I entered a short trade early last week (11 May 2011) and closed it early this morning 16 May on the EURUSD. It was a distinctly average trade but with errors in execution and therefore a poor trade. I usually enter two orders of exactly the same size when entering a trade, however I didn’t do this and could not therefore take off half the position (due to hedging restrictions in force in the US). I had left a limit order open over the weekend to take profit at a support/resistance level for the entire position (to manage my risk) and that level got hit for an acceptable, albeit dull, profit of 1.1% of the account.

I’m learning that my execution and timing need to improve if I am to succeed in trading with real money. Sometimes I get to my trader workstation a bit late, and I am making errors in placing orders. This confirms to me that trading a demo account for a while before using live money is a wise thing to do, to iron out these little niggles. When my execution and timing is good, I will fund my live account and start trading real money.

Another thing I learnt from the Max scrolling party last night was to use alerts for orders that are open. In the Max trading system some trades can be entered or exited when a candle is forming (i.e. market momentum), one does not have to wait for candle close. To deal with the fact that I am not watching candles form all day long, I have been using pending orders. I am now going to investigate using alerts via SMS/email so that when price reaches a level I can check price action and the indicators and make a more informed decision whether to enter or exit the market rather than using pending orders. This should improve the accuracy and therefore the profitability of my trading.