Day 1

What a day...yesterday's market action was quite volatile, particularly in FX.  In fact, in the short time I've been trading FX, I can't remember another more intense trading day.  Yesterday's many 50 pip moves fueled by the deluge of economic data releases and the surprise discount rate hike at 430pm EST kept me glued to the monitor from 745am to 10pm.  W/ such volatility, yesterday should've been a banner trading day.  Unfortunately, due to the breaking of the following trading rules (not in any order), I ended up slightly down.

• don't overtrade
• don't pursue low probability trades (countertrend)
• shouldn't be feeling tense
• remaining flat is a position
• don't hold more than 2 positions in account at any one time (try to focus on 1 optimal trade at a time)
• be patient
• wait for retracements on breakouts
• don't trade in anticipation of trend reversals/breakouts
• hold winners longer (don't move stops up so soon; no need to anticipate loss if trade setup worthy)
• don't create mental conflicts
• don't hedge by having 1 trade offset another...all trade ideas should reflect same forecast opinion on overall market

Other rules that I've violated in previous trading include:

• don't hold overnight (there's sufficient opportunity intraday, offering far less stress)
• be aware of timing of all economic data releases (i.e. forexfactory.com)
• focus on trading FX (as their superior liquidity make them far easier to trade)
• stop trading after day/week's drawdown exceeds limits
• don't trade out of restlessness (blog, read, exercise, cook, clean to tackle boredom during slow moments)
• stop trading after reaching profit targets

I'll come back and add to this list of rules as there are many others that I've forgotten.

It's 816am now and time to get ready for the trading day.
Good luck trading!

Darren