Dons trading journal GBP/USD

[Don4]

I would like to start a journal to keep track of my trading. My system is completly mechanical. And there is no technical or fundamentals involved.
when i get a signal i take it no matter what!!!!! My money management is always 2to1, based on a risk of 2%.So when i enter a trade im in it till SL or TP is hit.I either lose 2% or make 4% of my account for that day.I only make 1 trade a day and some days there will be no trades.with this said here is my first trade with live account for this system.



Short-1.9622
TP-1.9564
SL-1.9651
TP Hit +58pips or +4% - commission

[Don4]

Well,its good to get that first trade out of the way! Today was perfect, placed the trade before I left for work and by the time I got to work it was closed out for profit. Even though I know this is going to be a long journey I honestly feel prepared this time. I know through backtesting and forward testing what to expect with my system so I just need to be realistic,and stick to the plan.Even though this is a very simple system it could also be one of the hardest,there will be many days where it will be well into profit just to have it turn to take out my stops.(but i know this in advance)I feel very confident that I have put myself in the best position that i could possably be in. I know the losses will come more than the winners and im well prepared for this. So all i can do is take it day by day and focus on the big picture,long term.

[torero]

Is there any chance we can see the equity curve of the backtesting results?

[Don4]

Torero,im at work now ill post it as soon as i get to the house.

[Don4]

12hr shifts and the 1hr drive home is a killer

[torero]

Take your time, Don, no hurry. Your system is off to a good start, best of luck. What platform did you build the system on? Are you using the same broker or is it route through another broker?

[Don4]

Torero, all my backtesting was done on metatrader manually from two different brokers with same results.All my data is on excel, yea I know not very good way to backtest but sometimes you have to work with what u got. I am now using EFX as my broker so I will have to do a little tweaking.instead of sending my excel file i thought it would be better to do this.My win% was 42% at 2to1.and here was my equity curve

http://www.traderslaboratory.com/for...1&d=1174526592

[torero]

Very nice, Don! Looks good to me, I can't see the drawdowns so not sure what's the percentage of drawdown to equity. What criteria/formulas do you use to filter out good from bad strategies? Does EFX have connection to metatrader? Or you have to enter the orders in manually? I've been testing out some strategies on metatrader but stopped when I found out neither EFX or MBTrading have direct automatic routing to orders. If you do have that, I may just start again.

[Don4]

Torero I do enter my trades manually,no there is no connection to EFX,but the reason I say it is mechanical I have certain list of rules once i enter a trade everything is set from the start SL and TP ,so once im in thats it.

[steveshutts]

Don,
well done mate, that is the way to go. Make it as mechanical as you can and try and trade the same way all the time. It will free you from the emotional stress and as you say, you know that it will work for you if you monitor it over a series of trades.
I hope you have found your edge, the win/loss and risk/reward calculations are good. I have come to realise that unless you have balls of steel or have been institutionally trained or have been mentored then this is the way to go.
Trade like a casino, with no hope or fear placed on individual trades, knowing that your edge will play out over time.
The fact that you have created a system that allows you to either take profit of get stopped is great. There is no room for emotional torture as you decide whether to pull the trade or to let it run.
I will be keenly monitoring your progress, good luck mate.