LearningToPimpPips trading Journal - "Additional Stream of Income"

[LearningToPimpPips]

OK...fully closed out of today's trade on the break of the 204.80 S/R line.

2nd half - closed at 206.00 on stop loss. Profit $84.64/17 pips.

Also, I hit another wrong button while exploring the trading platform. Hit buy, and didn't intend to be in the market, so immediately sold. Had to pay the spread. Loss $48.21 due to another newbie mistake. I'll count the dollars on this bad trade, but not the pips so that my account balance reconciles.

Current balance: 3521.00
Pips this week: 85 (before spread)

[LearningToPimpPips]

Took no trades today.

I thought about trading the break of 205.00 down today as a scalp. I know 204.8 is the historical S/R, but I decided to use 205.00 given the recent history on May 14th (and use the bounce on 20th as additional support for this idea). 204.80 had been broken and retraced by 6 candle wicks (2 of the 6 also had the bodies break 204.80) in the past 5 business trading days when the eventual break through the ranging occurred yesterday on the 22nd. I saw this as a reason to move the entry point up to 205.00 for some additional validation that a break was truly occurring.

But as I had reached my weekly goal (currently 75 pips), and didn't see this as a perfect setup (last 4 candles of the week) I passed. It looks like I could have made my 50 pips on this scalp. The reason for considering a scalp instead of a S/R break was I already had my pips for the week and the last few candles on a Friday. Even if I went for 70 pips on the 205.00 line, I would have made that too.

Oh well...2nd week of trading, and I'm up 85 pips. No trades last week, and 1 this week.

In order to get to my average of 75 pips/week, I need 140 pips next week. Don't need to make it all up at one time, but hopefully, we'll see some action. If GBP/JPY ranges next week, I'll start to look at one of Nick's other 2 pairs he considers...although I think I might be a little partial to the USD/CHF due to a smaller spread and an average of 120 pips/day movement. It seems to be one of the more active USD pairs which would move during the New York session which is better for my location.

Anyway, here are my line for next week, which I will validate with Nick's blog post on Sunday.

Scalp:
201.5
206.55
204.10 (will consider for a smaller scalp trade, potentially 30 pips - depends on what the candles do over the weekend)


S/R lines:
209
208.00 - not on Nicks chart....before March, this line never really showed S/R strength. In March, there were several bounces on this line, and when it was broken each time since April, each one was good for a minimum of 60 pips (3 times broken...1 60, 2 100 pips breaks). I will treat this as an S/R with 50 pips instead of a full 70.

204.80 - maybe Wednesday or later part of the week as this has been broken for 2 consecutive days now
200.00
198.00

202.30
I also think there's been a lot of bounces in the 202.30 to 202.60 zone. It kinda looks to me that 202.30 is a reasonable S/R for shorts, and 202.60 is kinda good for longs. If I get a chance, I might test a theory of a S/R zone concept where the edges of a zone are the S/R line depending on the direction.

Part of what I'm trying to do is not follow Nick blindly, but become an independent thinker. Nick - I appreciate the site and how I've learned so much in the past 2 weeks.

However, It seems one primary lesson you teach is to become your own trader. I intend to follow your concepts as they make so much sense and are straightforward, but I don't want to be a Nickbot (I.E. a robot who follow Nick).

I will do this by going on the record with my thoughts. While I'm still in a little bit of a safe zone using a demo account and see how it works out.

[Syres]

Not bad at all, LTPP.

[LearningToPimpPips]

With the ranging in the G/Y pair, I started to look at the USD/CHF pair. I spent some time over the weekend picking S/R and scalp lines.

I took a long trade this morning on USD/CHF at 1.0306. There isn't a lot of history in this range for this pair, so all the information is pretty recent since March.

This looked to be a good line as there were a couple bounces from it, and every time time it crossed, it went for at least 40 pips.

Rather than a S/R trade with 2 positions, I intended to treat this as a scalp trade as I get to know the lines on this pair.

I entered with a mini lot at 1.0306 with a s/l at 1.0280 and a t/p at 1.0340. A goal of 30 pips.

Unfortunately, I got stopped out.


pips for week: -30 (-$29.18)
new balance: 3491.82

Further update:
My 30 pips would have been made if not for a 35 pip retrace. I may need to think about allowing more breathing room on this pair.

[LearningToPimpPips]

OK...doing a little bit of a gamble trade here as I continue to try and learn the candle patterns.

EUR/JPY...entered short at 163.60 because the previous 3 candles had long bearish wicks. INterpreting this a sign that bears are trying to push down, but bulls have held so far. This is immediately after a large bull candle.

Looking at this as the bulls are losing steam, and a reversal is coming.

We'll see how it goes.

UPDATE: Broke even.

Lesson learned - trailing stop on Metatrader only work when logged in. My wife shut down the computer last night so my 20 pip trailing stop didn't execute when I went to bed. My strategy was to have a trailing stop to sell overnight to lock in profits. If I had stayed in, I would have made 30 pips on this trade.

Since I was in the position after 5pm ET, I was charged an interest fee of 1.86.

[LearningToPimpPips]

The scalp trade executed for me overnight while I was asleep

Entered .1 lot (1 mini) at 206.58. Sold (automated take profit) at 207.00...I wanted to get out before the trading zone. made 42 pips.


Weekly total
short usd/chf 1.0310 out at 1.0280 loss 30 pips (-29.18)
short eur/jpy 1.6360 out at 1.6360 0 pips (-1.86 swap charge)
long eur/jpy 1.6392 out 1.6399 made 7 pips (+6.68)
long gbp/jpy 206.58 out at 207.00 made 42 pips (+40.14)

weekly running total: 19 pips (15.78)
goal: 75 pips

[traderjosh]

Originally Posted by LearningToPimpPips

The scalp trade executed for me overnight while I was asleep

Entered .1 lot (1 mini) at 206.58. Sold (automated take profit) at 207.00...I wanted to get out before the trading zone. made 42 pips.


Weekly total
short usd/chf 1.0310 out at 1.0280 loss 30 pips (-29.18)
short eur/jpy 1.6360 out at 1.6360 0 pips (-1.86 swap charge)
long eur/jpy 1.6392 out 1.6399 made 7 pips (+6.68)
long gbp/jpy 206.58 out at 207.00 made 42 pips (+40.14)

weekly running total: 19 pips (15.78)
goal: 75 pips

LTPP Good thoughtful journal. I know you are still new to this but in the future do you mind if I get some input from you if I see something on a chart? I am also a noob but you might be getting this system quicker than I am. I work my way around the site but still often have questions. (don't worry I won't hold you to your analysis) Thanks.

[LearningToPimpPips]

Originally Posted by traderjosh

LTPP Good thoughtful journal. I know you are still new to this but in the future do you mind if I get some input from you if I see something on a chart? I am also a noob but you might be getting this system quicker than I am. I work my way around the site but still often have questions. (don't worry I won't hold you to your analysis) Thanks.

Not a problem. Very open to it.

I'd ask to keep with GBP/JPY, EUR/JPY and USD/CHF.

I'm comfortable with G/Y a little more at this point. I started looking into USD/CHF, but didn't like the lines I was placing and decided to move to another pair. I'm actively looking at E/J now, and learning that pair. It seems to be a pretty good moving pair and has a tighter spread than G/Y.

I want to have 2-5 trades/week, so if the G/Y starts moving again, I will primarily stick with that. E/J is more for the slow ranging periods it seems we're in now.

I know you just liked my post in the Super Soldier thread and just wanted to see what was going on.

[traderjosh]

Originally Posted by LearningToPimpPips

Not a problem. Very open to it.

I'd ask to keep with GBP/JPY, EUR/JPY and USD/CHF.

I'm comfortable with G/Y a little more at this point. I started looking into USD/CHF, but didn't like the lines I was placing and decided to move to another pair. I'm actively looking at E/J now, and learning that pair. It seems to be a pretty good moving pair and has a tighter spread than G/Y.

I want to have 2-5 trades/week, so if the G/Y starts moving again, I will primarily stick with that. E/J is more for the slow ranging periods it seems we're in now.

I know you just liked my post in the Super Soldier thread and just wanted to see what was going on.

LOL Yeah Absolutely. All your post are thoughtful. May not have many questions for awhile, very busy at the moment. I will be still bumping around the site and may see something that sparks a question.

[LearningToPimpPips]

Yesterday, I took a reversal candle trade yesterday with a goal of 28 pips on EUR/JPY. Being the first attempt at this type of trade, I did a .05 lot (.5 mini, or 5 micro) to test the waters. Based on my account balance, and 3% risk goal, I should trade 3.5 mini lots.

It came within 2 pips of my goal, and frustratingly watched as it retraced. I should have sold for some profit, but I decided to let it run to get experience watching price action. This was an example of my heart telling me to lock in some profit, but my head say use this as a learning experience.

I got stopped out for 30 pips.

Frustratingly, I watched today as I would have hit my pip target, but it would have required a 54 pip retrace before making a 28 pip gain. THis isn't the type of risk reward I want to do.

Lesson learned: lock in some profit when you can and move stop loss to break even. There's no shame in a 0 pip trade once you make the spread.

So, result:

Short Eur/JPY 163.68. stop out at 163.98 loss 30 pips (-14.31 and -2.78 swap charge = -17.09)