Who keeps you Accountable?

At work, your boss holds you accountable to what your position is to produce. In marriage you are accountable to you mate. You make sure each of you are pullin your own weight in the relationship (unless she wears the pants) keepin each other accountable to the vows that you said to each other. As a parent you stay on top of your kids making sure they follow the house rules, disciplining them when needed so that they can grow up to become productive adults.

Who keeps you accountable to your trading? Hope you don't say no one, or worse: myself.

There are life coaches, personal trainers and mentors for a reason. They keep you focused and make sure you are following the rules that will make you a better.... whatever you do. So Im going to ask you again: Who keeps you accountable to your trading?

Mine, TRADERCISCO. Love the guy to death. We started trading around the same time. I started about a month or two before him, loved it so much I wanted him to learn, so we made it happen. We would study trades together and study the same way. The trust we have in each other is in my opinion like no other. If I where not around charts and he called me and said "Get in EURUSD now!" all I ask is "Where's the stop?" I get in blindly cause I have that much faith and trust in his ability as a trader, and I know he would do the same thing if I called him.

So how do we keep each other Accountable? Most important way is callin each other "Stupid" when it applies. LOL. I can't tell you how many times we both have jumped the gun in getting in a trade before every rule for that trade has finished lining up. While the other sits on the side line saying "Duh, this rule hasn't happened yet, what are you doing?" Establishing rules and sticking to them is a key way to becoming a successful trader.

Or how about the "I hate you!" LOL. There have been so many times we both will be in a trade and one may take profits to soon. Of course whenever you TP too soon 3 seconds later it runs 100+ pips. That's when TRADERCISCO tells me he hates me. I cry one little tear cause it hurt my feelings, but the 100+ pips I catch more then make up for it. (Love you TRADERCISCO) You need to have an idea about where the market is going so you can maximize your profits.

That brings us to the "What the hell are you doing!!!!" We risk the around the same % on the trades we enter. So when one of us tells the other how many lots we have going, if it is over the risk level we are suppose to be at, it is our duty to remind the other how important risk management is. Without proper risk on every trade, it is very easy to treat the market like vegas, double down and lose an account in one day. (Been there done that, learned that lesson)

And finally we come to the "What was that?" A failed trade. Because we trade the same trades we have four sets of eye looking at the charts, plus the eyes of those we mentor. When TRADERCISCO and I have a failed trade we BOTH are looking to see what happened, where did we go wrong, what rule did we break etc. Learning from a failed trade helps us to string trade (I beat him in string trading though. That is a fun game to play) but more importantly helps us to know when NOT to enter the market. Just like every trade has a rule for getting in, you should just as many rules for knowing when not to.

I hope you where able to catch the four points that you and your Accountability partner should focus on so both of you can and will become successful traders. I have an accountability contract that I used to have. It breaks down the trades I trade, their rules and proper risk for the trades. It is signed by both me and my accountability partner. I would have it sitting on my desk as a constant reminder of what Im suppose to be trading. Keeps you from revenge trading after a loss. If you would like to see or want a copy let me know. I will have to dig it up, but it helped me stay focus enough to string 50+ trades in a row with no loss.

Real American trader

We Salute you TRADERCISCO.
Your tweets come to my cell phone at all hours of the night.
(Tweet Tweet Tweet)
We talk so much, both our wives tells us to get a room.
(Who is that on the phone, let me guess Scott?)
We just talked on Skpye and then texted each other 2 minutes later
But we don't care. We are here to make pips and that all that matters.
So here's to you TRADECISCO, keep them tweets and pips comin.

Thank you Scott, you da man!

Pip T
pippin.tee@gmail.com

Say Whaaaa?

1000 pips is not to bad. I just got in AUDJPY on another entry. I got a signal to get in EURJPY with another entry but past on it because the stop was to large. If the EURJPY comes up a little and makes the stop about 60-70, then I will add another entry and short that also.

Account x Risk= Reward

So last week I found myself in about 6 trades at one time. The trade we have been focusing on often goes off at the same time on multiple currencies. I know you may be wondering "What kind of risk am I taking on my account?" Well, I can safely say that I was under 3% risk at all times, and this is how:

I was in a few trades that where in profits by the time I got another signal to re-enter more trades. I was able to move Break Even on a number of entries which freed me up to be able to get in a few more trades. I lost on the GBPUSD, which does not surprise me cause I tend to always lose money on that pair. I only risked 1.5% on that trade. The profits I made on the other trades that paid out more then made up for that lost trade. I ended that day with a little over 10% gain on my account. Another account I trade I have almost doubled this month. That account is a high risk account that I trade about 10% risk per trade on.

I always watch my risk. I think my risk is more important to understand then the trade you will trade. Not only my risk on my account, but also the risk ratio of the trade itself. I personally like 1:1 or better ratio. It makes no sense to me to risk 50+ pips on a stop and only go for 20 pips. If the trade where to fail you are now 3 trade away from break even and profit. Not to mention you are now trading with less money then what you started with, which also means your entries will be less in a monetary value.

I could go on and on about risk ratio's but most people already understand it. If you don't, a few more lost trades will teach you very quickly. LOL (we all gotta learn some time)

"Think of a lost trade as a mini seminar. You better have learned something from it and taken notes otherwise it was a waste of money" Pip T