Am I following my trading plan?

“Fail to plan, plan to fail”. As above, you need to plan every single trade you take, make sure the market conditions are in your favour, make sure the price is at the right levels, make sure your risk model is in place, make sure you’re aware of the risks involved if it doesn’t go your way. By doing all of this and making a plan, you know what the worst case scenario will be, by knowing that you’re emotions and psychology won’t be affected that much and you will build your confidence. You’ll then develop your strategy and you’ll have a better understanding of what kind of ROI you can consistently make in the markets.

Have the discipline to follow your plan and stick to it like a you’re a robot. Get used to taking losses, this is part of the game you’re in. Your wins just need to be bigger and you’re on your way to becoming a consistent trader. Most traders don’t follow their plan, they then blow their accounts and you’ll blame the market.

Reminder:
If you’re trading an account size:

Less than £500:
LOT SIZE – 0.01 with a MAX LOT SIZE OF 0.03 AT ANY GIVEN TIME -  You need to pick your trades and pick your entries carefully.  Your risk needs to be low, however, a 0.01 lot size will give you flexibility when the market goes against you. 

£500 – 1000:
LOT SIZE – 0.02-0.03 with a MAX LOT SIZE OF 0.06 AT ANY GIVEN TIME – You need to pick your trades and pick your entries carefully.  Your risk needs to be low, however, a 0.02-0.03 lot size will give you flexibility when the market goes against you.  Split your entries and take partial profits along the way until your target is reached.  E.g Enter 0.03, when you reach 10-15pips take 0.02 in profit and set the stop to entry, let 0.01 run to the target with the trade protected. 

£1000 – 1500
LOT SIZE 0.05-0.07 with a MAX LOTS SIZE OF 0.10 AT ANY GIVEN TIME - You need to pick your trades and pick your entries carefully.  Split your entries and take partial profits along the way until your target is reached.  E.g Enter 0.05, when you reach 10-15pips take 0.03 in profit and set the stop to entry, let 0.02 run to the target with the trade protected. 

£2000+
LOT SIZE 0.05 – 0.15 with a MAX LOT SIZE OF 0.17 AT ANY GIVEN TIME - . Split your entries and take partial profits along the way until your target is reached.  E.g Enter 0.07, when you reach 10-15pips take 0.05 in profit and set the stop to entry, let 0.02 run to the target with the trade protected. 

Too many traders get stopped out and blow accounts because their lot sizes are too big.  A small reversal on the pair and panic sets in because a high percentage of the account is in drawdown.  They take the loss and the market ends up going their way in the end.  This is not the way to trade!  You will make money but ultimately you will face huge losses on your account. The market is designed to play with your emotions and your greed, you need to use this to your advantage.  The only way to protect yourself is money and risk management, it’s a fundamental tool and skill required to trade.

Reminder:

Typo - You can work it out

Not bad

They should be 2's not 1's. But they're done

Level to level. That's protected and managed, partials etc. 1H wick left here, potential to re-visit lower so we'll call that an extremely decent session for now

That's the level we wanted initially for the trade during the Asia session. We'll remain with support 5150 but resistance here is strong and there is a lot of confluence. We need volume to break above, otherwise a reaction from above can again swing us low below the 5100 level.

Many traders are struggling with Gold at the moment due to the high volatility and get rich quick mentality. Trading Gold entails smaller and manageable lot sizes that allow you to move with the market and you HAVE TO STICK TO YOUR SL. Once that SL is in place, don't move it, it's there to protect you. The market will always give you opportunities, take a small loss if you have to, that's the market telling you you were wrong, you'll end up getting better entries from better levels.

The other thing...For some reason, ego's on traders are writing cheques their butts can't cash. "KOG, I only trade Gold because I'm used to the way it moves". If you were used to the way it moves, why are you burning through your balance!? There are 3500 different instruments on TV, they all have a chart, they all have the same structure and price action and the tools work on all them. While 20% of all retail are trading Gold, the professionals and funds are making money on everything else that is moving nicely. Think about!