Eur/Usd Tries to Go Higher-- Just Couldn't do it! -- IFCN Wk 17 -Mon- Equity: $802.43

After a big couple of weeks, it isn't surprising that we should have some downside action. And we are seeing it this week.The Eur/Usd tried again to go to new highs, something it attempted at the end of last week and wasn't able to accomplish either. If a market can't go up..., there is really only one other direction for it to travel.We got 5 quick FirstStrike entries early this morning and

How Big of a Drawdown Can YOU Take?

What you've been watching in the performance of this account is the way real trader's accounts perform in extraordinary market conditions. Fortunately, OneNightStand and FirstStrike are the types of systems which benefit from volatile moves. When they don't get stopped out first, they offer one of the best overall risk/reward ratios possible in trading. But they are frustrating for the average

Up 25% This Week! Forex Challenge Account is UP again! -- IFCN Wk 16 -Fri- Equity: $827.35

We are sitting on large gains due to huge moves this week in the Eur/Usd and Gbp/Usd. It helped that the winning position sizes were larger than normal. Even if they weren't, we would've had a larger percent gain than last week and still have equity in the $750 – 760 range. Then we would only be up 50% for the Forex Challenge account instead of the current 65%. Imagine what the results could

65% gain in 106 days!!! From Free Systems! -- IFCN Wk 16 -Wed- Equity: $827.35.

A few minutes ago I exited my remaining FirstStrike trades- the long Eur/Usd and the long Gbp/Usd at the market. I have time conflicts for the next few days, and definitely for Friday afternoon-- when I would normally exit, so I decided to exit now. I could raise my protective stops to limit loss potentials, but prefer to simply exit and wait for the next trades when I can be at the stick like

We're LONG!!! New Milestone Hit! Euro and Pound Gain Strongly against the Dollar! -- IFCN Wk 16 -Tue- Equity: $764.55.

At the top of this blog I've stated the following: “In this Forex blog I will take a REAL trading account of relatively insignificant size: $500.00-- and trade it so as to make it grow at a rate of more than 50% annually. The goal is $150K..., in significantly less than 10 years. Watch this blog for the volatility in return that is inevitable when a professional trading account is traded for

Euro and Pound Gain moderately Against the Dollar!!! -- IFCN Wk 16 -Mon- Equity: $684.63.

It was nice to have a long weekend. As stated last week, I exited all remaining FirstStrike trades @ 15:00 CST on Thursday. Also, no OneNightStand orders were entered Friday.There was some minimal trading that took place on Friday, but the spreads and lack of opportunity should have kept all but the gambler out of the marketplace. 90% of the market players (read: the “big money”) celebrate

Forex Challenge: New Equity Highs Again- Up 12% for the Week!!! -Week's Recap -- IFCN Wk 15 -Thu- Equity: $661.17

A pretty decent trading week. Despite high volatility and getting stopped out of most of our trades, it turned out to be a good week. This is the way good trading really works. Taking money from Peter to pay Paul most weeks. Then you have a great week when you take money from everyone else.I would be thrilled with a week like this every week. Silver and gold dropped again. Silver has dropped

Holiday Trading Considerations! - IFCN Week 15 - Wed-

I'm glad I got the following email about the coming holiday weekend! It helped remind me to mention that there will be no trading on Friday, which definitely affects the way we exit and enter our systems this week.Dear Joel, Could you please make a note in your blog on how you plan to handle orders for ONS and FS for the upcoming weekend? .... Thanks for blogging, and have a very Happy Easter,T

Silver and Gold and Commodity Rout! -IFCN Wk 15 -Wed- Equity: $631.55

All in all, it was a good day for me.  And the Forex Challenge account.Remaining FirstStrike Trades:eur/usd: Sold @ 1.5792, stop 1.5852. Trade in progress---usd/chf: Bought @ .9811, stop .9751. Trade in progress---After fooling around for the early part of the morning, the Eur/Usd started back down and the Usd/Chf started back up-- which is good for FirstStrike.With the gold (XAU) and silver (

" ..., Sell The Fact!" --IFCN Wk 15 -Wed- Equity: $620.06

Buy the news- sell the fact.  The highly anticipated reduction in interest rates by the Fed indeed took place today at 1:15 PM CST.A great price drop ensued in the Euro and gain in the dollar because there was no reason for additional investments in the other currencies temporarily.  Everyone had previously gotten in other currencies that wished to, so selling was the only new option.Large drop

Survival: Trading's First Rule-- IFCN Wk 15 -Mon- Equity: $623.73

Proof that survival is trading's first rule: Bear Stearns.Monday's trades:The OneNightStand system works great! Too bad my account didn't jump like it could have. As you'll see in a bit, trading involves trade-offs. I exited the short Usd/Chf (@1.0045) last surviving OneNightStand trade from Friday @ 97.41 on Monday morning 00:01 CST, for a total profit of 304 pips. The account then stood at

$100 a Second---- IFCN Wk 15 -Mon- Equity: $623.66

The collapse of Bear Stearns sent the forex markets spinning on Friday, and carried on through today. Market players are very undecided which way to go - except sell anything they don't feel good about.This morning, the dollar fell to a record low against the euro and a 12-year low vs. the yen. Gold went to an all new high, again. Everyone who cares has heard about the “rescue” of Bear Stearns

End of Week Recap -- IFCN Wk 14 -Fri- Equity: $587.34

 The data below is as of Friday's close, March 14, 2008: This week's Alpha account trading recap:Start of week equity: $ 633.02Completed FirstStrike trades:Eur/Usd: Short stopped out for 60 pip lossGbp/Jpy: Short stopped out for 60 pip loss Gbp/Usd: Short stopped out for 60 pip lossUsd/Chf: Short stopped out for 60 pip lossUsd/Jpy: Short stopped out for 60 pip lossTotal of 300 pips in losses

Dollar Sags! Good trading! - IFCN Wk 14 -Thu- Equity: $601.75

This has been a great week for most forex traders. If the Forex Challenge account hadn't gotten stopped out so early on the initial whipsaws of the week, there would have been great profits when the market straightened out and got going again.My private accounts did great, up almost 9% in the past day and a half.  I even used Dean Saunder's M5 Trading Method (Blade Strategies) to take 53 pips

Trading is Pains-Taking! -- IFCN Wk 14 -Wed- Equity: $601.75

Since there are no trades in the Forex Challenge account currently, I thought I would write a few things about discipline as a trader. I have my reasons. I want to spare some of you some pain.This subject isn't sexy, but it is pretty interesting when you realize that the reason you can make money as a trader today is because so few have the right discipline.The way most individuals end up as

Emails about Oanda and Daylight Savings time issues--

I got an email from a IFCN subscriber about Oanda and its current inability to to handle OCO orders. Hi Joel,I was thinking that maybe you could suggest to your members that they could write directly to Oanda requesting the addition of OCO orders to Oanda's platform.We might be able to start enough of a 'ground swell' to prod Oanda into implementing oco's. Oanda can be reached at: frontdesk@

5 Quick Losses -- IFCN Wk 14 -Tue- Equity: $601.75

Sorry I didn't get the chance to post yesterday.My primary trading got fast and heavy, which was a mix of good and bad. Mostly good, though. Good trading always comes down to execution. Risking the right amount of capital on the right trades is part of the execution.-----Friday's holdover OneNightStand trade- Gbp/Usd: Long @ 2.0141 was exited at 2.0194 for a 53 pip profit. That brought equity

End of Week Recap -- IFCN Wk 13 -Fri- Equity: $633.02

Quite a week. I was amazed that I ended up profitable even though I had 5 losses in FirstStrike. The OneNightStand exits on Monday helped a lot. Position sizes were up enough that the profits were sizable. They made the extra equity that FirstStrike used up immediately.Also, the SureBreakout trade added a well appreciated 80 extra pips!Of the four OneNightStand trades taken Friday morning, 3

Too Much good News for the EURO? We'll see tomorrow! -IFCN Wk 13 -Thu- Equity: $637.77

Thank you, readers....I've had 5 people email me about their results trading FirstStrike and OneNight Stand. All of them started on different weeks, but of course, they all had great results last week. I've printed part of one response below:Hi Joel,I'm not writing this because I have any pressing questions or intelligent remarks to make but rather to let you know I'm still here. I'm one of

Europe has No Problems! -IFCN Wk 13 -Tue- Equity: $627.48

We had some serious down action in gold and silver today, along with many grain markets. When tons of funds and latecomers get into markets that have been hot for months, the days come when someone starts selling and more selling seems inevitable for a while.It is good to consider a few things about last week's action. Over the number of months the Eur/Usd attempted to approach the psychological

One Night Stand works as billed! -IFCN Wk 13 -Mon- Equity: $627.48

After the high flying week last week, the weekend served to push our OneNightStand trades even further. Which is the idea behind the robust trade concept.By our exit time on Monday morning @ 00:00 CST/ 01:00 EST/ 06:00 GMT, we achieved the following results:OneNightStand 02/29/08 entries held over the weekend: gbp/jpy: Sold @ 207.94, exit @ 204.61 for 333 pips profitusd/chf: Sold @ 1.0484, exit