Couldn't sleep yesterday from the jet lag, so I put on 2 trades on the EURUSD.

Both are closed now. One was for +39 pips, and the other was for -15 pips.

The loser trade was actually positive for +50 pips, but I let it run to a loss of -15 pips. I'm not upset about it, it is exactly how I should be trading...letting the winners run. Sure it was painful to see it reverse when all of my instincts told me to lock in the profit as the profit kept dropping. But by not doing this, in the future, I will be able to lock in that 200 pip trend when it does have legs.

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Life is a Gamble. You win some. You lose some. And life goes on.

Waiting for a pullback. Tricky trade here, not too confident, but it's putting fishing line out there.

USDJPY
Sell Limit Pending @ 93.70
SL @ 93.99
TP @ 92.85
Current Price: 93.50
Current Status: Pending (NOT FILLED)

__________________
Life is a Gamble. You win some. You lose some. And life goes on.

Filled and then got taken out at SL. -$31. No chance, the trade never got into positive territory. Oh well, there is always the next trade. It's like surfing, sometimes you get on a wave, sometimes you don't. And when you do get on a good wave, do you have the balls to ride it into the pipe or just bail out.

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Life is a Gamble. You win some. You lose some. And life goes on.

To trade for a living, you need an sizeable account. Ask any trader worth their salt, and they will tell you the #1 important thing is capital preservation and money management.

So even though most people will scoff at the $1 per pip trades and the fact that I made a few dollars per trade, it is understandable. Let them.

The key is to stay disciplined. Do not chase entries without a gameplan. Do not add to losers without a gameplan. Do not cut winners short without a gameplan. Do not let losers run without a gameplan. I'm honing my skills, and trading my plan. It is like muscle memory, just keep doing it and doing it, and then it will be just another trade. When one gathers enough confidence and disposable capital, then one can scale up seamlessly.

One step at a time, and in time, you've already walked a mile.

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Life is a Gamble. You win some. You lose some. And life goes on.

That is the right one, sir!

But the rest of your post sounds like praying.

You know, I have been to this "I lost, but I lost under the plan, so I am proud losing" thing. No discipline will ever help make money, but understanding what you are doing and why. If you have it, you will never have doubts or welcome losses. I do not know your age, I am 35 years old and I do not want anymore of this "I will keep my discipline, I will follow the rules, and some day... maybe..." stuff.
I want trading money NOW!
Two options.
1. I know how
2. I don't.
Discipline has nothing to do with it, it is just a psychological compensation for losses.

FJ,

Obviously, having an edge is definitely the most important thing in trading. That's a given. If they don't have an edge, my advice is to find another occupation, quickly. But discipline is what makes or breaks a trader with an edge. Even if one has an edge, they can become overconfident (especially when they have early or quick success due to favorable market condition).

Great traders have known to blow up because they thought their edge is so good that it won't allow them to lose on that ONE trade. Their overconfidence makes them want to increase size too quickly...and make other irrational decisions against their original trading plan. Once they get caught on that bad trade, their pride does not let them to close the trade with a loss...and down deeper into the rabbit hole.

Losing trades are part of trading, there is no getting around it. As long as your gameplan and overall trading is positive, that's all you can do. Some people think they have the Holy Grail...but most just end up with a stunned face and screaming "Holy Crap"!

Stay disciplined.

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Life is a Gamble. You win some. You lose some. And life goes on.

We will have to agree to differ Here is the logic behind what I say. It is a far analogy, but it works for me fine.

I was born and raised in the Soviet Union (whoop, a big start, ain't it? ). I very well remember things(wonderful happy childhood, I do feel sorry for kids growing this time here, capitalist bustards, they cannot even write without spelling mistakes now, eejits, watching too much reality shows without a helmet ).
But anyway, one of the things of the landscape were those slogans - "Our goal is communism" or "Decisions of XXVI Congress of the Communist Party - (implement) to life!". I remember we kids covered one of those plywood written slogans with dogshit - by the way, if we were caught, we would not go to a GULAG - we would just get a good spanking by our parents thats all.
Now, my point is that repeating those discipline slogans is very similar to sticking to those senile soviet communist mottos "Our goal is communism". Everyone knows it will never happen. If you are losing money today, there is no reason why you should make money tomorrow, no matter how discipplined you are. I have a bit of a personal touch to my trading - and whether it is attractive or not, I AM MAKING MONEY. If I lose a week - I sit down and think why. There is no justification for a loss in a day, except that say to yourself - I am a shitty trader.
Discipline has nothing to do with it. It is a lullaby to bring you to a losing sleep.
My maxim is - never have a losing position. Compare it with "losing is part of trading".

FJ,

LOL. Yes, I hate reality television with a passion. It is simply a waste of time watching idiots with no talent most of the time.

And I'm definitely open to your thoughts, I've been having a hard time sleeping thinking about it. Am I being too stubborn? I'm dreaming...and asking myself a lot of question if my thoughts are actually correct. As a trader, we are naturely insecure beings.

I've come to the conclusion that I'm willing to learn about what you are saying. So tell me more. What kind of MM are you using? And how are you to avoid losing positions or get out of one? I tell myself that I won't have a losing position too...but the Market has other plans and doesn't really care what I tell myself. This is the part where I had to learn to conform with the Market, and not the other way around. If you using martingale, you will only have 1 losing position, the final one.

In the meantime, I'm sticking with discipline.

__________________
Life is a Gamble. You win some. You lose some. And life goes on.

Thanks. It is just thoughts and results so far, I am not saying Grail. But it is a different way of looking at things at fx, and I think a better one then the blind discipline mantra. I'll try to do it step by step, how it "evolved"

Now, it started with a thread at Forex Factory by StevenAli called "The only pivot". You can easily google it out. Briefly, the idea is that you open a position when the price (a very short MA, to be precise) crosses the daily open. But what is the daily open? Brokers are different, what time is the best?

StevenAli had his preference. But I said to myself (after long testing) - what is the difference? If you draw a random horisontal line, the price is going to be either up or down of it. Actually, if the line will not coincide with so called pivot lines, even better, because at the pivot level the price keeps testing it and you never know the actual breakthrough.

So I came to a conclusion number one (seems obvious, but took me 2 years) - the price is going to be either up or down of an arbitrary drawn line. VERY IMPORTANT!

Seems hackneyed, but bear with me - I ran out of Jacks Danielsis, need to go now I will grow more theoretical flesh on it before suggesting the system. I just want my logic to be well understood. Not afraid of hackneyed stuff... OK, gone to get booze (I thought Russians drink most... till I met the British

Yes, I've seen the "The Only Pivot" method. It uses the same principle as my trading method because we are both trend traders, he uses a different trigger than me, but it is basically the same. When prices move up, you buy. When the prices move down, you sell.

So far, I'm following, I'm still waiting for the good part where you use some voodoo to not take losses. Or use a money management method. (hopefully not martingale)

__________________
Life is a Gamble. You win some. You lose some. And life goes on.