back on my trading desk and here is my daily prep:

Hi guys,

feeling pretty shitty and embarrassed as I told myself, I would be very aggressive today in order to show that it could be doable to trade with a small account. However, I reached my max. loss limit on this account and the challenge is over for me. Pretty annoyed at myself that I only faded and had short, too many trades % increased size, continued to trade after I hit $-300 and now I'm looking at $-970!!

My last session:




Anyways, will be posting all my trades and daily recap later, just need to take a break now to regroup and think about how I will continue posting and so on.



By the way, if you liked what I posted so far in July then please give me a thanks on this post here:

FIO Journal Challenge - July 2017 (over $1,100 in prizes) Hi everybody, here is my journal entry Hope it will interesting for readers and if so please leave a thanks!

It would be appreciated and thanks to everybody who has already done so!

I appreciate the detail and information provided. What did you learn from the process and what would you do differently?

Will calibrating your entry rules improve your performance?

Thanks again.

I know about broken discipline, not stopping when one should or even how a simple losing trade can sometimes affect the rest of the day.

As much as I'd like to think that these demons are always under control, I can occasionally slip up on them, which acts as reinforcement and reminder for me to continually be vigilant.



@mastadee - A valiant effort nevertheless - I hope you win!

mastadee 

..embarrassed as I told myself I would be very aggressive today in order to show that it could be doable to trade with a small account..

No embarrassment needed, you have been completely honest and open with the challenge, it has been good to follow. You have simply proved that to run a small account needs cast-iron discipline, not aggression.

Take five and have a good weekend,

Cheers

Hey Mastadee,

My questions might have been answered, if yes just please direct me accordingly.

• Do you find the smaller account to trade much more challenging? If yes, why?
• Are you consistently profitable on your other account?

I'm just asking because on your cumulative pnl chart it looks like as soon as you hit a certain gain percentage you hammer down your account. I do the same sometimes and for me it is connected with a belief that I'm getting into pnl territory that I don't think/believe I deserve.

Thanks for sharing your journey!

I am sorry to see the end of the challenge. I have enjoyed your journal. Since you said it is "live trading account" I assume it is real money and not sim account -- so I understand how you feel. All I can say is trading is not easy and I have been on this road for a long time. I am currently on TopStep Trader FTP but I am pretty close to hitting the max loss.

I looked at the beginning posts of your journal and seemed to see your max loss was defined at $1000 and goal $1000 profit. Am I right? Since you trade CL, I would think $1000 loss is quite small so don't be so hard on yourself. On the other hand, this amazes myself from time to time with my own trades as well --- that the market can make $900 from you (today) by just taking your small losses. If we flip, why can't we make $900 from the market by taking small profits from the market? Something to think about.

Thank you and best wishes.

mastadee 

Hi guys, feeling pretty shitty and embarrassed as I told myself, I would be very aggressive today in order to show that it could be doable to trade with a small account. However, I reached my max. loss limit on this account and the challenge is over for me. Pretty annoyed at myself that I only faded and had short, too many trades % increased size, continued to trade after I hit $-300 and now I'm looking at $-970!!

Don't worry about it and certainly no reason to feel embarrassed - we all know how trading is and have been there. I know it's hard to post a big loss but kudos for making the post. Posting in public is a brutal process, IMO.

I think the reason you pushed is just as you said:
"as I told myself, I would be very aggressive today in order to show that it could be doable to trade with a small account."

It's the same reason I blew up yesterday trying to push to hard at the end.

You're out in front in the vote count - so should you win I hope you'll post your combine each day - but no pressure. :-)

hey at least this is a small account for you!!

Good trading!!

Well, in total I had 10 trades today and here is the screenshot:



Here is the excel with all my trades:



Ok the first trade was just stopped out and Ok. But then I shorted again and tried to hold for at least 10+ ticks which was obviously a mistake as I was still going against the trend but I really wanted to see even 49 where my profit target was. Then it went back up and stopped out after a small unrealized profit.

Then again on my 3rd trade, I entered 2 lots as I wanted to finally make a profit but took 1 lot off after it went against me but found some resistance near the HOD. However, I knew when I would get stopped out, then I would reach my daily risk limit, hence I took 1 lot off near my entry, then it went 7T onside but again I didn't want to book profit and also didn't move my stop to BE...then I put my 2nd lot on again and it then came lower and was like 4T onside couldn't go lower so I took it off again and then the last lot was stopped out...

Then the mess started as I felt annoyed at myself that I didn't book the small profits as it was a nice up-trend and when countertrending I need to book these small profits...

Then I pretty much just got stopped out at all my next trades and broke all my limits...

And my daily p&l just going south...

Obviously, my worst day this month in this account as I didn't apply to my rules and didn't wait for proper set-ups and just jumped the gun way too many times....feels pretty stupid as I know I can do way better...