May 2010 Review

What a month! My goal for this first month of live trading was 2%. I crushed it and brought home 5.03% for a profit $519.42. I think the best part of this month was the ups and downs I encountered. In other words, I encountered some challenges and made errors and I still came out of the month with a great profit. I easily left >2% on the table making stupid errors. I left another 2% on the table due to using inconsistant trading size. With a couple of improvents there is no reason this month couldn't have been a +8% or +9% month.

Next is a review of the good and bad:

GOOD:

• The end result >5% profit
• The discipline on each and every trade (i.e. stops on all trades)
• 2 home run trades
• I put myself in position for more home run trades. The more I'm up to bat the more runs I will get.
• I had absolute control of my trading. I knew I would only lose about 1% per trade, period.

BAD:

• A couple gut instinct rush trades that cost me > $200
• Most trades I traded $20k lots. Some I traded 10k trades and ended up profiting which would have been double the profits if I traded $20k lots. I need to maintain lot size the whole month for better consistancy. This mistake cost me >$200

A look forward...

I need to keep my emotions in check. I had a great month and I'm hoping I can have another >2% month. I know in this business that if you get too confident it will bit you in the ass.

As I have written before, probably a couple times...I'm not elated because the money. I'm elated because, if I can find a consistent way to beat this game all I need to do is add zeros at the end of my trades to make real money. For example, I made over $500 dollars with a $10k account. If I can rinse and repeat each month consistently...all I need to do to is up my trading account to 100k and add a zero at the end of my trade size. That is all I need to do and now I'm making $5000 a month!! Then double it, triple it...then I'm making some serious money. The thing is, some elite traders are doing it. Some are doing $20k - 40k a day. I know eventually I can too! I will become elated with the money when I'm making $20k a month via trading as a side business.

Alright, let me come back to earth. OK, this month will be challenging because I will be going on vacation for 1 week. That leaves me 3 weeks of trading to make something happen. My goal 2% or better.

One thing I have to add after writing this post and reviewing all my monthly results. I have other months where I have increased in value +5%. I'm am here to tell you these results I have posted in the last couple months are different. I'm playing a different game than I ever have all these years trading and trying to figure it all out. I can't describe the feeling right now. It is the same feeling that I have felt since Dec. 13th 2009. The day that it all came together...10 years of trading, all came together. It is the same feeling for the last 6 months, through winners and losers. I AM ONTO SOMETHING BIG!

Week 1 Review

Week one live trading completed. My end result was good with a 1.53% gain which translates to $157.74. Although satisfied with the end result, I have to say how I got to that result left a little to be desired.

The Good:

• Decent risk
  
• End result, aligns with goals
  
• One very good bigger trade

The Bad:

• Risk could have been better
  
• Too many scalp trades
  
• Not enough pre-planned longer-term trades
  
• Trade size was all over the place. I need to trade closer to my 1% risk threshold on each trade.

Going forward, I will focus on more analysis based approach. In other words, review the charts this weekend and have more of my trades planned in advance. Such as identify the support and resistance and if price gets to those point have planned what trade(s) will be taken.

Continue some short-term scalps but I need to be more selective.

Live Currency Trading

As I alluded to in my previous post, I have started trading live once again. Today, Sunday, May 2, 2010, I have kicked off my first trade with the new replenished account. The starting account balance is $10,333.74 USD.

Following are the high-level details of the trading plan:

• No more than 1% risk per trade.
• Hard stops will always be placed at the time of starting a trade.
• No more than 2% risk at any one time.
• Strategy is trend trading and following, off of 5, 15, 30 minute charts. I will also be looking at longer term charts to base decisions.
• Trade decisions will be based on price action and support/resistance. The only technical indicators I use are 20 EMA and 50 SMA. They are only used for guidance, not trading decisions by themselves.
• Goal for live trading is to average > 3% per month.
• Plan is to implement a longer-term trend following strategy off the daily/weekly charts in the near future.