Okay. It worked in my favour by not keeping trade running (this time)/

Have had major problems with platforms and servers for the best part of the day so only a couple of trades off before the problems.
Luckily before the freezes I had just closed out all positions.

I think it's a bug in a program I downloaded, As I have only just got one platform working properly again after deleted said program and not down to broker games as I first thought.
Off to sort out other platform now.

Have not been able to sort out the problems on the account for here. It's the same problem as on one of my real accounts, yet the same fixes for the real have not worked on this one. It could have been the other way around of course, so that's something to be happy about I suppose.

Am waiting now to get download details again, but have the feeling that I will have to reset account to 5k and start again.
So last screen shot showed balance of just over 7k. That's a profit of around 2k for the month. Made it in a few days, but you know what I mean.

Have no idea what real cost of living is like over there, so would 2k be enough for basics?

Well, as I expected. Having to start again from 5k. Ho hum. No matter.

Now Markets are crashing.

I was just never meant to profit form the disaster of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. The big fella up there didn't want me to, and in a way I don't want to. It's not right and it is what you really would call 'Blood Money'.

Thinking of it. I have never been able to profit from disasters on these scales of such human suffering. Other people and organisations do, and after all isn't that trading? What being a trader is all about. Cold, ruthless, able to spot and jump on an opportunity before others. It's not for want of trying.
In the 911 tragedy, after the initial horror on the screens as it unfolded began to subside and the opportunity to profit began to surface, after the realisation that I couldn't do anything to help and to get back to work. I couln't get on any trades. All brokers platforms/screens were frozen, either intentionally or otherwise. Phones rang unanswered and markets continued to crash worldwide.
If memory serves, they even moved the goalposts the very next day. All trades placed after a certain time of day were not being honoured.
I knew people that made small fortunes and people who became trapped in trades until brokers started working normally again.

Black Friday was fine, saw it coming and was well placed.before hand. Black Monday, Wednesday, Thursday or whatever black day the news people care to invent were only market corrections after all, blown out of proportion a bit by the media. All returned to 'normal' trading a while after. Some 'corrections' take longer than others but as a rule of thumb all go on to better heights then before, until the next time of course.

You know. My trading has purpose. I do something that a lot of people don't. At the end of each month or each quarter, I 'Tithe'. Locally though. So I can make a difference.

So, New chart, new trades. Stand by.

And here we go. Initially short scalp, due to meter weakening off and price at top of yesterday high. Will see if it plays out.

Well, not sure what to do about this now. Trade went 60/70 in profit after a min. and in real life I would have taken that, because it was always a scalp against the stronger up move, and should always be looked at as such. Meter suddenly showed strength again and trade went high hundred against.
Got wrong footed by the news because I was expecting it to come out at 1.30 my time. But because of the day light savings etc your end. News came out an hour early here.

No. Meter too strong for up to continue holding short.

No. Scrubbed. I'm wrong.

A disastrous start to the unforeseen problems of the platform freezing and starting anew.
Down on Thursdays trades, and wrong-footed not once this morning but twice! Only on the 3rd attempt did I 'know' it was right.

At one point account went down to around 3.5k. So certainly not a good first few trades. I was beginning to sweat as if it were real money and worse still, someone else's real money!

These moments can crush a traders spirit in two as easy as you stepping on a snail. It can take a long, long time to come back from these setbacks. (But you can do it... Unlike the snail of course because he's eh, well... dead).

They happen to EVERY single trader who has ever taken up a mouse and clicked merrily away at a chart on a screen. You pick your moment and CLICK!... Almost instantaneously the market reverses away from where you want it to go.

"What the f***. What just happened?"...

You bought at market resistance. You bought at a previous high. You even bought at yesterdays high! What on earth were you thinking. It's all as clear as a bell... Now.
What a numb nuts.

Oh, that's right. You were going for the breakout. Didn't it even push through a fair bit and suck you in with it?
Yes it did. You and a few hundred other punters as well.
You had perfectly good, valid reasons for the trade. It's just a fact of trading life that breakouts don't work as often as you would like them to. You are better off going for the retrace, back into a channel. Or at least wait until the breakout has proved itself.

Anyway, you did the trade and screwed it up, what happens now. This is what separates traders from cannon fodder.
A lot of traders would have jumped bail on their cock up long breakthrough trades, adding to the impetus of the down move. They have lost. Money gone.

Some wait to see what happens. It looked like it was going down now for sure. Some peeps would just hold the loss.
I. on the other hand flipped into the short side still holding the original long. A safe guard against losing too much.
A little while later, guess what? Yep, market flips to the upside again. My balance is ratlling up and down effectively going nowhere. Until the time is right to do some juggling and go long again.
Now. You can do one of two things here.
Either rack up a large one and go go quick return before market changes side again, or go in conservatively, so that if you are still wrong you don't lose too much and you can still trade another day without too much mental scarring.

Had the account been well into the plus side and I was effectively trading with 'free' money. I would have entered a lot heavier. This time I knew I was right. It felt right and it was right.
But because the account was down and capital preservation is paramount above everything else. I had to enter gently and play the waiting game.

Well minutes passed like days and lo and behold price returned to the high. The previous resistance and a good place to get out. After all, it had dropped back already. Longer charts showed that it had been refused entry on quite a few occasions. And there was no news around to help push it through. So although account hadn't recovered fully, it was a good time none the less to exit and play again another day.

A lot of 'Traders' would say I played it wrong. I should have folded or held onto the loss.
I say do what works for you. Find your own style and methodologies.

The single biggest mistake new traders (and old ones come to that) make is to sit in front of a screen waiting for a trade to set up. When it does. 'Click'... And they wait...
And wait.

Expecting trade to fly to the moon. Every trade they put on the expect it to fly to the moon.

By looking at a longer frame chart you can get a good idea of the possible move. How often in the last year or three has it actually flown to the moon?

Why should it be any different this time?
Because you are trading it?

...If only.

Small trade today. Much the same set up as the other day, when the trade started to eat me.

Chart explains it. Waited for retest and more solid continuation rather than just jumping in too early on a whim.

Better result, because of patience and planning. Also good exit by not being too greedy.

Not much happening. Quiet time. Market in side trend. Which way are you going to play it?
Breakout or break back?

The breakout, which I took first was wrong. Price at bottom of channel and the trade planned was for a drop through of channel.

Price needs a bit of help to move at the best of times. So coming to the end of the session, no news, no major upsets, and nothing at all to help.
The better plan of trade is a reversal back into the channel. In this case the bottom of the channel. So a long trade then back towards the top channel.

My short attempt failed straight away and price went skyward toward top channel. So what do you do?

Channel was pretty narrow, so holding trade was not too painful. Had it been double the size. Cutting trade quick would have been the best option.
Once it hit the top of channel, a short ticket was opened again. When it started moving down, another ticket opened short. Price fell back toward bottom channel and tickets closed on a fifo basis. Had the trade carried on at the top of the channel. Then trades would have had to be closed and the loss taken on the chin, before the hole gets too big.

A quick word about methods and trading.

It is all about finding yourself. The journey can be a very long one, and the time it takes to become a 'comfortable' trader cannot be pinned down to a set frame. It might take six months, six years or however long it happens to take.

I have many, many ways to trade. How to run trades for maximum profit, and how to make bad trades right. I do come unstuck on occasion.

There will always be someone standing over your shoulder ready to say you can't do it that way. You should have done it this way etc, etc.

Well, if they want to put their own money on the table they can play it anyway they like!

Ignore them. Do it your way!
You must have a basic grounding of course, and demo everything first. Expect anything you first try in trading to go wrong. But don't give up. Tweek it. If you trade naked, use 5 or 50 indicators; it's up to you.

There have been a few of my trades on here that some may pick up on and say I am just chasing my luck. Doubling, trebling, Doing Martingale etc.
Well it's not.

It's called trading.
I don't care if people say I am doing it 'wrong'.
I don't care if they say I should sit for hours in front of screens waiting for a trade to set up and click once to enter trade. Put in a stop and/or a take profit marker and leave the trade to find its own conclusion.
Do you think the bank traders sit there all day just to do the same and click a button once a day to take a trade? I wonder how long they would hold down their job for?

Have you ever been to a land based casino and played Blackjack?
Ever seen those little posters up on the walls that tell you the best way to play Blackjack?

How cool is that? What a nice casino it must be. To describe in detail the best way to win money off the casino.

All those Blackjack players if they follow the 'rules' must walk out of the casino with bulging pockets stuffed with casino cash. You must have seen them staggering along under the weight of money that could feed a third world country for a month.

No?

Me neither.

Like you I've seen the odd winner stroll out. Why not the majority of punters then?
The winners 'play' to their own rules. They have their own system that they have adapted to suit themselves, and they do not listen to other people.

Same thing with trading. All indicators work how they are supposed to. All EA's work how they are supposed to. All the trading books and advice either given freely or paid for will all work how it is supposed to. All given the right conditions of course.

Conditions change though. What worked last time may not work this time.
Adaptability is the key.
You need to be able to spot it, adapt to it, and get out before it changes again. In trading terms that could be anything from a minute (or less), to a 28 year cycle.
Your trading style and methodologies should fit inside that time frame somewhere.

"Adapt or Die". Said the Cockroach to the Dinosaur.