January Trading Recap

January, admittedly, has been quite a busy month. While I haven't been as active making posts, I can assure you that my development hasn't stopped. I still follow the routine of listening to my podcasts and audiobooks. I still take the time to review my trades for trading opportunities. With that said, why don't we get a recap?

The month started off nicely. I entered a few trades off and they paid off. Making money isn't what's "nice", but it's the fact that I was patient with my entry and followed my plan. The trades that I took are based on the false breakout patterns that I always look for.

Near the end of the month, I was stopped out on a few trades. Due to the markets being fundamentally driven by the impeachment trial and coronavirus outbreaks, currency pairs got hammered with volatile swings. It was a bit difficult to analyze directional movements. Some of my earlier trades were entered with a 2% risk, which I took the biggest hit.

I took three trades near the end of the month and reduced my risk to 1%. These three trades were NZDCAD, EURNZD, and NZDCHF. Without going too in-depth on the trading conditions, I do want to highlight what I did well and what I could've done better.

What I did well:

• Reduced my risk from my standard 2% to 1%. I believe I did this well because I identified trading opportunities, but also the uncertainty surrounding recent events. Admittedly, I wasn't as in-tuned with the news as I would've liked.

What I could've done better:

• The three trades I entered could've been optimized. I noticed the exhaustion and each pair's willingness to reverse. I admit that I entered a bit more impulsively when I definitely could've waited to see a much stronger exhaustion candle or momentum picking up in the opposite direction.

January was a small setback profitability speaking, but I do think I adhered well to my risk management objective. Admittedly, I'd like to be a bit more in tune with the recent events. While I continue to read the Babypips and Topsteptrader blog posts before looking at my own charts, I should incorporate  a dedicated session for news analysis.

I haven't decided on this yet, but I may make it my goal to make weekend posts of the top stories that happened the past week and how they impacted the markets. While I may not go too in-depth as I'm largely still a technical trader, I see this as a continuation to managing volatility risk.

I currently don't have any podcasts or Audible reflections so I will conclude this post for now.