My FTMO journey: trials, trials and maybe more anytime

[The Erect Trader]

Ok, i understand all. There is only one thing i would tell you. It's to trade in the USD currency, because if you trade in EUR currency, the buy and the sell trades haven't the same result, even if they have the same number of pips. There is a small difference between the buy and the sell. Maybe you don't care at all because it's a very small difference? But i think with big amounts it's start to be a bit damaging. That's why i chose to trade in the USD currency : 1 point = 1 dollar

 

[IlIlIlIlI]

Ok, i understand all. There is only one thing i would tell you. It's to trade in the USD currency, because if you trade in EUR currency, the buy and the sell trades haven't the same result, even if they have the same number of pips. There is a small difference between the buy and the sell. Maybe you don't care at all because it's a very small difference? But i think with big amounts it's start to be a bit damaging. That's why i chose to trade in the USD currency : 1 point = 1 dollar

Generally I agree with you.

As I want my payment in EUR, I'm not sure what's better: the difference in conversion made by
- the broker (as done with an EUR account)
- FTMO (if I apply for an EUR payment with an USD account)
- the conversion rate of my receiving bank (receiving USD).

 

[The Erect Trader]

With FTMO, you can trade in the USD currency but you can make the Challenge purchase in EUR, so to be paid in EUR. It's two separate things there. That's not the case with MFF where we can only make the purchase in USD.

 

[IlIlIlIlI]

Not a good start for the new trial, there are still positions open.
Didn't follow my original thoughts to trade a maximum of 2 positions simultaneously.
Now we'll see.

 

[IlIlIlIlI]

I think I won't trade anymore ... today.
Don't know whether I could hold that tactics with a funded or challenge account. Maybe with a strong tranquilizer..
Max. daily loss was created this morning, extending yesterday's four digit value.
As I had a one hour meeting at lunchtime where I couldn't watch the trades, I closed yesterday's left positions with some overall small loss and changed direction for two small scalping trades.
Market does not look inviting for me.
There are 350 EUR missing for the cumulated profit target of two days, that couldn't be a problem for 8 remaining trading days compared with the daily loss I caught this morning.

edit: TP shown on the 3rd trade from above is the result of a typing error.

 

[IlIlIlIlI]

I'm still cautious as I don't trust the markets for a direction.
So there were only small scalping trades, but enough.
I had an internet outage today since lunchtime which was fixed after the US market opening.
Markets were read as ranging with a short tendency but I'm missing power and breakthrus for certain levels.
This morning I traded the DA30 to cover the gap between the cumulated daily profit target and the profit reality, but I was happy that the positions could be closed on their reduced TP.
The 90-seconds US100 trades were more the way I like as a scalper.
Now I just reached the 3 days profit target and trading could be more relaxed in the following days.
A good day - even if it wasn't easy.

 

[IlIlIlIlI]

3 trades today, a little bit sweat, but no blood or tears.
Got all I need, no optimization attempted.

 

[IlIlIlIlI]

Wrong setup, bad timing, waited too long.
Turned positions too late. 💣

There is hope that I learn that anytime.

 

[IlIlIlIlI]

Positions were closed now by my trailing stop EA.

5 days left for training. Never give up..

 

[IlIlIlIlI]

Violated the daily loss limit yesterday again exceeding it with a few 100 EUR and violated also the max. loss limit with the same trades.
Today business as usual.

 

[IlIlIlIlI]

Today I traded three times (GER30 and US100) and all trades were profitable.
Successful training.

 

[trendie]

Lots of good trading, and then you get taken out with one fat-tail.
You seem to go gunning for 20-ish pips, sometimes smaller, single digit trades, but hold on to large drawdowns.

Can you lock in a loss for overnights?
For example, if you had 2 x 1.5 lot trades Long, and the market was falling, could you open a 3-lot Sell and lock in the drawdown until the following day, where you could trade your way out of the drawdown during the next opening session?
I say this, as you say you trade opening sessions?

Or, could you take a hit on one of your open trades, take one loss, and give the other trade more room to come back to B/E?

I am sure you have mulled each of options, and more, in your head and on demo.

Have a great weekend.

 

[IlIlIlIlI]

For example, if you had 2 x 1.5 lot trades Long, and the market was falling, could you open a 3-lot Sell and lock in the drawdown until the following day, where you could trade your way out of the drawdown during the next opening session?
I say this, as you say you trade opening sessions?

Yes, I'm thinking about hedging, also in a more extreme way in extreme situations. I didn't find anything that it wouldn't be allowed as long as the loss limits are not violated, even if it would lead to a margin call exit.
Something like: if I'm short with 9 lots US100 (using the max. margin of the 100k swing account) and I buy 18 lots because the market is running up and against me, what would happen if I close my short trades and stay long with 18 lots for a while and double profit?
Maybe I should ask them whether that's a T&C violation.

Have a great weekend.

Same for you.

 

[IlIlIlIlI]

Last day of this trial.
I violated the daily loss limit again today, the third time during this trial if I remember it right, as I was on the road in the afternoon and trading was only possible via smartphone. And I used every break for trading.
Couldn't watch the trades when I was driving.
All I wanted was to cover all losses and show some profit at the end.
I stopped trading when I got it, and if it would be a challenge I would get a free round if I wouldn't have violated the limits.
Just hypothetically, the next training rounds will start next week with a new free trial.

 

[IlIlIlIlI]

Had a bad start yesterday with the new free trial as I entered some trades in the Asian session which went wrong.
I closed them instead of setting a SL below the daily low as the market recovered around the enter price.
But I didn't violate the rules on the first day.
Now the challenge is to make about 800 EUR average per day to reach the profit target.

 

[IlIlIlIlI]

I think I will not trade more today.
This is my stone age MT4 trading screen if somebody wants to know:

All tools and indicators are free of charge or selfmade.

Now back to the trades of today:
After bad behaviour and results yesterday I'm in line with my new daily profit target (about 700 EUR).

 

[IlIlIlIlI]

Unfortunately I violated the daily loss limit again today.
So I decided to cut the lotsize traded from 1.5 to 1.0 lots for the rest of this trial.
If I would have done that from the beginning, the account could have been managed much better as there wouldn't be a need to close positions in DD on Monday.

At the end of my trading session the account closed even and to read the profit target there are about 600 EUR needed per day of the remaining seven days.
So I could prove to recover the account in two days.
The last trade was a 30 seconds fun trade to close the days with a meaningless profit better than with a few EUR loss.

 

[IlIlIlIlI]

I started during the early Asian session with some mini trades where brokers might hate me for.
I exceeded the number of open trades from planned 6 to 8 to get my profit target for today.
About 50% of the profit was made by the last two trades which were entered when the market turned into my direction after the US opening.
The max. daily loss seen was about 2k so it was a very relaxed day.
There are 6 days left in this trial and 3k profit to make which should be possible without luck.

 

[IlIlIlIlI]

As I didn't hold my limit of 6 parallel trades with 1 lot, but traded 9 lots again, I violated the daily loss limit again on a long spike of the US market opening.
If I would have sticked to a mximum of 6 lots during this trial no limit violation would have been detected.

 

[trendie]

Are you trying to pass the challenge in the min 5 days?
If you planned your risk profile to reach your target in 10 -15 days, would that allow you stay within the limits?
You are so right when you're right, but seem to get spiked out at the worst possible price, just when the prices start to revert. That must be frustrating.

When the drawdown goes beyond a certain point, you feel committed to the trade, knowing that closing out would blow a couple of days work in one go.

Good luck on your next iteration.