Mickey's Journal

[kiravon]

Preface
I joined December 2013 and started this journal in March 2015

I am writing this preface December 19th 2016

I have made 730 pips last three weeks and doubled my account with just two trades

------------------------------

If you are masochist enough to read my entire journal you
should be aware that trading is a journey and some of my
posts are great and still stand up quite well

others possibly less so.

When I started getting involved with journal keeping I was
very much a typical losing trader

now I am consistently profitable and it is no coincidence

without a journal you are nowhere and you are scattered.

Has AIMS made me profitable?

well I was trading for years before I joined AIMS in 2013
and no, AIMS indicators have not made me profitable and
I don't believe any indicators will make anyone profitable.

but I believe being an active AIMS member has made me profitable!

Look at all the profitable 'Master Traders' - they have all been quite
prolific contributors

it is not a coincidence

as one of our most talented members recently observed -

'the only time success comes before work is in the dictionary'.

I have played around with hundreds of systems and indicators and
some of that nonsense has spilled over into my journal.

that was all part of the learning process

To spare you all that I will share my current strategy which has been
profitable beyond belief.

Ironically it may not work for you just as it may not have worked
for me two years ago nevertheless it is the most consistently
profitable approach I have found with no downside.

but it's only when the student is ready the teacher appears.

Whist my strategy does not require any AIMS component, if you are following
a trend system it always makes sense to wait for the break of AIMS
box if it is in the the vicinity of the set up. So that is loosely the
AIMS S2 set up

Snorms ewaves won't make you any money in itself but for the modest
price may be a good investment.

It centres on identifying wave 3 of Elliott Waves which to me is just airy fairy
nonsense. I have never really found that to be much more than wishful thinking.

However Ewaves also has a feature that plots trading zone 1 or TZ1 which actually
can be quite useful in plotting exits providing you are not too rigid - often you need
to close before then but a useful guide in a trend following scenario. so it must be plotting something right

AIMS has often encouraged the idea of trading in the direction of the higher time frame
which gave birth to 'Purple' on the AIMS gator indicator.

It is only when I really started to take this seriously did I start making consistent profits.

So these days I open very few positions on the higher timeframes. I wait for key levels to be broken.
Then enter perhaps on H4 at break of AIMS and obviously price must be on right side of T line pointing
in the same direction.


This is very simple for me, it may or may not be for you.

One of the all time most profitable AIMS traders used to post his trades, frankly they were idiotic
much of the time - to my mind that is - but he was seeing something that most just couldn't see
and he had spectacular success - over 60% per month at his peak I believe.

There is no quick fix

There is no Holy Grail, not even in the above

Every successful trader told me I needed to learn discipline more than learn a system. I didn't listen
to them. After many wasted years I found the truth myself. Now I tell everyone unequivocally,
' you need to learn discipline more than learn a system'

One of the most valuable assets of AIMS isn't the indicators, they will not magically make
you money - however T20 probably will do - its powerful! when you are attuned to winning sequences
and not focused on individual trades winning or losing you will see a big improvement

its really not hard to have winning sequences and thats essential to keep moral up.

This is absolutely a game of psychology

with practice and more practice, with hundreds and even thousands of hours of chart time it
does eventually fall into place

'If only it could all fall into place on day one!'

Then everyone in the world and his dog would be able to trade!

Where would your profit come from?

Someone has to lose

What follows next is me writing twenty months ago, its taken me about
that long to get really profitable

and that is simply because I stuck at it, nothing else

If you really don't want the bother of recording your trades in a public journal
you probably will not have the mental discipline and stickability that you must have
to succeed in trading.

It really isn't hard, and the eventual rewards may be more than you would ever imagine possible!




-------------------------------------------------------


Journal starting March 2015
I joined December 2013 I think. I got the rough idea of S1, S2
and proceeded to treble my demo account in three months,
actually five months but I didn't trade during two of them.

I looked in on the chat room a couple of times and became
so bewildered by all the Elliott Wave speak that I became
disenchanted and my fickle heart flitted on to other systems
etc.

'When the student is ready the teacher appears'

Nowadays EW is not so daunting and Fruit seems quite
intuitive with beautifully tight stops make losing an
absolute joy!

I have also subscribed to the new Skype membership
and would strongly recommend it.

The focus is on Dax30 and while I am still picking it up
I am only recording basic info here. near breakevens + or - not included

2nd March 2015
Opening Balance $5000
Buy +30
Buy -20 ( not sure how that happened )
Sell -10
Sell +13
Sell +20
GKFX Balance $5003.04

3rd March
+6
+14 (add on )
-6 EU ( due to trading Dax on GKFX massive miscalculation of lot size! )

GKFX Balance $4999.04

[immy]

Hey Michael!

so you trebled your account and that meant it was time for you to not trade the system? very interesting conclusion... nevermind... it happens to nearly all of us.

Feck elliott wave.. Fruit is enough! hehe we don't to know how to count but if you know how to plus how to remain in the now and manage your expectations then it can certainly make it more fun. I'm not sure if you will be more profitable as a result of knowing or not knowing. I don't know.

The best thing you can do for improving your trading is start a journal. and you've done it. Now two things you must do .1. keep updating it regularly because if you don't update it its equal to not having a journal. 2. apply the 20 trades principle.

[kiravon]

Thanks Immy, Just need discipline, focus and consistency

Chat room is great, learning everyday but chatting and
trading real time is a skill in itself


March 4th
+18 Dax
-9 Dax
+13 Traded GBP News against a very strong Aud
-18 Dax
-6 EU S2
-16 Dax
-15 Dax
+39 Dax
+28 Dax add on
-12 Dax
+11 EU S2

Total = +33 pips

GKFX Balance $4999.75

note I trade non Dax trades on other brokers, GKFX is dedicated
Dax broker so balance should only tally with Dax trades

11 trades today I feel like I have overtraded. it was a winning day,
if it had been a losing day would it have been overetrading?

A good case in point - I shorted fruit aa twice and lost 16 pips then 15 pips,
I got a third signal quite close to a major resistance level so re entered the fray
and this time bagged 67 pips - its easy to say persistence paid off when you win
but what if all three had lost? What conclusion then?

[kiravon]

As an aside, I attach my AIMS trading account for last year.
I missed some months but in three trading months
on demo I started $500 ending I believe with $1,733

Having just re read the ebook I'm astonished at how
loosely I was interpreting the rules yet still did ok
on 5m tf with amazing runners up to +234 pips - just kept
trailing dynamically just one pip beyond close of
previous candle.

But with discipline I would be even more confident of long
term success.

[immy]

Thanks Immy, Just need discipline, focus and consistency

Chat room is great, learning everyday but chatting and
trading real time is a skill in itself


March 4th
+18 Dax
-9 Dax
+13 Traded GBP News against a very strong Aud
-18 Dax
-6 EU S2
-16 Dax
-15 Dax
+39 Dax
+28 Dax add on
-12 Dax
+11 EU S2

Total = +33 pips

GKFX Balance $4999.75

note I trade non Dax trades on other brokers, GKFX is dedicated
Dax broker so balance should only tally with Dax trades

11 trades today I feel like I have overtraded. it was a winning day,
if it had been a losing day would it have been overetrading?

A good case in point - I shorted fruit aa twice and lost 16 pips then 15 pips,
I got a third signal quite close to a major resistance level so re entered the fray
and this time bagged 67 pips - its easy to say persistence paid off when you win
but what if all three had lost? What conclusion then?

Let me tell you what is over trading. You aske
"if it had been a losing day would it have been overtrading?"
Did you trade all valid signals ? and did you stick to your chosen time slot? e.g. on m1 you should trade 2hrs and no more than 2 hrs. if you traded for 3 hrs you over traded. if you did not follow your rules or money risk and trade management thats not over trading that is WRONG trading. that way you will not gain profits/pips in the long run. As such there is no such thing as over trading because you have to take all valid signals. If you think the system is generating too many signals on a certain time frame then that's a different issue and solution is simple. Move a step oup. Move to m5 , slow it down, if that is too fast or generating too many signals move to M15 and so on.

i hope this makes sense

[kiravon]

Yes thanks Immy, makes perfect sense, in fact after being glued
to the screen all day I finally popped out to grab a bite to eat

and I noticed how very disoriented I felt - far, far from being
in the zone! On that basis I definitely over traded, two hours
is enough and then a complete break

and 'break' doesn't mean being glued to the computer screen
doing something else, for me it means fresh air and a complete
change of environment, 'less is definitely more'

This is my immediate goal now - strict scheduling

my second goal, and equally important is to stay focused on the
process not the outcome. My last trades, whilst eventually
profitable were getting me quite uptight until I got the winner

so that's definitely another area to really pay attention to,
and I'm sure many reading this know what a psychological trap
this can be

[immy]

Yes thanks Immy, makes perfect sense, in fact after being glued
to the screen all day I finally popped out to grab a bite to eat

and I noticed how very disoriented I felt - far, far from being
in the zone! On that basis I definitely over traded, two hours
is enough and then a complete break

and 'break' doesn't mean being glued to the computer screen
doing something else, for me it means fresh air and a complete
change of environment, 'less is definitely more'

This is my immediate goal now - strict scheduling

my second goal, and equally important is to stay focused on the
process not the outcome. My last trades, whilst eventually
profitable were getting me quite uptight until I got the winner

so that's definitely another area to really pay attention to,
and I'm sure many reading this know what a psychological trap
this can be

Unfortunately and fortunately, you said some nice things up there so I am compelled to reply once more and mess the flow of your journal but anyway.

1. Taking a break but defining the parameters of a break. Very interesting. Oh yes, i did that mistake, I would take a break and then remain glued to my screen doing other stuff until I learnt that my mind is actually engaged in trading if I sit here even if actually do other stuff. (define other stuff btw) Come on, even if you take a break and go away from the computer your mind still is glued to the market so its essential to break this link at least at the conscious level by not only going away but doing something else so I do what's best for the mind and body. Yes GYM at 10am. My wife says you're showing off by going to gym early in the morning as neighbours think you don't work but that's her thoughts. In summer it would be garden or a walk etc. Oh another thing, by staying at your screens and not trading, you are risking developing a very bad habit. Seeings Signals and not taking trades. Nothing can be worse than this but the problem isn point 2 ... the next one ...

2. Staying focused on the process. This is so grand, I'm excited you mentioned it. its the ultimate code to success. The 20 Rules principles really helps instilling this concept. Focus on the process not the outcome. As in don't think about what will be result of this trade. What will be result of this signal. No, focus on what is the signal. Apply the rules and then Take take take the trade. Often when we don't understand this or ignore this concept in the heat of the moment, we start "Trying to Win". in doing so we think we are creating we think we can create "the result" of our liking but that's not possible. (not always) In reality if you try to win, you will unfortunately do the opposite. If you try to win, you will expect to win, and if you expect to win you might even win at times but not always. If you're "unfortunate" and your expectations of wins are, by random chance, met, that is worse than you think it is. Because although we have an edge the edge is spread across a series of events not individual trades. Our edge is based on a set of trades not individual trades. if your expectation is "randomly" rewarded you might get excited and might even latch on to a mind disease of "random rewards" (thats the problem of many losing traders and a nightmare to fix) The biggest reward of focusing on the process is that you will stay in the now and staying in the now is the condition for being in The Zone. Being in the zone is a stage that allows you to tap into parts of your own neural network that has far more information that you can ever imagine and it is available to you right there and then in that moment of THE NOW.

I must stop. Good night

[kiravon]

March 5th Dax +23 -25 add on = -2 ( its not important! )

Thanks Immy, I probably had my most productive trading day today since birth!
I stuck to the two hour rule, I remained detached from outcome, I absolutely
didn't look at any other instrument other than Dax 5m and stuck to the rules
as closely as possible. I took one trade only and felt no compulsion to do
anything else. and I would even dare to say I was in the zone

Thanks again

[kiravon]

Have completed 20 Trades and just read 'The Twenty
Trades Principle' ( maybe it should have been the other
way around

To say this principle is profound would be an understatement,
even potentially life changing, it alters the entire paradigm of
the trader's mentality, I guess many AIMsters already know
that.

But once you absorb this the sky is surely the limit!

For example, in the first four days of this journal I have had
many very disappointing trades, around 50% ( I'm not
certain because it doesn't actually matter ) and it wasn't
pleasant to endure those losers.

But if I had known in advance that at the end of twenty
either losing or lack lustre trades that I was averaging
pro rata 341 pips a month!! I would have had a completely
different attitude, a winning attitude and both that and
a loser's attitude surely become a self fulfilling prophecy!

In context, the thrust of this ebook reminded me of
Fred Alan Wolf's observation in 'What the Bleep;

'There is no out there out there!''

[kiravon]

March 6th NFP +28 Sold an already weak euro

Otherwise not trading DAX today due to sleepless night but can't miss
NFP! Two screens - USD will either go down against a very strong AUD
or up against a very weak Euro.

I will keep my AIMS News trading system separate from my Dax 5 min Fruit.
I don't consider that I won today, I trade sequences, I completed phase
one of twenty

Spent many profitable hours last night familiarizing myself with fellow
members profiles and journals and it was really time well spent. My initial
impression is that inside and outside of AIMS 95% of traders fail, it has nothing
to do with the system.

Of course I don't know how any member is faring out there but the
pattern seems to be -

vast majority remain newbie status, and possibly no more than 100
members ever began a journal

possibly no more than 5% of members achieve status of competent,
virtuoso or master trader ( although others may well be succeeding )

A very high number fall into category eg 'joined Jan 1st 2012, last visited
Jan 2nd 2012etc'. - thats interesting! Does that reveal a very human
tendency? 'Pay the man the money, download indis, get rich!'
Simple! ( squeaks )

Again perhaps they all went on to become fabulously wealthy but I
have serious doubts about that

By contrast the minority that have achieved a high status as traders
here have all kept a journal, with meticulous attention to detail, and have
all been prolific in their forum posts, and in contrast to the majority
who seem to 'disappear' in order to hopefully get rich privately, it seems
the more successful a member is the more eager and willing they are
to share their experience with newer members.

So without any disrespect to anyone it would seem the 95% majority
across all forex forums are pipe dreamers, whereas the 5% minority are
disciplined, ( that dirty word ), teamworkers, and take consistent
daily action toward reaching their goal

I am writing all this by the way for my benefit only, as a reminder
to me in the future when I review my journal and to impress it on my
mind now - that I need to be 100% committed, consistent and disciplined.

Do I need to pay recurring Skype room subscription fees to learn the Fruit
system that possibly a child could learn in minutes?

YES! ( and especially if the majority say no! )

People make money as part as a team far more than they do
going it alone

Really, I have a daily schedule to meet the guys in the room
whereas before I had no schedule at all! The biggest payoff for
me is that it is really helping to get me organised and consistent,