080813 1st Month Summary

• I am down -10.8% / -£307  (instead of up the 100% my back-testing suggested)
• My strategy has changed immensely ( I practically have a new one)
• I am feeling  positive

Summary:  At the start the back-tested strategy didn't work very well in reality (slippage, overtrading), so in the second week I went about revising it. This required lots of trial and error that clocked up some large losses (but for the greater good). The strategy then started to perform well but due to not trading throughout the day, personal problems and bad health it was not traded correctly by me. The overriding positive is that the strategy now basically works, it's just been hindered by external problems (my health and my life).  At the beginning of the month I had good health and a bad strategy.  At the end of the month I have poor health (that will go) and a good strategy.

The following is a break down of the weeks making up the first month.

Green =  Positives  

Red = Negatives

Orange = Updates

Main reason for wins =  following strategy
Main reason for losses =  amending, learning, experimenting strategy /  poor health /  external factors taking me away from charts /  messy(unclear) guide

WEEK 1 -1.65% (4 days) complete beginning had no idea what reality was!

Surmised using positives and negatives which is useful when reviewing!

I was poor at Iding chart action

I was good at money management

good trade management

trading in 3 sessions  throughout day

trading up to 11 trades per day

trading both with and against trend LSH HSL

wasn't using TPO at 2% and fought myself introducing it!

made loss of -2.15% prompting first major change to ONLY trading LSH and HSL with trend (21/50)

WEEK 2 -6.3% (4 days) started on massively revised strategy lots of learning and adapting =  biggest loss

Introduced new strategy

Number trades per day dropped to 5 due to new method

Introduce TPO at 2%

Spotted REV to 252 / S/R strategy and started refining it

Introduced Quitting point (3 losses in a row)

Introduced 8/21 as new direction

Started to spot lots of trade occurring outside of the 3 trading sessions

Added D1 and W1 S&R

Poor at Iding charts

good money management

good trade management

work on trend weakness

WEEK 3 +0.7% (5 day week) less adapting, starting to learn new strategy but not trading thorughout day  =  gain, but only small.

First 5 day week

Starting to think about trading throughout day

introduced H1 S&R

Strategy guide getting messy

introduced REV thru 252 setup

good money management

good trade management

WEEK 4 -1.9% (5 day week)  Strategy performing well.  Start of personal problems keeping me from markets, still revising , guide getting messy. =  loss 

Introduction of trading througout day  

Don't trade confirmations thru 252 and D1 W1 S&R

Adjusted TPO (don't know if really that necessary now?)

Flat problems

Health Eye problems

Personal performance slipping (due to "tiredness")

Strategy performing well

good money management

good trade management

introduction of 252 Weakness in range 

messing with 21EMA exit 

1st major slip of really not following rules (no PB to 252EMA)

potential 252 PB?RL HM/SS trades

Guide getting messy again.

WEEK 5 -2.1% (3 day week) Strategy performing well. but psychological problems still lingering from last week + ill keeps me from trading = loss 

Start week still in a mess psychologically from last week

Starting to feel ill

in all honest drank too much this weekend too!

Flirted/experimented with and ruled out DWTL/UWTL to 50SMA setup

Strategy working well

good money mangement

good trade management

H1 range =  PB/RL where 8 can't stay above 21EMA

Goals for Second Month: 

• Despite now having a working strategy I don't feel it will be as profitable as my hypothetical back-tested strategy. So I am reducing my long term expectations of it  to 3% per day / 15% per week / 60% per month / 720% per year. 
• Because the new strategy is only very loosely based on the original I am treating it as a new strategy 2.0.  As such I'm going to reset my starting balance to what is in my demo account currently (£2513.85) and will work to triple this. I don't think it's fair or or logical to make a new strategy make up the losses an old one,  learning and experimentation created. 
• Finally I want to follow the new guide (when written and tidied) to the letter and record all results and observations on this blog.

Goal Summary:  In the first month I learnt that my back-tested strategy didn't work in reality and spent my time creating a new one based very loosely on the original. My mission is to now follow this new strategy exactly, aiming for 3% per day (60%PM) until I have tripled the balance in my demo account (£2513.85) and record all trades and observations on this blog.