Mike's Journal MSK185

[msk185]

Hi

I have learned a lot from looking at some of the journal entries on here and I'm keen to learn from feedback on the trades that I take as I want to master my trading and become an expert at this system so I have decided to make my trading journal public and post my trades here.

I have chosen to adopt Grant's flowchart as a simple way to follow the rules of the system but have made 2 slight adjustments the first being that as a beginner I will only trade in the direction of M5 (so no trades if Alligator is asleep on M5) and I only want to take trades with a fresh cross of AO as well as AO close to zero.

I really liked Grants Trade journal template for noting entry conditions and so I have adopted that and amended it to include some exit conditions too as the basis for my journal - hopefully I'm not asking too much of myself but in these early days until trading the system becomes second nature I want to gather as much knowledge as I can.

Below is the template for my journal entries to which I will add charts showing the picture at entry and another showing the picture at exit.

Any input welcome. I hope to be making my first trades next week.

Thanks

Mike

[Grant]

HI Mike,

congrats on taking the journal step, you can now look back over sets of trades and tweak your rules as needed....

many pips to you in the new year

Grant

[Grant]

sorry Mike, just a quick question, your +10 SL move, is that to BE??

cheers

Grant

[msk185]

Hi Grant

Hope you had a great Christmas.

Yes after 10 pips I intend to move my stop to b/e. I'm working on the basis of reducing my risk as quickly as sensible and that the intention is to be trading an impulse wave so I wouldn't want to be seeing a 10 pip retracement against the impulse move.

As you say as I take sets of 20 trades I will assess the rules and see if they need tweaking to create a better overall performance.

Thanks for the input.

Mike

[Grant]

excellent Mike,

yes use at least 20 trades, i usually use 2 weeks worth of trades (around 40 -50), that way i can get different weeks market conditions rather than just comparing 1 weeks worth...

many pips to you

Grant

[msk185]

Hi
Took my first trade today, not clever as had told myself no trading until January 3rd. Lost 8pips! I was too impulsive entering before checking all my rules. I should have placed my entry below the 5min level, not 1 min as less than 2 pips away. Still was minimal stake so lesson learned.

Full journal entry attached

Mike

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[Grant]

HI Mike,

yes m5 level was too close for me, but hey its a learning curve and with practice the mental check list for set ups just becomes second nature. as i say in the skype room when we have rents... NEXT!!!

many pips to you

Grant

[msk185]

Hi All
First trade of the year a rent payment of 7 pips, took break of the 5 min level as 1 pip above 1 min level at 7.13 this morning, triggered in by .1 pip and then out 2 mins later.

Any input welcome as keen to learn

Thanks
Mike

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[msk185]

Hi
Second trade today - think I might have missed some setups - good trade +16.8 pips so up 9.8 on the day
Traded what I saw Entry at 15.11 at 1.2943 break of the slightly lower level same as 5 min, exit was a little less structured as I was happy to make 15 pips so took what was there.

Picture below

As always comments good and helpful welcome.

Thanks

Mike

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[immy]

Hi Mike

Just keep hitting these trades and continue doing them. Thats the only and the simplest way to make money in Forex. Find a good system, find a good Setup, then and stick to a it. Rinse and Repeat... day in day out. Well done..

You can use price labels to show where you entered and exited using the arrows from tool bar above. as shown in pic below

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cheers

Immy