FTMO: trendies trading trials and tribulations II

[trendie]

I thought I would give it a go!
Had the account since early April, but started in earnest this week. (today)
(needed to outsource my other stuff)

This is a scalping adventure.
£35K.
Got off to a schoolboy error, put the decimal on the wrong place.
Down around £500.
Will update later.

 

[trendie]

First day was a wobbly.
I used 3.0 lots for DAX, when I intended 0.3. (schoolboy error)
Second trade was for 0.3.
Third trade on US30 was for 0.3.

3 trades, down £422.

Plan: on 35K, target =3,500.

I decided to split this into 20 trades, each risking £175 max.
This is 0.5% per trade.
Only looking at DAX and US30.
I would need to take 20 consecutive losers to hit the 10% max drawdown.
However, I can only take about 10 trades a day, to avoid the 5% max daily drawdown.
I only plan to take 2-3 trades per day, even though I consider this scalping.

Plan is not to take more than 20-30 pips risk, so thats how much I need to get, if I consider this a coin-flip 1:1 R:R.

Today was a settling-in day!

EDIT: really inspired by Emanita, and of course, Captain Currency, with their progress.

 

[trendie]

 

[trendie]

No trades yesterday.
2 trades today, for the morning session.
1 win for +1.5%.
1 loss for -0.5%. (hated this one, will explain later)

Lunch. Then afternoon session.

 

[trendie]

I might be giving unimportant and unnecessary info with my screenshots, but I like Emanitas style of transparency, so will copy it.
I calculated the risks "properly", so,
DAX: for a 0.5% risk of about £170,
I would trade
0.8 lots for a risk of 25 pips.
1.0 lots for a risk of 20 pips.
US30:
1.0 lots for a risk of 25 pips.
1.2 lots for a risk of 20 pips.

Would you believe it, the US30 got really wild, so I only risked 0.5lots. (ideally, should have avoided the US open)

Trade 1: DAX short; got 1.5% return; (£532.36, which is +75 pips at 0.8lots)
Trade 2: DAX short; lost 0.5%,( £-177.23,which is -25pips at 0.8lots)
* I went short too early, and my StopLoss of 25 pips (0.5%) got taken at the VERY top (to the pip!)
* Coulda/Woulda/Shoulda: should have been more mindful of the round number 15200)
Trade3: US30 short: got 0.4% (£142.30, which is +40pips at 0.5lots)

Let me know if I am being too detailed!

 

[trendie]

 

[trendie]

Bad trade to start!
Went short US30, trade went in my favour, I put a SL just close to BE to make a cuppa, and I come back to find my trade closed out at close to BE, and went off to hit what would have been my TP.
Not happy.
US30 unusually wild.
Have been *free-styling*.
5 trades, 4 wins.
1 BE, 4 wins each at 0.25%. (each around the £100 mark).
Am exhausted! Off till lunch.

 

[trendie]

I seem to be more comfortable with Sells rather than Buys.
I was too focussed on Sells, and missed the Buy signal on US30.
Anyway...
5 trades;
+32.55 (essentially BE trade)
+101.16; 29 pips at 0.5lots (half size)
+115.71; 32 pips at 0.5lots
+104.91; 30 pips at 0.5lots
+105.24; 30 pips at 0.5lots

Thats £459, which is approx 1.25% increase.
Maybe I need to get more involved, since looking at other FTMO accounts that get analysed on YT seem to have loads of trades per day!
Time will tell.
PS: my account graph looks like a cup-and-handle pattern!

 

[trendie]

I really need to get the Short side out of my system!
3 trades, nett losing around £60.
Will update later.
No trading this afternoon, as I suspect it might be choppy.
Will update my thoughts, as I am not taking enough trades for this to be useful.

 

[trendie]

3 trades:
01:Went Short US30, then realised I meant Long (!!), and got out for a small profit, (£+2.47)
02:Went Short US30 (deliberately), and got out with a small cost, as market move was too much to the upside. (£+12.68)
03: US30: Given what I say in line above, why did I go Short again?? Cost me £-85.47.

Upside: I got out with small overall loss.

Weekly remarks:
I need to increase my risk amounts. My risk, of 0.5% per trade, means I should be trading many more markets.
Or, to risk larger on the fewer markets.
My normal rules risk 0.5%,but am willing to take a 25-30% drawdown before I revisit my rules.
So, still adjusting to FTMO 10% max loss rules, as well as how unrealised need to be accounted for.

Will have a review over weekend about adjusting my risk:reward, but NOT my rules.

Hope you all had a good trading week.

 

[trendie]

No trades yesterday.
2 trades today. Not happy.
Went Short DAX at 15546 earlier today.
When it went enough in my favour I brought SL to close to BE.
Market, then spiked up, took out my stop, and went down on its merry way, without me.

Also went Short US30 at 15546 late morning.
At the frantic opening at 2:30pm, market spiked up, took out my SL, and went down.
Not happy, bit frustrated.
Only another day, which can be parcelled off and put away.

DAX, profit £+49.15.
US30, profit, £+17.91.

Oh well.
No need to upload screenshots for such a paltry day.

 

[Captain Currency]

Market, then spiked up, took out my stop, and went down on its merry way, without me.

That sounds very familiar #YouWasRobbed

No need to upload screenshots for such a paltry day.

The odd chart would be handy for us gongoozlers, no need to disclose your strat with entry, exit, SL etc

 

[bha1]

That sounds very familiar #YouWasRobbed


The odd chart would be handy for us gongoozlers, no need to disclose your strat with entry, exit, SL

 

[bha1]

Stops are to tight I’ve learnt my lessons on tight stops.

 

[trendie]

The odd chart would be handy for us gongoozlers, no need to disclose your strat with entry, exit, SL etc

Nothing special, or secret. Just a pullback player.
There is nothing exotic about the settings.
Just using Stochastics, to pick an Overbought condition in a downtrend, or an Oversold condition in an uptrend. I am getting bored of the Longer Stochs on my charts, might ditch them!
There is a 60-SMA (!!) with 20-pip bands (10 above and 10 below)
I am not totally committed to the settings, its just a principle.
I have a 3-SMA line, as a way to wean myself off indicators, as it allows me to see Support and Resistance without squinting.
I am learning Sup/Res stuff, so allow myself the occasional freebie trade as a learning tool.

Below: I have annotated just one chart, just as examples. It is not a complete analysis.

 

[trendie]

The problem I have with the longer Stochs, as well as MAs, is that they start giving false signals if the market moves sideways. We've all known that.
PS: I dont want to use any exotic indicators, as I want to have my rules portable across platforms, thats why I use basic stuff. Also, because I still want to go no-indicator some time in the near future.

I am (still) learning to have confidence in my ability to detect a trend change, hence the 3-SMA.
I anticipate removing the longer Stochs, and even the 60SMA in due course.
I am not a scalper, so tend to leave trades running, which is a pain.
Its a toss-up between nibbling at small moves, and missing the big moves, or missing nibbles for days until a big move happens.
Anyway, its surprising the level of unnecessary complexity for something that only goes Up, Down, or Sideways.

 

[trendie]

Not concentrating on this, as much as I should.
Trading on this has been spasmodic.
I have till Jun 15th to get my 10%!! Effectively, get 10% in 5-6 trading days!
(Probably won't trade tomorrow, as am due some blood tests in the afternoon.)
Pic 01: Just a list of all trades taken so far.
Pic 02: Overview as graph.

Have a great weekend. Lots of sun this week. Nice.

 

[trendie]

Oh, yeah....
You see that Sell trade on the US30 on Jun 2nd that resulted in a £45.28 loss?
Well, that was meant to be a BUY, but such as I am ingrained into the downside, I habitually hit the SELL button!

 

[trendie]

Well, that didn't go at all to plan!
I don't seem to be taking this seriously, at all.
Am marginally up.
I am going to trash this account, and buy a big-boy $100K account.

Maybe I will then take it seriously.

 

[trendie]

Post Mortem: Death by neglect.
Stats as per images.
Don't fancy going hell for leather in next 2 trading days.
If they offer to give me a free re-take, I will decline.

EDIT: hope you all had a great week, and enjoy the coming weekend!