Mickey's Journal

[kiravon]

Thanks Kooky

we are truly blessed to have writers and mentors
of the quality of yourself and Immy

but just to be clear - Immy is the mentor and
I am just a writer. What I write is mainly me
thinking out aloud which probably seems like
mentoring. I'm not actually mentoring but
'expression deepens impression' which means
when you learn something it is far more likely
to be retained if you share it with others as
a personal insight.

but I completely agree with you, we have so many
extremely profitable guys who very generously
explain their strategies. and yes Ray is brilliant
and for confidence you should read his AIMS
testimonial - a very sophisticated trading
background but here he is with us!

What you might find helpful, if you don't always understand
something is to compare journal posts. Sometimes its
only when two people explain something that the penny
drops.

The 'problem' with most of these very profitable guys is that
what they do is highly repetitive, and some have been doing
it everyday for years.

Consequently it is so simple for them that it is assumed
that everyone can easily follow their reasoning.

Often we can, but sometimes it can seem a bit complicated
and we can get frustrated.

Two years ago I found myself not enjoying the Elliott Wave
discussions because I just didn't get it. So I moved on to
other forums which were ok but there is no cohesion or
direction - everyone raving about various indicator
combinations etc is really not helpful.

So leaving this site was a mistake. AIMS or Bill Williams may
not be the only way to trade but it is definitely tried and tested
and it is based on the actual structure of the market.

So just by focusing on the underlying principles of AIMS and just
sticking with it will only lead to profitable trading. It does require
some mental effort but it does get a lot easier.

My more recent setback was I was getting increasingly frustrated
by all the abbreviations and lack of an up to date Glossary. but you
know success in trading can never be handed to us on a plate

and when you do have to dig a bit for the answers you tend to
appreciate what you learn and understand it better.

I vaguely remember being taught that at school. being told to
look something up for myself ( such as in a dictionary ) so that
I wouldn't forget it. and it's true, it does seem to work that way.

so yesterday I really went to town on the whole abbreviation thing
and I've now got everything clear in my mind.

I could now write up a Glossary myself without giving away too
many secrets eg MIB is a Momentum Inside Bar, PIB is a
Pullback Inside Bar, also known as IB1 and IB2 etc but quite
honestly I'm now glad there isn't an up to date Glossary as all
the research I did was very satisfying. so I would recommend others
likewise dig themselves for the answers.

Although EW can still be a bit mystifying I do now at least see how it
can be very helpful. I was helped with that mainly by Sam of the
Famous strategy. I would really like to master that, its my favourite.

But your goal might be bigger than you think!

That's the thing about trading - you can't consistently make $100
a week and not be able to make $10,000 a week. because it's
exactly the same process in either case. so once you regularly
make a little it can soon grow exponentially to be regularly
making a lot! You've probably read Ray's signature at the bottom
of his posts commenting to that effect.

Its very reassuring to know, that you cannot remain an active AIMS
member and not be successful! and by closely following very successful
traders success is virtually guaranted!

Many, if not most who joined AIMS have not succeeded for one reason only
- they simply didn't stick at it

and you and I are light years ahead of them just by still being here

Only Quitters fail

[zlabis]

Mickey,
I'm always very suprised and impressed how much wisedom and insights you're spreading with you very virtousic texts.

Finding your personal trading style, you're doing it the very hard way, IMHO. Although you're posting many thoughts, trades and insight into your journal, and often get response to it, you're actually trying to figure out everything by yourself alone. You will succeed with it in the end but it's huge effort to test all signal types back and foreward until you get your edge out of them.
My trading (still far from perfect) is actually very simple, really nothing fancy, and I'm often commenting it live during LO session (9-11am, CET) in Skype room. Immy, Grant, Sam, Kyle and sometimes Dave and Darren, to name only a few senior AIMSters are supporting others with their knowledge and experience there. It's helping and has always helped a lot.

Without knowing about too much about your current stats, my recommendation is that you might join Skype room, maybe for a few months only, to get information live at first hand while trading. It's huge fun and invaluable lessons.

[kiravon]

Skyperoom?
I would thoroughly recommend skyperoom for
education and support, but for any opportunists
who think that this is some elitist group that
will fast track them to instant wealth with a new
secret system and magic indicators they
might want to think again, they are woefully
missing the point

The room is great, its the mentality that's flawed
and trading is at least 80% psychology inside and
outside the skype room.

but to be positive, if anyone is considering skype
membership they might check out forexpeacearmy
reviews and sign up for the one week free trial
to see if it suits them.

some have found it a little stressful trying to post
and trade at the same time and it has to be said
that M1 trading does require a great deal of
concentration

but if you can cope with that as many can, you
will likely find the education, support and camaraderie
more than compensates.

You have certainly nothing to lose by giving it a try

[kiravon]

Against my better judgement....

I saw a Fruit which I almost never trade but there were reasons
to believe price would come down in a quite wide range

21.jpg

But I am not a range trader, so now I have had to review
the trade, and I now see a much tighter range nevertheless
I feel that price should fluctuate up and down between
the upper and lower circles I have drawn in. so I have
moved TPs up considerably. I have even drawn an arrow to
indicate where I see the market going. if range persists long
enough it should hit TP

The setup was a valid Fruit but it was taken impulsively'
RR is now about 1:1 which is not good for a Fruit.
I believe I will win this trade despite the extremely
impulsive add on which is now at BE. I almost always
lose with add ons! just not my strong point.

I think if I am certain that I am no range trader or Fruitarian
I should be consistent with that belief and simply trade what
ever I do best

and this isn't it!

21d.jpg

Really need a break of AIMS to the downside now

21e.jpg

Which we have.....

21f.jpg

Retest of AIMS

The current bar after retesting might just close the trade for
for us or even end as a Momentum IB which might be the
next best thing

21g.jpg

I've got a feeling I'm going to win this trade...

but in the market's own good time!

21h.jpg

I'll put the coffee on!

21k.jpg

I'm becoming a nervous wreck!

21m.jpg

I don't believe this!

21n.jpg

I was lucky!

21p.jpg

BDB to the upside...
Glad I'm out of it!

21q.jpg

[kiravon]

October Trades (15)

C1 -2 DS1
C2 -30 -16 @ 0.05 = -23 DS 0
C3 +22 SL 7 DS 1
C4 -8 SL 8 DS 1
C5 -12 SL 12 DS 0 invalid add on
C6 -28 SL 28 DS 0 atemped to trade EW only
C7 -28 SL -28 DS 0 didn't wait for PB, invalid entry
C8 -20
C9-3
C10 +20
C11 +18
C12 -3
C13 -10
C14 -38
C15 -16

-155 pips DS not recorded Win/Loss 3/15 20%
-----------------

From October 20th -
C1 EU M1 DS1 1.4%
C2 EU M1 DS1 1.2%
C3 EJ M15 DS1 2%
C4 Dax H1 DS0 -0.5%
C5 CAD H1 DS1 -1%

Summer trades I believe made over 600 pips
which is good but means nothing without
stating exactly how much I risked, for example
it probably isn't hard for anyone to make 600 pips
if SL is off the chart!

Then I became more serious in October, also very
poor psychology due preoccupation with EW,
unexplained abbreviations, not fully understanding
what a valid 'Cherry' was, all of which is totally
not necessary to know

But once I completely understood all abbreviations I could really
start to make far more sense of other guys charts. Also inspired
to finally record % gain more than pips which in themselves are
meaningless

The result of 80% losers is the worst I've had since I
started trading and without any question was 100%
due to psychological factors.

But the small percentage gains last few days has been
encouraging, how much profit you consistently make
at the end of the month is the absolute bottom line

[immy]

I'd just like to comment on one thing. You probably don't know what cherry is! because we did not teach it in the skype while you were there! Its best to stick to what we have and know well. If you're trading higher time frames. I suggest you stick to Finding Class 1 Setup 1. (with clear moving H1 you can drop to m15 and find a quick 2:1 trade) or join us in skype because we trade H1 and m15 all day.... cheers

moreover, I need to see a solid trading plan for you. Where you decide this is my Trend analysis chart, this is the time frame I use for 5x HTF tren dand this is the entry time frame. and this is exactly how I exit. in fact it should go like so...

Part 1: Know your self , know your purpose
Part 2: Trading Goals and Objectives
Part 3: Markets, Instruments and Time Frames
Part 4: Tools of Trade
Part 5: Before the market opens
Now the Crux of it
Part 6: Risk and Money Management (this would be the longest part)
Part 7: Exit Strategy (this would be predefined and very objectively defined) But short and simple
and finally at the end we talk about entries
Part 8: Trade Strategies, Setups and Entries
and then
Part 9. After the market closes
and number 10

The 10 Golden Rules of Trading.... What are yours?

Thanks to Tim Wilcox... if you have not yet downloaded the template please visit my new journal again.

[kiravon]

Some essential advice there

Yes I have been very scattered lately and majoring the minors
resulting in an unprecedented 20% strike rate.

Yes I think S1 is excellent in direction of the HTF.

also MIBs and PIBs are extremely simple and not covered by
the official secrets act as its all there in the Premium content section.

I'm no good at range trading or Fruits and of course you're right,
it is hopeless trying to guess wildly at what a 'Cherry' is, I think it
might be some kind of Apple or Fruit and I base this deduction on
the fact that it is something you can pick off a tree. In other words
the clue is in it's name! I keep asking myself over and over again, -
why is it called a Cherry?
- because it's red or green like an apple? and picked off a tree like an apple?
so therefore is it not obviously a very small apple? or even a micro or macro
Adam's Apple? - who knows?

I actually like any TF in the direction of 5 x HTF except M1 can be
extremely erratic at times and Daily or higher TF limits how many
trades you can take which seriously limits your profit, and it
took a while to grasp that a 1:2 trade on the M1 is exactly same
profit/loss as a 1:2 on the daily TF even if there are hundreds of
pips difference.

Making 10 pips a day with 1:2 RR does not sound impressive, but making
300 pips a day with a 1:1 RR does sound impressive even though you
only make half as much money because you risk 300 pips to make 300 pips.

But I will certainly have another look at Tim Wilcox.

[kiravon]

Dax and CAD stand out today

No, Dax H1 was a bit of a hasty entry! Once again
walking straight into an entire nearby resistance zone on H4!

Moving down to M5 I might be able to get out with
a small profit

Didn't!

RENT -19 pips = -0.5%

22 dax.jpg

This one has potential - no obvious problems so
TP placed just under TZ2. 1:4 RR pushing my luck a bit
but frankly there is no obvious place to close before that.

Failed to Launch! RENT -1%

22 Cad.jpg

---------------------------------------
Problems with these -

22 CHF.jpg

22 EG.jpg

22 EJ.jpg

22 NZ.jpg

[kiravon]

Trade 6

22.jpg

22 summary.jpg

[immy]

- because it's red or green like an apple? and picked off a tree like an apple?
so therefore is it not obviously a very small apple? or even a micro or macro
Adam's Apple? - who knows?

You've hit the chord!