Yellowlion's EURUSD Trading Journal

[yellowlion]

06/20/08 04:00 Session Open

Good Morning and Happy Friday All,

Well I'm at the top of the stretch with this Excel / MetaTrader project. Looking forward to completing it and having it running smoothly. A lot of grunt work, every step was another hurdle to jump. Looking for a bug this afternoon in 9985 rows of Dollar Index data turned out to be a small patch in 1977 that had commas in the volume cells. Took a decent chunk of time and frustration to find that out. That kind of stuff. It'll will be worth it. At the end of the day it will make my crunch work much easier.

Built a long dollar position throughout yesterday's active Asian session that took a decent amount of heat and some management to keep things under control. It was underwater at the London open and although the Euro looked relatively soft, it didn't look good and I forgot why I put the trade on so I stinking closed it -52 pips. Shortly afterward the trade worked without me. Doh! The best trades always go positive right away. I can't stand the heat for long. Nowhere in my strategy does it say "Build a position and sit underwater with it." Not my style. So I stopped out just as it was going to work. I'm ok with that, that happens.

Repaired a little later on for -35 pips on the day.

Expiration day today. The whole week I didn't really feel in touch with the market. It kinda chopped around and I was busy with the project. The swings were ok but watching longer period screens than I usually do, nothing really set up for me. Until yesterday.

Anyway, Have a great weeekend. Hope to be back to full operations by Monday's open.

 

[yellowlion]

06/24/2008 05:30 GMT Session Open

Good Morning All,

Well things are up and running and now the debugging and implementation process begins. Managing my time properly will be the biggest challenge. I want the session prepared and free of clutter by each open. I've prepared this sheet for my posts here. Data is current as of post. Intention is to give a technical snapshot and my take on the current landscape. "Areas of Interest" are just that. When I find one, price decides whether the trade is viable. Price is king, everything else just helps confirm.

Do we need to look at 1.5479 first?

 

[yellowlion]

06/25/08 06:00 GMT Session Open

Good Morning All,

Took +22 during London yesterday and another +13 in this congestion during Asia. Bankers heard from today. Will post a few trade specifics when I get the schedule ironed out.

Daily, Weekly, Monthly

 

[yellowlion]

06/26/2008 06:00 GMT Session Open

Good Morning All,

Traded Bernanke into Asia for +72 pips. No trading tonight. Gonna eat and hit the sack.

Daily, Weekly, Monthly

 

[yellowlion]

06/27/08 05:15 GMT Session Open

Good Morning All,

Hope everyone has a great weekend. No trades since last post.

Daily, Weekly, Monthly

 

[yellowlion]

06/30/08 04:00 GMT Session Open

Good Morning All,

Getting an early start here on the last day before halftime. July 4 on Friday in the US. Beach time!

Booked + 36 on Friday for a weekly total of -42 actual pips and +142 cash pips. Traded poorly last week but sized right. Had a pretty tough week but took larger risk on higher probability trades and that made the difference.

 

[yellowlion]

07/01/08 05:15 GMT Session Open

Good Morning All,

Closed last session + 15. Kinda tired last night so I hit it early. Woke 5 hours later to find the top of the range had held.

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[yellowlion]

07/02/08 05:00 GMT Session Open

Good Morning All,

Frustrating session for me, took +10 but left a ton on the table. My aversion to risk is acting up. I'm cutting everything way short.

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[yellowlion]

07/03/08 06:00 GMT Session Open

Good Morning All,

Happy Holiday weekend for the US. A few hurdles left to get through before the festivities.

Trading really lousy this week. Ideas are working but not getting in or getting out too soon. It's amazing how my demons can return from out of nowhere. +8 for the day. I'm in a spot where I can get reckless out of frustration. Trading small, 1 lots only. Edges have to be above average.

I'm in the final stages of interviewing for a really good job so that may be contributing to my caution. Not fully present. I know the people and the organization and it's pretty much a done deal but tell my head that.

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[yellowlion]

07/07/2008 05:15 GMT Session Open

Good Morning All,

Hope everyone had a relaxing weekend. Had a terrific 3 days and capped it off by landing that position I spoke about last week.

Going to be quite busy going forward into the second half and I'm sure there will be adjustments to the schedule. The successful growth of my trading business and non-profit organization is my priority and I consider any outside employment as "external funding activities." I'm beginning to see consistent winning weeks with my trading but am hardly ready to go independent. I have a 3 year horizon for achieving that goal with a scaling back of "outside funding activities" starting one year from now. This job will provide necessary capital for meeting that goal and afford me some small luxuries in the interim.

Last week closed +63 pips; short of my weekly goal of 75 but the way I traded I'm glad to have it.

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[yellowlion]

07/08/2008 06:15 GMT Session Open

Good Morning All,

+19 so far this week.

Took a nap here in the US this afternoon and had a dream.

Bernanke said, "We have seen persistent buying of US dollars in the face of troubling news over the last couple months. It would make sense to see a retracement to the rth trendline before dollar buying resumes."

Now the reason I mentioned this is not to say that I get messages from the fed through dreams. I don't believe I'm nuts (although there are those who are long that trade.)

What I do believe though is if I want to become an independent trader, then I better be living, eating, p******g, s*******g, breathing, and dreaming this stuff or I don't stand a chance in h***.

Not everyone is the same of course. Persuing my mathematics degree at university I needed a couple hours and high level software to get through homework while others could do it between classes on a Student Union napkin. So I speak only for myself.

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[yellowlion]

07/09/08 06:15 GMT Session Open

Good Morning All,

+15 actual +25 cash pips for yesterday.

Beautiful Southern California midsummer weather has me putting a few extra miles on the bike before I have to start the new job. This has been a nice and relaxing month out of the loop.

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[yellowlion]

071008 06:15 GMT Session Open

Good Morning All,

Daily goal is +15. +12 last night. +41 for the week so far.

There's a gang who shoots their missles...

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[yellowlion]

07/11/08 05:15 GMT Session Open

Good Morning All and Happy Friday,

21 pips shy of my weekly goal of +75 going into the session.

Gonna trade for a stretch then calling it a week. Bike ride into Laguna Beach tomorrow. Gotta make the most of my free time, when the job starts it's gonna be mad busy 'till the end of the year.

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[yellowlion]

07/14/08 05:30 GMT Session Open

Good Morning All,

Hope everyone had a splendid midsummer weekend.

+70 actual +80 cash pips last week. Drama Friday.

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[yellowlion]

07/15/08 04:30 GMT Session Open

Good Morning All,

+15 during the US session. Still leaving too much on the table. The only solution I can see is a multiple lot entry with multiple targets. This will allow me to lock in daily profit targets while leaving some on the table to capture larger moves. Once profit targets are met, just move s/l to break even and let what's left try for a logical exit target. If it get's there, great, if it doesn't, go for ice cream.

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[yellowlion]

07/16/08 04:30 GMT Session Open

Good Morning All,

Dramarama. +28 for the session. A little mad at myself for not getting in on a couple nice setups near the top that went along just fine. Had the deer in the headlights thing going on and couldn't shake it.

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[yellowlion]

07/17/08 06:45 Session Open

Good Late Morning All,

Stayed a little long after a meeting tonight enjoying the company.

Just missed a nice 15 pips on a setup I was watching. Trying to get my pre-trade routine finished and was distracted. Did just what I wanted. Had 3 chances to enter too and missed all three. "if it goes there I'll take 1...darn didn't see it....shoot it went there again...fudge it went there again!"...and away we go.

Anyway + 20 for yesterday and +9 so far this session. Kinda tired and want to hit it early. That last setup would have made an early night. Made me mad. Need a relaxing shower and a regroup. Next opportunity is just around the corner.

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[yellowlion]

07/18/08 04:45 GMT Session Open

Good Morning and Happy Friday All,

Traded London and US Afternoon for +36. Gonna post this and go dark. Taking Friday off and ending the week +96.

I'm toast. Tired and a bit of a headache has me searching for a good movie instead and looking forward to a fun weekend.

US Open of Surfing prelims at the Huntington Beach pier this weekend. Kowabikiniunga Dude!

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[yellowlion]

07/21/08 04:30 GMT Session Open

Good Morning All,

Hope everyone had a splendid midsummer weekend. A little overcast here the past few days made up for it with clear skies and visibility this afternoon. Didn't see as much of the surfing prelims as I would have liked but I intend to make up for it at the finals this coming weekend.

Took Friday off after netting +96 by Thursday. I love this job.

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