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Diary of a Trader w/c 30 April

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Authors’ Note:

All the entries here are made post-trade. I’ll not be posting real-time as this distracts me from what I’m doing with the markets, my job and everything else I’ve got going on. I’ll post winners and losers, but I’ll not post every single trade as sometimes they’re not worth it, but overall I’ll aim to have a good balance of trades posted. Nothing here should be taken as a recommendation to trade.

 

02 May USD/JPY Short

Just a quick post, I’m short on USD/JPY this morning. This was a nice low-risk entry, with a stop just above recent highs and it looked a little weak, so I took a short. This is a real-money account as you can see, only trading with very small size here but profit is profit. Currently up about 10 points, but I’ve moved the stop to breakeven, simply because if it goes back to my entry point at this level, I think it would be safe to assume the short has failed.

Probably due a pullback any time soon, so we’ll see if it continues to sell off after that. If not, we’re out for no loss.

EDIT:

In the end, the pair started to make a fairly powerful move up, so I took +3 and then watched it sail through where my stop was. So, correct decision made. There’s a lovely quote about trading that goes like this:

Listen only to what the market is telling you now. Forget what you thought it was telling you five minutes ago. The sole objective of trading is not to prove you’re right, but to hear the cash register ring.

02 May SP500 Long

So, this one was a bust. To be honest, I screwed up. I put a limit order in to buy the Spoos at 2660, with a real tight stop behind it. And then I forgot I’d loaded the order up and went to the gym. Well, you can guess what happened there. Yeah, I got filled at 2660, and then the market almost instantly tanked and took me out.

03 May Dax 30 Long

Feeling a bit cheeky this morning, so took an order-led long position on the Dax 30 as it was falling. Quite nice to use orders sometimes as they take a bit of the emotion out of actually pulling the trigger. I had a stop here just below recent support, and a 1:3 ratio aiming for 30 points going long. In the end, the position started to look weak so I took it off the table for +6.

EDIT: Well now, there’s another lesson to be learned. If I’d left it longer, I’d have nailed my target price of 12793 at 10.05am. 🙂

 

03 May Dax 30 Short

After my brief long earlier today, I took a short on the Dax and I have to say, this has been one of those wonderful trades that just keeps on giving, as the Dax has collapsed this afternoon and given back most of yesterday’s gains. Currently I’m +60 points for the day which is a lovely position to be in, so some decent profits are secured here with stops, and I’ll let this run and see where it goes, moving the stop down as the market allows – although I’ve a rough target price of 12665 in mind, based on a possible support level.

EDIT: And there we go, just before 4pm the 12665 level is hit, and I’m out of the short for +77, a cracking result. At 4.15pm it looks like I picked the bottom. Here’s my trade diary from the broker for the day, exit actually at 12667.

 

04 May – Setting up for possible cable long?

I’m not a huge fan of chart patterns, but if I were, there would appear to be a possible long position setting up in GBP/USD. To enter at this point means a fairly large stop which I’m not a fan of, so I think the best strategy at this point would be to wait for confirmation and jump on a pullback as price goes north, but there could be some sideways action first (read: chop) so let’s sit on the sidelines a while longer.

EDIT: So, there was a huge push up courtesy of Non Farm Payrolls, and I was long earlier in the day hoping it would move before NFP and got killed for -9 points as price fell through a level I was comfortable with. Not a huge loss and losses are part of trading – unavoidable. Have the courage to believe in your convictions, and remember that quote from further up the page:

Listen only to what the market is telling you now, and forget what you thought it was telling you five minutes ago. 

That’s all for this week, I’m off on the school run shortly. It’s the bank holiday weekend so no doubt there will be a bucket of rain due any time soon, but I’ve my fingers crossed for sunshine anyway. Back next week with a new entry and more updates.

 

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This article does not constitute investment advice. Do your own research or consult a professional advisor.

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