From $0 to $100k (whilst working full time)

Things to for me remember:

Markets can stay irrational than you can stay liquid.
Don't lose 30 points within a 10 point range.
Play the stats - get your sample of trades, review and adjust.

1721385769113.png
 
Results - using my new rules, see post #18

15th July 2024 to 19th July 2024

Everything is net of comms.
  • 3 trades
    • 1 Winner - USDCAD +£8.58 / +1.97R (risk was £4.35)
      • T2 - Trend reversal
    • 1 Loser - Silver - (£5.39) / (1.02R)
      • T1 - Trend continuation
    • 1 BE - GBPAUD - (£0.41) / (0.08R)
      • T2 - Trend reversal, entry conditions not quite fulfilled, so cut this manually.
Net £2.78 / +0.87R

My winner, USDCAD, entered Tuesday, closed Friday.
This is one of the longest trades I have been in.
Really practicing my patience and sticking to 2/3 trades a week.

Why do I have a BE if one of my rules are to not manage a trade? My GBPAUD entry, was a premature entry based on what I am looking for. It fulfilled half my entry criteria and when I realised this, I exited the trade. Which ended up being a good decision as it would have hit SL. Therefore, this was an error and I corrected this quickly. Because of my rules, I penalised myself to not make another trade, I have reached 3 trades. Next time I will make sure I wont waste a 'bullet' incorrectly.

My risk on the USDCAD as you can see was slightly less than £5, which is just what the lot size allowed me, going higher would mean I go way over my risk. Remember I do not care about the profits, I care about the R return, this is the true metric that one should use to judge how profitable a trader is.

I had a Silver trade which turned into a loser,

I am super proud this week for sticking to the process. The positive R return is a bonus.

Let's get a decent sample and go from there.

Have a good weekend.
 
Last edited:
Working on a weakness

Just putting a spotlight into an issue I used to have (and still naturally do which I try to suppress) and what I've done do improve.

I don't know about others, but I have a tendency to want to reverse trade because my brain says..."that's gone too far", especially when I see the price has done 1.5x or even 2x of the ATR.

I've realised I have this and have stopped trying to do this.

On some days like yesterday, GBPAUD - it has gone one way one - and my brain just couldn't wait to go Short.

1721750363115.png

1721750394216.png


I mean seriously look at that bastard...just tempts you every time.

Anyways I stood on the side lines, but I soooooooo wanted to short this...and boy am I glad I did not.

I used to do this before quite frequently and doing my arse most of the time.

I couldn't keep doing this and it was just utter stupidity, so I approached the situation like this:
Problem - wanting to reverse the crap out of (what I perceive) to be over extended moves)
Result of the trades - get my arse handed handed to me 80% of the time
How will I improve this - I will stop taking blind reversal trades when it's not off a level or structure.

Firstly this type of setup is not in my playbook anymore - this sounds more dramatic than it is. My playbook consists of 3 setups.
T1 - Trend Continuation
T2 - Trend Reversal
T3 - Range Reversal

My T2 - Trend reversal trades now have a specific structure I look for, nothing exciting, but it simply means I stay away from majority of the fakeouts.

PS - look at how the candle closed yesterday. it did actually end up doing slightly over 2x ATR. And I said to myself I bet when the market closes 10pm London time, it will close near its highs. I think I've got a better feel for these things, because I fought the market so many times.

1721750886708.png


Anywho, just thought I'd share that.

That's one of my weaknesses that I've tried to address.

-------
Markets can stay irrational than you can stay liquid.

I am sure it is a rational move based on fundamentals - but its a reminder to Not fight the markets.
 
Results

22nd July 2024 to 26th July 2024
Trades actually from Monday to Thursday, Friday 26th I will be away from markets.

Everything is net of costs.
  • 2 trades
    • 1 Winner - GBPUSD +£10.46 / +1.99R (risk was £5.25)
      • T1 - Trend continuation
    • 1 Loser - Silver - (£6.21) / (1.07R) (risk was £5.80)
      • T2 - Trend reversal
Net £4.25 / +0.92R
Once I have a decent sample size of say 20 trades or more I will tally my T1/T2/T3 and total R returns.
---------
My winner from this week - GBPUSD

As you know I am practicing my 1:2 without trade management (this will be reviewed after a decent sample size).
Entered trade on Tuesday, Wednesday morning I wake up absolutely delighted that I am almost at TP...having my breakfast and probably made it taste nicer also! but then by the time I was at work and checked on the trade, it completely reversed. I was 2.5 pips away from TP!
It was incredibly difficult to not close the trade at BE or slightly in profit.
But what would be the point of my rules if I will not follow them... so I let it ride.
The next morning at breakfast it closed at TP.
Very satisfied of me sticking to my own rules.

AD_4nXd1VPflrXRTdB_GLo_TgeuS1e6mpuvO1nsbHFzVxKHlZp_2fdRM-ZHlpKNUXChewIawoIGlWy8lLQUMH4sULc7OqGm7MiWpgnpA_wbNCPZjiYqVX5XYqx5p-p8yvYcXFk7qYozsI6LjirwdiuaBRvkESF4
 
5th Aug 2024 to 9th Aug 2024

The JPY caused havoc on the charts - and in the real world. The charts are looking very overbought/oversold and left large wicks on the HTF.

I was quite careful this week, expecting volatility to still be heightened and not to get whipsawed out of my position, so I found a chart which looked like a clear reversal on the Daily TF, GBPCAD.

It was a shame I could not enter on WTI due to my min risk per trade which is £5-£6 (sticking to my guns on this), it setup really nicely for another trend continuation and that would've hit 2R also. Mentally I have 2 winners this week :p

Everything is net of costs.
  • 1trades
    • 1 Winner - GBPCAD +£12.05 / +1.99R (risk was £6.06)
      • T1 - Trend continuation
Net £12.05 / +1.99R


AD_4nXf8_vKUEDLB38A11PqaVaHdxqZm8ZkYZ2cnaeAYQww0vYqp_WlHXNSBjsiiQKev86PsqfzNqrjohxUC60HYxPOyNBXgUm_JU60Wl-ToT_xMFvhuryaNB3rFbr7okXkljFqFr9scD3gLQfva8PLZU4Gqncw

AD_4nXfiQKqMlXaWImbWuu2--hZ5jBJNH68Wqza2xjrE1POZL7nahqf6XTvpejKobcnnH3KK91ZUGCUm9D6R92DAg43HoUClbQGPnWz_r7NOxdEVIf_er7xYLmBCo01W3ek-bo8mV2vmpXg3u8qVyYAFayWaQ3Xl




1723205371090-png.336978
 
Last edited:
Time for some thoughts

The first two weeks from 15 July 2024, when I implemented the self-imposed rules (2-3 trades max a week, with a 1:2 RR and no management) was mentally quite difficult to sit on my hands, however, knowing I will be reporting the results in this forum has really made stick to it for fear or looking like a tit. Well one could say...well then just don't post that result its only a forum nobody will know, that is just simply not my mentality. If you cannot be truthful to yourself then you won't be successful in general let alone trading.

I am my own worst critic and pretty harsh on myself so not being truthful is just not an option, not because of you reading but because I will know, me. And I've always had that approach to everything, I don't care who's looking, I will not miss any steps in any development (sport/career/family life). Side note - I would be lost without YT home DIY videos!

So in the interest absolute transparency which is what this journal is supposed to be please see the results from 15th July as posted:

1723206474066.png


GBPAUD trade was wrong sizing hence 3 entries - which I cut manually, see post #22.

6 trades:

  • 3 winners
  • 2 losers
  • 1 BE
= +3.78R net

The last two weeks, have been much easier mentally, I have missed 1 trade last week, which I would be previously get really angry about. But now my mentality is that, I have a full time job and family - this is my absolute priority - therefore trading was here before me and will always be there in the future, but it won't be there if I cannot stick to a plan. So in the limited time I have, if I see a setup which I try check for regularly I will take it but if not, sticking to the plan is really what we can only do. After a certain amount of sample trades I can refine this.

So at the moment - the plan is again 'To Stick To The Plan' of just trading with my rules, and reevaluate what works and what doesn't.
 
Mid week thoughts and progress
So far this week has been tough mentally, something is off. For some people it may be work / family or something else. In either case for me it has been a grind, my desire to force the market as opposed to taking what the market offers seems to be present.

I missed two trades which both went to 2R and this is definitely affected me.

I guess that's just part and parcel of trading this way.

I took a Silver trade this week which was a loss, I will post about this at the end of the week.

If you ever get to this situation, which you would inevitably if you trade long enough - you just know you are not firing on all cylinders. For me I am mentally starting to stray away from the main setups and the basic market structure.

A note to self - Stick to the simple Market structure setups.

Let's see if there will be a nice setup tomorrow or after tomorrow.

-----
Just a reminder to myself, that progression is not linear in trading.

Things to for me remember:

Markets can stay irrational than you can stay liquid.
Don't lose 30 points within a 10 point range.
Play the stats - get your sample of trades, review and adjust.
-----
 
Results

12th August 2024 to 16th Aug 2024

Mentally this week has been tough, see post above. Just need to recalibrate and look at the markets if there is an opportunity with my setups and not force it. Although saying that, the trades I did take I thought they were absolute bangers and I jumped into them, having no regrets at any point.

Everything is net of costs.
  • 2 trades closed
    • 2 Losers
      • T2 - Trend Reversal - Silver -£5.68
      • T1 - Trend Continuation - NZDUSD -£5.08 (posted below)
  • 1 Trade still open
    1. T1 - Trend Continuation - Silver currently running profit (risk £5.83) and we are running at £9.03 profit, target £11.67 (2R), so 1.55R at the moment. we are almost there. Sticking to the no management rule.
Net £10.76 / -2R
running +1.55R

I was kind of surprised at the NZDUSD trade to be honest, let me share the setup. Let me share the setup below.
AD_4nXeD9s5B54UOSn9S5RMmLQSwVtotAR-mvFuXLo9U4-1X_yz9j-ELNz9dsHFUAYTFCJranMvhqsqH_jrztn6tNBT3TCQdZaN6r-NkK06IvVrjJfhQ0M6dvbyKGVoPlETgiE0flC1du7VbZti3o10AbFj1i_cz

AD_4nXed-AkJ4vtP1WBk-QYeR-koK-Xa4Ikj7_jZb2s_ZkesRJU7p3j0ZQT0oAfhIkp0s73qYVsVGPtMI5gV7W_yiwjrOr_6WvaaRz17GReoE-ALACWGqZPuthx8Ei8GXT90nM7MUNsHUd0c85dYjwpUxZEjufw

AD_4nXeKi6OU53rsuVZFlp50PKeeNjTJRo-lcMY0PjDCarmMkdAg8dmS0XpQ4VSgv8aqQQBzNuCLNCgvaWV_K7f5dcAe4gUd7VpOJzms_vuLvMMIQ2SxKaUL1yFw1hA5c2WSPb20q-8WZ2kD5t5XQ3Z1_S_uOKAe

AD_4nXd0rcBAy7fVoI6CcrLzp2p9gu4PNeR2DUyVQIO2VmhJnhZ4quqOHD3_4OKGML2l_Im6evLXRYcCBKHanAV7Au6HFhA5Hpr-qgZ3ldoTcatjZrJO1wAEmC2ZDRu_kZgIsxZsr_B5WmMgou9Qvqfh6N_DERPV

Clearly it was sitting on resistance turned support from Early Aug, but we have a nice change of structure and everything looked like it will drop like a ton of bricks. Well it didn't. That's just trading. Even looking at this setup now I am thinking to myself how good a setup it was and I've had this multiple times that it sets up like this and simply goes one way, but it just brings it back to you - its a probabilities game.

I do not want to make this thread about setups and strategy, but more a process on how to become profitable but sometimes a picture paints a thousand words.

Just like I said below sometimes the setups occur and the price just rockets one direction. Although I got shaken out of my Silver trade earlier this week, it truly was a shakeout, I decided to get in on this trade again as I see price holding and Gold was making new all time highs again ($2,500). I think this entry was perhaps a little late but I saw the 2R is possible given previous resistance to try and test it again. I think given the fact I was shaken out earlier this week in this pair, I was looking for that reassurance.

1723839474913.png


I am quite excited to see with a decent sample size how I can improve on my entry to improve expectancy.

-------
Although I have taken the two losers, I feel I have done nothing wrong with those trades and its just the odds playing themselves out. The current open silver trade is definitely helping mentally. Let's see what happens next week.
 
Last edited:
Weekly thoughts and things that happened so far

Silver
hit TP, fabulous.

I took a good trend continuation trade on GBPAUD. The price was a great break and retest (see below). Note - I am not posting my entry signal etc, this is just to show structure on entry. This trade did not workout but was actually quite interesting.
1724323431862.png
1724323444608.png


When taking this trade, my thoughts where - the H4 chart is taking its time breaking through this level, which is understandable because this was resistance from Early June and mid July (see daily chart), held again early Aug, so it was a strong level.

My thinking was that Daily candle closed below these levels with conviction. Therefore a nice break and retest would be a good shout and if it carried on down it had plenty of 'space' to carry on.
As I was pressing the sell button I genuinely thought, I do not think this will workout however it will be interesting to see.

I think at this stage it is important to 'NOT THINK' too much and really stick to being as consistent as you can in your process and refine later.

Now that I have taken this trade and lost a 'coffee' amount, I won't forget that when price takes this long to break and has multiple H4 holds over 3 weeks, I need to be sceptical of the break. Well, for me this was a cappuccino well spent as I will remember this.

As I've had this approach...let's just see, I feel it has been productive at this stage of my journey.

Will post results in next few days.

I have taken my 2nd trade this week Silver long, as it has given me a nice trend continuation setup. (Previous Silver trade was from last week).
 
19th August 2024 to 23rd Aug 2024

Everything is net of costs.
  • 3 trades closed
    • 1 Winner (opened last week)
      • T1 - Trend Continuation - Silver - +£11.46 (+1.96R), risk was £5.85
    • 2 Losers
      • T1 - Trend Continuation - Silver -£5.05
      • T1 - Trend Continuation - GBPAUD - £6.35 (posted below)

1724947169243.png


As you can see, completely reflects what I have been posting.

I have to say, the last two weeks have been a mental mine field. I think our brains are just such strange things! You can be doing what you need to be and concentrating on the right things and then bang, you just get side tracked and start second guessing your progress.

Because I am taking only 2/3 trades a week, to fulfil my desire of taking more trades, I have been on a separate demo account, and I basically let my hair down. Did I take too many trades for fun? yes. Did I risk crazy amounts? yes. Did I go to a much lower TF for the bants? yes. Did I (mis)manage my trades? yes. Well what I thought would be a good thing turned out to be the very opposite of being positive for me. This has got me into some pretty bad habits but more importantly I started to lose sight of what I was doing before, i.e. few very good setups a week and 1:2 - simple. Annoyingly, I also started to lose sight of market structure and bigger picture.

So in a nutshell, these last two weeks have been tough mentally. I am glad I caught this error quickly and will not be doing any fun demo trades.

What was good about this period - is basically knowing that I had to post my results here, and I attach the MT4 trade log for proof. I did not want to mess up and show that I am not sticking to my strategy. I guess that is why I opened a demo account to not mess up my main account, again wrong move. But I can say me posting on this forum has made me way more accountable.

I will be updating results for this week, hopefully shortly, pending other life commitments. I still journal and screenshot all my trades, its just sometimes posting here takes a bit of time.

Some people would look at the results and say...what rubbish results, wasting so much time and barely in profit. I however, am quite positive and I will explain the reasons for this positivity in a later post.
 
26th August 2024 to 30th Aug 2024

Everything is net of costs.
  • 2 trades closed
    • 1 Winner
      • T2 - Trend Reversal - Silver - +£9.98 (+1.98R), risk was £5.06
    • 1 Loser
      • T1 - Trend Continuation - EURUSD -£5.41

Net £4.57 / +0.98R

Running R = +2.89R (for 6 weeks of trading)

Firstly, I did not expect myself to be trading Silver so often, but hey, if the market presents itself then you just have to go with the flow. This is something that I was really missing with my super mechanical system before - although profitable, it always felt like a square peg in a round hole situation. It feels super nice to have discretion but still sticking to certain setups only.

I am super proud of myself for sticking to this a full 6 weeks to trading in this style. More importantly when I took the Silver trade, I woke up in the morning and saw price was 60% to my SL. I genuinely think that had I not been documenting my progress I would have been cutting this trade in the heat of the moment and then afterwards when I see it going to target "FFS look at it" and repeating this stupid psychological cycle. Thankfully I am not doing this anymore.

I am now calmer about leaving things to run with the attitude of 'lets get a good sample size and take decent setups' vs 'this trade must be a winner'. We are now focusing on the probabilities for sure.

Can I just say... how beautiful is this trade?! Just a simple reversal - not going to go into my entry particulars - but look at the structure...support becomes resistance and we are off to the races.

1725219169566.png
 
Last edited:
A very mediocre return of +2.89R for 6 weeks of trading, let's decipher this:

Firstly, if you can attain 1R a week and lets say you trade 46 weeks, and you trade 1% a trade, this would be 46% ROI for the year (without compounding), if you trade 2%... well 92%. This is a ridiculously good return whether you trade 1% or 2% risk per trade. Having researched actual traders (not your insta fakes) 1R a week is more than doable and in fact the elite traders would be generating 2-4R a week and their typical risk would be 1-3% per trade, you can do the maths... These are traders who are just head and shoulders above the rest, the superstars of this sport.

Secondly, you have to trade long enough to really find out what your R returns are like, 6 weeks is a time blip! I am not going to be starting to day trade to try and get more R, because I do not want another day job, I already have one which I am happy with. With time, this is supposed to bring in additional money without more time invested than I am doing right now. I truly believe this is achievable - not more setups but better setups and put some size on.

Thirdly, I now have 13 trades under my belt with this strategy (albeit one did not fulfil criteria which I classified as BE when I manually exited) which is not a huge amount, however I have been trading for a while and this is my discretionary strategy applied to the mechanical trending strategy I had before. On that strategy I spent over a year with a large number of statistics. Therefore, I cannot wait to get to 20 trades and review them thoroughly - this is where the money is made, in reviewing. Do more of what works! I have already been looking at my stats and with 1 simple adjustment I would increase my R from 2.89R to 5.85R. So for 6 weeks of trading that would be getting close to 1R a week (again bearing in mind small sample size).

I used to rush trading, journaling and reviewing progress - this was a result of wanting to run before I could walk. The walking in trading, as I am realising is very much that very much like there is a saying about gym "muscles are not made in the gym" its at home where you control your diet, protein, carbs etc, well in trading 'Progress is not made on the charts' but in the review process. You can look at the charts all day but if you do not know what you are looking for, its a pointless venture. I know because I have spent countless hours mind-numbingly doing this and I can honestly say it did not do a damn thing. Only when I journaled, took screenshots of my trades and spent a lot of hours on this, thinking about how I could have improved those trades, I mean really thinking and testing over the course of days/weeks, that's where the progress happened. Which is why I cannot wait for the review because I already know the things to test for and I can speed up this process, having done it in the past.

Let's carry on folks, I will keep you updated.
 
Last edited:
2nd September 2024 to 6th September 2024

Everything is net of costs.
  • 3 trades closed
    • 2 Winners
      • T2 - Trend Reversal - EURUSD +£8.68 (+1.94R), risk was £4.48
      • T2 - Trend Reversal - GBPAUD +£6.49 (+1.98R), risk was £3.27
        • I made an error on my entry, I basically had a much greater buffer than I have typically used. I corrected this the following day, however I just left the reduced £ risk as was. Although yes this was an error, I am happy I spotted it and corrected it.
    • 1 Loser
      • T1 - Trend Continuation - GBPCAD -£5.71 (-1.04R), risk was £5.48
Net £9.46 / +2.88R

Running R = +5.42R (for 7 weeks of trading)

[I realised in all my stats above, for every loser I have neglected that it has been slightly above 1R due to costs/comms. Funnily enough I do track this in my own journal, so not sure why I had not put this in before. This makes my running R lower than previously stated and hence the current running R is a bit lower].

GBPAUD trade
It was really testing my patience and you can see it kept toying with coming down which would have been fine...just make your mind up!
Anyway, NFP pushed it in my direction somewhat, and TP reached 3 hours after NFP.

This is just a really nice structure play - in my humble opinion.

AD_4nXcbEZp9ETw6yIuJRyVUrGmpBE8kQpqVF6i56KSNosSs2J3uYZqHtN-WVaWxtU1IV1jqPgjEDvvJce6KHNYRXEXl3UXATEfN9QPy8jx8oRgNYj2ZsVFq_LU8FqmCLpDAPdZCaF2LYa5UBsINf-kY3D7LPik
 
Last edited:
For anyone who's interested...I am still here, life has been pretty hectic.
I have taken 4 more trades since last post and will endeavour to share this soon.
 
9th September 2024 to 13th September 2024

Everything is net of costs.
  • 2 trades closed
    • 2 Losers
      • T2 - Trend Reversal - GBPCHF -£4.46 (-1.18R), risk was £3.77 (really disgusting swap)
      • T2 - Trend Reversal - USDCAD -£5.24 (-1.07R), risk was £4.90
Net -£9.70 / -2.25R

Running R = +3.17R
 
I have been running a project in the background alongside this forward testing sample, and this had taken majority of my time. I will explain this below in more detail, however this meant I basically did not trade this account for approximately a month.

7th October 2024 to 11th October 2024

Everything is net of costs.
  • 1 trade closed
    • 1 Losers
      • T3 - Outright Reversal - GBPUSD -£8.79 (-1.02R), risk was £8.60

14th October 2024 to 18th October 2024

Everything is net of costs.
  • 1 trade closed
    • 1 Losers
      • T1 - Trend Continuation - Silver -£6.98 (-1.02R), risk was £6.81
Net -£15.77 / -2.04R

Running R = +1.12R

On reflection, these trades were really poor and I think my other project had mentally taken me away from this a little.
 
Summary of 20 trades

Total TradesWinsLossBER return
T1 - Trend Continuation9270-3.3
T2 - Trend Reversal105415.45
T3 - Outright Reversal11-1
1.15

Interestingly, I have found that my T2 - Reversal trades, for this particular 1:2 RR passive trading has yielded much better results.
Clearly I should just trade T2 only right? well yes, and no.
Data is valuable, and clearly I am a serial loser with my trend trades, so I have to figure out a way to improve this. For me to do in the future, but in the immediate future, T2 is the way to go!

Throughout this experiment I was beginning to see this develop, that these trades had far better potential. Why is that?
- I was better at getting in on a level on these setups, which offered better RR
- T1 trend trades, my entries had to get a lot better, I was getting in late

By early September, I had already ran some numbers on existing trades which meant that by the 6th September when I was +5.42R, I had actually managed to increase my R to +11.34R with a small tweak in my system. This was super exciting.

How did I increase my R by so much? Well, unfortunately you are not going to like my answer because 'it really depends on your strategy' and you will know (or should know) this better than anyone. My suggestions would be:
- Entries, you have a screenshot of each trade before / after a trade concludes
- Look at your TP levels
- Look at your SL levels

There really is no shortcut, it can and will take hours, depending on how thorough you are being.

One thing I will say - only change one parameter at a time to see the effects of the change.

Guys you do not have to be a genius or excel guru or a programmer (I am none of those things). Just ask yourself, can I improve on my entry? now go back over each of your last trades to see what the effect would have been. Etc. etc. It is tedious, but I can tell you that when I increased my R with just one single factor, this is the AHA moment and I had literally just found a way to make MORE MONEY but NOT DOING MORE WORK (the work was the analysing of the previous trades).

Your trading progress really isn't done on the Live Charts - it is through painstakingly understanding your strategy and optimising it.

These days, the review of my trades is actually more exciting than executing my trades - you are just trying to find ways of making more money by doing exactly what you're already doing.

----------
Trading T2 only
So if I just traded my T2 - Trend Reversals, I would be +5.45R

If I traded T2 - Trend Reversals + made my slight adjustment which I discovered through personal analysis, I would be +9.68R

Basically just doubled the return with a very minor tweak.
 
Last edited:
So I have alluded to 'another project' earlier a little, well the project I thought I would undertake was to do 2 projects at once to get a greater sample size data.
- Project 1 - passive management, with 1:2 RR targets, no management.
- Project 2 - active management, having exactly the same entries - varied risk depending on setup. I put a decent amount into the account for this.

I would test my T1, T2 and T3 setups on both accounts.

Purpose was to see whether I did better or worse with active management, and I would take a lot more trades with active management.

I have to say that to learn your strategy better, you have to have an increased sample size. Again this is not some super clever thinking, it is just logic.

One thing I did with active management is to have different risk I would take for the setup, depending on confidence level and bankroll.

Active Management - 7 and a half weeks of trading (Sept 2024 and Oct 2024), I took 58 trades.

I traded this account pretty aggressively and had quite a bit more than my first project where I only put a small amount, I basically almost doubled my account (which is besides the point here).

These are my results:
  • Trades = 58
  • Profit R = 6.45R
  • Profit £££ = £1,182
I did a manner of things on this account to speed up my learning process:
- Take partials
- Scale into positions
- Hedge

I believe trying all the above have really benefitted me and I have a better understanding of what to use when and what to absolutely not do. I tell you what wasn't fun - doing the excel sheet analysis, with partials I had to find the same trade which may be three positions at the end but was actually one trade, anyway, just keep journaling as you go along otherwise it will be impossible!

1730666241828.png


1730666269443.png


1730666335237.png


I now have absolute definitive proof that my T2 - Trend Reversals are by far the most profitable setups for me and I have actually made some decent money on it also. Who knew...they always say "never go against the trend"...they say "never trade on Monday"... to which I would reply as The Rock "IT DOESN'T MATTER!!!" you have to trade and learn your stats, they give you all the answers you need.

Interestingly Oil has been such a good instrument for me, and I would have never guessed. Turns out I cannot trade the indices, I remember trading FTSE before and getting caned and now Nas100 (USTech) is also whipping my bottom.

This has enabled me to reduce my watchlist which is mainly the majors, two GBP crosses and and main commodities (gold/silver/oil).

One thing I am clear on is that my sample size on some pairs is pretty minimal so you cannot deduce a great deal from that, however, it maybe that in another market cycle those pairs will yield me better returns. Let's wait and see.
 
Last edited:
I am very glad I traded with active management on the side. It has taught me a lot more about myself and what works and what doesn't in a much quicker way than passive trading would have. As you can see from my Running R graph, I had a real hard time for a few weeks where it was just a rollercoaster.

Trading actively has really made me focus on bankroll and given me some ideas on how I should view my capital.

Trading Profit so far = £1,182

My plan going forward

Focus:
  • Will run my passive project when I can
  • Will run my active project as my main project now
  • Main setup = T2 setups with my additional tweak now
  • try to improve my T1 setups (which are yielding me absolutely nothing at the moment).
  • Finding the 'way the wind is blowing' for a currency on any given week
  • Keep learning how to scale in

I do not plan on trading another 58 trades within 2 months - it is quite a lot and stressful, alongside a full time job. I will trade quite a bit still.
With these trades I practiced, taking partials, scaling into positions, hedging. This was incredibly useful.

My observations towards the end of the 2 months are that price really wanted to go one way during a week, and there is no point fighting it. Some weeks it would wick you out and reverse entirely which means it was just the market fooling institutional/speculative traders. Some weeks it was clear as daylight which way it wanted to move.

It became quite clear that my job is now to "find the direction of the institutions/large speculative traders" and hop on the train for the journey. This is my mentality at the moment. I imagine the trading pits in CME back in the day where the large traders would sniff out an opportunity and/or hear something about to happen and they front run, which you are not allowed to do these days (or back then also, I am not sure). In either case, you see something developing and you simply hop on the ride.

So now my weekly goal is to see in which direction I should mine to find rich paydirt with my setups. And when I am in that situation, I want to scale into my position to get the most from the opportunity.
 
Last edited:
Top