FXM Live and my journey to success

[laszlo7003]

My personal blog of how the Forexmentor Live service with Ben Nathan is to make me consistently profitable

Welcome to my blog, readers.

The purpose of this blog is to document and follow my progress to become consistently profitable trading the Forex market. I recently signed up to Forexmentor Live with Ben Nathan in order to learn his trading methodology but more importantly to apply it in a consistent manner that will help me to extract constant profit and steadily grow my account.

A bit of introduction: I'm just a regular guy who just like most retail traders have a day job but have an interest in making a living out of trading one day. I know it's an ambitious plan (especially knowing the statistics of failure of retail traders) but we should dare to dream
It's been a few years that I've been trying to get profitable, so far unsuccessfully. Started my journey when a colleague of mine many years ago showed me some info about Elliott waves, and it got me excited. The prospect that some form of analysis somehow could help me to make a fortune was immediately appealing so I started learning about the different forms of technical analysis, bought some online courses and books , opened demo and live accounts. In the meantime reading stories about traders like the Turtles who were taught how to trade financial instruments with no prior knowledge in that famous experiment.

I didn't get anywhere. Sure enough, all these resources contributed to some sort of knowledge but I was still losing money. Part of the reason could be what Jarratt Davis calls 'switching', without the necessary guidance and mentoring it's really difficult to stick to any particular method and try to make it work so you keep trying new methods and systems. Many times I quit and stopped trading for a while but I did not want to give up completely.

This is where I am now. I came across the FXM service long time ago , watched some of the seminars but I never signed up, maybe that was just my lack of commitment. But now I decided that I really wanna make this work. With guidance I'm confident I could become profitable as the method seems relatively simple, easy to implement and knowing my strengths it wouldn't be difficult to be persistent and disciplined. If I know that I have someone to ask questions when I hit the wall will probably make all the difference.
In the past couple of months I have implemented some lifestyle changes , altered my diet, experimented with nootropics and brainwave entrainment all of which helped me to get in a better state of mind.
I think I'm ready.

Nature vs nurture, bring it on!

 

[laszlo7003]

So how did the first week go

What a first week...

Before the week started I went through the training videos on FXM Live which explains the method and the rules to follow. Didn't take long as it is quite simple and easy to understand so I was eager to get started.

Monday turned out to be a bit disappointing. Bank holiday over Europe meant that liquidity was a bit low, not much action and no valid trade setups to enter. Oh well, maybe tomorrow...

Tuesday morning before I logged into the trading room I had a quick glance at the charts. Using the method and the ideas from Ben's recordings I quickly identified two trade opportunities and one pair to avoid as it was likely heading into a range. I was pleased with my progress as both of those setups were valid and they turned into nicely profitable trades. Ben went through all the pairs in the trading room, published those two setups and gave the recommendation for stoploss and take profit levels as well. So all we had to do is to enter those values into the trading platform-easy. Both were triggered almost at the same time and since I had to leave for work I continued to monitor them on my mobile. This is the beauty of this method, even if you cannot spend the whole day glued to your monitor you can still profit from this type of service. Not just that I can manage trades on a mobile phone also I can log into the trading room where Ben updates the stoploss and take-profit levels continuously so you always know what to do. Tuesday afternoon was less eventful, no more valid setups but 50+ pips in profit meant it was a good day already.

Wednesday – what a day... Two setups in the morning, one of them I messed up pretty bad. USDCHF triggered too early (I didn't set the order properly) so I got out quickly with a small loss. Got in later on again as per the published setup but managing the trade from the workplace was a bit tricky, when I looked at it the price already moved quite sharply against me and I panicked. Closed it down manually with a loss at around the same price as Ben's rules dictated. The other trade generated a small win so I finished the day with a few pips loss.

Thursday and Friday was a bit quiet again, 3-4 trades triggered and closed with a few pips loss.

So at the end of my first week: I'm up about 40 pips up which is 1.2% profit in terms of equity and that is with very low risk on individual trades. Not bad I think, especially that I messed up a few things (not to mention that my spreads aren't the best). I'm already itching to switch to a real account but trying to resist the urge just yet, made that mistake before.

Now I'm looking forward to start again on Monday see what next week is holding for me...

 

[RahmanSL]

Any personal trade journals tweet my interest, and this thread is no different

Wishing you luck in being the first one here at the FPA to reach that elusive usd1m profit mark ...I know you didn't mention usd1m target profit, but that's a good target.......surely someone here at the FPA should be able to achieve that some day soon

 

[laszlo7003]

Thanks for the kind wishes, maybe you're right and should aim for that target just as this quote says:

“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.”
― Norman Vincent Peale

Any personal trade journals tweet my interest, and this thread is no different

Wishing you luck in being the first one here at the FPA to reach that elusive usd1m profit mark ...I know you didn't mention usd1m target profit, but that's a good target.......surely someone here at the FPA should be able to achieve that some day soon

 

[LoRio]

Thanks for the kind wishes, maybe you're right and should aim for that target just as this quote says:

“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.”
― Norman Vincent Peale

"Shoot For The Moon , but dont burn all of your fuel trying to get there in a blast."

 

[laszlo7003]

My second week, let's see what happened...

Monday was a quiet day again, so Ben decided to call it a day for the afternoon due to lack of market moving data and low ADR. I still managed to find a setup later on my own which triggered but did not hit my profit target level. As I moved my stop continuously at the end it closed with 4-5 pip profit. Not much but at least it's not a loss.

Tuesday couldn't have been more different. A lot of action...
Ben published a scalping opportunity before the release of the UK CPI data. I did not want to get in on that one as I wasn't completely sure how to manage that. That was a 10 pip winner that I missed out on – next time. Two more setups in the trading room for the morning session, and the EURUSD triggered. As I couldn't follow Ben's recommendation to close it when some economic news came out and later wasn't able to adjust SL levels properly that was a loss for me (less then 10 pips). Occasionally I do have to work a little at the workplace... There were another two setups for the afternoon and one of them triggered. GBP started to drop against the dollar but the move wasn't strong enough, did not reach the preset take-profit level. At the end it closed about 6 pips profit so breakeven so far this week. Need a bit more practice...

Wednesday was again a bit slow. Two setups were published in the trading room, none of them triggered, seemed like everyone was waiting for the FOMC statement later in the evening. In a way I wish if there was more opportunity with this method but at the same time it would be tricky to manage many trades continuously throughout the day having a full-time job. I already felt the pressure occasionally, even though it's only a demo account I want results...

Thursday morning again did not present too many opportunities. One setup triggered (GBPUSD long) around 10 am and it produced a bit of drawdown initially. It took ages to see it moving again,
it felt like years . After a few hours price started stalling around the M4 pivot and that's where you can use your discretion to close it manually before the profit level is hit and it was a bit agonizing to decide what to do. Let it run or close? I kept it open and eventually it hit the profit target after 2pm for about 20 pips profit.

Friday morning produced many setups in the morning. Finally - I thought - some action! Unfortunately the two setups that were triggered turned out to be losses. Not a huge loss as the initial stop-loss levels were lowered as time progressed but eventually they were hit producing a total of 30 pips losses. When I checked them against Ben's results they were identical, so it looks I'm getting better at copying those trades. Oh and disciplined enough to follow it through the same way!
There was also a scalping opportunity that Ben published ahead the release of economic news affecting the CAD. His bias was down so it was a sell order published in the trading room, got triggered and reached the profit level before I could even blink! I definitely need to learn more about this type of trading.

Ideally I want more than just the fish handed to me although that is already more than most people have...

So to summarize this week did not produce great results (more like breakeven), still sitting on my 1.2% gain on equity just like a week before.

 

[laszlo7003]

My third week wasn't so great.

Monday was a quiet day again, seems like a tendency, no trades.

Tuesday started up promising but only one setup triggered , Ben called it a scalp although it was more of a daytrade. The trade was based on an entry after a news event which caused the GBPUSD pair to drop considerably and the retracement of that move offered an opportunity to get in. Ben's bias was that the price will continue to drop further so the setup was based on fundamentals with a technical entry. It took a long while to see it moving , in the meantime it was great to be able to continuously get confirmation how to manage it from Ben in the trading room. At around 3 pm Ben decided to close the trade manually even though the profit target was not yet hit ( as he did not want to sit there monitoring anymore). I was really tempted to leave it open to see if it gets down to that level but I closed the trade as I want to match my results with Ben's or to get as close as possible. In case you are wondering price did hit that level a little later. Still managed to get about 16 pips out of it even though I entered a little late.

Wednesday did not go well... Started up promising with many setups materializing but it quickly went downhill. The setups that triggered turned into losing trades and the action was a bit quick and it was a little hard to follow which trades had Ben still open. Once you learn the method you can manage them on your own but when you have a full time job this can be a little tricky (although still considerably easier than scalping).
There was a scalp setup published for the afternoon, it got triggered but I closed it down shortly. Ben had to leave the trading room a bit early and I also could not stay in front of the screen that's why I decided to cut it short with just a few pips profits. Shame as it later did hit the profit level that was initially set for this trade.

Friday- one trade which was closed near breakeven ( -3 pips)

According to Ben this was one of the bad weeks that you occasionally get but fortunately with this method the drawdown is never too bad. Now I'm looking forward to see a really good week.

Having access to the trading room definitely helps with the psychological aspects of the game. I'm a lot less tempted to cut profits early or to be more precise the temptation is still there it's just easier to resist. With regards to losses I'm not the type of person who lets the losses run, if I have clear rules to follow to set stop-losses I find those easy to follow. Another nice thing about the trading room is that you I don't feel the constant urge to tinker or modify things to see if it works better. The real test now is: how long will I stick around when it feels like I'm not generating enough profits or worse- having a losing streak...

Someone in the trading room mentioned that this year is quite slow in terms of ADR (average daily range) meaning low volatility, slow moving markets, often in a range. I also remember that ADR values were much higher less year, I hope we'll see a bit more other than sideways markets in the near future.

This was a losing week overall, total -9 pips which doesn't sound too bad but in equity I gave back some of my gains and sitting on 0.8% profit. My position size on certain pairs needs a little adjustment I think.

 

[laszlo7003]

The emotional rollercoaster...

Monday was a quiet day again, seems like a tendency, no trades.

Tuesday was all about the emotions. Two trades triggered in the morning, the first one was closed with a small loss (-3 pips). Little later the Manufacturing PMI gave a big push to the GBP triggering a trade and price soon hit the take profit level gaining 23 pips, hooray! I got quite excited about the result and I was already thinking that this week is gonna be good.

But soon I got disappointed...

Same afternoon 2 more setups materialized which Ben published and I set it up in my MT4 hoping to get triggered for some more profits. Ben has a rule that any setups not triggered by 3pm gets cancelled, mainly because he does not want any trades dragging on into the evening. Makes sense I guess, if they don't get triggered by then chances are slimmer to get any decent moves. Now I did not cancelled them and the US Manufacturing PMI released at 3 pm created a spike on USD pairs triggering both of my trades but price soon retraced hitting my stoploss levels on both (total 34 pips
loss). Basic mistakes: should have followed Ben's recommendation in terms of cancelling my trades also watching out for high impact news releases.

Next morning before Ben's market analysis I quickly had a glance at the charts and I thought I saw an opportunity so I jumped in and opened a position. Now I don't really know why have I done that as if you are following this method you never open market order trades, you set a buy or sell stop and wait until the price hit that level. If you missed the trade you wait for the next one. So I have no excuse except maybe I was still half asleep and maybe too eager trying to recover from the previous day' losses. None of which is acceptable. I lost about 5 pips on that.

No more trading opportunities for the week after, Friday was a US bank holiday so Ben took the day off.

Hard lessons learned this week, and really disappointed by myself (especially that I was a bit bragging about my own discipline in last week's blog ). Need to pull myself together otherwise might as well quit the whole thing.

Results: I gave back almost all my profit , account is pretty much the same as the opening balance.

On the positive side: this week showed me again that if I stick to the rules I could generate profit while minimizing losses.

 

[LoRio]

Is this a paid service?

 

[laszlo7003]

Sorry LoRio, I did not see your comment before.

Yes , the Forexmentor Live service that I'm following has a fee, although not to expensive I think.