[Hassam]

On Monday there was a good EURUSD short signal. It would have been a 120 pip trade with 10 pip SL. On Tuesday, GBPUSD could have given 200 pips trade with 10 pip SL. So did NZDUSD and AUDUSD. In the same manner we could have a 100+ pip long trade on USDCAD with 5 pip SL. Looking at the charts daily after a few hours is a must if you want to succeed as a trader. I am starting this Trading Journal so that I can record my daily observations on the different currency pairs when I look at the charts of those currency pairs. BTCUSD is now hovering around $43K. XAUUSD is also in a good downtrend.

[Hassam]

H12  is a good timeframe to trade.  I have been thinking about this H12 trading strategy that requires looking at the charts only once in a day. GBPUSD usually can give 150-200 pips per trade. The only problem is its volatility. This week I didn't trade. Next week, I will trade this H12 trading strategy. Since I will be trading on H12, I can expect 100-150 pip profit per trade. I am looking at EURNZD chart. I identify a 200 pip trade on H12. GBPCAD also is showing a good 200 pip trade on H12. 1 pip on GBPCAD standard lot is $7.86. USDJPY is also showing a good 200 pip trade that would have taken 5 days. I will try this H12 trading strategy next week and report here what were the results.

[Hassam]

I have been thinking about this H12 trading strategy. I think we can have good trades with this H12 trading strategy. NZDCHF has a good long trade on H12 with 10 pip SL and 200 pip TP. If we have 10 pip SL and 200 pip TP we have 1:20 risk/reward. Trading on H12 means the trade can continue for a few days. For example this NZDCHF this long trade would have continued for more than 6 days. Now EURNZD is offering a 200 pip long trade on H12. But if I put a 10 pip SL, the trade will never get activated. In this case a SL of 12 pips might have worked. But I have the rule that I never place a SL more than 10 pip means this trade would never get triggered. So there will be times which can be often when the trade wont get triggered. I should not feel sad if the trade doesn't get triggered. On Monday I should look for a long trade on EURUSD, GBPUSD, NZDUSD and AUDUSD and short trades on USDJPY, USDCHF and USDCAD.

[Hassam]

EURUSD last week moved around 160 pips. On Monday we had a good short opportunity on EURUSD. Then on Tuesday we had another EURUSD short trade opportunity. It would have made more than 100 pips. It is just a matter of looking at the charts. Now I focus on H2, H3, H4, H6, H8, H12 for trade opportunity. I have stopped checking H1, M30, M20, M15. I consider these charts as full of noise and false signals. If we have a signal on H12, it can make 100-200 pips easily. On the other hand, if we have a signal on M30, H1, it can mean a 30-50 pips move. I first check H12 and then drill down and see if I can have a trade opportunity. On Monday meaning tomorrow I think EURUSD, GBPUSD are long.

[Hassam]

On Sunday when I looked at the charts, I was thinking that EURUSD, GBPUSD, AUDUSD, NZDUSD will be long on Monday. But now I am ambivalent. It looks like that EURUSD, GBPUSD, AUDUSD, NZDUSD are short. I should wait for the next H4 candle and see if I have a signal that I want. I am not going to open a trade until and unless I have conviction that this trade will make 100 pips with 10 pip SL. I am looking at GBPUSD chart. I had place a sell limit order. But I changed my mind. I want to wait more and check the next H4 candle before I make the decision in which direction I should open the trade. I should avoid suboptimal and marginal trades. I should go for trades with excellent reward/risk ratio.

[Hassam]

Yesterday, EURUSD, GBPUSD, AUDUSD and NZDUSD did go up but not much. So my hunch was correct to stay out of a buy trade. I missed an easy 10 pip SL GBPJPY trade that could have made 100 pips easily set and forget. I should avoid suboptimal marginal trades which drain the mental capital. Patience and waiting is the name of the game. Since I am trading H4, H6 and H8, I don't have to check the charts frequently. I just need to understand where to place the limit order entry price and the stop loss. Rest is set and forget. Right now the price is going down. But I think it is a retracement. Soon price is going to find support and then go up. I should place a trade close to that support. Let's see! Yesterday I had place a GBPUSD short trade limit order. But then canceled it. It would have been a loser. So limit orders are better than market orders as they make you think again and again if your order is good or bad.

[Hassam]

Yesterday I again missed a good short trade on NZDUSD and AUDUSD. I could have place a limit order with 6 pip SL and TP 100 on them and that was it. Right now the trade is 70 pips in profit and let's see it hits the 100 pips target. GBPJPY again offered a 100 pip long trade with 10 pip SL. I again missed it. I have to observe the charts and make myself more proficient in identifying these trade opportunities. I should avoid sub optimal and marginal trades which drain mental capital. I have started this trading journal just for this reason. I want to record my weaknesses and missed opportunities. I should improve my trading skills. Be more confident in trading and avoid sub optimal trades which either result in a loss or give a very small profit. I want to see whether NZDUSD and AUDUSD trades will hit 100 pip TP target. I am a bit skeptical as H8 is showing a buy trade. After a few hours I have checked and NZDUSD short trade is close to 90 pips profit. If I had placed a 6 pip limit order and a profit target of 96 pips, I think the order would have got filled at 0.69778 and 84 pips profit target would have got filled. Now I had thought about placing this trade than I changed my mind. Now I am going through FOMO. With more practice I think I will be able to identify these types of trades and avoid missing them.

[Hassam]

I have finally opened a short EURUSD trade. I used market sell order to open this short trade. The stop loss is 8 pips and take profit  is 80 pips. Right now the trade is -0.2 in profit. I looked at EURUSD, GBPUSD, NZDUSD and AUDUSD all the showing short trades. Most of the time we will find these currency pairs move in the same direction. Why? When it is due to USD getting weak or strong, we will find all the major pairs having USD to move in the same direction. USDJPY, USDCHF and USDCAD will of course move in the opposite direction. I need to open trades more frequently. My planned stop loss was 5 pips. But sometimes the limit order with a 5 pip stop loss does not get triggered. So I used a market order this time. It depends on the situation. But this is clear. I need to minimize risk as much as possible.

[Hassam]

I lost the EURUSD short trade.  The loss was 8 pips.  I was looking at H4 chart. I impulsively decided to open a trade when I saw an inside bar pattern on H4. Today when I checked it was not an inside bar pattern. I should have checked H12, H8 and H6 before making the hasty decisions. Whatever I lost the trade. I should avoid impulsive trading decisions. This is the problem that I am facing now. I win a trade then I lose the next trade. I have to find a mind that ensures that I win 4-5 trades then I lose 1 trade then again I win 4-5 trades and then maybe again lose 1 trade. Impulsive trades have become a habit for me. I simply ignored USDCAD that could have given an excellent trade with 6 pip SL and 150 pip TP. I should focus more on the charts. In order to overcome my impulsive trade entry behavior I have coded a indicator in Python. Yes Python. We can now use Python with MT5. Python is far more powerful than the MQL5 language that we are supposed to use when developing indicators for MT5. This indicator is like a dashboard which shows me what is happened on the different timeframes. The timeframes that I consider important are H1, H2, H3, H4, H6, H8, H12 and D1. Below H1 is noise we should avoid it. Above H1 the noise gradually reduces. The challenge is how to win consistently and how to grow a very small account into a big amount.

[Hassam]

Yesterday I opened a long AUDUSD trade. The SL was 8 pips and TP was 100 pips. Once I open a trade I close the computer and check the trade the next day. When I opened MT4, it has 16 pips profit. It was a pop corn trade. It had hit 50 pip profit. Since my TP was 100 pips so nothing happened. Then it went down. Now I have to think of a way that can close the trade when the TP get 50 pips. Otherwise I will be most of the time making trades with very little profit. One method can be to put a trailing stop loss when the profit exceeds 50 pips. Now there is always uncertainty in trading. I could have made this trade breakeven and then let it continue with the hope that it will hit 100 pip TP target. Another approach would have been to lower my greed and reduce the TP to 50 pips which would have definitely got hit. Right now it looks that the AUDUSD is stalling and it may not hit 100 pips TP. Whatever it would have been a good thought to plan the trade and make an entry with a limit order. I need to grow my small account fast. I want to win the next trade with a 100 pip TP and then increase the lot size. I need to avoid losing. This can only happen if I stop opening trades impulsively. I need to plan the trade and then use a limit order from now.