Ok, it looks great, right, a +27 tick win. It feels great seeing the huge boost to my account. But the truth is, these two trades were far too risky and I should NOT have taken either of them.

The BIG Winner – HUGE RISK

Now, as many of you may realise, at the time of writing this, I am a new trader. This diary is of my honest thoughts and my own understanding of trading, with the hope of becoming a full-time trader.

So, while I am not a full-time trader, I am, I suppose, part-time. And on this particular day, I had spent my time physically at work and was unable to trade or view the market.

When I got home, I figured I’d open the charts to see what was going on. Immediately, I noticed a downtrend, and the price was moving so quickly. Why? I asked myself. I checked the news and noticed a lot of RED news for the day, but specifically the FOMC statement release. I then checked the ATR, which was hovering around 6!

I couldn’t help myself. I saw what I felt like a 2nd entry short. Price, as I say, was in a downtrend. I saw a 1st entry short, followed by a powerful candle down, leaving a large wick through EMA. This also happened to be my 2nd entry candle.

I entered a short entry, and I noticed that my automatic stop and take-profit looked so small compared to what I am used to. So I widened it, thinking something was wrong, forgetting that the ATR was huge!

Price moved so quickly, it dropped instantly to my large take profit. This trade was over within seconds, and I made +19 ticks. Shocked, but of course happy.

The QUICKEST Trade – But The Wrong Type Of Trade

This was my second trade of the day. Keeping in mind this is all within a short space of time, around 30 minutes to be exact.

Price was still moving at ridiculous speeds. But I recognised that the downtrend was slowing and the bulls were stepping in. Price then broke the downtrend, and I watched as it did so, with so much force.

I noticed a pullback with higher highs, higher lows. And then I saw a second entry long, followed by a higher low, which has a long wick near EMA. I took this for a long entry, and due to my ATM strategy, I had automatically given myself a +8 tick profit target.

As I entered this trade, it closed immediately. Even I didn’t know what had happened, but essentially, the +8 ticks were made, and the trade was closed.

Lessons Of The Day

Whilst this was a hugely profitable day +27 ticks! It was too risky, and I am not happy with my trading day, in that sense.

1. Do not trade when the risk is too high.
2. Do not trade with the news.