eToro – Forex Trading Forum

[Tropezienne]

I thought that I was entering forex trading to earn euros – but apparently pips are the the thing ! Percentage In Point – the smallest price increment in forex trading.

The concept of pips is a difficult one for me. But it is crucial to understand how to use pips. I'm getting to grips with it - please correct me if I'm wrong.

Changes in the value of currencies take place on the fourth digit after the decimal point (with the exception of the JPY). That means that forex measures changes in one-ten-thousandths of units - these are the pips.

ONE TEN THOUSANDTH of anything is hard to imagine ....

Experienced traders make their own calculations. Thankfully eToro calculates the pips and pip values of trades for us – but at some point in the future, when we are no longer newbies, we may want to do our own calculations.

I have decided to start a Pip Diary in which I will outline my trades and the associated results. I’ll probably post to it about 4 times a week – why not join me with your pips ?

from Julie the newbie.

Blog : http://who-gives-a-forex.blogspot.com/

[Tropezienne]

Using the Forex Match and Trade Box strategies my pip story this week :

Monday 23rd June - 3 positions, each for a few hours - whilst I "earned" 1.06 USD I was minus 4 pips when all the positions were closed.

Tuesday 24th June - nothing made sense = no positions opened = 0USD, 0 pips.

By the end of the day on Wednesday I was 56 pips in credit - which translated in real language to 66.06 USD.

Thursday 26th June - I opened 7 positions in all over the course of the day. Six of them are now closed. Of these six, two of them left me minus 71 pips / minus 66.82 USD. The other four gave me 62 pips and 65.71 USD.

Balance = minus 9 pips and minus 1.11 USD.

BUT, I have five positions open - two have been open since Wednesday and one since yesterday. As of 08.00 GMT today they are giving me 104 pips and 130.70 USD.

The facts and figures of this pip diary may only be of immediate interest to me - but the idea of keeping a pip diary may be something for you to consider. I certainly would not have collated these (albeit small) figures about my trading week if I had not started this pip diary.

Show me your pips and I'll show you mine !

[Tropezienne]

Friday 4th July - another week, a lot less pips

I've had a terrible ‘pips’ week. Over the 3 days I‘ve ended up minus 426 pips (minus 343.80 USD). There were some gains in there - but the negatives dominated.

I'm not too disheartened because I am only trading ‘for fun’ and I did experiment this week with signals and charts and news events. I obviously failed and next week will stick to the safer, if less dramatic, strategies that served me so well last week.

I've learned a lot :
I've learned that I still have a lot to learn.
I've learned that despite the fact that I still have a lot to learn I can make gains if only I remember that I still have a lot to learn.
I've learned that demo trading is for me for some time to come.
I've learned how bad it can feel to lose - even on the demo - that is a feeling I must overcome before I start to trade for real. All the experienced traders say that it is vital to leave emotional reactions out of forex trading - and that is great advice. My response to my mounting losses was to hunt for trades to make up those losses.
SO - I'm learning to let the losses go.

I've decided that "to ruminate" is forex speech for "to pour a glass of wine". I"m ruminating as I type. It is the start of the weekend. NO TRADING UNTIL MONDAY! Slurp.

Julie the Newbie
http://who-gives-a-forex.blogspot.com/

[Tropezienne]

My 'Pips Diary' for the week ending 11th July 2008

Not as good as it might have been this week - mainly due to my loss of an internet connection which limited my trading activities and also incurred some losses on open positions that I could not close whilst the connection was down. Some of these positions had Stop Loss - some didn’t! My bad.

I'm still trading for fun only - but the losses feel real.

So, my gains this week : +109.43 USD and +109 pips.
My losses : -230.96 USD and -291pips.

Totals for the week therefore = minus 121.52 USD and minus 182 pips.

Not as bad as last week - not as good as two weeks ago.

Keeping this 'Pips Diary' is easier than anticipated - and is an excellent tool to keep me focussed.

It would be great if others joined me here each week - keep each other bouyed up when the pips are down, and congratulate each other when they're high.

Have a good weekend,

Julie the Newbie

http://who-gives-a-forex.blogspot.com/

[annet1983]

i dont keep a track of my pips justtake and enjoy the profit.

[Tropezienne]

Hi Annet - I’m glad that you are in profit. I’m still learning and I only trade ‘for fun’. I’ve learned recently that pips are a better measure of your trading activity than actually counting your profits (and losses.) Pips normalise all your trading data across all the different strategies, currency pairs and currency crosses that you trade. It is only if you use just one strategy and trade just , one currency pair that the calculation of pips is redundant.

Of course, raking in your profit is great, and long may you do so. But to understand why you gain is important in the longer term and will potentially increase future gains. If you want to understand the efficacy of each strategy that you use and to begin to see the specific characteristics of currency pairs - then pips are important for your trading activity.

However, as 30 pips of USDJPY are completely different to 30 pips of EURGBP - so it is also important to learn to use percentages to compare gains.

I think that’s right - if an body can explain the need for pips and percentages better, please let me know. I’m eager to learn.

Julie the Newbie

http://who-gives-a-forex.blogspot.com/

[Tropezienne]

Another week - another pips diary. This was a foreshortened trading week - first of all the updated eToro Platform took me by surprise. Did I miss the announcement? Then there were teething problems with the charts - which seems to still be unresolved.

The charts on Forex Match were working intermittently and I have requested that the hover-over pop-up % change indicator be restored because I used that a lot on Forex Match following the strategy outlined elsewhere in this forum by somebody called COLIN.

My busiest trading days were Tuesday and Wednesday with a few very short scalping expéditions on Thursday. Overall this week was a success.

My best positions were on GBPJPY.

Gains : 383.37 USD - in pips-speak that works out at 318 pips.

Lossess : 99.03 USD = 119 pips

So my totals for the week are 284.34 USD and 199 pips.

However, I don’t need to do the math to know that I’m still not n credit over the four weeks that I’ve been keeping this pips diary.

How has your trading week been?

Julie the Newbie

http://who-gives-a-forex.blogspot.com/

[Tropezienne]

Pips Diary - 21 - 25 July

I've experimented quite a lot this week - partly due to the new eToro Platform (the teething problems of last week have been sorted out and the charts are great) and partly because I wanted to try out a new strategy.

The new strategy is the ‘Three Ducks’ system - which I reviewed elsewhere on this forum and at greater length on my blog.

It worked for me - I had more gains than losses - and I had to learn about using charts. Which is a nice segue-way to the new charts on eToro. I’ve played about with the trendline feature using it to draw support and resistance lines. Whether by luck - or my trading skills (yeah, right) - I somehow managed to extrapolate information from these lines to open and close a number of small, profitable positions.

So, using the ‘Three Ducks’ and the ‘Lazy Trading’ systems and my own trendline experiments, this week’s figures are :

Minus 235.54 USD and minus 261 pips.

Plus 311.26 USD and plus 272 pips.

Which leaves me with a gain this week of 75.72 USD and 11 pips.

I’m still trading with my demo accoount only - for obvious reasons.

How did you do this week?

Julie the Newbie

http://who-gives-a-forex.blogspot.com/

[Tropezienne]

July 29 - August 1

This week my trading has been pure scalping - despite my urge to move onto longer day trades and maybe even the scarier swing trading!

Anyway, a family situation this week prevented me from concentrating properly on trading .

I did open a total of 15 positions on Tuesday and Wednesday - 13 were gainers, only 2 losers.

Gains : 178.54 USD and 162 pips
Losses : 21.77 USD and 26 pips

Overall total for the week - plus 156.83 USD and plus 136 pips.

I achieved these results - still on my demo account - by using a combination of the system I worked out for myself using the new trendline feature on eToro Charts (see the thread on this elsewhere on the forum) and the lazy trading system which is described on my blog.

All in all not a bad week given the familial stresses.

How have your pips measured up this week?

Julie the Newbie -1

Please visit my blog for newbie forex traders ’Who Gives a Forex? ’ (experienced traders most welcome) :

http://who-gives-a-forex.blogspot.com/

[etrader]

the concept is still new to me..................
i dont really keep track of it

[Tropezienne]

Hi there etrader - I’ve been away from trading for a few weeks and so have not kept up with my pips diary - but I shall be returning to it from this week.

I came across the notion of keeping a pips diary on a forex forum - I think that it was called ’babypips’ - anyway, the impetus there was all about counting pips rather than dollars, or sterling or euros, and to use one’s gains or losses of pips as an indicator of how trading strategies were working.

I am still experimenting with strategies and have not really progressed beyond scalping and some slightly longer trades - but my pips diaries have kept me motivated and have encouraged me to make notes about certain trades - all of which help me to develop as a trader.

I'm considering keeping a trading diary - which will include more details than a simple accounting of my pips.

Julie the Newbie -1

http://who-gives-a-forex.blogspot.com/

[Tropezienne]

September 8 - September 12

This is my first week back after a break visiting family and walking in the Gorge du Verdon. It has been hectic getting back into the swing of things and all my trades have been based on the Lazy Trading System - a review of which you can read on my blog (see address below my signature).

It has been a successful week - I am still trading on my demo account and I still have some way to go in order to get it back up to the 2000 virtual dollars with which I started. But this week has increased my confidence. I feel especially pleased with my risk management practice this week.

Gains : 417.75 USD and 302 pips
Losses : 226.13 USD and 217 pips

Overall total for the week - plus 191.32 USD and plus 85 pips.

Julie

Please visit my blog for newbie forex traders ’Who Gives a Forex? ’ (experienced traders most welcome) :

http://who-gives-a-forex.blogspot.com/

[Tropezienne]

September 15th to 19th 2008

Well it’s been quite an eventful week. What with the launch of eToro’s newest update - and especially that great new feature ‘Top Traders Insights’ - which I have used to my advantage.

Yesterday, with all the volatility in the global markets I really got lucky. So, my great results this week are because I copied what eToro’s top traders were doing; the fact that I happened to open a position at an opportune time of volatility and because of the ‘Lazy Trading’ system.

So - although my skill as a trader has not improved at all this week - I’ve done OK. Aware as I am of my limitations, I am still trading on the practice platform only. I am not yet confident enough to risk real money.

Total Gains : 689.26 USD and 631 pips

Total Losses : 224.27 USD and 212 pips

Result for the week : + 464.99 USD and + 419 pips.

Lazy Trading

Of the above success 261.83 USD and 255 pips were due to the Lazy Trading system. I have reviewed this system elsewhere on this forum - and at greater length on my blog - http://who-gives-a-forex.blogspot.com/ - take a look. It works for me.

Julie

[Tropezienne]

September 22 - September 26

Not much to enter in my Pips Diary this week. I only actually opened one position - a mixture of family commitments, a gas leak, an evacuation, a return to the home, a small explosion, (nobody hurt)another evacuation and general lack of sleep due to most of the above seriously cut into my trading time.

I opened a position last night on AUDUSD following the Lazy Trading system that I have advocated elsewhere. I never lose if I follow this system religiously to the letter. Last night, however, I was very tired and I set a Stop Loss just in case I dozed off. Under the LT system you don’t have to set SL or TP as you close the trade at the exact time defined by the system. Anyway, the SL that I set was too tight and I lost 14 pips.

Today, I checked the charts and if I had closed the trade at the correct time (I was still awake as it happens) then I would have gained 17 pips.

Which just goes to prove the point that it is not wise to even think about trading if you are tired or if other parts of your life are distracting you.

How’s your week been ? Any explosions - in your trading or elsewhere?

Julie

http://who-gives-a-forex.blogspot.com

[Tropezienne]

September 29 - October 3

This is going to be my last regular Pips Diary entry. I will of course revisit this thread should anybody comment on it or have questions about it in the future.

The thing is - I feel that my slow, ever so slow, development as a forex trader has now brought me to a point where a Trading Dairy will be of more use to me than a simply accounting of pips won and lost.

A Trading Diary will have more detailed information about each trade and, I hope, will reveal patterns to me on which I will be able to base future successes and to avoid future failures.

This has been a pretty hairy week for a trader with my level of competence. Those green and red arrows were changing colour and direction faster than I could click my mouse.

The result is that I made only four tentative trades all week and I gained, albeit in small measure, on each one.

My total gains for the week : 91.24 USD and 81 pips.

Still practice trading only.

Check out my Trading Diary which I will publish weekly from next Friday in the ‘Sharing the Trading Experience’ forum.

Julie
http://who-gives-a-forex.blogspot.com/