A Loser

I'm committed to report on the bad as well as the good. Not that a losing trade should be called 'bad' (is there really any true 'bad?') It's just that last night didn't exactly take me in the direction I'm trying to go. There will be a loser once in a while, and there will be streaks of losing trades (this could be the beginning of one.) Like I said, there must be joy in doing the mechanics of it without being attached to any result.

Anyway, there wasn't really any miscues, other than still not knowing if I should be looking at shorter time frames and using that to determine my entry points. I sent another email to the author of this trading plan. He never answered my last one. I'm still just using the parameters on the hour chart. I will maintain that consistency will, over time, prevail as the important factor for success.

The trade went as follows: It grabbed the entry price but didn't go much more than 3 pips higher before coming down close to and then back down to the stop loss. It only took about 15 minutes. I looked at it this morning and it eventually went all the way through the setup block and down over the 45 pips. It didn't go straight down, though. I don't think a short trade would have worked either, but it might have worked it's way into a break-even at least.

So, I'm still up after only two winners out of 15 trades. Not too bad. That is, if I had used the same numbers from the beginning. Granted, it's the dollar per trade I'm working into the break-evens that has me up, so I am actually dead even if you don't count that. My practice account is down $16 but remember I had to throw 2 losers and a winner out to reset to the proper dollar amounts, so it would be like my real account will be when I start trading real money. I am figuring that this system is going to work out. I figure a month's worth of trades is about 22, so I've only got 7 trades to make it up to my goal, which is 100 pips. I plan to do this another month before I go live. I hope to see a months worth of trades in there that is at least close to that goal.

I have to work tonight - I hope I don't miss the trade. Oh, well - at this point the $100 I make working is much more important that a practice trade. I'll at least monitor what happens and try to see how it would have been if I don't make a trade. Who knows? Maybe it will hang out and wait until after I get home. I shouldn't be too late.