April Summary

Month	Profit/Loss %	Profit/Loss $
Nov 2007	1.91%	$185.63
Dec 2007	2.37%	$229.39
Jan 2008	-7.76%	-$769.44
Feb 2008	6.12%	$548.98
Mar 2008	-4.76%	-$453.07
April 2008	-5.77%	-$520.83

April was a challenging month. Primarily, because I once again did not follow my original plan that I had laid out for the month. Secondly, because even if I did I would not have ended up in the black.

Let me explain...2.86% of my losses were because I did not follow my plan. These are trades I took that did not fit into any of my strategies. The thing is I have lost approx 10% of my account on these type of trades since I begin trading in Nov 2007. So you can either complain about it or do something about it! I will not take another one of these type of trades in May. NOT GOING TO DO IT!

Another item that I checked off that I won't be doing. I have a strategy called the Mixer that has been a consistent loser. I stuck with it for so long because I know someone using it successfully. I simply can't make it profitable. I lost 2.02% of my account this month to this strategy. 5.63% of my account on this strategy since beginning in November 2007. This strategy is gone. Not going to trade it again. Not even worth analyzing a different flavor of it. GONE!

And another item...if you have been reading this blog then you know about my 'perfect' strategy. Well it is not perfect. It cost me 3.33% this month. This strategy, I'm not throwing out because I think it might need some more analysis before I ditch it. Besides, I am overall profitable after many trades so it might just be a draw down. Just one that I'm a little surprised at this time. Anyways, this strategy has been taken off-line for analysis and if I trade it again the trades will be much small until proven successful.

So where does this leave me after a rough month. First of all I'm left with one strategy. This one strategy has been profitable 5 out 6 months. This strategy made 2.19% gain this month and since the November 2007 has made almost 8%. I have traded this very very small so the 8% could very easily be 16%. If I was up 16% I would be satisfied.

My plan going forward is to focus on this one strategy that I have been profitable with. The strategy is named BWILC. Some of you may know what that stands for. It stands for Bird Watching In Lion Country. It is a strategy, a somewhat discretionary system by Dirk du Toit. He has an ebook for sale that discusses his methodology. I have combined this strategy and another that is similar on the ForexFactory by Jacko. Another person that uses this methodology with some success is Colin McGinley at www.forexspirit.com.

I will write about the stategy and the basic concepts in my next post. Hopefully in the next couple days. Bottom line it is one strategy that has been working for me on a somewhat consistent basis. I think this month is make it or break it for me. Not that I'm giving up by any means; however, if I'm not seeing some encouraging results this month I'm taking most of my money out of my accounts. I will probably keep about $100 in my Oanda account. I will trade that $100 until I am consistently profitable. Simple as that, there is no sense is spending good money after bad if I cannot be profitable.

I did close out all my trades so I'm flat except for a very small carry trade account that is doing ok. So the slate has been wiped clean for hopefully a profitable month. My goal for May is 2% or more.

All for now, I've got to get to bed. I've got a crazy day at work tomorrow. We are trying to get a project out the door for production on Friday and we are still coding, not a good sign.