It wasn't so much that I was AWOL from this blog (well, maybe just a little). It was just that I was clearing my brain. After coming close to blowing up my trading account yet again - it was necessary to take a really big vacuum cleaner and just suck out all those cobwebs.
I made a quick decision to get more education when the new Bullet Trading course came up on TFL365.com.
It was almost a no-brainer. Here's a guy (Rob Wilson) who is very successful trading EURUSD on 1Min charts. See the match?? I would have been stupid not to sign up. The first set of classes started on March 31st, and took in an inaugural group of 5. I just couldn't sign up fast enough when I saw the ad. Suffice to say that the journey has been amazing so far. No, I've not made a million dollars - or even come close to it.
But the most amazing thing is that I really feel like I am improving in my trading. We've had webinars (Theory) four Saturdays in a row so far. And there were homework(Practice) to do - backtesting - as much as we can, using ForexTester.And then posting up charts (Personal Accountability) whenever we made live trades. And we would get comments on these trades by Rob Wilson (Closed Loop - Review) who heads Bullet Trading.
I am totally embarrassed to say I did blow up my account - 1 week into my Bullet Trading Course. Of course, it had nothing to do with Bullet Trading. It was all just me, not being able to control my over-trading. You know, that one account which was in its death throes as I was coming out of a Groundhog Day-Week. That account is now in the dirt and I had to start using the back-up one that I had from years before.
That account was small - nonetheless it was still money - and yes - I did it. I feel really stupid about it. The only good thing about that is that the feeling of being stupid was and is still all pervasive. And it was enough of a kick-in-the-head (and the butt) for me to start thinking differently.
I can't explain it but when it happens to you - you will know. If you associate enough pain with the bad thing(s) that you did, and for long enough - I think a time comes when slowly but surely you just don't want it to happen anymore. It was as if something broke off inside my brain - and I could just catch it in my mind if I tried to do it again. I think that's the key - catching yourself when you are trying to do a no-no in trading.
All well and said - it's still something I am working on. But onwards we march to the more fun stuff.
Here's my very first post on Bullet Traders Blog:
My First Live Bullet Trade - Meng 030412
Full Disclosure:
1: I hadn't tested any trades in Forex Tester after our first webinar lesson.
But I have been trying to trade EURUSD for the last 2 years so I figure I just need to sharpen my skills on it. Before the course I had practised taking trades of support/resistance lines the way after watching Rob-W do it on TFL. But that first webinar really gave me all the nuances and details on looking at the market.
2: I hadn't plan to trade live until I had the oanda live account setup. This is my GFT account - I really liked trading off MT4, but I started to hate the spread (2pips on EURUSD) when I found out the other brokers offered a waay better spread. The nice thing is that this account allows me to trade tiny lots - 1000unit lots. (0.01 of a standard contract)
I drew the lines. Seriously I wasn't sure if they made any real sense. I kind of deleted and re-drew them a couple of times until they looked ok. You know, 1HR view, 15Min view, 1min view.
The First Live Bullet Trade:
I missed the London open by a couple of hours because I was out of the house. When I finally had time to open the charts, I sat and watched it for about 30minutes before taking a trade. I try very hard not to enter into a EURUSD trade when London is at lunch. EURUSD always behaves like it's drunk. And I have many losses to prove it.
Here's the chart of the trade I took on my live account.
The One That Got Away:
Right after that first trade. EURUSD hit the other "Wilson-line" that I had drawn. I was still reeling from the effect of that first win. So I was kind of frozen. Again - I wasn't expecting these simple lines to work so cleverly.
Here's what happened and the trade I didn't take.
Conclusions:
This first trade felt like a fluke. But it was nice fluke. While I'm typing it, I've just seen EURUSD hit my next Wilson line @1.3345 This is uncanny.
I am off to do more test trades to build more confidence in the lines that I have drawn.
Happy Bullet Trading!
This post was first published on Bullet Traders Blog on TFL365.com on April 3rd, 2012