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Congratulations for having a trading journal and thank you for sharing it with us.
If you allow me I would like to comment a few things on your posts and trading style.
1) You said you trade Forex between 8:30am EST and 3pm EST and I saw you traded EURUSD. As you know the bigger moves on EURUSD happens on London open at 3am EST. So you might be trading an instrument at not at their best time interval.
2) I noticed you were filled this trades at Market. I would suggest you consider Limit or Stop Limit orders instead of Market orders as you will avoid some slippage. You may win a few ticks by changing to Limit from Market orders.
3) I am not sure if you have predefined values for Stop Loss and Profit Target but the image you share as a typical trade made me wandering if you are taking the most of your trades. For instance, in this trade you profit 15 ticks. That's fine! But the market moved more +40 ticks so you left most of it on the table.
One way one could improve their exits is to monitor an oscillator in a smaller time frame. For instance, you are trading at 5 minutes chart. If you had an oscillator to a 2 or 3 minutes chart you can better see the exit areas. Cyan Arrow and Line was your entry. Ping Arrow and Line was your exit.
Below I share two 2 minutes charts one with MACD and the other with a Slow Stochastic both with default parameters and at the same date and time of your typical trade chart.
I think both charts are self-explanatory and it is the way I use to exit my trades. In this case I will be looking to exit around 1.3160 going for a 50-55 ticks trade and I don't need to rush because I would had 12 minutes (six 2 minutes bars) to exit this trade.
Of course after this exit areas the market could continue to go up but I made the most of this run and I could always search for more entry areas.
I was in a really good trade this morning but exited to early. I missed the initial breakout but waited a pull back which made a lower high and entered the trade. I had my initial target set for 5 ticks. I moved it out to 6 ticks which was right at a minor support level. The market was weak. I knew it but didn't act on it. This cost me 5 to 10 ticks.
I was watching volume levels on the DOM today. I am trying to learn how to recognize entry and exit points.
I didnt pull the trigger on 2 other entries which would have netted another 5 to 10 ticks. They are circles on the charts for my original entry I missed and secondary trades which I did not take.
Note: I made one additional trade by accident. I thought I was in SIM. it was a break even trade. Had I waited it would have been profitable!
What was the best thing happen today.
I was patient and waited for the pull back to and entered the trade. This was a excellent trade.
What was the worst thing to happen today?
I didnt look at the bigger picture and project where the trade could have gone. This cost me 5 to 10 ticks.
I let my emotions dictate my trading decisions.
I felt a little nervous today. I was looking at volume levels within the DOM which may have contributed to me exiting the trade early. Plus this was my first day on my TST account. Really wanted the first day to be positive. I let my emotions overrun rational thought.
Thanks for your feedback! See my answers below
1) I have thought about trading London however with work and family it would be difficult. To make up for the big moves I will trade size instead. For now 15 to 20 ticks will be sufficient for what I am trying to accomplish. Also, I recently switched over from EURUSD to 6e.
2) I am ok with Market orders. I have tried using limit orders but end up chasing a trade. By then I have more slippage on chasing the trade than if I would have entered on Market. Market for me is the lesser of two evils. I do use Stop Limit orders on breakouts. I will place my Stop Limit below the trend line and wait for the breakout.
I have two entries with set stops and profits. First is a 5 profit and 5 stop while the second is 10 profit 10 stop. Each of these has a different use depending on market conditions and price action. A tight range bound market will use the 5 and 5 where as a the 10 and 10 is used for more volatile markets where there is a potential for a larger breakout.
I will not move the stop further out. I will move it closer to the entry as profit is gained.
For the profit I move it out to where I think the price will go based on support / resistance levels and trend lines.
3) No argument about leaving ticks on the table. On one of my posts last week I identified this as a goal to capture more of the move. It will come, but for now I will be happy capturing small gains while learning to identify price movements.
As far as indicators go, I cannot use them. Its taken me 12 years to figure out indicators where 85% of my problem. They cloud my judgement because they give me conflicting signals when compared to price action. This causes really bad entries and exits. I end up losing badly. With price action I am getting good entries and I am beginning to see the market more clearly and making better trades. As time goes on I will be able to stay in the market longer and pickup more ticks.
You are doing are doing a excellent job of capturing the trend this past week. I am still not there. I start thinking SELL SELL as soon as the market starts to go against my trade. Gotta work on that!
Ran across issue I am having with mentally changing direction as the market does. Today for example the market started to turn down so I was looking for short entries. But like so many times in the past, when the market changed direction and headed back up, I ended missed the best long entry because I was still looking for shorts.
I will add recognition of trend change to my list of things I to be mindful of.
No chart. When I reloaded the tick chart this morning, the marker for the entry was off from where I actually entered.
I entered the trade on a breakout downward. Unfortunately it was the last leg down before the reversal. I was one tick away from my target before it reversed. I had a chance to get out at break even but didnt pull the trigger. I knew I was wrong. I was holding on to Hopium!
I didnt take the big breakout because the price was around 1.3000. This is the trade I should have taken. I had a fear of reversal. I need to get over the fear of losing. Its going to happen.
Best thing that happened yesterday:
I stopped after the loss because I was upset I didnt take the BE trade and that I missed the big move earlier
Worst thing that happened yesterday.
I let fear get in the way of my trading.
I am seeing a pattern over the past few days: Emotion is holding me back. When I took the trade yesterday I had a adrenalin rush. This should have told me I should have not been in the trade. Today's trade was emotion free.
What I am most frustrated with is I am seeing the trades. I am just not pulling the trigger.
I missed the big move this morning. There was a double bottom on a trend line. There is a super high probability the price will move higher when this happens. I didnt take it. The price then moved 35 ticks higher.
I had posted the chart in the TST chat room and somebody else made the 35 ticks. Made me mad. Not that someone else made the ticks, but that I could have been the one posting I made the 35 ticks. I was determined to take the next trade.
So the trade I took was a breakout of a flag pattern to the upside. My emotions were under control when I took the trade. My original target was 10 but the price moved into congestion from the previous rally and stopped. This is when i exited the trade.
What was the best thing that happened to me today:
I posted my charts in the TST chat room and got good feedback.
I got a swift kick in the ass when I saw someone else take a trade I should have taken.
What was the worse thing that happened to me today
I didn't pull the trigger on a high probability trade.
Today was a good day trading. Having competition motivated me to take a trade. This was a good thing. My emotions were under control when I took the trade. I exited the trade with when I saw the price stop. Recognition of what was going on with the price was the key to this trade. Had I not been paying attention it would have been a BE or loss because there was a hard reversal after my exit.
Thank you for replying my comment. Here are my comments:
1) I perfectly understand what is to trade with family and work as I've too a full time job. If 15 to 20 ticks is enough for your that's good news because usually, EURUSD and 6E has plenty of 20 ticks moves to catch.
2) You tested Market and Limit orders so you know what's best for you. Great.
3) We react very different to leaving ticks on the table. I know it is not possible to take them all but I will feel very bad if I took only 15 ticks of 60 possible. If for you that's not a problem it's fine.
As I always heard you should trade in a way you feel more comfortable with. It's not possible to trade as someone else because we are not someone else.
In the future I will also share my live trades in EURUSD or 6E.
