The Hawk's journal

[svtbolt]

Originally Posted by Metalhawk

Thanks. I don't overly stress over it though. I am not one who needs hundreds of pips in a week to be happy. I've said it before, but I look at it as if I can average 60 to 70 pips per week over a year, if you put 5 standard lots on it and trade 50 weeks in the year, we're talking about over $150,000 per year. I don't need more than that, so I won't put myself through extra, unnecessary stress.

That works for me too as I could comfortable live off $150,000 a year. One reason I enjoy trading Nick's method is the much lower stress and aggravation. The odds of 60-70 pips a week on average is pretty high.

[Metalhawk]

Originally Posted by svtbolt

That works for me too as I could comfortable live off $150,000 a year. One reason I enjoy trading Nick's method is the much lower stress and aggravation. The odds of 60-70 pips a week on average is pretty high.

Exactly. I tried for a short period of time trading smaller time frames, also trading hours per day, watching charts non-stop looking for a few pips. Never again.

[NickB]

Tell me about it. I find that kind of stuff exhausting, I love the freedom of trading 1-3 hours per week and spending every other hour doign whatever I want.

[Roadrat]

In the final analysis it's consistency that counts, ok if you only have a small account then the number of pips gained becomes significant in the time it takes to build up your account to a decent size. However, with a decent amount of capital you can easily live on 25 pips per week average. If you only target a low number of pips it allows you to trade more selectively thereby increasing your chances of success and consistency resulting in less exposure and less stress.

[4ow4ow]

Hehe, yup. we're just adjusting to margin/leverage limit of swing, should if we have a small account number. But if you had better margin, it's easier for you to manage those whole stuff of risk management, either to hedge/lock your position. It's either the way of saving your money.

150K is more than enough, if you want to chase for paying your monthly fixed expenses or bills, for just 20-30 pips per trade/month. But question is, are you with the right broker? Coz not all broker can supply well with that kind of money.

I agree with you, Roadrat.

[Metalhawk]

July 6 - July 12

1. Well, this is a mistake I have made before, and obviously haven't learned from yet. While Nick did mention he wasn't going to take the 212.30 break (nevermind that the blog entry didn't show up until about 20 minutes after the break occured ), I should have known better without Nick mentioning it in the first place not to enter when there's a major news release approaching. I made that mistake before, and made it again. So an unfortunate start to the week. -50 pips

Total / Target for the week: -50 / 100 pips

[NesmithDJ]

Glad I'd stayed out of that!

[Metalhawk]

With the news being quite bad for GBP earlier today, after being stopped out I re-entered short. I got out with 50 pips profit, although I will not count it towards my weekly goal. This was a kind of trade I rarely take (anymore), but the news was so bad that I knew 50 pips would be attainable, and it was.

[Metalhawk]

On second thought, I decided to count it towards my weekly results. After all, I was counting all those random trades back in my first few months of this journal, so no reason why this shouldn't count when it was at least a serious trade.

[Rich1969]

HI Metal,

I have been caught out by the news several times before, although not yesterday. Just out of curiosity the break occured around 7.30 gmt 2hrs before the news release was due. Do you have a guide line you work too in terms of how long before news release do you stop taking trades?

cheers Rich