Babbers Journal

[Alexbabwa]

Traded Forex unsuccessfully for 2 years. Then had success on and off for 6 months before I eventually blew the account again. Almost every time I blew an account it was because my emotions got the better of me, usually resulting in a revenge trade. It has been 2 years since then and I have changed a lot as a person. So much has happened and I feel a lot more stable emotionally. My level of Forex education is the same as it was 2 years ago if not worse.

Starting with a small account and seriously over leveraged. All trades £1 per pip.

This week £300 +50.

Friday evening. Short eur/usd 1.0815 SL 1.0855

 

[Alexbabwa]

Opened another short position at 1.0816 SL 1.0855

Risk is £80 therefore TP is £240 or 120 pips. If fundamentals or PA indicates a strong bullish sentiment before TP is reached I will consider taking profit early. Stop will move to break even if monthly pivot is broken.

 

[alexaherself]

Watching with interest - good luck with it!

All trades £1 per pip.

TP is £240 or 120 pips.

Excuse me if I missed something obvious, but I'm confused: if all trades are £1 per pip (I'd want at least a £1,000 account to try that staking, myself) why does 120 pips represent £240 rather than £120?

 

[Alexbabwa]

My bad, I was thinking of a 120 pip move rather than how many pips I may accumulate. So 240 pips for £240. Ideally I would like £2500 just to be trading at £1 per point. This is simply not an option for me in the near future.

 

[Alexbabwa]

SL moved to break even. PA is promising. I shall sleep easy knowing my tiny capital is no longer at risk.

 

[Alexbabwa]

Stopped out. Perhaps it was too soon to move my stop to break even as the price did do what I expected. Perhaps if I hadn't doubled my stake I would of stuck to my original plan. Took a long position at 1.0753 above 740 support. SL 730.

Edit: ended up taking another position at 742 with the same SL.

Edit: Stopped.

 

[alexaherself]

Perhaps it was too soon to move my stop to break even as the price did do what I expected.

I hear you, there: it's extremely annoying when you get the direction right and still lose money. To me this always suggests my directional judgement was ok but my trade management needs attention.

Perhaps if I hadn't doubled my stake I would of stuck to my original plan.

For me, too-large position-sizing makes me want to move my stop-loss nervously to break-even too quickly, rather than "giving the trade room to breathe".

Good luck - keep them coming.

 

[Alexbabwa]

I do wish IG offered smaller lot sizes, but it is how it is.

It has just gone 9pm in the UK and I have had time to reflect on the day. My analysis last night was sound as was my entry, SL and TP. It feels unlucky that I got stopped out but it wasn't luck. I was too cautious moving my SL to BE probably because my stake was too big for my nerves.

For hours after I traded off of the support and resistance levels. Most of them ended up profitable for 30 pips or more. But I allowed it too much time to move against me and stop me out. At some point in the early afternoon I caught myself acting impulsively and walked away.

Later I redid my analysis starting from the daily. I went short around 760 with a 780 stop. I took a similar trade on the eur/jpy. This is currently in profit but again my instincts tell me not to take it yet, if not just because it wouldn't satisfy my risk reward ratio. SL moved to BE on both trades.

Tomorrow I shall try not to repeat today's mistakes.

Current funds £235

 

[Alexbabwa]

Today I wiped my account out again. I over leveraged and I knew I shouldn't. Anyone who read this knew I shouldn't. The account size was so small I could only afford to trade one pair at a time.

So I will go back to my day job and only come back if and when I have enough to allow me to trade at about 5% risk per trade, so £2000+

Of course, if that doesn't help me to trade more responsibly I just stand to lose more

Current funds £0

 

[alexaherself]

Sorry to hear it, and wishing you much better luck next time.

Have you thought of using a demo account, or one on which you can trade for a lot less than £1 per pip? (Either by spreadbetting or somewhere like Oanda, where yourt minimum position size can be as small as you want?). 5% risk per trade sounds absolutely enormous, to me ... :|