2009-12-30 break even day.

weekly review and monthly goal.

6 weeks now, the last week was long time ago and I don't even remember what did I trade.

12/13/2009 10
12/14/2009 0
12/15/2009 60
12/16/2009 44
12/17/2009 7 121
12/29/2009 7
12/30/2009 3
12/31/2009 21



Total of 152 pips this week, not bad. Let's revisit the goals:

The goal for this (Dec) month is to keep the current trading size and get use to it, keep the current daily goal, 30 to 40 pips, and with a 5 pips per day average after all.
Plan is to increase the size by the end of this year and go from there.
[The goal is achieved, and I will increase my size from the new year 1/1/2009]

The real goal is to keep away from large percentage drawdown.

Note: I'm little bit lazy recently as I skipped regular route couple times last week. The purpose of writing this blog and keep my ups and downs is to track my trading and use it to fine tune my performance. Also writing down the resist and support every day in the morning helps me to keep a clearn mind throughout the trading session, prevent me from overtrade and revenge trade. Eventhough I'm winning everyday last week, I need to get back on track with my plan and goal.

2009-12-29

as it's a slow session, should be fighting for the entry... I did it right to fight for the exit.. stop was at 30 level, not very good.

2009-12-17 one last trade.

One last trade for the year, I hope. +7 pips.

Goal for 2010

Before write goal for 2010, let's see what I had for 2009.

**********************************************************************
Goals for 2009
Daily 3: Continue with FX planned trading and trade the plan.
[8, I got most of this]
Daily 6: 2 trades or backtest replay everyday.
[10, I got at least 2 trades a day, but not backtest]
Weekly 1: Only go on web surving on weekends
[3, I surved pretty much everyday]
Weekly 2: Review trades on weekends
[10, I think I only skip 1 or 2 weeks]
Monthly 2: Only go to yutobe or similar web site once a Month.
[5, every 2 or 3 days maybe]
Monthly 4: Read a book, ebook or real, every month.
[3,as I only read through March, well I ready tons of blog post the whole year, that should count as well!]
Monthly 5: only play poker and Facebook every month.
[5, I give up poker early this year and facebook, it's just 5 to 10 minutes everyday]

1: Trade only on the trend that decided by the list of questions
No Jump in the trade, no 1 minute trade, even you jump, take 10 seconds chart and get a nice entry.
2: Trade only on the hammer like bar, no breakout play.

1 and 2 doesn't matter anymore as the way of trading keep changing through out the year.
3: Honor stop, 20 pips on any given trade, 30 pips per 24 hours.
[3, some big blow up]
4: Document the trade.
[8, most of my trade has a chart and some description about why I trade]
**********************************************************************
Now let's list the goal for 2010
1: daily trade 2 times, or replay the chart 2 times, the bottom line is to keep myself with the market and don't get my hands cold, write trading plan every time!
2: review trade weekly
3: review size monthly, if I can get consistent result, increase the size every 2 month. if my capital drop to the max risk level, lower my size.
4: Blog reading and podcast.

These are the goals I think easy to reach.
Now here is the hard one
5: Fight for the entry and exit, don't always use market order.
6: Book reading and more important with action plan to follow up.
7: rehearse the bad and good scenario before trade. Need more plan on this about how to write it.
8: Backup my trading data monthly.















* Short-term trading means fighting for ticks. That adds up over time. I'm buying bids and selling offers, not lifting offers and hitting bids. When I decide to get out, I battle to get an extra tick from the trade; I don't just bail out. Had the market picked up volume and volatility, however, I would have been more likely to bail. Tactics are relative to market conditions;
I have revisit my entry for this month, it works most of the time if I can let the limit order get hit other than chasing the market order.

2009-12-16 done for now.

I am done for now, thinking of stop trading for the year. Here is something on my plan:
1: review the couple RB trade (Rule Breaking), see what if I follow the rule and what the size I should get, because my trading style does need multiple stop out and bigger size on winner or high R:R trade. So risk control is the key to my game.

2: list plan for next year.

3: read some book during the year end break.

2009-12-16 waiting for FOMC

Today market is waiting for FOMC. While ES is up 4.5

1. What is daily 3 hourly hourly 15 s/r and trend.
daily is down and officially 5 < 13 < 62. 1.4613 is EMA5 sep support at 1.4480
3hour down on all 3, support 1.4504, 1.4511, 1.4535
hourly down on all 3, but 5 is between 13 and 62.resist 1.4584, currently at 1.4545
15 is side way,
resist 1.4665, 1.4685, 1.4775
support 1.4617, 1.4600, 1.4585
2. Is there any news coming out in 30 minutes, what's trade. There is no news in the coming time. nothing major
3. today's spread:0.9
4. What's the size of today, and what's the max risk. normal size, will risk 20 pips.

I traded little bit in the morning and got about 22 pips. Now waiting for FOMC, the plan is to
1: follow the 1 minute chart move, short on pop and buy on dip.
2: watch 4500 as support and 4600 as resist, see if they break or not.
3: No trade when Oanda is widing spread to 10 pips.
4: Trade with half size as market move much more.

The goal for today is to follow the plan, even there is loser.








Today total +44 pips.

2009-12-15 finding top.

It took me a while to find top and I bet big on it, it works out fine, but there are couple problems.

1: I don't write my plan before the trade, this becomes a trend now and I cannot control it, the goal of this blog is to help me fix this, at least now I know it and I will try to fix it. You need to know the problem before you fix it right.

2: I made profit but it's not the way I wanted, I remember the fist time I played golf, I swing pretty well on the driving range, Swing well meaning I can hit the ball and the ball did go forward, and it flys. Then an old gentalmen came by and ask me is it where I want the ball to go? I told him no, I actually want it to go much longer and straight. Then he said to me, you need to work on your basics, you need to learn from how to hold the club, position your self, lock wrist, eye on the ball... I did all that, then I hit the ground, not the ball. Ok enough for golf, the point is, I need to be able to do the basics well before I can hit a long short, get consistent hit then go for a home run.

Today's trading, I was up about 6 pips to begin and then all the way down to -140. Then I scored a 200 pips winner, now I'm +60 pips. well, this is fine as long as I keep my size right.
I was plan on lost 20 to 40 pips and win hopefully 30 to 40 and get more winner than loser. And I have been doing this the past weeks. I'm not sure if I can categorize today as rule broken as I always keep my stop in place and I did get stopped out. Then I was able to let my winner run to the previous support line. There are just some places I can do better if I wrote my plan.. Still confused.

2009-12-14 boring market today.

It's boring, and lack of movement, I will be watching it.

1. What is daily 3 hourly hourly 15 s/r and trend.
daily is down on all 3, and 5 dropped below 62. 13 is still above 62.
3 hours down on 62, flat on 5 and 13, 62 is at 1.4775.
hourly down on 62 and up slightly on 5 and 13, 62 is at 1.4679
15 and 5 are choppy.. flat

resist 1.4665, 1.4685, 1.4775
support 1.4617, 1.4600, 1.4585
2. Is there any news coming out in 30 minutes, what's trade. There is no news in the coming time. nothing major
3. today's spread:0.9
4. What's the size of today, and what's the max risk. normal size, will risk 20 pips.

I guess people are on vacation or waiting for Wed FOMC meeting..

As it's boring market, I will buying at support and selling at resist,
1.4680 and 1.4620

There is no trade, neither level get hit... 0 pip

2009-12-13 Dubai again?

This time is the good news, and eur/usd moved up after news. Again I didn't write the plan and just start trade, this is very bad habit...

+10 pips.

weekly review and monthly goal.

5 weeks now, and 2 weeks after the thanksgiving weekend, I was trying pretty well this week and previous week:

11/29/2009 5
11/30/2009 0
12/1/2009 20
12/2/2009 0
12/3/2009 6
12/4/2009 41 72
12/7/2009 26
12/8/2009 12
12/9/2009 24
12/10/2009 28
12/11/2009 20 110



The goal for this (Dec) month is to keep the current trading size and get use to it, keep the current daily goal, 30 to 40 pips, and with a 5 pips per day average after all.
Plan is to increase the size by the end of this year and go from there.

The real goal is to keep away from large percentage drawdown.

Note: I'm little bit lazy recently as I skipped regular route couple times last week. The purpose of writing this blog and keep my ups and downs is to track my trading and use it to fine tune my performance. Also writing down the resist and support every day in the morning helps me to keep a clearn mind throughout the trading session, prevent me from overtrade and revenge trade. Eventhough I'm winning everyday last week, I need to get back on track with my plan and goal.

2009-12-11 DOWN trend after retail news.

Retail had a surprising news, which matches with what I feel in the holiday season, people spend much more in the mall and online (I did).

Again didn't do the home work just shorted. It was easy but this habit is not good.

+20 pips today.

2009-12-10 late to the trade.

I was late today and market as no movement anyway, short order at 1.4728 level, and stop at 1.4735.. now looking at target to 1.4720 and next at 1.4700.

Need to do my regular review as well.





+22 today.. biggest risk was at 60 pips..




+6 again, missed another 10 more pips run...
The last short was 3x size, which is because the stop is so close.

2009-12-09 Japan GDP low and Greek concern.

Japan GDP number turns out to be lower than expected and Greek is down graded.

1. What is daily 3 hourly hourly 15 s/r and trend.
daily down on all 3, and 5 is about to cross 62. support at 4668 and then 4626.
3 hour is down on 62 13, flat on 5, resist 4781 and then 4890
hourly down on 62, choppy at 5/13, 62 is at 4794
15 choppy and 5 choppy, EMA62 is at 4740
current trading at 1.4720 level.

resist 4760 4780, 4860
support 1.4700 4680 and 4660.

2. Is there any news coming out in 30 minutes, what's trade. There is no news in the coming time. nothing major
3. today's spread:0.9
4. What's the size of today, and what's the max risk. normal size, will risk 20 pips.

I will short on 4769 and long at 4700

+24 pips already.






And 4735 is EMA62 on 5 minutes chart, which it acting as resist in this case.

2009-12-08 USD up stock down.

Not much news today, and it's the after shock of Friday's NFP, USD up and stock down.


1. What is daily 3 hourly hourly 15 s/r and trend.
daily is down on all 3, but 5 ist still above 62, lower than 13 though.support 1.4700 and next 1.4600, ema62 is broken.
3 hour is down on all 3, pretty extended, with the 3rd leg.. resist 1.4890 1.4900 1.4860 ema 5 < 13 <62
hourly down on all 3, after NFP, support 1.4720 and resist 1.4864.
15 down all 3, support 4723/27, resist 4776.
5up on 5 and crossing 13, down 62, ema62 is at 1.4760.

resist 4756 4776, 4830 to 4838, 4860, 4890 4900, 5000,
support 1.4727 1.4723 1.4700 1.4600


2. Is there any news coming out in 30 minutes, what's trade. There is no news in the coming time.
3. today's spread:0.9
4. What's the size of today, and what's the max risk. normal size, will risk 20 pips.

I will short on resist. now looking at 1.4760 level.
I will also long at support, now looking at 1.4720 level.

I longed at 4720 level , took some profit and rest stopped out. then long at 4700 level, stop out, then long at 4680-90 level, now still holding.. I am about -20 pips to + 10 pips today. will see what happens in Asia Sesson.





I did draw the support line this time at 1.4680, which is from 3 hours chart.

+12 pips for today ( I was down 70 pips at one point ).

2009-12-07 will it be USD bottom?

Dollar bounced since last Friday. and stock going up still with in 1105 range.

1. What is daily 3 hourly hourly 15 s/r and trend.
daily is flat on 62 and down on 5/13, 5 is crossing 13.
support at 4756, resist at 5150 level.
3 hour is down on all 3, little extended with the 2nd leg already, support 4756, resist 4900 and 5000
hourly is down on all 3, 5 tested 13 last night. resist maybe 4830 level.
15 is down on 62 and up 5 crossing 13 resist 4830, support 4780, ema5 at 4838
5 is up with 62 at 1.4805

resist: 4830 to 4838, 4900, 5000,
support: 4780, 4756.

2. Is there any news coming out in 30 minutes, what's trade. There is no news in the coming time.
3. today's spread:0.9
4. What's the size of today, and what's the max risk. normal size, will risk 20 pips.

I will short on resist.




I was watching the market when it was testing 4820, and I told myself, hold on to your order until it tested 30/40 level, and then it dropped 30 pips, I said, I'm ok, I followed my plan even I don't have an entry.

Now with it trading at 4800, I regret that I left only 1/5 of position in the winner, but I was only risking 5 to 7 pips in each position, it make sense to take profit at 5 to 10 pips.

Ben is talking again, I trade another round, today total:
+26 pips

2009-12-04 NFP 10%

Well, if I trade the news by all prepared (buy on good news sell on bad news), I will be in deep water this morning. ES is up 20 points while Eur/Usd down 130.

I was late to the trade, got a 10 pips move and now is just managing the risk..




closed most of position, with 30 pips in profit.
Now have the last part target more.



ok, close my last position, total of
41 pips for today...

2009-12-03 not very good trading day.

Here is what happened, I wasn't trading the whole morning yesterday, and sort of feel left out of the market, then during the night session, I started shorting E/U with smaller size, and get stopped out left and right. Then I pick the next pop and short, and stopped out. I put 2 more short order at 5130 and 5140 level, and went to sleep, this morning find out one stopped out and one in profit.

There were couple things that I didn't do right:

1: Don't trade the night session, it's not because of the wide spread or lack of movement, it's because I won't have time to mornitor the market when I'm stopped out. The day session gives me more much buffer to work on it.

2: Again, write plan before trade, I was thinking just to scalp a little bit with smaller size to start, and I will finish quickly. WRONG, it was drag on for 3 hours with bigger and bigger size. Without a plan, I don't really know where to go.

+6 pips

2009-12-02 no trade today.

way to busy today with other thing, no trade.

I did put in order to buy at 1.5033, didn't get fill. now cancel it.

2009-12-01 global market back on track.

ES is up 9 points this morning and Dubai seems to be a OK issue now.

1. What is daily 3 hourly hourly 15 s/r and trend.
daily is up on all 3, support at 4816, resist at 5144
3 hour is up on all 3, little extended, resist at 5102, support at 4970.
hourly is up,
15 is up as well.
5 is up with 62 at 1.5070.

resist: 5102, 5144
support 1.5070, 1.5042 1.5000, 1.4880, 1.4940, 1.4970, 1.4990, 1.5000, 1.5020, 1.5050
2. Is there any news coming out in 30 minutes, what's trade. There is no news in the coming time. ISM and pending home at 7:00 AM
3. today's spread:0.9
4. What's the size of today, and what's the max risk. normal size, will risk 20 pips.

wait for the news and buy at support. with 5 to 10 stop, target 10 to 20. If stop out, wait for next support level or pull back on 10 chart.

News is coming out in 15 minutes, I will wait. Remember, short on pop up and buy pull back.

Had some short early the day.




And now is add more position from 5105 to 5115 level, stop at 5120.
Got half of the position out, will keep the rest for a little longer

+16 pips for today, still have a 50% position running, will see where it goes.

Total of +20 pips, the remaining was stopped out at the top.. crap!

What I use to do is to keep it with original stop, even I was stopped out, I will be BE. This time I moved it and missed a 70 pips profit.