St Patrick's Day.

All of the trades made today must be GREEN trades!

1st trade of the day.

GBP/USD a little flat when I got into this trade.
It was a typical trade using the plan and the results were basically the same.
1st target triggered at +3 pips, moved the stop, stopped for an additional +1.2 pips Nothing exciting.
I can't seem to catch the waves lately but the trades are still profitable. I guess I shouldn't complain.

2nd Trade of the day.

GBP/USD still a little flat.
The same results as the 1st trade, +3 pips followed by a stop at +.8 pips

A rather boring day before packing up and going to work.
But... A boring day trading is always better than an exciting day working. (Trading is working... I know).

Today I wasn't able to trade due to work issues.

I did think about it all day though

Another cloudy day in North West Ohio!

But a Glorious day for trading!
A day in the currency markets is like a day in Paradise!

Over the weekend I made a few adjustments to my Ninja Charts adding Heiken Ashi candles and changing the existing candles to a line.
I also installed an automatic regression channel and removed the pivots. I found that the pivots cluttered up the chart too much for my taste and I had used channels before and liked them.

I also adjusted my stop rules.

After taking the 1st target profit, I move the stop up to the bottom (or top, depending on the trade direction) of the previous Heiken Ashi candle using the 1100 tick chart (my entry was based on the 512 tick chart).
I continue to do this until being stopped out. I wanted to do it this way because my logic says that if I continue to move the stop, effectively having a target from below (in the case of a long trade), I won't miss the potential big move or at least have a lower probability of doing so.

This is where it got interesting:

I made 3 trades in my PFG account using this method. All 3 were stopped out after taking the 1st target profit (+3 pips) and adjusting the stop. This netted +12.8 pips

The 4th trade I made on my thinkorswim account using Ninja charts but entering it into the thinkorswim active trader.
This trade went as planned but I noticed that I was approaching the top of my channel and the opening of the US market so I moved the 2nd target (a limit order) down to just above the top of the channel.
I also moved the stop up to the bottom of the previous candle.
I thought to myself, "maybe I shouldn't have moved the target down". Just then the price spiked and triggered the 2nd target.
I was a little irritated thinking "Rookie Mistake" (of course, everything I do could be one big "Rookie Mistake" )
5 minutes before the bell the bottom fell out and I found my exit at the top of that move.

Talk about serendipity!

That trade netted +11.9 pips



Mike, if you, or anyone else, has an opinion regarding this plan I am open to hear it!

I find this method to be more comfortable psychologically as it assures that I won't move in and back out of profit turning a winner into a loser.

If you are asking me about stop placement, all I can say is that stops should be placed based on when you are wrong about the trade. At what point, if you are long, will you concede you were wrong and the long is the wrong trade? That is where the stop should be. For me this jives with price action by looking to the left and finding prior swing high/lows and setting stops near those zones.

If you are asking about trailing stops, it's a personal decision. I like to position myself so my 3rd target (a bigger winner) has a chance to get hit. Because when it is hit, I am usually done for the day. So I typically give the 3rd target more room. But you also can't have a 50 tick target come all the way back against you because it was 5 ticks shy of getting hit. There are usually many clues the market will drop when it is about to reverse on you. Hesitation, stalling, slowdown, these are common clues a reversal may be looming - so you would tighten your stop on these events to the recent swing high/low, for example.

Mike

Thanks for the reply Mike.

I didn't realize until you mentioned it that they are actually manual trailing stops.

I made a couple more trades on my tos account.
Both with the same method.

The first trade I jumped in without getting my entry signal so I got a little nervous and got out too early.
The second trade was entered after the signal appeared, took the first target and I got out when the reversal signal popped up.
+7 pips total for both trades.

These were short trades in an up trend (according to my regression channel) with the price above all 3 moving averages.

I know... I'm a wild man! (Or maybe just stupid)

I think I'll pay a little more attention in the future.

NinjaTrader has called in sick today. I think it's my computer though.

Alas, I can't call in sick and even have to go to work early therefore I can't trade.

I've been watching "An Afternoon with Big Mike" which I missed on Saturday even though I registered for it.

I'm finding it very interesting, educational and inspiring.

Thanks Mike!

After waking up to a barking dog, I staggered down to the computer and put on a trade in the fog.
2 trades actually, both taking +3 pips each.

The 3rd trade was entered after adjusting my time/tick periods on the charts.
It was a good setup on the 5 min chart but the 2500 tick chart wasn't so thrilled with it.

I was stopped out, -10.5 pips

Trade 4, I waited for the TSI signal to indicate a short and entered one. The trend was down and the price was below all 3 moving averages.

It triggered the 1st target then continued down nicely but I had to leave for awhile and it looked like the market wanted to reverse so I got out. Net +17 pips.

This brought back into profit for the day.

One more trade, another short after I received the TSI signal with the other confirming signals present.

I was stopped out again. I think my stop was too tight on this trade. -20.4 pips net

Today: -17.6 pips net

This morning presented 2 excellent long setups in the EUR/USD. Unfortunately, I missed them both.
But I did take a few trades.

1) A short retrace in an uptrend that netted +1.7 pips. I exited when a counter trend signal appeared.
I didn't use the 3 pip 1st target on any of these trades trying to capture a little more profit with the same net "pippage".
That didn't work out on this trade.

2) A Long position with all of the indicators lined up but I was stopped anyway -10.1 pips.

3) A Short when the indicators turned. After moving into profit I was looking to make an adjustment on my thinkorswim active trader when I heard a tone indicating the down spike had triggered my target. That was exciting, I didn't get to see it.
That was a net +12.4 pips

At 1230 EST, as I write this, the EUR/USD is getting a little choppy (on my charts).

Also, I think a bus hit me while I was sleeping and I have to get ready for work.

The oval on the chart shows the trades I took and the preceding notes the trades I missed.




Today: +4.0 pips

I had a very hard time focusing this morning on what I was doing.

I started by trading the thinkorswim account using NinjaTrader charts. This requires some calisthenics with the charts and the moving of stops and I found myself spending too much mental energy on chart drawing and not enough on chart reading.

I, therefore, suffered 2 triggered stops because I made 2 bad trades.

After switching back to the other account, I was able to recover the losses with several scalps to come to +6.0 pips.

The trades are in the oval, none of the stops are shown (made via thinkorswim active trader).



I made another trade a little later (after the screen capture) and after taking the 1st +3 pip target I didn't move the stop up to above entry in an attempt to give the trade a little more room to move.
I entered the trade late and it was quite a bit above the moving averages.
I was stopped for a -2.5 pip loss on the trade. If I had moved the stop, the trade would have netted a little over +3 pips.


Net for today: +5.4 pips

The alarm went off, but I didn't get up.

I just laid there thinking "I should get up and trade".

I didn't get up.

Then, after a while, I got up to get ready for work and thought "I think it was a mistake to not get up and trade".

After I got to work I realized... It was a mistake to not get up and trade.