Journaling is for the birds!

OOOO no it ain’t!!! I got a chance to realize how important journaling is while I trained for my first triathlon last year. I took all the steps needed. I got me a coach that taught me the proper way to swim, bike and run. There is a science behind all three and doing them efficiently, and I needed a professional to show me the RIGHT way to do them, so I got one. Wasn’t cheap either, was paying about $400 a month. We met once a month to train together for an hour, I had unlimited email access to her and she scheduled all my training. She was able to look at my JOURNAL that I had to keep online and could see if I worked out at all, where I needed improvement, where I was excelling, etc.

Journaling does a few things. I think the most important thing is that it keeps you honest and on track. You can see exactly where your weaknesses are. In trading, we cannot afford to be weak. We LITERALLY cannot afford it. Every failed trade is a lesson. What did you learn from the mini seminar you just bought in that failed trade? You better have learned something, if not the situation can happen to you again and again and again, and each time you could be sitting scratching your head wondering “What happened?”

The other day I posted the lesson I learned about closing the Eurjpy to soon. I lost money unnecessarily. I wrote about it in blog, in my journal and I even talked about it to my Mentor. (Yes even I have a Mentor/Coach) What did I learn, “Don’t break my own stinking rule!” I know I will remember that lesson because it 1.) Cost me money and 2.) I put it in my journal. I will grow from it, I will TRY not to make that mistake again and I hope someone else has learned from it too.

So what do we have in store for you guys? Coaches, Mentors, Journals and a lot more. Trading is just like a triathlon. Its just you out there on the course, but you have the knowledge of your Coach, your Mentor and your personal Journal in your head the whole time giving you the right information to be an efficient and effective trader (or triathlete).

Yes, I finished the race with a better time then I expected, but I know there was no way I could have done it with out the right help. We all will benefit from this community because “The Right Help” will be at your finger tips. It will be up to you to use them.

PipTee

EURJPY, Going Short

So here we are looking at the Week chart of the EURJPY. If you have been able to join us on the webinar's, you will know how I like consolidation channels. WEll, the EURJPY has been on a channel for about a year. When ever I trade a breakout of a channel, I look for a candle open outside of the consolidated area, and we got that this week. As you see to when it opend outside of this channel, it surged all the way up and tapped what used to be our support. (Remember: Support becomes Resistance)

So it surged up there, tapped it and dropped. Euodoo was able to get us in on the retracement and if you where able to hold on you would have two entries, one at 126.42 and another at 125.92. As I am typing this the EURJPY is droppin and is at 124.69.

Entry #1: up 173 pips

Entry #2: up 123 pips

Totaling: 296 pips

HOW AWESOME IS THAT????

Now that we know we have broken a 1 year channel, I will be looking for more short entries then long and will probably set the Euodoo to get me in short positions adding to the entries that we have now. So stay tuned to @Euodoo for levels as they present themselves.

FYI, My long term target is in the 112 area for the EURJPY.

Heart Rate Monitors for Traders

So I am talking with a student I am mentoring, and he goes and talks to a shrink about trading. Why you ask? Because trading is about 80%+ emotion he figures why not talk to a psychologist about the emotions of trading. So here is what she had to say and why I think is was very interesting.

This psychologist's husband just so happens to be a trader, so she had in my opinion a good deal of knowledge and background with the subject. So here we go.

She said to wear a heart rate monitor while trading, and whenever you heart rate got above 100 bpm, DO NOT ENTER A TRADE. Why? The switch in our brain from I guess you would say Knowledge and Emotion flips at 100 bpm. At 100 you go from thinking clearly to pure emotion. I don't know about you but when I get all emotional in trading, FAILURES start to happen.

INTERESTING HUH?

So I am going to try this out. I generally have taken all emotion out of trading now that I use Euodoo. Once that thing is set Im committed win or lose, and I know how to get the loss back without revenge trading.

She also pointed out that the gut feeling that you get sometimes is real and you SHOULD listen to it. No not the grumbling in your stomach you get because you have been staring at charts for 24 hrs and forgot to eat, shower and shave (yes Im guilty of that too). But when you just have this very strong, can't put your finger on it, can't formulate a sentence to explain it GUT FEELING.

You cannot explain it because she said that part of your brain that the gut feeling comes from is not tied into speech. That is why its hard to explain where and why you are having that feeling. Now I know I have had gut feelings, call out a trade, not get in it and it pay 100's of pips. I have started listening to my gut when it lines up with my rules for certain trades, and have started to see higher returns from it.

I personally cant wait to have a session with this lady now, she has me intrigued. Everything she said made sense to me. You can take it or leave it. I got my heart rate monitor on.

Pip Tee

Euodoo Trades

So Euodoo got us in on the sells for the EURJPY and also gave us opportunities to cost average, which some traders took. I know I did and by the time the original entry started to pay about 40 pips I was up around 90 pips. That was close to 1:1 returns so I closed out the majority of both entries and moved my stop -10 on the original entry and BE on the cost. Needless to say I was stopped out of both but with profits.

The GBPJPY on the other hand wasn't so nice to us. We took about a 100 pip loss, which basically took our profits from the EURJPY trade. My rule when I get stopped out of this trade is to flip it, double my lots and head the other direction. So that is what I did. Euodoo will get you in on the flip, but it will not increase your lots. I am looking to have that added to the next version on Euodoo and we will probably have it by next week.

Let's take a second and talk about doubling lots. My risk on every Euodoo trade is around 1-1.5% of my account. That way of the trade fails I am looking to add 2-3% on the flip. I never risk more then 3% on any given trade. So you are probably asking yourself "What if the flip fails?" Well I have only had that happen to me on the USDJPY, which id one reason why I do not trade this trade on that pair. If memory serves the 3rd flip would have paid out, but I don't like wishy washy trading so I just stay away. Rarely, in my studies, has it failed twice in a row, that is why I am comfortable flipping it. Time will tell.

Back to the GBPJPY. I saw about 40 pips on the flip, closed half and moved BE, as Im typing this it just stopped me out. But that is fine. Ended the trades positive only a few pips because the EURJPY and GBPJPY washed each other out. ( But keep and eye on the GBPJPY, it will most likely get into the 146 area today and you might be paid about 100 pips or so.)

Euodoo also got us in going long on the AUDJPY yesterday with an entry at 80.73. It is against us right now, but I am not to worried. As I looked at the day, I noticed it came and tapped two trendwall lines that intersect each other. That is a Treasure Map trade that I learned from @tradercj. (I would follow him if he lets you.)

What is a Treasure Map trade you ask? Stay tuned, I'll teach you. Just keep and eye out on AUDJPY, let's see if we get a bounce up. (Watch it fail because I said something=)

Ok, so that is the recap. We washed out of two trades with a lil profit, and we are sitting negative about 40 pips in AUDJPY. Waiting for next set up now, so DELETE Euodoo from your charts. This is what I do so I can start fresh when new numbers come out.

I probably could recap what Euodoo did on Monday. Think we took about 100 pips on GBPJPY, so we are up for the week. I know @tradercisco is up 50% in his Euodoo account. He was trading it better then I was.

Keep following @Euodoo because we are going to be holding a webinar very soon on what Euodoo is, how to trade it successfully and a bunch of other useful tips. Let us know if you need Euodoo also.

Thanks all.

Pip Tee

Euodoo EA is ready!

For awhile now I have been posting some of my trades and the success we have been having trading it. If you ask Tradercisco he will tell you how much I value my sleep, so because of that I needed an EA that would get me in my trade if I was away or....asleep.

So I aligned myself with an excellent trader/software engineer. I talked to him about how I do what I do and how I need an EA to execute positions for me and BAM!! Euodoo was born.

For the last couple of months I have been trading it on a micro starting with $250. (I used micro instead of demo because you still need to feel the pain of loosing real money, even if it is $5) I started this trade with this account on Nov 16th 2009. As of right now today the account is at $855, just over 300% gain) and I'm currently short AUDJPY with an entry at 84.04 and up 106 pips. Euodoo is also looking to possibly add another short position. (FYI I did move it over to my standard account, but still run it on my micro because... why not? I like money.)

What is Euodoo? I am sure you are wondering. Well here are a few definitions:

1. To grant a prosperous and expeditious journey, to lead by a direct and easy way
2. To grant a successful issue, to cause to prosper
3. To prosper, be successful

That is exactly what we have been seeing with Euodoo. I say WE because this trade came from TraderCisco. He taught it to me, I tweaked it and we both trade it successfully. We feel this trade is "Euodoo", a way to have a prosperous and successful journey in FX trading.

Now after much deliberation TraderCisco and I have decided to share this. We are offering it as a monthly subscription. We will be doing even more pod casts, blogging and market commentary for our subscribers.

So if you are interested in trading Euodoo, let me know. It is ready to roll. This prosperous journey is not mine alone. Join me.

We also have a version that works on demo accounts only for those that want to test it before becoming a subscriber.

All The Best

PipTee

The "I Don't Care Entry"

This is one of my trading rules that I have for taken profits on certain trades. Its the "I don't care entry" because after about 20 pips, I no longer care about the entry. So here is my math:

If I have a 50 pip stop, once my entry is 20+ pip positive I will close out 80% of my entry and leave the remaining 20% with a don't care mind frame. I can do this because the 80% has paid for the 20%'s stop. HUH??

Trading a standard it will look like this:

50 Pip Stop

@ 20 pips close 80% (or $8)

20 pip

$8

$160 Banked

50 pip stop remains

$2 left in trade

$100 Risked

So I banked $160 and have $2 running in the trade. If the market never comes back, I'm a happy camper. If it comes back and stops me out, I still would have made $60 or what usually winds up being a lil over 1%.

Does that make sense? I'm sure there is some great math formula but I try to keep it simple.

The Rule:

"Once the market pays you 40-50% of you stop, close 80% of your entry. Leave the remaining 20% and do not move your stop until new resistance/support has been created"

I don't use trailing stops because in my opinion its about support and resistance. And since I base my stops at those levels, a trailing stop would have me kicked out of the market before the real move can happen.

That's one of my TP rules. I'm working on the FIB entry blog and should have that done by tomorrow.

A very wise (and old) trader once said "Nothing wrong with taken profits."

I'd like to add "Nothing wrong with leaving a lil to see what happens"

Pip T

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