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My path of becoming a trader


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My path of becoming a trader

  #1 (permalink)
 kingich 
Zagreb, Croatia, Europe
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: Dukascopy
Broker: Dukascopy SA
Trading: forex
Posts: 110 since Jan 2011
Thanks Given: 55
Thanks Received: 71

Distorted trading


"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand."

Chinese Proverb


Hi everyone

I've already started to run my trading diary, but haven't been persistent in doing it. This contest and community will I hope help me be more active and run things scheduled.

This is not be about me teaching you but me teaching myself. As for the time being, I was trading inside myself, subjective to emotions and without anyone know what I think, feel and do. After reading all possible literature, I've found myself doing the same mistakes all over again. So I figured out I'm going to do it live with main intention to keep my thoughts, emotions and trades open to public. I'll run my personal open trading diary which can be then subjective to critics.


There is one interesting story I've read, and I’d like to share it with you. It's from one of Trevor Neill's conference talk.

It has been proved, that if you put a frog in boiling water, it will jump out right away. But, if you put it in like warm water, and heat it slowly, you can cook a frog alive. It won't go out of the water.


This story hit me so strong, because I’ve realized that I've experienced it in many ways in my life.


When you have a position in equity, if it suddenly drops 10 %, you're going to jump out immediately. It will be a shock and natural defensive mechanism. But if it's been slowly falling, day after day with -0,2 % daily, you're be always thinking, it’s not a big deal, it will come back eventually. But most likely you will end up loosing a great portion of your capital. To rephrase it, like a frog, you will be cooked alive.


I have been cooked alive too many times in the markets, and also haven’t been disciplined in following my trading strategy but rather jumping from one to another every couple days. This inconsistency also cost me money, time, knowledge and confidence.


I wasn’t treated trading as a business, but likely as a game. Another mistake is that I was always trying to be trend predictive, happy when I succeed and frustrated when I don’t.


This I can compare with my school days. For a long period of time, I’ve rejected to practice math in order to learn and get best grade. I really haven’t done it at all. Learning for me was that you pick up out what you can by listening on the class and that’s it. I even refused to write on the class in the notebook. After that no work has been done, except 1 day before an exam I would just flip around through the book, see if there is some formulas I need to know and that would be it.


Then when I come to an exam, see some math problem for the first time in my life and get right on solving it. If I succeed in solving it and get a decent grade (not the worse one, not the best but somewhere in the middle), which was always the case, I felt like being on top of the world, because I’ve done something not by learning from others but from my own intelligence abilities.


It was better then practicing all possible math problems, known every type of task that can arrive and then finish the test blindfolds and be happy because you think you outsmarted others or even outsmarted yourself. You didn’t.


I’ve respected but haven’t really cared about the folks who got the best grades, because I knew they were going through the book and learned it from there. There was no creativity in this. No mental challenge.


In the same manner I’m behaving in my trading. Rather then learning and practicing and writing out all the things I can about the market, I’ve been doing the same thing… I have some basic knowledge, and day after day I’m writing an exam, in front of the screen, trying to figure out where the market goes. If I succeed, I’m a genius, if not then a whole bunch of negative emotions arrive in my consciousness. It is something beyond my abilities, of course. I’ve overestimated myself.


Another thing is that I guess I enjoy the rush of excitement in the markets, rather then subject myself to strict rules, and make a trading just like any other boring business. This is not a good approach folks.


For now, it got me nowhere. So from now on, I’m going to write down my trades, thoughts and reasons behind them and try to learn something from it, by reading it from time to time.

For you who decide to track me, hope you'll learn from my mistakes, and find something useful on my thread.

Cheers,


Ivan

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  #3 (permalink)
 kingich 
Zagreb, Croatia, Europe
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: Dukascopy
Broker: Dukascopy SA
Trading: forex
Posts: 110 since Jan 2011
Thanks Given: 55
Thanks Received: 71


I'm putting my orders once a day, at evenings... I've been using several strategies, on daily it's mostly pinbar rejections of the support / resistance zones, channel trading. On 4h I'm looking at divergences and targeting retracement to the zone between 50-100 EMA.

As I'm limited in not viewing the market during most of the forex active hourse, from 8-17 GMT, swing trading is the only possible way for me. I've been searching myself for the last year and a half.

This was my last week's trades:

EUR/CAD long @ 1,3355 SL 1,3260 TP 1,3520, looking for retracement between 50-100 EMA on 4h chart.
USD/CHF short @ 0,97 targeting 0,9570 with a tight stop loss @ 0,9750
GBP/CHF short @ 1.55557, SL 1.56200, TP 1.53500
GBP/JPY short @ 133.526, SL 134.400, TP 131.200
EUR/GBP long @ 0.84336, SL 0.84100, TP 0.85100

And the results...

EURCAD long + 165
GBPCHF short - 68
GBPJPY short - 88
EURGBP long - 24
USDCHF short + 129

TOTAL: + 114 PIPS

It was a tough week, GBPCHF stopped me out and then went south, I almost got stopped out on USDCHF, been within 10 pips to stop loss, but managed to survive and price went back and hit my profit target, and of course went another 100 pips in my direction. I haven't put any orders from Wednesday till end of week, was too tired after work to look at charts.

In the attachments are my charts and analysis.

Hopefully I'll post my analysis for next week's trading during next couple of hours.

Cheers,

ivan

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  #4 (permalink)
 kingich 
Zagreb, Croatia, Europe
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: Dukascopy
Broker: Dukascopy SA
Trading: forex
Posts: 110 since Jan 2011
Thanks Given: 55
Thanks Received: 71

I'm looking at charts, cannot really spot any instant entries. I'm just going to post some ideas and references.

On weekly chart, GBP/JPY looks bullish but trading in a range whole year. This could be a surprise box.
Daily chart is showing some exchaustion in the momentum, trading at the top of bollinger bands, with bearish divergence on oscillator.

Also 4h chart is showing me that I should try short, at market, with stop above previous highs and targeting 133,05.

EUR/USD and EUR/CAD have almost reached their daily R3 on Friday, and think they could exhaust a bit and move down to pivot points.

That's it for now! If I see anything new, I'll let you know!

Your friend in the market!

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  #5 (permalink)
 DarkPool 
Battle Ground, WA
 
Experience: Master
Platform: Multicharts DT & MBT Desktop Pro
Broker: MB Trading
Trading: GBP/USD, EUR/GBP, EUR/USD, GBP/CHF, GBP/JPY
Posts: 75 since Feb 2011
Thanks Given: 10
Thanks Received: 35

In the last couple hours, it looks like GY has broken the ascending TL and rejected 135 pretty soundly. We'll see how it plays out. Looks like a big retracement in the works 3-400p. Either that, or we have STRONG support at 134.80.

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  #6 (permalink)
 kingich 
Zagreb, Croatia, Europe
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: Dukascopy
Broker: Dukascopy SA
Trading: forex
Posts: 110 since Jan 2011
Thanks Given: 55
Thanks Received: 71

Due to lack of other ideas I've taken the trade ideas I've wrote before.

EURUSD went south, due to Japan downfall of credit rating and I guess, Libia and fly to safety. I've closed it + 95 pips, and GBPJPY is still an open trade.

I'm experiencing generally lack of energy and enthusiasm, have to get myself together and get more organized!

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  #7 (permalink)
 kingich 
Zagreb, Croatia, Europe
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: Dukascopy
Broker: Dukascopy SA
Trading: forex
Posts: 110 since Jan 2011
Thanks Given: 55
Thanks Received: 71


DarkPool View Post
In the last couple hours, it looks like GY has broken the ascending TL and rejected 135 pretty soundly. We'll see how it plays out. Looks like a big retracement in the works 3-400p. Either that, or we have STRONG support at 134.80.

Yeah, due to that Japan rating cut, we could see some weakness in JPY. Don't know

I'm on the short side, still!

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  #8 (permalink)
 kingich 
Zagreb, Croatia, Europe
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: Dukascopy
Broker: Dukascopy SA
Trading: forex
Posts: 110 since Jan 2011
Thanks Given: 55
Thanks Received: 71

I found that I good thing for me, that I can only place orders @ home, once a day at evenings.

With that, my emotional component is out, and I cannot mess with the trades anymore, once I've entered the market.... I let it all to trading gods

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  #9 (permalink)
 kingich 
Zagreb, Croatia, Europe
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: Dukascopy
Broker: Dukascopy SA
Trading: forex
Posts: 110 since Jan 2011
Thanks Given: 55
Thanks Received: 71

Just for the record This is my trading diary so I have poet's freedom to write what I'm thinking :-)

On EURUSD, this looks like a giant flag, with enormous flag pole, but we'll see. Currently there is a bearish momentum.

EURJPY is trading in a channel, also pointing downard momentum at the moment.

Just for the archive I'm putting EURCHF school example of short on the breakout of very steep trendline, in line with bearish divergence, targeting less steep trendline which was almost reached.

Best regards,

ivan

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  #10 (permalink)
 
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 Big Mike 
Manta, Ecuador
Site Administrator
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Swing Trader
 
Experience: Advanced
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Trading: Stocks & Futures
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Great job on the journal so far, I look forward to more

Can you tell me, did you decide to start this journal in part because of the free iPad / $600 tablet contest? Just so I can track what motivates people...

Thx
Mike

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Last Updated on May 2, 2012


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