It was not a good week from a results perspective for the system, though I'm happy with the way I managed the situation. I started off at a loss as a result of a carry-over losing EUR trade, but the rest of the week was also chequered. I think the main characteristic of my trading this week was that I ignored trades with low risk to reward ratios and went for really good-looking setups. I also tried to hold on longer to trades, taking longer to move to break even than I normally would. So, to borrow a metaphor from the book "Entries and Exits", I ignored the rabbits, went chasing the elephants, but came home hungry. I'll journal my trades shortly, though it may take a bit longer to get round to uploading the charts.
I know it's the best idea to trade the best profit to loss ratios and will continue this way. However, I will continue to hone my method regarding when to move to break even and when to let a trade breathe. It's not nice to see a winning trade (even if by a few pips) turn into a loss of up to 100 pips!
Another key feature to note this week is that I deviated from my usual Weekly + Daily timeframes and planned a couple of trades on the daily + 4 hour, the 4 hour + 1 hour and even the 30 minute + 5 minute time frame, with mixed results. I stayed true to my system, but still find that it tends to work better for me on the longer timeframe analysis, because of the wider stops. One particular trade on Thursday night would have been a big winner had the protective stop not been triggered. The direction was right and it was going my way before I moved my stop to protect 5 pips and went to sleep. I was 15 pips up at the time, on a relatively high-value trade. By the morning, the stop had been triggered before the pair proceeded to fall. I know this story is by no means unique, but it illustrates why I prefer to plan with larger timeframes and thus wider stops.
I've also noticed that the system seems to perform better with the major comdolls and their crosses, probably because these tend to trend more. I've not yet come to the point where I wish to focus on those pairs alone, but the thought has crossed my mind. (I recall I once used to trade only CAD/USD, NZD USD, AUD USD and (oddly) USD JPY).
My large losses from a pips perspective were not too damaging financially, as the lot sizes on the larger losers were tiny (0.01). Money management saved the day as usual, but on the whole I've still bled about 4.5 % of my account (manual trading stats only) this month. If I have another losing week my rules will almost certainly stop me from manual trading for the rest of the month (i.e. the 6% rule).
Autotrading: It was a good week for my Zulutrade providers. +285 pips in total and a decent financial profit. As a result of autotrading I still had a net financial profit for the week, despite a net loss of 25 pips. This result reminds me why I autotrade, and probably ensures that I will maintain my symbiotic relationship with Zulutrade for some time to come.
Looking forward to next week and here's hoping I won't be the weak link in the chain next time! :) I'd love to report a strong performance from both auto and manual trading in the same week!
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