Yet another day that looked good but escaped
I did trade yesterday, though only briefly. I had an appointment that I had to leave for at 9:45 CDT, so I got about an hour and a half in. In that time, I entered 5 trades, took 1 full stop and two smaller losses, and two small wins. Net when I had to leave was <17.3>. I also made a half-hearted attempt to trade the AUD monetary rate news last night. There wasn’t a whole lot of movement, but I did manage to grab 5 pips, so that brought my days results to <12.3>.
I was up early this morning because I couldn’t sleep, and entered a trade on the GBPUSD breaking the range to the downside. That closed back inside for <4.5>. I’ve just now entered a trade on CADJPY breaking out of its range to the updside. The USDCAD followed suit, breaking its range to the downside.
I also took a pullback trade on the USDJPY. Which just now stopped out for <10.0>. Down <14.5>.
Entered EURUSD on another range break. And it was stopped out in a few minutes for <8.0>. Down <22.5>
Entered AUDJPY on a pullback to the yellow line. Now holding CADJPY, USDCAD, and AUDJPY. CADJPY and USDCAD spent much of the latter few minutes of the candle inside the range, but moved outside in the last 30 seconds or so, and held on.
Punched out of everything just before the NY bell – things sometimes have a tendency to get real volatile for a few minutes around open, and I was up on all the trades. I wanted to book the profits to start the morning. Ended up with +20. So I’m now down <2.5> with a fresh start.
Entered EURJPY on breaking its range to the long side, and, a short time later, GBPUSD, also a range break to the high side. However, the GBPUSD proved to be a quick spike, and pulled way back and stopped out for <10.4>. Currently down <12.9>. And the EURJPY followed suit just before the candle closed, stopping out for <10.0> Now down <22.9>.
Looks like closing those trades out before open was a costly lapse in judgment. All three of those extended their moves significantly after the open. Chalk that up to giving in to fear of losing money.
I left a bunch of orders set and went off to take a shower. Came back when the Trading Assistant encountered an error that I’m still trying to track down, and started giving off a continuous string of alerts – very annoying.
Somewhere in there, the GBPJPY triggered a pending order on a range break out. But it was stopped out a few candles later for <12.0>. So now I’m down <34.9>, and we’re getting into seriously negative territory here.
And the USDCAD just stopped out for <10.4>. Now down <44.9>. I hate it when everything is moving in the right direction, and all of a sudden it turns around and takes you out!
Still holding AUDUSD and AUDJPY long.
Ended up getting back in USDCAD on a re-entry when it fell through 1.2980. It wafffled around there for a while, then surged and took me out for another full stop of <10.0>. I also finally got a hit on a YL pending order on the CADJPY.
Meanwhile, AUDJPY and AUDUSD were both up enough to trigger trail stops for 1.5 times the initial stop. But the surge in the USDCAD was accompanied by a downward surge in AUD, and the AUDJPY hit the protective trail stop for +1.8 So I’m now down <53.1>, and holding AUDUSD and CADJPY. I think that will be my last entries for the day unless something unforeseen happens.
The AUDUSD just hit the protective stop for +0.9 on a continuation of the downward surge. Now down <52.2>, and holding CADJPY.
I’m running out of time, so I punched out of the CADJPY for +1.5.
Results: Down <51.1> (-2.31%) on the day, <63.4> on the week to date, <331.3> month to date, on 14 trades with 6 (mostly very small) winners, and 8 losers (7 full stops).
I need to develop a better situational awareness as applied to booking profits, and less fear of loss. Taking those trades off before the open cost me quite a bit. On the other hand, there were other times when my trades were up significantly, and I didn’t book them and they just evaporated.
Continue to learn.