Tomorrow I won't be in the office but I'll be back trading on Monday. Next week I'll be looking at different time frames. We will see how that goes! Until then have a great weekend I'll keep everyone updated on my trading adventures.

Wednesday

Hello everyone it's good to be back in the office. The school year went by fast. It seems like just yesterday I was writing my goodbye blog. My first day back with Trade the Markets was in LA. That was quite an adventure. Today I started watching the Forex Online Trading Cd and got through the "first day" of the seminar. Initially it was a little hard to stay focused but I had the help of Foosh Energy Mints. As the Seminar went on I began to understand more and more about trading techniques that are used in trading Forex.

The basics that I learned were the different types of currencies such as yen, pounds, dollars and Swiss. As well as learning the different currencies, I learned how different currencies have different correlations. Such as when the dollar is gaining value the euro will lose value. One of the most important things that was stressed in the seminar was to wait for key levels also known as "confluence". Another important strategy is to look at the daily trend and look for trades that are going to follow the same trend.

Some of the more complicated aspects of trading currencies that I learned about was the analysis of the Fibonacci levels. The first analysis I learned was retracement which measures "prior low to high or high to low swings." The second type is the Fibonacci Price Extensions. They help look for "levels of possible support and resistance beyond 100%."  I don't completely understand the Fibonacci levels and the Fibonacci analysis yet but as I see John use them I understand more and more. 

Thursday

Today I finished up the Forex Online Trading Seminar. Now I have a better understanding of Fibonacci levels and analysis. I learned the relationships between retracements. For example: a retracement to the the .382 Fib level will usually have an extension to the 1.786 Fib level. I also learned about the MACD cross over. When the lines cross it means the move is over. Along with reading charts and looking at indicators, the seminar included the psychological aspect of trading. One of the big topics discussed was how to channel the emotions you have in a good way instead of trying to hide or deny emotions you have. After finishing the two day seminar I have tons more knowledge and a better understanding of the Forex market.    
      

 Friday

It's finally here... the weekend! The last three days have been informative and interesting. Today I spent the majority of the day getting familiar with the  "GTS" trading platform. I've never used this platform before so at first it was a little tricky. After watching some tutorial videos over the platform and playing with it I know how to work it. I didn't place any trades today but next week I will begin trading. I'm very excited and anxious to start trading currencies. It will be an adventure that's for sure. Hope everyone had a good week. I look forward to blogging and letting everyone know how my trading goes.

Today I was following the trading room and listening for the trades he was calling out as well as trades based off of the squeeze on the 512 Tick chart. The room was good because it gave me more information on what was going on as far as news and announcements. Also, I saw the difference in how the markets act early on in the morning as oppose to in the afternoon. In the morning the markets were more active than in the afternoon but some of the moves were only a few pips. There wasn't too much going on today so I only took two trades. 

On my first trade I went long 3 contracts of GBP/USD at 1.6615. I set my targets to +5,+10 and the last target open. My stop was 10pips.

Since I got into the trade a little after the squeeze fired I missed the major part of the move. I was stopped out at 1.660. I saw the squeeze developing but at the same time I was looking at the charts in the trading room and listening to the speaker. So when the squeeze actually fired off I had to get to the platform and place the trade. I was in the trade for about 5 minutes before I was stopped out. One thing I did forget to do is change my parameters because I was no longer looking at a 144 Tick Chart. I was now looking at a 512 Tick Chart. 

The second trade I was short 3 contracts of EUR/USD. Again I forgot to change my parameters to a stop of 20 and targets at +10 and +20. I soon learned that the larger stop was important because a 10pt stop didn't allow any of my targets to get hit. After my stop was hit I noticed that the market came back down and would  have hit my targets if I had used a 20pt stop. I also noticed at times while a squeeze was forming, the momentum was higher than when the squeeze actually fired off.

  

These two days have warmed me up to trading currencies and I look forward to continuing the adventure. Tomorrow I won't be trading because of all the announcements. As for Friday the markets are closed.  I will be back trading bright and early at 6:00a.m Monday. Hope everyone has a great weekend. 

    Hi everyone I know it has been a while since I've written a blog. This blog entry is about a book called "Screw it let's do it" written by Richard Branson. I must admit I found the title was rather strange but you can't judge a book by its cover. The book is about the "rules" Richard Branson followed to get where he is today. For those of you who may not know who Richard Branson is, he's a billionaire, who started the Virgin Group which has now expanded into international music Megastores, air travel, mobile, financial, retail, music, internet, drinks, rail, hotels and leisure, with around 200 companies in over 30 countries. As you can see Richard Branson is a very successful and powerful person.

    I learned good principles as well as useful business tips. Something that really stood out to me was his optimistic take on things. Instead of sitting around thinking of how a challenge was keeping him from his goal, he would think of ways to overcome the challenge. Now when I'm trading, instead of stressing over the fact I'm losing money, I'm going to try different parameters. This is good for starting a business because there are obstacles you have to overcome. If you let the obstacles stop you instead of trying to overcome them your business won't go anywhere.

     I found out that I and Richard have something in common; our response to a question is usually "yes." For example when John asked me to come and work for him I said "yes". Instead of letting the fact that I couldn't trade stop me, I learned how to trade and be successful. I'm glad that I took this chance because I enjoy working with Trade the Markets. This brings me to Richard's next point "if you enjoy what you do you will make money." I think this statement makes sense because if you enjoy your job you are motivated to contribute to the company and make it better.

    When someone tells me I can't achieve a certain goal I try even harder to achieve that goal. Richard faced this problem when he stared up his airline company. All of the other airlines and his bank told him he would never succeed. Despite all the people who told him he couldn't do it he was persistent and became very successful. Richard took many chances with his businesses but he always had reasoning behind his decisions. Similar to how in trading you never take a trade based on chance you use indicators as "reasoning."

     The first business Richard started he did almost entirely alone. As his business's grew more people became part of his business "plan." Soon after he realized that he would have to depend on himself to make his business a success. Also he had a board of people and felt that they were "taking away his freedom." Richard wanted to do things his way and not have to be told how to run his business so he went back to running things, for the most part on his own.

       As he went through life he had many near death experiences so he started to realize that he needed to life each day to the fullest. In addition to living life to the fullest he wanted to have no enemies so he "mended bridges". Another thing he realized was the past is the past you can't change what has already happened but instead live for the moment with no regrets. Since life is short you have to be sure that you take time out to spend with your family and relax. If you are always rapped up in your business life then you'll miss out on the more important people your family and friends.

       I would recommend this book to anyone because it has lots of useful information and Richard gives good life examples. It's very well written and could help someone who is trying to start their own business or you currently have your own business but need some help. The book again is called "screw it, let's do it" (the expanded version) and the author is Richard Branson. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog hope you enjoyed it.      

Trading, trading, trading, it's such an adventure. Today I traded the mini DOW using the TTM squeeze indicator and the 89 TICK chart. I traded 3 lots, with a stop of 20pts, and my targets were placed at +3, +6 and +20.    

Trade 1

This first trade was based off of the TTM squeeze indicator that fired off short. I sold 3 lots at 11024; my first and second targets were hit for a total of +9. I left the last third open, until I got a TTM Scalper reversal bar, on the 89 TICK chart. My stop was now 10pts away from my entry point. The TTM Scalper reversal bar never appeared but the market reversed and I got stopped out at 11034. After this trade I was at negative $140.

Trade 2

My second trade was also triggered by the TTM squeeze indicator. I sold 3 lots at 11021. Again my first two targets were hit for a gain of + 9 and my stop moved up 10pts. The last third was still open and the squeeze still had momentum. Unlike in the first trade the TTM Scalper reversal bar appeared and I flattened my position at 11001. At this point I was negative $145.

Trade 3

The last trade I took was again based off of the TTM squeeze indicator. I sold 3 lots at 11064. Almost as soon as I got in the trade my first two targets were hit. The last third was open and the market continued to go lower and lower. I stayed in the trade until I saw a TTM Scalper reversal bar on the 89 TICK chart. At 11043 a white TTM Scalper reversal bar appeared, so I flattened my position and ended up with +30. Since this was the last trade of the day I ended up positive with $5.

Last week was a tough trading week and hopefully this week will be much better. Today was certainly a good way to start off the week. It's always good to end the day with profits. Hope everyone has good trading.