G's Trading Journal

[gw8070]

Good day, My name is G, and this will be my trading journal. I have been reading a lot about trading, and lost some money trading before, but this time i am going to try and be more focused and trade with a better plan. I still think i am a bit impatient in my trading, but i will see how this goes. It is Sunday today, so the forex market is closed for the day, at least the brokers are, so i will begin my trading tommorow. I am currently trading with IG markets, because i feel they have a lot of diversety, and because you can trade stocks from around the world. I want to look at stocks when i know a bit more about trading.

I am not sure if it is a good time to trade so close to christmas, because most trader's are on holiday, so i am not sure if there is good oppertunity, but i guess i will just have to wait and see.

I will document every trade i make, and the reason why i make a trade.

I hope to learn and become a better trader, who knows where this journey might lead to.

G

 

[Splitlink]

You might be ok for the beginning of this week. I shall be trying, at least!

Good luck.

Do yourself a favour. Don't trade on the days between Christmas and New Year.

 

[timsk]

Hi G,
Welcome to T2W.
Before you get too stuck in, may I suggest you read the article 'Improve Your Trading Every Day' by Dr Gary Dayton, which may accessed from the T2W homepage. Thereafter, these two articles by Brett Steenbarger are excellent and very instructive for anyone new to journals:
When Trading Journals Don’t Work
Making Trading Journals Work for You

If your journal is to be successful, you need to have a clear idea about what it is that you're trying to achieve in your trading and how the journal will help you to achieve it. Just as you wouldn't set off on a car journey without a clear idea of your destination and how to get there, (or have a map or SatNav to guide you), the same approach needs to be applied to your journal to make it effective. If other members know what it is you're trying to achieve, their posts are more likely to be focused on your goal, which will help to improve your chances of achieving it.

You could start by outlining which markets you intend to trade, timeframes, and your basic approach: i.e. do you trade reversals, breakouts or retracements? In your OP, you mention forex and stocks - which are ever so slightly very different! As a rule of thumb, the advice given to inexperienced traders is to stick to one market and probably only a select few instruments within that market, before branching out into other areas. But, perhaps you're not an inexperienced trader . . . ?
Cheers,
Tim.

 

[gw8070]

Good evening splitlink. Not sure what the time is there, but i am sure it is evening. Thank you for your post. Thanks for the tip. I was wondering, why do you think it is better not to trade between christmas and new year? Hope your trading goes well so far. I unfortunately couldn't trade today like i wanted, but i will maybe try to trade the asian session tonight, or maybe trade tommorow.

Do you have a trading journal here? i am new here, so i am not sure how to get to it.

 

[gw8070]

Good evening Timsk. Hope you are doing well.

Thanks for the informative advice. I have read the articles, and i never thought about trading journals like that. Thanks again. I agree with you in sticking to one instrument at a time. I have been watching the markets for a long time now, but i don't have many trading expierence, so i think i will stick to my favourite pairs in forex, which are eur/usd and usd/jpy. If i get expierenced enough, i will add other intruments.

Have a great day.

 

[gw8070]

Today was Monday, 21-DEC-2009. Time is 21:50.

I couldn't trade today like i wanted to, because i was very busy. Christmas is near, so there were a few things that needed to be done. I will try to trade tommorow, but i will see how it goes.

I was wondering, does anyone know what the best times are to calculate pivot points for trading the usd/jpy during the asian session?

 

[Splitlink]

Good evening splitlink. Not sure what the time is there, but i am sure it is evening. Thank you for your post. Thanks for the tip. I was wondering, why do you think it is better not to trade between christmas and new year? Hope your trading goes well so far. I unfortunately couldn't trade today like i wanted, but i will maybe try to trade the asian session tonight, or maybe trade tommorow.

Do you have a trading journal here? i am new here, so i am not sure how to get to it.

No volume, everyone is away. Just not worth trading until after New Year's Day.

I offer no advice on journals, since I have not started one, myself!

 

[gw8070]

Hey everyone. Merry Christmas. Since i began this journal, I made a few trades, but didn't document it, and i know this is a very bad idea. I just didn't want to make the effort. I will trade again in the new year, and i will then document every trade. I also purchased a trading robot, but that is only for testing purposes. I will run it on a demo account for now.