The Forex holiday fund

[candles]

no worries.
Thats obviously a fairl old post, but I think at the time i was relying on an alert I programmed into metatrader to give me my actual entry(once id already decided my direction/target), which in that instance triggered quite late. Yes, the risk reward wasn't ideal, but to be honest, I had fantastic results a while ago trading an spx system where the risk reward ratio was TERRIBLE but it seemed to hit its profit about 85-90% of the time, abd my account grew steadily. Still not sure where i stand on the risk/reward debate, lol.

 

[montmorencyt2w]

Candles,

The more I think about it, the more I like your idea, and it has kind of inspired me to think along the lines of using specific accounts for specific purposes - In my case, for trying out different trading methods.

I'm currently trying out two different methods semi-seriously, and am currently actively trading in two accounts, so I might as well rationalise this such that I stick to one method in one account, and the other method in the other accounts. I am also looking at at least another couple of trading approaches, and could use my other accounts (currently dormant) for these. The P&L on the 2,3 or 4 accounts would tell its own story

The only slight problem here is that each of the 4 (Spread Betting) companies has its own advantages and disadvantages, e.g. one has good spreads, another has a better range of currency pairs, another has an excellent trading platform, another has more flexible stops, etc, etc, so if you confine a particular trading style to one account, then you have to live with the possible disadvantages of that particular SB firm when trading that style. However, this is a relatively trivial isse.

(I've basically gone "back to school" to try to improve my trading performance, so I am keeping an open mind to all different styles of trading, e.g. with indicators, without indicators, selective use of indicators, "all guns blazing" indicators , EAs, dissecting the entrails of small animals, etc, etc. )

Regards,
M.
--

 

[montmorencyt2w]

no worries.
Still not sure where i stand on the risk/reward debate, lol.

I thought that if the probability of the trade winning was high enough, a low reward to risk ratio was considered to be acceptable.

Regards,
M.

 

[candles]

I thought that if the probability of the trade winning was high enough, a low reward to risk ratio was considered to be acceptable.

Regards,
M.

that's pretty much where i stand. Some would still disagree though....

 

[RedGreenBen]

The reason for this post is to get some views/advice. I am tempted to increase size but fear the increased risk. Considering I am happy making this small amount of money is it silly/greedy to up the stakes?

You have to be sensible (as others have said, look at max draw-down etc) BUT don't get too caried away with the idea that increasing sizes (but not ridiculous sizes) will have any great effect. Think about it too much and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Trading from charts helps as well. Don't even look at the P/L in £. Keep trading the charts in the same way that you have been and there is absolutely no reason why your profits won't scale-up proportionately.

There is a time to not think too deeply!

Ben

 

[candles]

cheers guys.
Im up £45 today trading at 10p per point still.

The green circles are when a trade hits my predetermined profit target. Red circle is when i get stopped out. Blue and orange triangles are buy and sells.

ps- spanish, i saw on your thread you mentioned me. I am not the same person as the poster on elitetrader although we both appear to use ABNamro as our brokers.

 

[candles]

had some great scalps at the end of the day.

 

[Joey25]

had some great scalps at the end of the day.

Excellent

 

[candles]

only mdae one trade today which was a short trade for 30 pips proft (trade was actuall taken late last night)

Bit annoyed because i put a limit order in to go long in my lunch break and i now see that the market got within 2 ticks of it and then rallied about 150 pips! It wouldn't be that bad but i swear on my life this has happened about 4 times this week - comes with pips of my entry and then makes a very big move without me.

 

[candles]

ok, 45 pips more there and thats me done for the week

 

[montmorencyt2w]

Bit annoyed because i put a limit order in to go long in my lunch break and i now see that the market got within 2 ticks of it and then rallied about 150 pips! It wouldn't be that bad but i swear on my life this has happened about 4 times this week - comes with pips of my entry and then makes a very big move without me.

On the bright side, it sounds like only some small tweaks are necessary in some of your entries to get almost all of the movement!


Regards,
M.

 

[candles]

lol...i cant keep away, Im becoming a hermit. Ive got company round but im still trading. Done 2 more scalps a minute ago and that really is it for me now.

 

[candles]

On the bright side, it sounds like only some small tweaks are necessary in some of your entries to get almost all of the movement!


Regards,
M.

lol. Had my best week this week and made nearly £220 at 10p per point.(although I placed 4 trades on the dow jones instrument this week where the minimum per point is 50p - this ws a bit scary but them dow trades made up about £40 of my profit for the week). I imagine im due a losing week soon but i hope to continue the accounts general direction

 

[candles]

follwing on with the stake size issue, I am tempted to take the £400 I started with out and start a new account and trade at bigger stakes with that account and keep the rest in this account and carry on as I have been. It wouldn't be the end of the world if i lost that money and it would answer some questions that I am asking myself regarding bet sizes / psychology etc. I need to also remind myself that the gains ive made in the last few weeks are unsustainable. over £200 profit this week at 'about' 10p per point is largely due to the huge swings in the market that we are experiencing. They wont last forever. Initially my target was to make about £30 per week to pay for my beer on a saturaday - need to remind myself of that.

Account is now at £1980 or so.

 

[candles]

Making about 170 pips so far today at usual baby stakes. Got out of my cable long too soon...I actually think its going MUCH higher, looking for a possible re-entry...

 

[hwsteele]

Just an Idea but you might want to decide your stake size by risk percentage.
What I mean by that is risking only say 5% on each trade.
I don't mean use 5% of your account each time you trade but calculate the number of pips you would loose if you were stopped out and then use that number to divide the 5% by. That would give you the value you need to trade at.
Trading that way would mean that you would have different values per pip for each trade, BUT then you would always know how much to trade and you NEVER have to second guess your self.

Because the 5% grows with the account you would grow more quickly when you win and because the 5% would shrink with the account if you had some losses you would lose more slowly.

Just an idea that I started to use to keep myself in check. I have only been using it for about two weeks now but it has eased my mind more than I thought it would.

Cheers and good trading!

 

[candles]

Making about 170 pips so far today at usual baby stakes. Got out of my cable long too soon...I actually think its going MUCH higher, looking for a possible re-entry...

Went zoominh higer as i expected, but never got a re-entry

Just an Idea but you might want to decide your stake size by risk percentage.
What I mean by that is risking only say 5% on each trade.
I don't mean use 5% of your account each time you trade but calculate the number of pips you would loose if you were stopped out and then use that number to divide the 5% by. That would give you the value you need to trade at.
Trading that way would mean that you would have different values per pip for each trade, BUT then you would always know how much to trade and you NEVER have to second guess your self.

Because the 5% grows with the account you would grow more quickly when you win and because the 5% would shrink with the account if you had some losses you would lose more slowly.

Just an idea that I started to use to keep myself in check. I have only been using it for about two weeks now but it has eased my mind more than I thought it would.

Cheers and good trading!

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[candles]

am over the 2k mark now (for the moment!)

Shame I closed that cable trade for just 40 pips. I told a fellow trader that my target was about 200 pips for that trade, but because I was screen watching rather than at my day job, I snatched the profits (something TraderDante talks about). It went up 160 points within an hour or so from my entry.

I also shorted the spx at the close and just took of one of the units for 60 pips, so Ive made about 230 pips today. happy enough.

thanks for the comments. I didn't plan to be carry this journal on but its kind of addictive!

 

[candles]

Making about 155 pips so far today.
Chart shows a short and then a cover for 35 pips profit. Then another short which hits its profit target (green dot) for 55 pips profit, then a short with a manual close for another 63 pips profit. Within seconds of closing the last trade I tried a sperate short which was stopped out for 11 ticks loss.

 

[shadowninja]

Just wondering what your criteria for entries and exits is. Newbies might find it more useful.