NeverQuit's Trading Journal

 

This journal is for the purpose of helping me stay on track with my forex trading. I have a story just like most traders and I want to share it here. I've been trading for over 5 years now with very minimal success. I've been able to buy a few nice dinners and nights on the town with my forex winnings but nothing more than that.

I'm currently unemployed and still wanting to trade for a living. I will be scalping the EUR/USD pair. I've dabbled in the past with other pairs but always come back to focusing on just the EUR/USD pair. Since I'm unemployed, I will be starting this journal with what I have left in my trading account...a titantic $57.16.

In the past, I've had the worse mental focus when it comes to my trading. Today is my new beginning. I know that I won't change my life drastically in just one day, week, month or year. I no longer expect to be living in a million dollar home on the water. I have left those dreams in the back of my mind and won't revisit them until that is my reality. For the present, I will focus on just trying to be a successful trader.

The reason that I have chose to scalp is very simple, I like to get in trades and then get out. I don't like sitting through 100+ pip retracements or drawdowns.

Another big issue that I have had in the past was thinking in terms of dollars earned or lost. I can recall reading post from others on the internet about how they made 300 pips or they made $1000. That is great to know but in my mind the more important thing is what percentage that is in relation to your account balance. If you made 300 pips but your account grew 1%, in my eyes, that's alot of pips to make for such a small gain in your capital. Granted no gain is a small gain but if I make 300 pips, I would surely want it to be worth more than 1% of my account balance. So for me personally, I like talking in percentages.

So with me starting to think in terms of percentages, I've picked a target of 1% profit per day. I understand that this will not be an easy task to accomplish at all. I just believe that if I can manage to take an average of 1% gain out of the market each day, I will begin to slowly change my life one trade at a time.

So with that being said I wish all traders nothing but success and I will be updating my journal each day. Whether I have a winning day or a losing day, I will make sure I update my progress.

A key topic I want to share quickly is that if my first trade nets me my 1% target, I will continue to trade. I continue to trade until I feel I have traded enough for the day. I usually try to trade the first 2 or 3 hours of the Europe session and the first 2 or 3 hours of the US session. After that, I usually get on my search of trying to find a decent job. So my goal is to average 1% per day but I know I will have days where I make more than that and also lose more than that. That's why I say average 1% and hope for the best.

I will begin trading tomorrow night during the Europe session.

 

Hey NeverQuit,

I'm a complete newbie to FOREX trading, but I'm looking forward to following your journal. I wish you all the best and good luck. We're in similar situations with the employment aspect, so I fully understand you there. In any event, good luck, looking forward to reading about your successful trades!

 

Hello Mega_max,

Thanks for taking the time out of your day to stop by my journal. Being new to Forex can be a positive thing as long as you let it. My advice would be to take your trading very serious. Also, don't get caught up in the nonsense that you may read on forums or message boards. I've learned that there are many ways to be successful in this business, just like in life. Just because something has not worked from somebody else in the past does not mean it can't work for you. Find your trading style that you like and trade it as much as possible. This business is truly about putting in the time and effort to see your dreams come true.

I will be updating my post each day and I will also leave other post as I see fit or have the time. Stay focused and one day we will never have to worry about another 9 to 5 ever again! I wish you much success and if I can help you in any way, just let me know.

mega_max:
Hey NeverQuit, I'm a complete newbie to FOREX trading, but I'm looking forward to following your journal. I wish you all the best and good luck. We're in similar situations with the employment aspect, so I fully understand you there. In any event, good luck, looking forward to reading about your successful trades!
 

I just closed out my last trade for the day. I forgot that I had a few trades open from last week, so all of my trades today were not actually scalps. Some of them were and others were me managing the trades from last week. All in all, today was a nice start to my new beginning. I was able to make a profit of 5.13%.

For those who like to see the actual dollars my 5.13% gain took my live account from $57.16 to $60.09.

Starting tomorrow I will begin posting screenshots and my trading statement since my trades from this point forward will all be scalps.

In the past, I would continue to trade and it always ended up in me turning a positive day into a negative day. I don't want to go down the roads I have in the past so I'm going to just stop trading until around the Europe session tomorrow. I will be online throughout the day however.

I wish you all much success!

 

I'm done trading in my live account as I made a bit over 5% last night but I still view the markets throughout the day after I get done with my daily chores.

As of right now, the market is bearish. I have two pending orders set up in a demo account that I wanted to share.

Sell Order at 1.3751 / Stop Loss at 1.3786 / No Take Profit

Buy Order at 1.3810 / Stop Loss at 1.3728 / No Take Profit

Both trades would risk 2% with the lot size being determined on the size of the stop loss.

The buy order has a much bigger stop loss because I place my stop loss above/below the most recent swing high/low. Since the market is in a downtrend, a bullish move would initially be a counter-trend trade until the market truly reversed so that is why I set that trade up with a larger stop loss. These are just my ideas and not trade recommendations at all. I'm not an expert in this business but doing my part to improve my skills. If either of these trades are triggered, I will come back online and add a new post. The 15 minute chart was used to determine my entries and exits.

 

My sell order was triggered in my demo account and I will see how it plays out. The market is slow moving right now so it will be a minute before there is anything worth reporting in my eyes.

I did make one monumental mistake. I should have traded at $2.85 per pip and I set it up to trade at $28.50 per pip. I forgot that the lot size was based off standard lots. So since it's demo, I will let the trade run. It's either going to be a little more than a 20% loss or a nice winner if the trend continues to be bearish. Either way, no harm as it was a demo account but I will keep it open. I have changed the lot size on the buy order to make sure it is correct.

As the trade plays out, I will come back and post anything worthwhile.

 

The short trade that I took in my demo account I closed out for a small profit of 2 pips.

I'm now in a long trade from 1.3754 with the stop loss at 1.3714. I'm also going to take this trade in my live account. Either I will wait for a pullback to get in at a good entry or I will place an order and let price put me in the trade as it makes it's way north.

Also I will use this journal for all my trades and not just the scalp trades.

I will generate another post as the trade begins to move.

 

Well I entered a long trade at 1.3760 and I'm currently up 3.26%.

As of right now there is strong resistance around the 3780 level. On the 15 minute chart price has reached this level 3 times in the last few hours and has yet to either break north or fall south. Price seems to be in a 40 pip range between 3790 and 3750. My bias is still to the upside but of course that is just my opinion and only time will tell if I'm correct or not.

 

The long trade that I was in I manually closed it out for another 2 pip winner. I was up 3% at one time and the market retraced on me. I did not let that discourage me one bit. I kept doing my analysis of the market and I entered a short trade at 1.3755 and closed it out manually at 1.3704. The 3700 area seems to be holding pretty strong for right now.

My long trade netted me 0.20% and my short trade netted me 10.08% for a daily total of 10.28% earned. That takes my account balance to $66.27.

I began this week with an account balance of $57.16. I've currently gained 15.41% so far this week in my two trading days.

I'm done trading for now. If I see anything that I like during the US session I may give it a go or I will just wait until tomorrows Europe session...don't want to be greedy after a nice trading night tonight.

 
NeverQuit:
Hello Mega_max, Thanks for taking the time out of your day to stop by my journal. Being new to Forex can be a positive thing as long as you let it. My advice would be to take your trading very serious. Also, don't get caught up in the nonsense that you may read on forums or message boards. I've learned that there are many ways to be successful in this business, just like in life. Just because something has not worked from somebody else in the past does not mean it can't work for you. Find your trading style that you like and trade it as much as possible. This business is truly about putting in the time and effort to see your dreams come true. I will be updating my post each day and I will also leave other post as I see fit or have the time. Stay focused and one day we will never have to worry about another 9 to 5 ever again! I wish you much success and if I can help you in any way, just let me know.

Hey, thanks for your kind words, I really do appreciate it. I have that feeling like I'm drowning in information right now. I'm starting to see what you mean with the forums, because for every earnest journal, message, post -- there are 1,000 idiots out there talking out of their butts. At least I'll honestly tell you I have no clue about FOREX, the ins and outs of it, but hey, gotta start somewhere. Look forward to more of your journal!

 

Now you see why I said what I said. My advice...block them out. They will only try to hinder your progress so you can settle at the bottom with them. Being a newbie in this business is perfect if you do the right things. All that means in my eyes is that you are raw and don't have any bad habits to break because you are new to Forex trading. That's a great position to be in if you ask me. Having bad habits to break like myself and millions of other traders have had to do is not impossible but it takes time.

I compare it to having a dog who you train to be an attack dog and want to attack anybody who is not you and then all of a sudden you want him to start taking the newspaper to your next door neighbor each morning. It's not impossible to re-train him but it sure would be an uphill battle.

So block out the negative people and things and channel the positives. The sooner you can do that, the better off you will be.

I sent you a private message by the way. You can respond whenever you get a chance. Thanks for having interest in my journal by the way. I never expected anybody to stop by and read my post so it's cool to know you took the time out of your day to not only read them but share your thoughts. I appreciate that very much.

mega_max:
Hey, thanks for your kind words, I really do appreciate it. I have that feeling like I'm drowning in information right now. I'm starting to see what you mean with the forums, because for every earnest journal, message, post -- there are 1,000 idiots out there talking out of their butts. At least I'll honestly tell you I have no clue about FOREX, the ins and outs of it, but hey, gotta start somewhere. Look forward to more of your journal!
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