November stats

The monthly results show, more clearly than weekly ones, my weak point : big average loss, in comparison with av. winner. My R/R (reward/risk) ratio is only 0,71 and that should be bigger than 1,0. The positive result of this month, despite the huge amount paid as commissions (due to overtrading), was the product of a rather good W/L ratio (1,8).

If I only keep this W/L ratio and increase the R/R ratio to 1,0, with fewer trades if possible, the gains will be much bigger next month.

13,9 trades per trading day on November.

November dailies summary

I had 2 catastrophy days this ending month : 14 and 20 Nov. With a maximum loss of -5% allowed on these days, my monthly performance would be 3 times bigger!...

I can now have a regular daily 2-5% most of the days. More consistency and emotions control is needed.

Weekly Stats : Week 5

This week 5 differs from the previous in just one point : average loss. The simple fact that the av. loss decreased by 30%, and only this, gave a positive sign to this ending week, instead of the important loss of the previous one.

Overtrading is omnipresent, 54 trades for 3 trading days are quite a lot.

i should increase the W/L ratio next week, by selecting the safest only trades, and decrease av. loss below 10.

2 days off

Stayed sideline today, enjoyed the day. Life is sweet whithout charts. No trades tomorrow neither. The reason : I feel very tired and I am very bad trader when tired, so I need to protect my November gains.

Recap 28/11

Yesterday's euphoria gave place to a bad trading day. Too many trades again, many of them not justified at all. All that in an easy, one-way trending day. Luckily enough, I had lowered the lot size to lock the November gains.

18 trades (9x2) in total, 7 winners, 11 losers, 30,7 pips lost, -3,12% account decrease.

Recap 27/11

A nice day for me. 60 pips won, little by little in 10 trades (5x2). 8 winners, 2 losers, +6,16% on account. As soon as I got this ( identical with yesterday gains before the catastrophy), I stopped trading.

Recap 26/11

26 (!!) trades (13x2) today, 16 winners, 10 losers, 18,6 pips won, 0,03% account increase only, due to HUGE commissions paid. Overtrading again.

Madness (gambling) hour

Before the trades shown here, I was at +70 hard earned pips and +6,75% on account. But it wasn't enough, so I continued trading like a madman or a gambler. I shorted 2 retracements as reversals, -25p, -11p. Finally I went long, when, precisely the uptrend was exhausted! -21p. At this point I was -44 p and -4%! I wiped out all my nice earnings and was deeply in the red too!

I took back the pips later on and finally I break even on account for the day with a lot of stress. How easily a terrific day can turn to a nighmare!...

Weekly stats : Week 4 (19-23 Nov.)

2nd bad week in a row, due to several factors. First of all, overtrading, 67 trades this week, 50 last week. The ideal would be around 40, even less if possible. 2nd reason is the poor selection of setups, I do not search the high probability ones only anymore. More losing trades that way, W/L ratio dropped again to 1,2. I will try to focus on these 2 elements next week, while trying to decrease ( to <10) the average loss.

November is still up by 8,02%. After the first 2 weeks I was at +39%. I could stop at this point and have a perfect month.

Recap 23/11

11 trades today, 6 winners, 5 losers, 30,4 pips lost. -4,01% account decrease.
Bad day, bad trading. Need some rest.

Accept your mistake, stupid!...

The very same mistake with the one of the previous analysis (see post)! Exact copy of it. Obviously the analysis didn't help me to avoid it this time. Maybe because its not a rational process, it is my deep psychological incapacity to accept my mistakes. It's egoism, proudness or who knows. Anyway, i cannot trade like this.

I feel also a pression from my personnal life, very tired recently.

Recap 22/11

Time lost trading this perfectly flat day (Thanksgiving). 8 trades today (4x2), 4 winners, 2 losers, 2 nulls. 14 pips lost, -1,40% on account.

Accept your mistake

I shorted this at 9:30 (8:30 CET), before the break out (1rst mistake). The break didn't happen and CCI started to show a possible reverse. Price made a TL break on the opposite direction indeed and started climbing. I didn't close at -5 or -10p, because I could not accept that I was wrong going short. The TL break (in the circle) was THE point to close. I let it go, praying for a new drop and finally I killed it at -32!... (and heart pace 190...).

I am not only losing money by doing stupid things, I also lose my confidence, a sure way to make a bigger mistake next time. This is how my trading deteriorated in the last 10 days.

I recovered later 21 pips of the 32 lost (see chart). But my confidence didn't recover.

Recap 21/11

12 trades (6x2) today, 10 winners, 2 losers, 57 pips won, +3,84% account increase.

Same person, same method with yesterday's disaster. The difference today : calm and reasoning.

Recap 20/11

24(!) trades (12x2) today, 6 winners, 14 losers, 4 at break even. 130 pips lost. -14,78% on account.

Today is the last day I allowed such a drawdown. -5% should be the daily max and trading station shutdown should be mandatory after this.

Stupid and genius

Albert Einstein again: "The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. "

From my very early age, I had the "aura" of the very smart child. Time passes, you grow up believing that you are something very special. But with this Forex thing I had the biggest humility lesson of my entire life. I am not smarter than the markets.

Impulsive trading

What can I say? The chart speaks loud and clear. A perfect suicide method is to trade a non-trading market. And trying to get back the lost pips, revenge trading. Just impulsions, not reasoning at all. How to kill the gambler inside me?

Recap 19/11

12 trades (6x2 lots) today, 6 winners, 2 losers, 4 at break even. 55 pips won, +3,91% account increase.

TL break and rejection

The 2 main trades of the day: First, on support TL break. But the break was not clear, small reverse and that gave -10p.

Second entry was on trendline break (green line). A quite drop followed, i stayed in, +28p.

Weekly stats : Week 3 (12-16 Nov.)

Weekly pips are still on the plus side at the end of Week 3 (see above), but the lot decrease after the big loss and commissions made this important weekly loss of 11,09%. 2 signs of trading deterioration : W/L ratio is almost the half comparing to previous week, and average loss increased to 24,1 p, from 15,7 last week. I should take high probability trades only if I want to increase the W/L again, and cut the losses early, to lower the average loss.

November is still up by 24,12%.

Recap 16/11

No time for trading today, just 2 trades (1x2 lots), 2 winners, +28 pips, +2,28% account increase.

Recap 15/11

20 trades today (10x2 lots), 14 winners, 6 losers. 76 pips won. Got back the pips I lost yesterday (81), but the irony is that I was trading with 45% smaller lots, after the previous shock. That means a 5,43% increase only of my account.

Recap 14/11

14 trades on this choppy day (2x7), 6 winners, 8 losers, 81 pips lost, account : -15,02%. Got back some from the -19% of this morning.

A day to remember. From now on maximum daily loss allowed should be 5%. I should stop at -5%. Lesson learned the hard way again.

Albert said that...

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former". Albert Einstein.

I knew it!

" the BIG mistake is imminent" , I was writing yesterday. It was indeed! I did it today. In less than 2 hours, I lost 19% of my account. How? By entering trades quite randomly, whithout any sense of timing and capital preservation. Trying to get back by all means the initially lost few pips (revenge trading).

First trade was ok, on the previous low break, -10p. Re-entered to win 12p. But it was not enough for me, re-entered to sold the bottom, -19p. 4th trade was pure impulsion, a no-sense, -15p. And the fifth was the masterpiece, against all odds, a sell again, while the 1M and 5M indicators were showing a reverse. The reverse just happened, trade not closed,-40 pips. -72p (-144) in total, what a smart trading!

Be cool

No trades today, in order to cool down and be disciplined again. otherwise, the BIG mistake is imminent.

Recap 12/11 : Warning signals

I was trapped long on the small uptrend early today, 4 losing trades (2x2 lots) , the alarming was the average loss again : -44,5p!... I still can't close losing trades early. I got the pips back later on the euro's free fall, but not all the money because of commissions and lot size decrease after the initial big losses. So in total, 13 trades, 8 W, 5L, +10 pips gain, -2,95% account loss.

If I continue like this, I will be in big trouble, sooner or later.

Weekly stats : Week 2

I enter all trades with 2 lots. Starting from today, I will count the 2 lots as separate trades, to avoid complicate averaging when adding and substracting lots at different prices. The template above reflects this new calculation. Won pips will be double, and the lost ones too!... The performance doesn't change of course.


Stats for week 2 are on the template. +189 pips gain, W/L ratio =3,0, average win/av. loss = 0,61 (Reward/Risk ratio). Weekly target was met.

Comparing the first 2 weeks, week 2 matches week 1 in performance, but this was obtained with more fear and stress, due to important (in size) losses I had in the last days. Average loss increased from 10,7 to 15,7, lowering the R/R ratio to 0,61, wich should be above 1. W/L ratio is stable around 3, while the number of trades is increased by 50%, driving the commissions paid at 29% of the net gains, quite a lot. i will try to not overtrade next week.

The lot size will be increased by 10% on Monday.

November is up by 39,62%. Monthly target (40%) is almost met. Hope that continues.

Recap 9/11

With this amazing pair, we get at least one wild day per month, as it was today. I got my bits (31,5 pips) from this 300p move. The fear of a sharp retracement makes me close the trades too early. And then I re-enter lower and the danger increases. 6 trades in total, 5 winners, 1 loser, +6,43% on account.

Friday madness

The carry trade unwinding happened in a very harsh way today. I wonder how many of you catched the eur/jpy collapse. I was out for business most of the day, i got some pips early in the morning and in the afternoon. Anyway, I don't feel comfortable with these huge movements because when I see them, I am litterally driven by the impulsion to catch the train, not reasoning anymore, and this can be fatal with this pair where the retracements are also huge. You can easily get -80p in the face, waiting for the big trend to resume.

Recap 8/11

6 trades in total today, 4 winners, 2 losers. Just 1 pip won, -0,65% account decrease, due to commissions.

Two trades and the human greed.

Short 1 after previous low break. 15 pips gain at no time. +5% on the account. I could stop trading at ths point and have a perfect day. BUT I felt I was leaving the party early, so I re-entered, to sell a classic bottom!... Sharp retracement, rule for 10p stoploss was violated again. i had to close far away, half at -28p, half at -38p. averaging 33p loss...

I did this capital mistake twice in 2 days. Discipline is deteriorating. My account went from +5% to -2,45% decrease for the day. Greed, greed greed...

Perfect little TL breakout

Perfect little setup to start the day: Long at 165.45, after TL (green) break (and MA and CCI support). Closed half at +8p and the other at +14p, averaging 11p gain. The uptrend may continue or may not. I am +2,27% on my account and I can read or work for the rest of the day.

Recap 7/11

The day was in a downtrend, even my early losing trade would be largely positive if not closed. But how can I anticipate this at 10 in the morning? I know traders who lost their homes because of this kind of anticipations. Anyway, after the big risk (and important loss) I took early today, I tried to play safe later on to break even. Had 6 trades in total, 1 (big) loser, 5 winners. 12 pips won, 1,87 % account increase.

Round number (166) break

Shorted at 165.99, on the third try to break 166. Closed (x) half at 92 and half at 76, averaging 15 p gain.

How to blow out your account

I shorted this at 31 on the pre -London session, assuming a drop continuation, despite the MACD and CCI divergence and ... I was trapped there! Price reversed sharply and I could not close this losing position. The move was steady : -10p, -20, -30, -50... Several trendlines breaks were there to tell one thing : the move is up. No way, i was just looking the euro climbing. It stopped at 167.05. At this point i was -74p and -18 % on my account! The price reversed then , I closed half at 166.74 and -43p and half at 44 and -13p, averaging 28p loss and -6,65 % on account. Bad execution, bad money management, everything was bad on this. What if the price didn't reverse ? I would close the trade at -100p, maybe more, maybe not close at all... The sky is the limit...

One big mistake, one bad execution is more than enough to eat back your hard earned pips. This is the capital mistake one can do, a fatal one. If you want to kill your account, don't use stoploss or constantly move them.

I cannot scalp using position trading methods.

Will remember long this Wednesday. i will not be lucky next time... Must keep the 10p SL by all means.

Recap 6/11

6 trades today, 4 winners, 1 looser, 1 BE. 26,5 pips won, account increased by 5,30 %.

Last.fm

I am listening last.fm right now. Fantastic free internet radio where you make your own program. Perfect place for new discoveries. John Amar suggested this, thank you John!

Early uptrend

I entered long on the pre-London uptrend, after MA support and CCI above 100. I exited at Resistance pivot line for a +10p. Not bad for a 2 min. trade. I could take more staying in, but the res line could also eliminate my profit.

Pilgrimage, M. Brecker

Woke up at 6 to listen again this cd. Michael Brecker, a few months before his death, invites his friends (Hancock, Mehldau, Metheny etc) in the studio and records his testament. He knows he is dying and this is in every note. Nothing sentimental, just pure emotion. I rarely heard something more emotional. Everything is there, the melody, the mystic, the best saxo, tremendous piano. My younger daughter joined me later: "Why are you crying daddy?"

Recap 5/11

Missed main entry on Pre- London (red line), then managed to get some pips here and there. 8 trades in total, 6 winners, 2 losers. +24 pips net, +4,72 % account increase.

Easy pips

Entered short after the second MA rejection, closed as soon as I saw printed the 165 mark, a very strong support. It was indeed the turning point. Quick 21 pips gain in less than 2 minutes.

How to not trade.

I skipped easy entry at 9:52 and 165,90, then I was running again behind the price. Trade 1, at previous low break was ok (+10p). Then I felt I was missing a lot of this move (greed) and I re-shorted at 36 (trade 2), an immediate sharp retracement, and extended stop was hitted. -17p. Re-shorted (trade 3) at 47, but 200 EMA on the hourly was supporting price well. I felt that the complete reverse was imminent (fear). I closed one half at -5p, let the other to his fate.Price reached 80, averaging loss at -20, beyond my "strict" stoploss rules, I could not close this. Price finally dropped again and I closed this bloody half at +15, averaging trade at +5. So I risked 20 to win 5! Not a sparrow wise.

near future

'dans 10 ans, 2 milliards d’affamés, assoiffés, écrasés de chaleur affronteront 800 millions d’obèses, prenant une douche par jour et arrosant leurs jardins."
Jacques Attali, from his blog.

Weekly Stats : Week 1

20 trades this ending week, in 4 days (not traded Monday).

88 pips won. 15 winners, 5 losers. W/L ratio 3,00.

Max winner 16 pips, max loser 13 p.

Weekly performance +20,38 %. November is up by 17,60 %.

Target (10% weekly) largely met. Hope that continues.
Lot size will be increased by 15% next week.

Recap 2/11

NFP data didn't provide a clear direction to this pair, the swings were large enough to burn the 100 p. stoplosses of the medium term traders who went long at 167. Scalping protected me once again, I got out of this with +18 pips, I could do better. 4 winning trades today and 2 losers. +3,20 % account increase.

downtrend slice

On the long way down of this pair, i shorted again after the resistance line (green) break. I closed for +13,5 p gain approaching a fibo line and because CCI was making higher lows. The reverse happened just 10 minutes later.

Post-NFP : bad stoploss

Long at upper little red line BEFORE the local resistance was cleared (first mistake). The stop loss then was placed too close and not below moving average 21 and resistance line. Price hitted stop, -10p, moved just 1 pip lower and then reversed to move up 50 pips... C' est la vie or my poor execution.

Fast 7,5 pips

I went long after previous high break and MA support, left in less than 1 min. with +7,5 pips. I could grab 25 p. out of this but I am not complaining.

Responsibility

In Barcelona, Rob Booker gave us a nice idea: exchange your trades statements with your friends, or give them to your wife every weekend. You will be more responsible this way. We opted with David for the first solution (less dangerous...), to do that every Saturday, BUT e-mails are not good for archiving, commenting charts etc., for me at least. So I created the blog to keep a record of the good and the bad, and be sincere to myself first of all.

This is also addressed to my few friends from the forex community : Eric from Manchester, Vassilis fom Kos Island, Gershom from Tel-Aviv, Wolf from Stuttgart, Mona from Oslo and some others. But is also for ALL OF YOU that you may read this. Your comments are more than welcome, they are needed.

Antonio José (1902-1936)

"He will become THE Spanish composer of our century," said Maurice Ravel about him. But Antonio met the same fate as Lorca - he was executed by the Falanquists during the Spanish Civil War at age 33. His guitar sonata is a masterpiece, I am listening this right now. Downloaded from Emusic.com for 30 cents! On iTunes they charge you 3 times that (I hate iTunes and all the hype).

This is for my new friend David, a Spanish guy and professionnal trader whom I met at Barcelona Traders Conference.

Recap 1/11

Wild day for the euro/yen today. 200 pips drop after a multiple top, then a 140 p. retracement, then a new 100 pips drop again. Some trend followers I know were burned twice in a single day. My little scalping method kept me alive. Gains : 57,7 pips in 8 trades, 7 winners, 1 loser. +13,93 % increase of my account.

Typical TL break on a downtrend

Shorted this on the TL break, resuming the downtrend. Entry at 20, conservative exit at 04, should let half lot run. Euro was a sell-off today, not obvious (for me) at this moment. I was waiting for a reverse at 166.

A bad winning trade

Short entry on the rush this one, a very dangerous one. I didn't enter at the 70 level break, then i was running after the price. Entry at 42, immediate reverse or retracement, -18p , didnt close, rule #1 for max stoploss 12 p, forgotten. Then it reversed again, price came in my favour (+4 pips) and I closed immediately. I didn't have the guts to let it drop! Lesson learned...

Pre-London

I entered long after the third break of hourly trendline (green line). I never stay for long in pre-london trades because of the stop hunting. I quitted fastly with 8,2 pips. Immediately after this it reversed, I could lose 30 pips and the gains if I continued. My philosophy : Take the peanuts and run!

November plan

This blog is an exercise of discipline for me, the lack of discipline and consistency is my biggest problem. So I will try to stay with the plan that follows for November.

I use a 40 times leverage, 10 pips per day is a +2% of my account. I will go for 10% and 50 pips per week, 40% per month., compounding the gains and increasing the lot size week after week. To keep this pace, I have a strictly tight stoploss of 10-12 pips, applied on the 1M TF I use and very fast trades. Only the high probability trades on the very short term are taken.