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Challenge

A mental challenge of a trading day. Trading day. A difficult one. GLOBALPRIME:GER30 The day started. I woke up a bit too early and lay in bed for the next hour and a bit. Rolled over and had a look at the night's notifications. Nothing important. I opened my laptop. This was the first mistake. A laptop with wifi and a trackpad. Suboptimal. I found my login, successfully logged in and adjusted my lot size. Next issue. I was trying to enter “20” lots. It didn’t work. Why? Minutes later, 2 mt5 restarts later I realized; the contract size was 100: 20 lots = 1000/point. Way too big. Oops. Luckily mt5 didn’t let me enter that. I need to pay more attention to little details. I quickly downloaded the Tradingview desktop app, installed and logged in. Opened DAX chart. Waited for open. Next mistake: directly after open I placed a trade. Not even 5 minutes had passed. I placed my trades according to the premarket data and 1 min chart. Terrible way to go about the open. I was short the DAX. 20/point - 35 ish point stop - 700$ loss. 1.5%. WAY TOO BIG. However I accepted the size and moved on. Why? My ego was bolstered after the fact that my trading stats were good. I had compiled them the day before. 50-60% WR with my winners being on average 3.5x bigger than losing trades. I didn’t even think about the size. Not great. Now I was in a position, taken off the 1min chart and premarket data, with a rough assumption that the markets were supposed to be headed lower. To make things worse the trade was placed on my laptop with a trackpad. By the time I placed the trade my risk had effectively doubled. Stop went from 17 to 35 points. The market had moved 17 points lower whilst I was still to get my trade in, on an idea that I had had for the last 2-3 minutes. To sell above the bars just before open. It took me 17 points. Ok. Now I was short. Too big position due to the delayed entry, off a one minute chart and mostly premarket data. Not much backed this trade up. And I risked 1.5% of my account on it? Why? Because I thought the DAX was headed lower. Side note: the index was up 1% premarket, following a 2% bull trend day. From a longer time frame there was nothing else to do but buy. But still I was short. Why? The previous day might give us the answer: here it is: A similar scenario. I wanted to be short. However with key differences to the actual trading day: They’re similar to each other, sure. But there’s major differences. The previous chart had had a 5% bear day before. Sellers were still about. A bearish continuation was highly possible. Favored even. It played out early. A 200 point move to the downside, set off by a weak open. (Another key difference to today) today had a bull bar, albeit with tail on top as the first bar, followed by a weak bear bar with lots of tail compared to the previous day of strong bear + weak bull. This was a key difference. Price action wise there was an exit for this trade at the close of the second bar of the session. Did I take it? No. It would’ve been a small looser 6-7 points (a 10 point winner if the entry had been proper). Why did I not exit? Well, I was hoping to see something. Something that had ingrained itself into my mind. So much so that I completely disregarded what was actually in-front of me. (Weakish) bull plus weak bear. I was frustrated and wanted to see something. That something never came and I was stopped out on the massive bull bar that followed. But how did the loss feel? And how did keeping the position open feel? Strangely, I was not uncomfortable. I took the trade confidently and was confident, against all odds. Alright, the trade wasn’t taken in the best way possible. However it was a relatively decent short. Moving on. Here is where the real problems begin. The trade before just didn’t work out. Maybe I was unlucky. A very big bull bar. 50 points. Big bull surprise. Ok, the bulls won this one. It will likely be a trend day up. This is what I told myself in the moment. What do you do on a trend day? There’s so many tempting counter trend entries. It looks weak. It just feels right to get short. It looks like the wedge, or double top or similar reversal pattern will work at any second. A tiny bit of risk for a huge reward, that’s what our brain loves. We love risking little and winning big. That’s the whole concept that the lottery exploits. If lottery tickets were to cost 100K with a chance of winning 200K, do you think anyone would be buying them? No, definitely not. Even though the chances of winning would be inherently bigger. Our minds love security and just the slightest chance of a big winner. It hinders one majorly in a trend day. What you should do is the opposite. Use a wider stop and just go with the trend. If it’s a strong trend, started by a bar like the above you can buy anything. Bull bars, bear bars, opens, retracements. The worst entries will become profitabel since the markets will creep their way up. I was aware of this. I knew what I had to do. LONG. Initially I opened a long on the close of that big bull bar. I closed it on the bar with the long tail. 15 point profit. Why? Because I saw a wedge on the 1 min chart. It was a good sell signal. Imagine this: a wedge (reversal signal), your risk would be about 10-15 points with a target of 30-70 points, depending on how long you want to be in the trade. Would you take it? I did. And the markets just went higher. This happened twice. I tried selling into the trend and was consequently always stopped. I was comfortable keeping the shorts. They felt good. This is another indication that something is wrong. Futures trading should feel uncomfortable. This was already said by Charlie D, portryed in the book "The legendary Bond trader". This is one of the most important parts: (This is taken from Tom Hoougard, an exceptional trader that has helped me massively, especially in the mental department): After two losses I realized. The pain had caught up with me. It was delayed. I went long. I added on the retracement. But then I left with stops at BE. I returned to being stopped out, after a three legged trend move up. 2 bulls flags. Unfortunate, however, I'm proud of that part. I stayed in. I overcame my instinct to take profit. It didn’t pay off this time, but it will eventually. I will be in on the next 200 point rally. This is one of the hardest mental games to play. If you're just slightly off, you won't win. How do I go about fixing this and making sure it doesn't happen again? A few suggestions: Take a step back. Stand up and leave the room, walk around and come back. You will have a brand new perspective on the matter at hand. Another idea: focus on the process: focus on what you see at hand. We all want one outcome: profit and winners. However we don't get that by imagining that outcome. How do we get it? We need to stay in the moment, we need to stay in the process. We need to see what is presented to us and act accordingly. This may be difficult to do in the moment, however one needs to be able to think clearly and execute on those thoughts in the trading moment.
G
by fxwithfreddi
LET'S GET REAL: Stop Strategy Jumping!Hey Traders, This one is going to be a little bit different, a little bit deeper and a little bit harder to listen to rather than usual technical analysis. I recommend you sit down and listen to this. Have a think whether it relates to you or whether you found yourself in this position, or even if you've gone through this position and share your experience on how you go through it. A lot of traders struggle with their strategy, jumping from aspects of trading and that's why so many educators out there make a lot of money off of them. It is time to stop. In this video I outlay a challenge that I put to all the traders who may find themselves in this position to sit down and to thoroughly test their current or previous strategies and understand them on a deeper level. No more jumping around, no more looking outwards. Let's start looking inwards. Let's see the data that we have handed to us and what we can do to improve that data. If you enjoyed this video, please leave a comment. Leave a like, if we do get enough likes and comments, I will make a Part 2 on how to go about this with a more depth avenue while using different resources. As always, have a fantastic training week.
Editors' picks
Education
by the5erstrading
224
Bunny Providing All Pivot Points for BTCAs you can see on the chart, this image of a bunny, when placed properly, provides all the pivot points for btc since 29k. This is NOT a coincidence- but rather a little known strategy known as the "Pivot Bunny". When placed on any chart in the right place, this bunny matches perfectly and can predict future performance. At the end of my 2 hour webinar, I provide a link to download this image of this Pivot Bunny strategy and instructions on how to use it.
INDEX:BTCUSDLong
by fomo_sapien
1
The how to on making Goals / Targetswhat's up everyone we are speaking on how to figure out your goals and how to really get to the core of them. To find out what your heart really wants and then how to use your targets to achieve your GOALS. 30 Day Challenge: - Write goals 2X a day Rising/ Night - if you feel angry or upset write goals again - write you goals the first time and 10X it (must excite you and make you feel uncomfortable) - Write Targets Daily must have - - personal development - health & fitness - spiritual - 1 hr of learning your skill/ craft to better you skills - what ever will move the needle in your business or trading
OANDA:XAUUSDEducation
by NickyLimitless
Potential 5th wave (Ps I will not be taking this trade) I figured I would post this trade just in case it could potentially help someone else or reinforce an idea they may already have, reason I'm not taking this trade is because I have hit my monthly quota and also passed another FTMO challenge, in which the verification doesn't start until Sunday 6th, so I get a week off to study the markets :) Also apologise for the messy charts as they were never meant to be shared and I understand my mess :) That being said what you're are looking at is a parallel Chanel, after reaching the top and taking an initial drop, it bounced off the 200 EMA to make a lower high, then went on to make another lower high before from a double top then another lower high and another double top, after the the first double top I took a short, but ended up closing in profit as it began to rise again, I then got back in after the 3rd lower high and rode it all the way down to the bottom of the parallel channel, placing my stop loss 20 pips above the previous high of the last double top. I then figured it was going to either bounce back up from the bottom of the parallel channel or react at the Blue line that I market as potential end of wave 3, as you can see it touched the blue line perfectly before bouncing around that level for 4 hours, although I had already reached my quota for the month, I didn't want to take any more trades but also thought the opportunity may be to good to miss, so opted to take out another small ftmo account and take a trade for a potential wave 4 move to the upside, as you can see it paid off, I placed my sl where the red line was and took a trade up towards the 0.382 fib as this is often where wave 4 retraces back to, and as you can see it went back up perfectly to the fib, and I Passed that FTMO Challenge within one day. now using the wave theory I have placed a short position idea where wave 5 should end, and thus far it is playing out to plan, as wave 5 is often the length of wave 1, Please note I am no trading expert just sharing an idea, but if I am correct, you can take a trade from here and place your sl at 155.515 and TP at 152.361 Good Luck All!.
Short
by Ashsempier
Low capital trading challenge(read caption please)Hello everyone, as one of my new years resolutions, I have decided to challenge myself and start building an account from $1000 initial deposit. I have decided to only trade crypto for the first couple of months then I will transfer some of the profits made into a forex account in order to share my forex ideas with you guys as well. Reason behind this challenge is to show that no matter how experienced you are, proper risk managing and critical thinking, plus decision making are the only reasons some of us make money and most of us lose in this industry. #follow me if you would like to see me doing low cap challenge.# Challenge rules: 1) initial deposit is 1000USDT 2) monthly deposit=500 CAD GOOD LUCK 8/1/2022 HIGGS BOSON
Education
by Meshkat_Ho
EURGBP - SHORT DAILY Hello Traders, we noticed a very clear Head and Shoulder of inversion on the EURGBP. Trading volumes slightly decreasing also confirm the bullish exhaustion and the bearish scenario becoming more likely. The 0.886 level, which is the neckline of the H&S is now being broken. We would wait a more wide movement to the downside to reduce at minimum the risk of false breakout with the price jumping back above the neckline. As usual, two different targets are provided. One more conservative, corresponding to the previous lows, and the more aggressive one, whose Take Profit corresponds to the target of the H&S formation as per textbooks. What do you think of this idea? What are the tool you use to confirm or reject an Head and Shoulder Pattern? Let us know!
Short
by FTMO
4
GBPCHF - LONG TRADE ON DAILYThis chart shows another shorting opportunity for the Swiss Franc, with respect to the British Pound. It is a longer trade than the previous one as the timeframe is daily. There are also two different targets and strategies that can be applied, depending on how much time you can wait for the realization of the scenario. We see a very nice confluence of indicators and lines at the same level. When this happens, the overall idea gets strenghtened. Indeed, at 1.22 we have the convergence of three signals. Firstly, it is the upper part of the ascending triangle and the point of control of the last downward leg. It is also the last level of the retracement area. It means that a price above it would mean that the bounce up from the minimum of 1.11 is most likely no longer to be considered as a retrace, but rather as a true impulsive up wave. 1.22 coincides with the Point of Control, the level at which most of the trades volumes were concentrated in the last period, and at which the battle between longs and shorts will be fought. Whoever wins, will pave the way and indicate the direction of the following move. This level has been tested many times and every time is gets weaker. In case of a breakout, the movement can be violent, therefore we would prefer to enter immediately and not wait for an eventual retest, that can be used to increase the position subsequently. Targets and Risk Rewards metrics can be found on the chart. What do you think of this idea? Let us know in the comments!
Long
by FTMO
NZDCHF LONG - SHORT TERM IDEAHello Traders, we signal a nice Head & Shoulder of continuation of the trend up for NZDCHF. The target for the pattern is 0.65. An aggressive entry would consist in entering now, at the retest of the horizontal line which correspond to the previous top. A more conservative approach would be to wait for the retest of the neckline of the Head & Shoulder. This would increase the odds for the realization of the pattern but also the risk to be left out of the trade, since retests do not happen every time. The total size destined for the trade can also be split 50/50. Which kind of trader are you? Are you an aggressive trader who enters on breakouts or a more conservative one, waiting for retests and confirmations? Let us know in the comments!
Long
by FTMO
1
GOLD - WEEKLY UPDATEHello Traders and welcome to the first idea of 2021. As usual, the first days and weeks of the year are poor of big movements. However, we noticed this nice signal from XAU. The trend is bearish and the price fell below the 200 Moving Average daily once again (1841). We also are below the lowest retracement level of the last leg up (1838), which seems just as a reaction to the reach of 1764, a key multiyear level. This means that this is not a simple retracement, but Gold is likely to go further down. Also, this time the price had almost no reaction to the touch of the 200MA. The RSI has still room to fall. Our idea consists in a short position with: - Target 1764 and - Stop Loss just above the top of the last candles The Risk Reward ratio is 2. The Dollar experienced a steady decline over the last months but at the moment is bouncing in the short term as can be seen from the Dollar Index. As we know, a strengthening of the USD causes commodity prices to fall, all else being equal. FTMO wishes you a happy 2021, full of success in trading!
FX:XAUUSDShort
by FTMO
CRUDE OIL - EXPLOIT THE SITUATIONInterestingly, Oil is ranging in the channel 34$-43$ that corresponds to the downside gap in the price experienced in March. Since when those levels were reached back, the price is moving inside the range. We believe that until no relevant news or until the situation will stay at this uncertainty stage globally about the pandemic, there is no way we are seeing the price to take a direction outside the Channel. If not, as of now, the price is more likely to go down than up, as OIL is a real asset used for transportation mainly. Therefore, let's exploit this range. Shorting from the upper half of the channel will give a hedge-advantage to the position even in the case the price breaks down and outside the channel again. What do you think?
NYMEX:CL1!Short
by FTMO
1
CHFEURHello Traders, CHFEUR is showing a similar pattern. The wedge is much more extended in this case, and the pair has to make a move to break it in one way or another. The violent bearish reaction the pair experienced after touching the dynamic resistance tells us that the priority is downward. However, the trendline has not been broken. An aggressive entry can be as the price breaks down the dynamic trendlne. A more conservative one is to wait for a retest, as 0.924 experienced many false breakouts in the past months. The most straightforward target would be 0.92, for a trade that has approximately a 2x-3.5x Risk Reward ratio according to the chart.
by FTMO
1
EURCZKHello Traders, one of the few currency pairs not ranging within a channel at the moment is EURCZK. We are currently below a dynamic trendline holding since February, in a steep bearish movement for EUR since the upper resistance was hit at the end of October. The retest already took place, and we think the two targets for the following days/weeks are 26.00 (a more conservative one), corresponding to the lower part of the Fibonacci retracement, and the more aggressive one at 25.56 , respectively.
Short
by FTMO
SP500 WEEKLY UPDATEDear traders, the SPX recently broke the ascending trendline and, after retesting it, fell below the 100 moving average that acted as a support twice after the March fall, exactly on the top of the Fibonacci retracement area (yellow box). This is not a random level, as the market precisely set itself on a crucial level waiting for the next week results, before taking a direction. However, the period ranging from Nov to Dec is statistically a moment. The upcoming US election and its related uncertainty make us propend for a flat-bearish scenario, at least until the mid of the next week. The possibility is that the price will fluctuate inside the area 3230-3300 (red box) with traders benefiting from the ranging price. The first of the two levels that will be broken, will indicate the direction of the following move.
CME_MINI:ES1!
by FTMO
GOLD - WEEKLY UPDATE Dear Traders, even on a red day, gold managed to hold the 1917-1922 area of resistance during its attempt to test the 50d moving average. This area, identified by two red horizontal lines, is extremely important as it acted as a support for over one month, and now, after what we can call a "fake breakout" of the descending triangle, the price is back up. TARGET As long as gold manages to stay above 1917, out target is long to the 1940-1960 fiboacci extension area, identified by a red rectangle on the chart. If the view is bullish, then this is the perfect point for a Long. Our mental Stop Loss is located at 1915. THE ALTERNATIVE SCENARIO Should the previous scenario not play out, with the price breaking below 1917, it can retest the descending trendline that was broken upward by the Friday's candle, probably at the psychological level of 1900. WHAT TO PAY ATTENTION TO Tomorrow at 2.30pm CEST, data about US inflation MoM will be released. This is particularly important for gold as a low inflation lowers the cost of holding gold. If as, expected, inflation will be 0.2%, halved from the last month, it will be another positive factor. Also, the sensation is that, with the US election approaching, Gold will be bullish as long as the SP500 will be. Indeed, at this moment, higher SP500 price is also perceived as increased future downward risk. For this reason, much attention has to be given to SPX first, as it seems the leading market for all other instruments now, even for Bitcoin.
OANDA:XAUUSDLong
by FTMO
3
Challenging Market. Slightly Green Though! - 06/25/20 RECAPHi traders, Today was hard. Market gapped DOWN but soon found support at long-term moving averages, then basically stayed 3 hours in RANGE and in the last hour jumped UP. Just crazy and far from ideal for an intraday trader. That's why I was very happy with even small profit and called it a day after 3 trades. No point swimming against the current if you can wair for another day. Trades: 1) M - SHORT @6.49, -1% 2) KBH - SHORT @29.38, +1.23% 3) NK - SHORT @10.90, +0.21% *In my ID trades, I risk 1% of the account per trade and go for 2% (2:1 RRR ). Sometimes I adapt a little bit as you can see in the trades' description.* Total PnL for the day: +0.43% Total PnL for the week: +4.85% Good trades, Tom | FINEIGHT
AMEX:SPY
by Fineight
JSE 30-Day challenge: Day #1 MCGToday morning I have the idea to start some high-risk/high return game. The main object to post one idea per each day for 30 days in a row. Goals: 1. Buy stocks every day. 2. Keep balance at least of ZAR150.000 on 20 June 2. At least 30% of picked up stocks need to hit 25% profit gain. Rules: Only JSE stock exchange. The initial budget is ZAR300.000 Limit per one trade from ZAR5.000 to ZAR10.000 Spend no more than 1 hour per day to buy any stock and publish the idea. Last day to buy stocks - 20 May Last day to sell stocks - 20 June Log: 1st day is MCG ~9100
JSE:MCGLong
by Kopachelli
$20 dollar challenge Second updateMy first trade didn't work out which resulted in a $2.32 lost ,but earlier today I shorted Gbp/Jpy making back $1.32. As I was looking at this chart I noticed that this has formed an inverted cup and handle pattern.My plan is to short this and hold my position for a few days. I won't have any stops in place so this could end it all or it could be the start of something good lol. Entry:138.844 Size position: .05 Current balance:19.00 Quote:"Sometimes failure is merely chasing you off the wrong road and onto the right one"-Paul Tudor Jones Trader essential from Amazon 1. amzn.to -Tylenol Extra Strength Rapid Release (LOL) 2. amzn.to -Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns 3. amzn.to -Apple MacBook Pro 4. amzn.to -OLLY Goodbye Stress Gummy, 5. amzn.to - Lenovo Ideacentre AIO 520S 23-Inch Desktop Computer (Intel Core i5-7200U, 16GB DDR4, 1TB HDD, Intel HD Graphics 620, Windows 10), F0CU0001US 6. amzn.to Apple iMac (21.5" Retina 4K display, 3.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 1TB) - Silver 7. amzn.to -Dell i5680-7813BLU-PUS Inspiron Gaming PC Desktop 5680, Intel Core i7-8700, 16GB DDR4 Memory, 128GB SSD+2TB SATA HDD, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060, Recon Blue, Windows 10 64-bit
Short
by Red_Rock5