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For new readers who just stumbled upon my crypto trading journal on Steemit, I started this trading challenge back on July 24, 2017 (19 days ago) when I posted my first trading idea: to grow a small $500 trading account 30% /month.
$500 may not be much to you, but it can be a lot for a new crypto trader, someone who is starting out and wants to be actively involved in trading. 30% /month is an arbitrary, pretentiously high benchmark; I expect fluctuation and may sometimes under achieve it. But at least is something I hope to prove is achievable. I will write more about it later on this journal log.
Back to my past days trading performance, I took a whole bunch of scalper trades (very quick and decisive trades) to make-up for my lackluster trading performance last week. This week I managed to catch up and put myself back on track:
+32.2%
The trades that I took since my last log 5 days ago:
From top to bottom, in chronological order:
#1 EOS/USD:
- Trade Idea: to enter long before the potential break-out if price reached above $2.00
- Execution:
- Result: Scratch trade for break-even
#2 ETH/USD:
- Trade Idea: short on sign of weakness
-Result: Stopped out
#3 OMG/USD:
- Trade Idea: short hyperextended rally
- Process: scaled in very small at the first sign of rally exhaustion, with the idea I might need to add in.
- Result: I got the scalp I was looking for, it is a risky move but timed it well. In retrospect, I should have waited more.
#4 IOT/USD:
- Trade Idea: Long at the recent high (yes even after being hyperextended, which is not the best advice I can give). Also took a short after sign of weakness. Both are based on price-action at the time.
- Result: I think I was decisive and had a good read on the market, knowing where I was on the chart and both possibilities of either breaking higher, or faking out and breaking down. I would not recommend any trader to do this, as it could lead to overtrading. Patience is key, I have been limiting my amount of trades for these scalps.
#5 OMG/USD:
- Trade Idea: Short after two days of being hyperextended, enter small with a bunch of smaller entries placed above. This was a set trade and go to sleep scalper.
. . .
From the years I have in trading, it is foolish to celebrate any achievement early on. Each single trade, if not managed properly, can devastate a trading account, that is why my entries are small, but in the context of a small account, the position size has been good.
One rule of thumb I have is to not to risk more than 5% on a single trade, and close any open trades that exceed 10% loss on a single day.
. . .
I will write a separate post over the weekend about the advantages of trading cryptos vs stocks or futures, and why a consistent %30/month is no joke (hope you already know). Building a successful trading career is a marathon. One step at the time, much like one trade at the time. I know I have missed some big moves, this past week, that only motivates me to do better the next :)
So this journal helps me become a better trader as I look to improve my methodology and execution, and hopefully too can be of help to any new crypto traders out there.
Feel free to comment, ask questions and let me know how I can do better. Have a great weekend :)