live results for 13/11/08

After a lot of days stopped by day work and a bad floo I'm back trading. And it's with real money. I funded my FXCM with more than 500$ to arrive to a round 600$ (about 500 Euros).

I decided to start with 500€ and if the week is gone well (positive) fund it with another 500€ each week... up to 2000 Euros (that's what I got now available for trading).

Anyway, it's still an idea.

I traded pre-Tokyo open and results where quite good. Here's the list of trades:

Short 1K @ 125.144 >125.080 (+6.4 pips/+0.65$)
Short 2K @ 124.980 >124.977 (+0.3 pips/+0.06$)
Short 2K @ 125.101 >124.891 (+12.4 pips/+4.30$)
Short 1K @ 124.890 >124.783 (+10.7 pips/+1.09$)
Short 16K @ 125.002 >124.825 (+17.7 pips/+28.94$)
Short 2K @ 124.616 >124.825 (-20.9 pips/-4.27$)
Short 8K @ 124.879 >124.825 (+5.4 pips/+4.41$)
Short 4K @ 124.701 >124.825 (-12.4 pips/-5.07$)
Short 1K @ 124.805 >124.920 (-11.5 pips/-1.18$)
Short 1K @ 124.719 >125.028 (-30.9 pips/-3.16$)
Long 4K @ 124.825 >124.965 (+14.0 pips/+5.73$)
Short 16K @ 125.631 >125.543 (+8.8 pips/+14.37$)
Short 16K @ 125.519 >125.184 (+33.5 pips/+54.87$)
Short 8K @ 125.238 >125.224 (+1.4 pips/+1.15$)
Short 4K @ 124.925 >124.826 (+9.9 pips/+4.05$)
Short 4K @ 124.618 >124.311 (+30.7 pips/+12.57$)
Short 1K @ 124.411 >124.311 (+10.0 pips/+1.02$)
Short 2K @ 124.513 >124.311 (+20.2 pips/+4.14$)

That's a gain of +105.7 pips or 123,67$ (+20,61%!). My demo account now is at 726,07$ from 602,4$.

Statistics are:

Gross Profit: + 105.7 pips
Total Trades: 18
W/L Ratio: 3.5:1
AVG Win: 12.96 pips and 9,81$
AVG Loss: 18.92 pips and 3,42$

Very happy about that. Started with the right step ;)

Still don't know if and how I'll trade today. Is Friday, and it's always a particular day as it's week close. Friday evening is usually not good for trading and I think I won't have time to trade before today. So probably the trading week has started and ended yesterday night ;)

sun tzu's art of war

"the general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but a few calculations beforehead"

This is my main "mantra" actually as I lately tend to trade without focusing in what I do but only basing my trades on my "feelings". Up to now I've been lucky enough but if I really want to be consistent I have to plan my trading rules and plan BEFORE I start every trade.

That's what my next posts will be about. Rules, tools, risk management etc. Everything I need to do BEFORE trading and FOR trading :)

live account results for 05/11/08

Finally I funded the FXCM micro account wiht 150$.

Soon I made a bad mistakes opening a position with a high number of lots and I immediatly get cough by a "margin call" that wiped away 2/3 of my account leaving me with only 49.08$ :(

I'm so stupid sometimes.

Let's say that I took it as I sign and decided to have my 150$ as soon as possible.

So today I took my 49.08$ and started to test myself to see how long does it take to triple an account :)

That's what I've done today:

Short 2K @ 128.603 >128.515 (+8.8 pips/+1.78$)

Short 1K @ 128.532 > 128.479 (+5.3 pips/+0.54$)

Short 2K @ 128.421 > 128.350 (+7.1 pips/+1.43$)

Short 4K @ 128.525 > 128.350 (+17.5 pips/+7.07$)

Short 1K @ 127.298 > 126.983 (+31.5 pips/+3.20$)

Short 2K @ 126.940 > 126.765 (+17.5 pips/+3.55$)

Short 4K @ 126.556 > 126.461 (+9.5 pips/+3.86$)

Thats a total of +97.2 pips for 21.43$ (+44%). Not bad. Now my account is 70,51$... I'm half the way in one day! It takes much longer to gain than to loose money. Expecially if you do stupid things for loosing them :D

timing your forex trades - part 2

The second part of the video I posted before. Funny and easy way to explain some basic technique of timing.

This time is about MACD and Stocastic.

results 30/10/08 - part II

Here are the results for today. Second part.

Today it's been the first day in which I could stay at home trading all day and I have to say that was an incredibly great lucky day :)

My demo account is great shape... REALLY GOOD SHAPE :D

Now it's really too bad for me that I'm only demoing. Where's the button were I can say "I was not playing"!

Anyway here the list of trades:

Short 100K @ 124.534 > 124.391 (+14.3 pips/+149.33$)

Short 100K @ 124.211 > 124.016 (+ 19.5 pips/+199.45$)

Short 800K @ 124.619 > 124.585 (+ 3.4 pips/+ 279.88$)

Short 400K @ 124.511 > 124.469 (+4.2 pips/+179.63$)

Long 1600K @ 124.674 > 124.779 (+10.5 pips/+ 1796.29$)

Long 100K @ 125.609 > 125.689 (+8.0 pips/+81.02$)

Long 100K @ 125.933 > 126.354 (+57.9 pips/+425.74$)

Short 200K @ 126.178 > 126.050 (+12.8 pips/+258.88$)

Short 200K @ 126.039 > 125.945 (+9.4 pips/+190.12$)

Short 200K @ 126.081 > 125.995 (+8.6 pips/+173.94$)

Short 100K @ 125.949 > 125.920 (+2.0 pips/+29.33$)

Short 200K @ 125.649 > 125.553 (+14.6 pips/+295.29$)

Short 100K @ 125.419 > 125.210 (+20.9 pips/+211.35$)

Long 100K @ 125.500 > 125.601 (+10.1 pips/+102.14$)

Short 300K @ 125.379 > 124.677 (+70.2 pips/+2129.70$)

Short 800K @ 125.449 > 124.655 (+79.4 pips/+6423.49$)

...what can I say :D

The account is actually at more than 21K $... a +320%!!

I really hope to have half the success I got during this week when "live". Next week will be a really important one for me as

One thing to remember... NEVER TRADE DURING NY OPEN... not for the first hour! Even if it doesn't appear so but I get stucked in a difficult situation at that time and I was lucky to solve it in profit.

No charts today. Sorry. And probably no more lists of single trades but only daily statistics.

I takes too much time and I have to choose if post something or nothing :) Better something ;)

Have a nice weekend,

Andrea

results 30/10/08 - part I

I'm just back home from 3 days out for work.

The family is already sleeping and... what's better than doing a few pips before going to bed? Spreads where quite big (between 10 and 15 pips) but as my friend Forexbird says... "addiction!"

Here are my trades until now:

Short 100K @ 127.593 > 127.469 (+12.4 pips/+126.99$)

Short 200K @ 127.455 > 127.357 (+9.8 pips/+200.73$)

Short 100K @ 127.369 > 127.313 (+5.6 pips/+57.35$)

Short 400K @ 127.188 > 127.092 (+9.6 pips/+392.59$)

Short 200K @ 127.085 > 126.750 (+33.5 pips/+684.99$)

That's a gain of +70.9 pips or 1.134,93$ (+22,7% only today). My demo account now is at 11.652,51$ from 5.000$ on monday (+133%!!).

Statistics are:

Gross Profit: + 70.9 pips

Total Trades: 5

W/L Ratio: 5:0

AVG Win: 14.18 pips

AVG Loss: 0 pips

Tomorrow I'll post charts! Promised! :D

Good night folks!

A.

more trades on 28/10/08

I continue trading that day and here are the results:

Short 100K @ 125.780 > 125.802 (-2.2 pips) ...SLIPPAGE! :( but it's OK :)

Short 200K @ 125.999 > 125.859 (+14.0 pips)

Short 400K @ 126.140 > 125.980 (+16.0 pips)

Short 200K @ 125.869 > 125.760 (+10.9 pips)

Short 200K @ 126.005 > 125.806 (+19.9 pips)

Short 100K @ 125.711 > 125.627 (+8.4 pips)

Short 100K @ 125.679 > 125.561 (+11.8 pips)

For a total gain of 78.8 pips equivalent to +1752.5$... Not bad ;)

Statistics for that sessions are:

Gross Profit: +78.8 pips

Total Trades: 7

W/L Ratio: 6:1

AVG Win: 13.5 pips

AVG Loss: 2.2 pips

And the WHOLE day statics become:

Gross Profit: +107.8 pips

Total Trades: 34

W/L Ratio: 1,83:1

AVG Win: 10.95 pips

AVG Loss: 11.1 pips

I'm very very happy aboout that day as I was able to more than double my initial 5.000$ in one day!

Too bad it's only demo trading. Surely when "live" I won't be that "efficient" but my plan is to become more and more "confident" with demo trading that when live it'll be "automatictrading" :D Just kidding!

A.

chart of 28/10/08 trades

results 28/10/08

I could only trade in the morning today as later I got to leave to go out of town for work for about 3 days.

It started as a very bad day as I was able to let my initial (small) gain become a -30 pips loss :(

Being cought in a ranging market and doing a couple of mistakes with the laptop trackpad closing two very good trades before they become profitable. Anyway I could only blame myself as most of the pips were lost taking trades I should have taken and not closing them "in time".

So I decided to have a little rest, do breakfast and start using the only technique that can work in a ranging market :) Use math!

This time I decided to work with "big" sizes" using thousands of microlots (100, 200, 400 and 800 in paticular).

In the end I trasformed my (demo) 5.000$ account in a 8.440$ account with a net gain of 3.440$ that a 68,8% gain in two hours (the period I traded today).

I used high leverage and increasing lot sizes to reach that result. As you'll see from the statistics that pips number are strange. I should have divided statistics in two: first hour and second hour :)

The first hour was a total loss. Then I changed my mind and I made a +160 pips using thousands of microlots each trade.

Loooots of things leaned today! I'll write a post in the next few days about that. Both the first hour and the second one teached me a lot in both ways... how no to lose and how to gain more money using a little math :)

I need more test to say how and when math can help in gaining more money.

My statistics for today:

Gross Profit: +29 pips

Total Trades: 27

W/L ratio: 1,45:1 (all the wrong trades were made in the first hour, then no loss)

Avg Win: 10 pips

Avg Loss: 11,9 pips

That's all folks! :)

A.

setup screenshots

I got two locations where I trade.

One is in the office where I can only rely only on my laptop display, a 15" and the other is at home where I can attach the laptop to a 23" external monitor.

Above are the screenshots of both the setups.

definition

Results are shown on a daily basis and the day starts and ends at 17.00 NY Time.

results 27/10/08

Gross Profit: +137 pips

Total Trades: 14

W/L ratio: 13:1

Avg Win: 8.9

Avg Loss: 31.4

Note: all day trading (but only in spare time) with almost regular spreads. Only one bad trade but with a large loss due to the speed of change and to my stupidity :) Traded almost with just one microlot.

results 26/10/08

Gross Profit: +46 pips

Total Trades: 12

W/L ratio: 2:1

Avg Win: 20.1

Avg Loss: 28.7

Note: some of the trades were made with quite high spreads (from 15 to 20 pips). See previous post. Traded with one or two microlots.

forex timing video

Very interesting article with a video:

Timing Trades With Moving Averages

http://biz.yahoo.com/fxcm/081024/1224890444143.html?.v=1

trading station test

Tonight I tested again the platform on Sidney open and in one hour I made 12 trades with a total gain of 48.3 pips with 8 positive trades and 4 negative trades (W/L ratio was only 2:1!).

I traded using 1 or 2 microlots.

The average win was 20,6 pips and the average loss was 29,12 pips.

But the average spread was 15 pips!! Never below 10 and sometimes about 20. I made a couple of bad mistakes letting loss go (one loss was -59 pips and one -44).

The platform is OK even if execution time is not optimal but probably it's becouse it sunday night and not everybody is so mad to trade EUR/YEN at that time and with that spread.

Daily average spread should be around 4 pips that would have turned the session in a 5:1 W/L ratio with about 240 pips gain... but it was a good test indeed ;)

Buonanotte,

A.

forex market hours

Here you can find market hours and current status of the world's currency markets. National bank holidays and weekends are taken into account.

There are at least two reasons why you should track the major forex market trading hours:

• The first hour after a major market opens is considered very important and often indicates how the session might develop.
• In periods when market 'trading hours' overlap, liquidity tends to increase because more traders are participating in the FX market.

Thanks to Oanda! :)

A.

fxcm micro

Following Forexbird's suggestion I decided to open a Micro account with FXCM Micro and fund it with 200$ to test the setup with "real" money.

Leverage is 1:400 and you can fund it with a minimum of 25$. You got no commissions (you pay them through the spread).

It's a nice solution, better that demos as you trade with real money.

The trading station platform is nice... at least good looking :) And it got everything is needed to trade succesfully:

• speed (the software feedback is very good, I've dowloaded even the Java version for Mac and Linux but it's still in beta and it's still not comparable to the "regular" Windows version)
• 1-click orders (absolutly a must when scalping, you got to open and close orders with less effort and time possible)

All the other features are usually not used when scalping but nice to have like "trailing stops", etc. Also informations about positions and account P/L, margin used, margin available, etc are well diplayed. Reporting is very well done and complete.

So I'm quite happy about that choise. I'll post my daily account "evolution" on the blog and let's see how long it'll take to me to wipe out 200$ :D

I forgot... you can fund your account with your credit&debit card so you got the money immediatly available for trading.

It seems MUCH better than Oanda by many point o f view. Surely I won't be free from slippage but I think I can stand that for now :)

Ciao,

Andrea

dr. strangelove

"the tecnology required is easily within the means of even the smallest nuclear power. it requires only the will to do so."

rainbow

I decided to start to trade with Forex after deciding to start using sclaping technique. I made a search on Google about "forex scalping" and I found out a blog by an italian man (Darko) with strange but fascinating charts with what seemed to be a set of moving averages coloured with the colours of the rainbow.

I started reading and doing more and more searches and within a few hours I read a thousand forum posts by Linuxtroll, the creator of the rainbow. As I though the rainbow is made by a set of moving averages (WMA - Weighted Moving Averages)

I you want more infos on the rainbow you shoud start from the forum where all the users of this particular scalping setup post their thoughts and trades.

More infos on how it works and on how I use it in the next posts.

Ciao!

A.

why

"work hard. play hard. create something amazing."

This blog is about my effort to be successfull in Forex trading thanks to the studies that I made during the last few months and (most of all) thanks to a few people helping me in it. You'll read a lot more about them in future posts.

But first of all I have to thank Forexbird that's the one that told me to start this blog and that's actually teaching me a lot and my only partner in the Forex setup development.

Forex lately become a big part of my life. Studying, developing and testing indicators, charts, "setups" for Forex trading are my main "hobbies" actually. Hobbies, as I do them during my free time, that's not much as I work and got a family.

The noiseless machine is the diary of my attempt to "build myself" and a whole set of tools and strategies I'll use to reach my goal that's to live trading Forex... soon. Let the hobby become my main activity and then, the only "job".

Don't know when it'll be, but it'll be soon... whatever it means :) But whenever it'll be, it'll be... noiselessly. I'll grab my pips in silence. That blog will be my only way to say what's happening.

Thanks to all that will spend time reading my posts and commenting them.

Ciao. A presto,

Andrea