the percentages are 50/50 or 60/40.. sometimes 70/30 but not often, and nothing is certain.

"Judge yourself not by the outcome, but by your process."
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  #52 (permalink)
 
trendwaves's Avatar
 trendwaves 
Florida
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Quoting 
Seems like all my answers lead to more questions, and all the percentages are 50/50 or 60/40.. sometimes 70/30 but not often, and nothing is certain.

50/50 is actually pretty good (above average) for a trend trader. Go look at PandaWarrior's trading journal when you have some time, his win% is around 40% I believe, and he is one of the most successful and respected traders on futures.io (formerly BMT).

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  #53 (permalink)
 jamiecassar 
Rochester MN
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: Oanda
Trading: Micro-FX
Posts: 82 since Jan 2014
Thanks Given: 178
Thanks Received: 29


Wow, deeper into the rabbit hole I go.. Found out today that markets are only trending 20% of the time, the rest of the time they are ranging... how the heck to you trade a ranged market???? my guess is on a really small scale following the bigger trend but I really have no idea. The word "trend" is funny. You know eskimo's have 100 words for snow, and that is like the word trend to traders. Big trend, small trend, 1min trend, 5 min trend, 55 day trend, 20 year trend. much investigation is needed. I've reassesed my thoughts on indicators, they are probably good, you just have to know what they are used for and how to use them properly. I'm glad it's all automated. Before I signed up here and had a paper account I made my own RSI writing down high's lows, opens, closes.. I was trying to use the formula 2(RSI) = N where N = volatility, but after all that scribbling with pen and paper, it seemed the N was too small, perhaps I was missing a decimal. I have so much work to do it's borderlined overwhelming.

Started reading PandaWarrior's journal I'm finding lots of helpful links and posts on there. Hopefully this will save me from re-inventing the wheel. I found this in there and realize I am at step 2. I have many systems I would like to program to test, but I think the criteria is impossible to input, such as how to you tell the computer to notify you of a "gap" or a super strong bear/bull bar? I need screen time.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I am reposting something I found on the forum a long time ago. I copied and kept it for later reference.

The 5 Steps to becoming a trader

Step One: Unconscious Incompetence.

This is the first step you take when starting to look into trading. you know that its a good way of making money because you've heard so many things about it and heard of so many millionaires. Unfortunately, just like when you first desire to drive a car you think it will be easy - after all, how hard can it be? Price either moves up or down - what's the big secret to that then - lets get cracking!

Unfortunately, just as when you first take your place in front of a steering wheel you find very quickly that you haven't got the first clue about what you're trying to do. You take lots of trades and lots of risks. When you enter a trade it turns against you so you reverse and it turns again .. and again, and again.


You may have initial success, and thats even worse - cos it tells your brain that this really is simple and you start to risk more money.


You try to turn around your losses by doubling up every time you trade. Sometimes you'll get away with it but more often than not you will come away scathed and bruised You are totally oblivious to your incompetence at trading.

This step can last for a week or two of trading but the market is usually swift and you move onth the next stage.

Step Two - Conscious Incompetence

Step two is where you realise that there is more work involved in trading and that you might actually have to work a few things out. You consciously realise that you are an incompetent trader - you don't have the skills or the insight to turn a regular profit.

You now set about buying systems and e-books galore, read websites based everywhere from USA to the Ukraine. and begin your search for the holy grail. During this time you will be a system nomad - you will flick from method to method day by day and week by week never sticking with one long enough to actually see if it does work. Every time you come upon a new indicator you'll be ecstatic that this is the one that will make all the difference.

You will test out automated systems on Metatrader, you'll play with moving averages, Fibonacci lines, support & resistance, Pivots, Fractals, Divergence, DMI, ADX, and a hundred other things all in the vein hope that your 'magic system' starts today. You'll be a top and bottom picker, trying to find the exact point of reversal with your indicators and you'll find yourself chasing losing trades and even adding to them because you are so sure you are right.

You'll go into the live chat room and see other traders making pips and you want to know why it's not you - you'll ask a million questions, some of which are so dumb that looking back you feel a bit silly. You'll then reach the point where you think all the ones who are calling pips after pips are liars - they cant be making that amount because you've studied and you don't make that, you know as much as they do and they must be lying. But they're in there day after day and their account just grows whilst yours falls.

You will be like a teenager - the traders that make money will freely give you advice but you're stubborn and think that you know best - you take no notice and overtrade your account even though everyone says you are mad to - but you know better. You'll consider following the calls that others make but even then it wont work so you try paying for signals from someone else - they don't work for you either.


You might even approach a 'guru' like Rob Booker or someone on a chat board who promises to make you into a trader(usually for a fee of course). Whether the guru is good or not you wont win because there is no replacement for screen time and you still think you know best.


This step can last ages and ages - in fact in reality talking with other traders as well as personal experience confirms that it can easily last well over a year and more nearer 3 years. This is also the step when you are most likely to give up through sheer frustration.

Around 60% of new traders die out in the first 3 months - they give up and this is good - think about it - if trading was easy we would all be millionaires. another 20% keep going for a year and then in desperation take risks guaranteed to blow their account which of course it does.


What may suprise you is that of the remaining 20% all of them will last around 3 years - and they will think they are safe in the water - but even at 3 years only a further 5-10% will continue and go on to actually make money consistently.


By the way - they are real figures, not just some ive picked out of my head - so when you get to 3 years in the game dont think its plain sailing from there.


Iv had many people argue with me about these timescales - funny enough none of them have been trading for more that 3 years - if you think you know better then ask on a board for someone who's been trading 5 years and ask them how long it takes to become fully 100% proficient. Sure i guess there will be exceptions to the rle - but i havent met any yet.


Eventually you do begin to come out of this phase. You've probably committed more time and money than you ever thought you would, lost 2 or 3 loaded accounts and all but given up maybe 3 or 4 times but now its in your blood

One day - im a split second moment you will enter stage 3.

Step 3 - The Eureka Moment

Towards the end of stage two you begin to realise that it's not the system that is making the difference. You realise that its actually possible to make money with a simple moving average and nothing else IF you can get your head and money management right You start to read books on the psychology of trading and identify with the characters portrayed in those books and finally comes the eureka moment.

The eureka moment causes a new connection to be made in your brain. You suddenly realise that neither you, nor anyone else can accurately predict what the market will do in the next ten seconds, never mind the next 20 mins.


Because of this revelation you stop taking any notice of what anyone thinks - what this news item will do, and what that event will do to the markets. You become an individual with your own method of trading


You start to work just one system that you mould to your own way of trading, you're starting to get happy and you define your risk threshold.

You start to take every trade that your 'edge' shows has a good probability of winning with. When the trade turns bad you don't get angry or even because you know in your head that as you couldn't possibly predict it it isn't your fault - as soon as you realise that the trade is bad you close it . The next trade or the one after it or the one after that will have higher odds of success because you know your system works.


You stop looking at trading results from a trade-to-trade perspective and start to look at weekly figures knowing that one bad trade does not a poor system make.


You have realised in an instant that the trading game is about one thing - consistency of your 'edge' and your discipline to take all the trades no matter what as you know the probabilities stack in your favour.

You learn about proper money management and leverage - risk of account etc etc - and this time it actually soaks in and you think back to those who advised the same thing a year ago with a smile. You weren't ready then, but you are now. The eureka moment came the moment that you truly accepted that you cannot predict the market.

Step 4 - Conscious Competence

You are making trades whenever your system tells you to. You take losses just as easily as you take wins You now let your winners run to their conclusion fully accepting the risk and knowing that your system makes more money than it looses and when you're on a loser you close it swiftly with little pain to your account

You are now at a point where you break even most of the time - day in day out, you will have weeks where you make 100 pips and weeks where you lose 100 pips - generally you are breaking even and not losing money. You are now conscious of the fact that you are making calls that are generally good and you are getting respect from other traders as you chat the day away. You still have to work at it and think about your trades but as this continues you begin to make more money than you lose consistently.

You'll start the day on a 20 pip win, take a 35 pip loss and have no feelings that you've given those pips back because you know that it will come back again. You will now begin to make consistent pips week in and week out 25 pips one week, 50 the next and so on.

This lasts about 6 months

Step Five - Unconscious Competence

Now we’re cooking - just like driving a car, every day you get in your seat and trade - you do everything now on an unconscious level. You are running on autopilot. You start to pick the really big trades and getting 200 pips in a day doesnt make you any more excited that getting 1 pips.


You see the newbies in the forum shouting 'go dollar go' as if they are urging on a horse to win in the grand national and you see yourself - but many years ago now.

This is trading utopia - you have mastered your emotions and you are now a trader with a rapidly growing account.

You're a star in the trading chat room and people listen to what you say. You recognise yourself in their questions from about two years ago. You pass on your advice but you know most of it is futile because they're teenagers - some of them will get to where you are - some will do it fast and others will be slower - literally dozens and dozens will never get past stage two, but a few will.

Trading is no longer exciting - in fact it's probably boring you to bits - like everything in life when you get good at it or do it for your job - it gets boring - you're doing your job and that's that.


Finally you grow out of the chat rooms and find a few choice people who you converse with about the markets without being influenced at all.


All the time you are honing your methods to extract the maximum profit from the market without increasing risk. Your method of trading doesnt change - it just gets better - you now have what women call 'intuition'

You can now say with your head held high "I'm a currency trader" but to be honest you dont even bother telling anyone - it's a job like any other.


I hope youve enjoyed reading this journey into a traders mind and that hopefully youve identified with some points in here.


Remember that only 5% will actually make it - but the reason for that isnt ability, its staying power and the ability to change your perceptions and paradigms as new information comes available.


The losers are those who wanted to 'get rich quick' but approached the market and within 6 months put on a pair of blinkers so they couldnt see the obvious - a kind of "this is the way i see it and thats that" scenario - refusing to assimilate new information that changes that perception.

Im happy to tell you that the reason i started trading was because of the 'get rich quick' mindset. Just that now i see it as 'get rich slow'

If youre thinking about giving up i have one piece of advice for you ....

Ask yourself the question "how many years would you go to college if you knew for a fact that there was a million dollars a year job at the end of it?


Me again...

I am currently studying both fixed fractional and fixed ratio money management. I will make a decision soon about which one to use. I am also reading about the "science" of fear and how our bodies and brains react to stimuli it considers dangerous. So far, I've just begun this little journey but already I see my trading tracking the various levels of fear based reactions. I suspect through this study, I may end up with better ways of dealing with fear and greed.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Judge yourself not by the outcome, but by your process."
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  #54 (permalink)
 
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 trendwaves 
Florida
Market Wizard
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: NinjaTrader 8
Trading: ES, NQ, CL
Posts: 703 since Dec 2012
Thanks Given: 2,898
Thanks Received: 2,525


Quoting 
Remember that only 5% will actually make it - but the reason for that isn't ability, its staying power and the ability to change your perceptions and paradigms as new information comes available.

That says it all right there.

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  #55 (permalink)
 jamiecassar 
Rochester MN
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: Oanda
Trading: Micro-FX
Posts: 82 since Jan 2014
Thanks Given: 178
Thanks Received: 29

Ok, turns out I am a counter trader. I am also a swing trader, a day trader, a trend trader, and a price action trader.

Here is a trend trade I made just now, I fiddled with limit buy and couldn't get filled so I ended up buying market. It's the triangle, the green line is my target, the yellow line is my trailing stop, and the red line was my initial stop loss. I started using Oanda last night, I am really happy with them sofar. The stops, and PT + trail were purely random put in by the computer from when I was adjusting the settings last night, I will have to figure it out another time. I made a loosing trade last night, lost 25 or so pips, and I had just bought 1, actually it was 0.00001 or something like that, the smallest amount. and the loss didn't even add up to a penny. I also made a winning trade and the gains didn't add up to a penny. I like it very much. there is no risk, and it IS using margin but only 4 cents, or 8 cents. While I was typing this my trailing stop was eventually hit for a loss of 0.0004 cents. I don't know how I feel about the trail stop, did it protect me from bigger loss, or just prevent me from profit?

Anyways I was feeding my baby girl I had my laptop on the bed and walking back I tripped the cord and laptop went crashing to the floor. The display is all messed up it works but barely, and sometimes not at all. I'm using this newer laptop I spilled chili all on the keyboard a while ago (using usb kb), which I removed, tried to clean was unsuccessful but did use compressed air to clean out everything while it was opened, and magically it works now. For how long I don't know.

I was thinking about "investing" some money into a desktop pc, a desk and chair. There is a room downstairs I could make my office, or study, or what ever you call it. There are pros and cons to this idea, I haven't decided what to do yet. I've been using laptops for a while now, but with mobility comes danger. GF really liked the idea. I think I would rather pump $1500 into a new laptop personally I guess I will look at desktops and components, probably build my own PC.

"Judge yourself not by the outcome, but by your process."
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  #56 (permalink)
 
trendwaves's Avatar
 trendwaves 
Florida
Market Wizard
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: NinjaTrader 8
Trading: ES, NQ, CL
Posts: 703 since Dec 2012
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Quoting 
Ok, turns out I am a counter trader. I am also a swing trader, a day trader, a trend trader, and a price action trader.

Glad we got that cleared up

Be Patient and Trade Smart
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  #57 (permalink)
 jamiecassar 
Rochester MN
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: Oanda
Trading: Micro-FX
Posts: 82 since Jan 2014
Thanks Given: 178
Thanks Received: 29

Here is an experimental trade I took this morning before work, I plan on it taking a few days to realize itself. I set no profit target, but only a 55 pip trailing stop (2N where N = volatility) here is a 5min chart, and a 1day chart

"Judge yourself not by the outcome, but by your process."
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  #58 (permalink)
 jamiecassar 
Rochester MN
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: Oanda
Trading: Micro-FX
Posts: 82 since Jan 2014
Thanks Given: 178
Thanks Received: 29

I feel weird posting here but don't think I'm good enough to post in the elite section so

heres me hoping to get a few pips, the triangle is my entry, the yellow line is my stop, and the green line is my profit target

I got approved for an OANDA account today. Haven't funded it at all. I might put $5 in there just to trade with 5 cents profit/loss, not sure how much a wire transfer is at my bank

"Judge yourself not by the outcome, but by your process."
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  #59 (permalink)
 jamiecassar 
Rochester MN
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: Oanda
Trading: Micro-FX
Posts: 82 since Jan 2014
Thanks Given: 178
Thanks Received: 29

my Experimental Trade" was a complete flop. I lost 20%. I learned alot then. Rule 1 of 2 how most traders fail is not exiting when they should. I should have exited. I had a 100 pip stop (should have been unatainable???) but whatever can happen will happen. I have learned my lesson. It was a harsh one. It cost me 20% of my account. Not fun. anyways.. heres a link to stuff I found informational https://www.quantifiedstrategies.com/poker-sex-and-dying-by-juel-anderson/ a book I plan to buy

edit: http link

"Judge yourself not by the outcome, but by your process."
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  #60 (permalink)
 
TheShrike's Avatar
 TheShrike 
Bridgeport, Ct
 
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jamiecassar View Post
I got approved for an OANDA account today. Haven't funded it at all. I might put $5 in there just to trade with 5 cents profit/loss, not sure how much a wire transfer is at my bank

A bank wire will cost you between 30 and 50 bucks depending on your bank. Bad trade if you're funding the account with 5 bucks to experiment. I suggest sending a certified check if they allow it or doing an ach transfer if they have that. It'll take a little longer, but what's a few days right?

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Last Updated on March 11, 2014


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