Strongest Mid Cap Dividend Yield Stocks

Strongest Mid Cap Dividend yields over the past year

Over the course of 2012 the FTSE ST Mid Cap Index has maintained a higher dividend yield than the Straits Times Index (STI), the broader FTSE ST All Share Index, in addition to the regional FTSE Asia Pacific All Cap Index.

In fact, looking back over the past 12 months the FTSE ST Mid Cap Index appreciated +22.4% in price, while providing a total return of +29.4% in Singapore Dollar terms. The approximate +7.0% difference, sourced by Bloomberg, represents reinvested dividend distributions that are weighed according to the weighting of the relevant stock within the Index. In the most recent monthly reports FTSE Group had estimated the difference between price appreciation and total return of the Mid Cap Index to be +6.2% in the 12 months ending 31 October.

Dividend yields for the stocks of the Mid Cap Index that distribute dividends varied from  +0.1% for Ezion Holdings [5ME] to +16.9% for STX OSV Holdings [MS7] over the 12 months ending 23 November. A recent and full list of the 12 month dividend history of the constituents can be found here.

The five Mid Cap stocks with the strongest dividend distributions over the 12 months ending 23 November, were as follows:

1. STX OSV Holdings paid 16.9% in dividends which included a special cash dividend in August. The yield contributed to a 12 month total return of +41.2%. Current indicative yield is 7.4%.
2. SATS Ltd [S58] paid 9.5% in dividends (also included a special dividend) boosting 12 month total return to +34.5%. Current indicative yield is 4.0%.
3. Hutchison Port Holdings Trust [NS8U] paid a dividend yield of 8.2%, boosting 12 month total return to +35.2%. The current indicative yield of the Trust is 8.2%.
4. CapitaRetail China Trust [AU8U] distributed 8.1% in dividends, boosting 12 month total return to +46.4%. The current indicative yield of the REIT is 6.3%.
5. Pacific Andes Resources Development [P11] distributed 7.3% in dividends, contributing to a total return of -16.6% over the 12 months. Current indicative yield is 7.3%.

Of the 50 constituent stocks of the Index, the simple average dividend yield for the past 12 months was around 4.3%. A handful of stocks did not distribute dividends. Furthermore, the simple average of 4.3% does not take into account the different impact of dividend distributions on the Index because of the relevant stock’s weighting in the Index. For instance, consider the dividend yields of Hutchison Port Holdings Trust at 8.2% and Yangzijiang Shipping Holdings [BS6] at 6.1% over the past 12 months. As of the end of October, FTSE Group maintained that Hutchison Port Holdings Trust accounted for an 8.5% weighting in the Mid Cap Index versus a 2.8% weighting for Yangzijiang Shipping Holdings. Thus, the dividend yield of Hutchison Port Holdings Trust had more Index impact than Yangzijiang Shipping Holdings. Comparing the simple average yield to the actual weighted yield associated with the Index reveals that over the past 12 months the Index was more weighted to stocks with a dividend yield above 4.3%.

Correct MT4 Broker Charts - Axitrader

New York Close Forex Charts & Using Correct MT4 Meta Trader

Dear Traders,
This Is A Very Important Message about Using The Correct Forex Charts to Trade My Trading Strategies and I Also Want To Talk About Using Reputable Forex Brokers. Most Importantly You Should Be Aware That Not All Forex Charts Are The Same and You MUST have the correct chart to trade with Price Action. All My Members Must Use “New York Close Charts” . It’s Also Important To Find A Reliable Broker. Please read the important information below.

1. Your CHARTS Should Be The Same As The Ones We Use.

If You Want the SAME Charts and Price Action Bar/Candle formations to Show up On your Charts that Nial Fuller and Our Members Use, You Should Use ‘New York Close Charts on The Correct Version of Meta Trader‘ with the correct Data Feed (Not all Mt4 Platforms are the same, so please read this message carefully)
Only A Handful of brokers offer a True ’5 Day Chart’ with the correct open and close shape of daily price bar). Nial Fuller and his members use a 5 day chart with a News York Close MT4 data Sever to Generate His Price Action Trading Signals. If You are Not Using These Forex Charts, You Won’t See The Same Trading Setups/Signals.
If You Want To Follow Nial’s Methods it would be essential to have the Correct Charts and Data Feed. Not all mt4 Platforms are the same, in fact,  most MT4 Providers are on GMT time and show 6 Daily Price Bars Which is Very WRONG and will show “false signals” and lead to very big problems. You WILL NOT be able to follow my trading patterns or ideas if your not using the correct charts.

So You Need To Find a Good Broker Who Offers the Correct Charts.  See Below For Details of Suggested Brokers & Charts.

2. WHAT BROKER Has The Charts ? (Who Can I trust to trade with?)
I work with several brokers who offer the correct charts and are in my experiences – reputable/reliable in terms of live trading.  (direct access to bank prices), they run a genuine regulated operations. They also have these charts on a mobile dealing from your iphone or mobile. They also offer a wide variety of other markets including CFD’s, Commodities and Indicies. Click the links below for a relevant broker and chart provider in your country/location.

www.axitrader.com.au



(For Australian Traders) , Please Click Here To Download a Demo Of Our Suggested Forex Broker Platform
(For European Traders) Please Click Here To Request a Demo Of Our Suggested Forex Broker Platform And Charts
(For USA traders)  Please Click Here To Request a Demo Of Our Suggested Forex Broker Platform And Charts
(For Asian Traders)  Please Click Here To Request a Demo Of Our Suggested Forex Broker Platform And Charts
(For Arabic Traders)  Please Click Here To Request a Demo Of Our Suggested Forex Broker Platform And Charts
(For All Other Traders)  Please Click Here To Request a Demo Of Our Suggested Forex Broker Platform And Charts

False Breakout Trading Strategy

The ‘False Break’ Trading Strategy (Contrarian Forex Trading)

When was the last time you entered a trade and it immediately moved against you even though you felt confident the market was going to move in your favor? When was the last time you traded a breakout and got stopped out? I’m willing to bet you’ve experienced one or both of these things recently in your own trading, and I’m also willing to bet that me or one of my students probably took the opposite side of one of these trades that seemed to ‘fake you out’ of your position…
You see, false-breaks happen all the time in the markets; they are a result of the ‘herd mentality’ that causes people to buy the top of a move or sell the bottom. As price action traders, we are in a unique position to take advantage of false-breaks and of the weak ‘herd mentality’ that so many amateur traders possess.
I have made most of my money as a trader by using contrarian trading approaches like false-breaks and my proprietary fakey trading strategy. It is the power of contrarian trading and using false-break patterns and fakey setups that allows myself and other savvy price action traders to profit from other traders’ misfortunes. This may sound a little harsh, but it’s the reality of trading that the majority of traders lose money, informed and skilled traders make money, and the ‘pigs get slaughtered’, as the saying goes. I hope there are light bulbs going off in your head now, because this article is all about contrarian thinking, false-breaks, and how to take advantage of the ‘herd mentality’ that causes so many traders to enter right when the market is about to change direction…

So what exactly is a false-break?

I thought you’d never ask! Joking, I know you are probably thinking that right now, so here you go…
A false-break can be defined as a ‘deception’ by the market; a test of a level that results in a break of that level but the market then retracts and does not sustain itself above or below that level. In other words, the market does not close outside of the level being tested; rather it leaves behind a false-break of it. These false-breaks are huge pieces of evidence for impending market direction, and we need to learn to use them to our advantage instead of becoming their victim.
Here is a visual example of a false-break of a key market level:

Essentially, a false-break can be thought of as a contrarian move that ‘sucks’ the over-committed side of the market out. The concept is to wait for the price movement to clearly show that a market has committed to one side of a trade and that they would be ‘forced’ to liquidate their position(s) on a strong reversal in the other direction. Typically, we see these scenarios unfold as a trending market becomes extended and all the amateurs jump in right before the counter-trend retrace, or at key support and resistance levels or at consolidation breakout scenarios.
The herd mentality causes traders to enter the market typically only when it ‘feels’ safe. However, this is the deception; trading off feeling and emotion is exactly why most traders lose money in the markets. Many traders become deceived because the market looks very strong or very weak, so they think it’s a no-brainer to just jump in with that momentum. However, the truth of the matter is that markets ebb and flow and they never move in a straight line for very long. This is known as “reversion to the mean” and it’s something I expand on significantly in my advanced Forex trading course.
We really have to use logic and counter-intuitive or ‘contrarian’ thinking to profit off of the weak-minded herd mentality that dominates most traders’ minds. This is why it’s very important to remain disciplined in the area of trading false-breaks, rejections and failures, and why I love trading them so much.

Types of False Breaks

1. Classic Bull and Bear traps at key market levels
A bull or bar trap is typically a 1 to 4 bar pattern that is defined by a false-break of a key market level. These false-breaks occur after large directional moves and as a market approaches a key level. Most traders tend to think a level will break just because a market has approached it aggressively, they then buy or sell the breakout and then many times the market will ‘fake them out’ and form a bull or bear trap.
A bull trap forms after a move higher, the amateurs who were on the sidelines watching a recent strong move unfold cannot take the temptation anymore, and they jump in just above or at a key resistance level since they feel confident the market now has the momentum to break above it. The market then breaks slightly above the level and fills all breakout orders, and then falls lower as the big boys come in and push the market lower, leaving the amateurs ‘trapped’ in a losing long position.

2. False-break of consolidation
False breaks of consolidation or trading ranges are very common. It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking a trading range is going to breakout, only to see it reverse back into the body of the range. The best way to avoid this trap is to simply wait until there is a clear close outside of the trading range on the daily chart, and then you can begin to look for price action trading signals in the direction of the breakout.

3. Fakey’s (inside bar false-breaks)
The Fakey setup is one of my all-time favorite price action setups and learning to trade it will do a lot for helping you to understand market dynamics. Essentially, the Fakey is a price action pattern that requires there to be a false-break of an inside bar setup. So, once you have an inside bar setup, you can watch for a false-break of the inside bar and the mother bar. Now, I am not going to get into all the different versions of the fakey trading strategy today or the different ways to trade it, but you can learn everything about my proprietary forex fakey trading strategy in my professional Forex trading course.
Here’s an image of two Fakey setups, note that one has a pin bar as the false-break and other does not, these are just two of the variations of the Fakey setup:

False-breaks can create long-term trend changes

As price action traders, we can use the price action of a market to anticipate false-breaks and look for them at key levels as they will often set off significant changes in price direction or even a change in trend from these key levels.
We need to pay attention to the ‘tails’ of candles that occur at or near key levels in the market. Ask yourself how prices reacted during each daily session…where did they close? The close is the most important level of the day, and often if a market fails to close beyond a key market level, it can signal a significant false-break. Often, prices will probe a level or attempt to break out, but by the close of the daily bar price has rejected that level and ‘tailed out’, showing a false-break or false-test of the level. A failure of the market to close beyond a key market level can lead to a large retracement or a change of trend. Thus, the close of a price bar is the most important level to watch, and the daily chart close is what I consider to be the most important.
Here’s an example of a false-break in the EURUSD daily chart that led to a top in the market and started a long-term downtrend:

History Teaches Us A Lesson
It’s worth noting that on the week famous trader George Soros shorted the British pound and ‘broke’ the Bank of England ( September 16, 1992) -  the chart had shown a massive false-break signal. The chart below shows the price breaking upwards to new highs and then crashing back down. To those who follow me regularly you will note that this was actually a classic fakey setup, and is clear evidence that this price action strategy has worked for decades.

Final word on false-breaks…

As traders, if we don’t learn to anticipate and identify deceptions or ‘false-breaks’ in the market, we will lose money to traders who do. If we pay attention to the price action at key levels on the daily chart time frame, the ‘writing’ is usually on the wall in regards to false-breaks.
If I had to leave you with one crucial piece of advice for your Forex trading career, it would be to drop everything right now and start studying false-breaks and contrarian trading approaches. By doing so, you will be ahead of 95% of traders who are stuck in a cycle of trading off mainstream misconceptions and ineffective trading methods. As a contrarian, I want to be trading when the rest of the retail traders are committed to the wrong side of the market, this can be difficult to do if you don’t understand false-breaks and fakey patterns, but effective nonetheless. Trading false-breaks and my proprietary ‘fakey setup’ is a core focus in my Forex price action trading course, and I expand on these topics in great detail. I teach my students a plethora of different price patterns to look out for when trading false-breaks and fakey setups. This ‘contrarian’ style of trading is something I strongly believe in, and it has proven itself time and time again. If you where to learn only one single trading strategy to apply in your forex trading, this would be on top of the list.

Pin Bar Trading Strategy

Pin Bar Method Forex – Introduction, Definition

An Introduction to Pin Bars in Forex Trading  and How to Trade Them Effectively…
The pin bar formation is actually a price reversal pattern consisting of three bars. Once familiarized with pin bar formation it is apparent from looking at any price chart just how profitable this pattern can be. Let’s go over exactly what a pin bar formation is and how you can take advantage of the pin bar strategy in the context of the Forex market.
What is a Pin Bar?
The actual pin bar itself is the middle bar of a three-bar formation that can be found on any stripped down “naked” bar chart or candlestick chart. We will cover the candlestick pin bar formation after our discussion of the pin bar formation using standard bar charts. Many people prefer the candlestick version over standard bar charts because it is generally regarded as a better visual representation of price action.
Characteristics of the Pin Bar Formation
• The open and close of the pin bar are within the price range of bar 1 and bar 3 of the formation, or very close to being within their range.
• The open and close of the pin bar are very close together, the closer the better.
• The open and close of the pin bar are near one end of the bar, the closer to the end the better.
• The shadow or tail of the pin bar sticks out from the surrounding price bars, the longer the tail of the pin bar the better.
Bearish Reversal Pin Bar Formation
In a top or bearish reversal pin bar formation the pin bar sticks out noticeably in between bar 1 and bar 3 and has a long protruding tail.
Bullish Reversal Pin Bar Formation
The bullish or bottom reversal pin bar formation is the opposite of the top reversal pin bar formation. Here again, we see the pin bar has a long protruding tail that has obviously rejected a certain price level.

Examples of the Pin Bar Formation in Action
Here is a daily chart of CAD/JPY, we can see numerous pin bar formations that were very well defined and worked out very nicely.

In the following daily USD/JPY chart we can see an ideal pin bar formation that resulted in a serious move and mid-term trend reversal.

Here is an example of a trending market that formed numerous profitable pin bar setups. The following daily chart of GBP/JPY shows that pin bars taken with the dominant trend can be very accurate.

How to Trade a Pin Bar Formation
To effectively trade the pin bar formation you need to first make sure it is well-defined, (see above characteristics). Not all pin bar formations are created equal; it pays to only take the pin bar formations that meet the above characteristics.
Next, try to only take take pin bars that are displaying confluence with another signal. Generally, pin bars taken with dominant trend confluence are the most accurate. However, there are many profitable pin bars that often occur in range-bound markets or at major market turning points. Try to also combine the pin bar pattern with strong support  and resistance levels, trend lines, Fibonacci retracement levels, or moving averages.
The pin bar formation is a reversal setup, so for a bearish pin bar formation we will sell on a break of the low of the pin bar and place a stop loss 1 pip above the tail of the pin bar. On a bullish pin bar formation we will buy on a break of the high of the pin bar and set our stop loss 1 pip below the low of the tail of the pin bar.
Candlestick Pin Bar Formations
Candlestick pin bar formations are exactly the same as standard bar chart pin bar formations except the terminology is a little different. They should be traded the same way however.
• A bearish reversal or top reversal pin bar formation can be called a long wicked inverted hammer, long wicked doji, long wicked gravestone, or shooting star.
• A bullish reversal or bottom reversal pin bar formation can be called a long wicked hammer, long wicked doji, or long wicked dragonfly.
Candlestick pin bar candle formations should also display the same characteristics that we listed above for standard bar chart pin bar formations.
Examples of Candlestick Pin Bar Formations

In Summary
The pin bar formation can be a very valuable tool in your arsenal of forex trading strategies. The best pin bar strategies occur with a confluence of signals such as support and resistance levels, dominant trend confirmation, or other confirming signals. Look for well formed pin bar setups that meet all the characteristics listed in this tutorial and don’t take any that you don’t feel particularly confident about. Pin bars work on all time frames but are especially powerful on the 4hour, daily, and weekly charts. It is possible to make consistent profits by only trading the pin bar formation, and you can learn more about it in my price action trading course. Add this powerful setup as one of your main forex trading methods and you will wonder how you ever traded without it.

Price Action Trading Patterns

Price Action Trading Patterns: Pin Bars, Fakey’s, Inside Bars

In this Forex trading lesson, I am going to share with you three of my favorite price action trading strategies; pin bars, inside bars and fakeys. These trading setups are simple yet very powerful, and if you learn to trade them with discipline and patience you will have a very potent Forex trading edge.

Whilst these three setups are my ‘core’ setups, there are many other versions and variations of them that we focus on in our members’ community and advanced price action trading course. However, you can learn some good basics in this article to lay the foundation for future learning. So, without further delay, let’s get this party started…

Pin Bar Setup:

The pin bar is a staple of the way I trade the Forex market. It has a very high accuracy rate in trending markets and especially when occurring at a confluent level. Pin bars occurring at important support and resistance levels are generally very accurate setups. Pin bars can be taken counter trend as well, as long as they are very well defined and protrude significantly from the surrounding price bars, indicating a strong rejection has occurred, and preferably only on the daily chart time frame. See the illustration to the right for an example of a bearish pin bar (1st bar) and a bullish pin bar (2nd bar) —>

In the following chart example we will take a look at pin bars occurring within the context of a trending market; my favorite way to trade them. Also, note that this uptrend began on the back of two bullish pin bars that brought an end to the existing downtrend.

Fakey Setup:

The fakey trading strategy is another bread and butter price action setup. It indicates rejection of an important level within the market. Often times the market will appear to be headed one direction and then reverse, sucking all the amateurs in as the professionals push price back in the opposite direction. The fakey setup can set off some pretty big moves in the Forex market.

As we can see in the illustration to the right, the fakey pattern essentially consists of an inside bar–> setup followed by a false break of that inside bar and then a close back within its range. The fakey entry is triggered as price moves back up past the high of the inside bar (or the low in the case of a bearish fakey).

In the chart below we can see the market was recently moving higher before the fakey formed. Note the fakey was formed on the false-break of an inside bar setup that occurred as all the amateurs tried to pick the market top, the pros then stepped in and flushed out all the amateurs in a flurry of buying…

Inside Bar Setup:

The inside bar is a great trend continuation signal, but it can also be used as a turning point signal. However, the first way to learn how to trade the inside bar strategy is as a continuation signal, so that is what we will focus on here, more info on the inside bar and all the ways to trade it can be found in my advanced price action trading course. As we can see in the illustration to the right, an inside bar is completely contained within the range of–>  the previous bar

It shows a brief consolidation and then a break out in the dominant trend direction. Inside bars are best played on daily and weekly charts. They allow for very small risks and yet very large rewards. The inside bar strategycombined with a very strongly trending market is one of my favorite price action setups.

In the example below, we are looking at a current (as of this writing) EURUSD inside bar trade setup that has come off to the downside with the existing bearish market momentum. We can see a nice inside bar setup formed just after the market broke down below a key support level, the setup has since come off significantly lower and is still falling towards the next support at 1.2625, as of this writing. Many of our members are in on this trade as we’ve discussed it extensively in both themembers forum and the daily member’s commentary.

As you can see from the three examples above, Forex trading does not have to be complicated or involve plastering messy and confusing indicators all over your charts. Once you master a few solid price action setups like the ones above and the others in myForex trading course, you will be well on your way to becoming a more confident and profitable trader, just remember, mastering these setups will require passion, dedication and discipline.

Price Action Forex Trading Strategies

Price Action Forex Trading Strategies Explained by Nial Fuller

Price Action Forex Trading Explained – By Nial Fuller

Hello, and welcome to this trading lesson on Price Action Forex Trading.  I am sure many of you newer readers will “REALLY” benefit from today’s article which talks about several important concepts.

Today’s Article Covers …

• 1. What Is Forex ‘Price Action’ Trading ?
  
• 2. How do You Apply it to Forex Trading?
• 3.  Trading with Messy VS ‘Clean’ Forex Charts
• 4. Quick Examples of My Forex Price Action Trading Methods.
  

• What exactly is price action forex trading?
Price action trading is the art and skill of making all of your trading decisions off of a stripped down or “naked” price chart. This means no lagging indicators outside of maybe a couple moving averages to help identify dynamic support and resistance areas. All financial markets generate data about the movement of a security over varying periods of time in the form of price charts. Price charts reflect the beliefs of all participants trading the given market during the specified period of time.
All economic data that leads to price movement within a market is first turned into a belief in the human mind about how this data will affect the market and this belief is then turned into an action from a trader which reflects itself via price action on a price chart. In this way price action trading reflects all variables of any market for any given period of time. This is also the reason why using lagging price indictors like stochastics, MACD, RSI, and others is just a flat waste of time. Price movement provides all the signals you will ever need to develop a profitable and high-probability trading system. These signals collectively are called price action strategies and they provide a way to make sense of market movement and predict its future movement with a high enough degree of accuracy to consistently profit over time.
• How do I apply price action to the forex market?
Price action forex trading can be used to trade any financial market; however the forex market has the deepest liquidity and lowest startup costs as well as widest accessibility of any financial market, for these reasons and more it is the most popular market today among retail traders. My philosophy of price action trading is that you only need to master a few solid setups to be consistently profitable. In fact, having a simple trading method consisting of minimal setups will work to reduce confusion and stress and allow you to concentrate more on the psychological aspect of trading which is what separates the winners from the losers.
The first step you need to take to apply price action trading to the forex market is to setup a clean “naked” price chart, take off all indicators. Next, master a few solid price action setups; I mainly use the pin bar reversal, the inside bar setup, and my proprietary price action setup, the fakey. You can make money consistently from mastering just one of these setups, I suggest you work on one at a time, master it, and then move on to the next. In this way you will develop a price action “tool box” which will provide more then enough tools to take advantage of quality price action signals everyday in the forex market.
• Messy charts vs. clean “naked” price action charts
If you have been trading for a while you are probably using numerous lagging forex indicators on your charts that are no doubt confusing you and are one of the main reasons why you are still unsuccessful and found your way to my price action trading website. For all you newbie traders take a look at the two charts below and ask yourself which one seems more logical and less stressful to make trading decisions from?
A messy chart with the some of the most popular lagging indicators.

A clean price action only chart.

Doesn’t it seem a little silly to use a messy chart when you could learn to trade off a clean price action only chart? Trading is hard enough with out a messy chart full of lagging indicators, stop fooling yourself by believing they are helping you. Price action setups are the best predictor of future price movement, all markets operate in “future time”, this means market participants enter trades based on what they believe will happen to a certain security in the future. Price action is the best indicator of the aggregate belief of all market participants. What happened in the past is the past, lagging indicators only analyze past data and display it to you in a second-hand format that is less clear and less precise than price action. The bottom line is that there is just no logical explanation for using lagging indicators. Price action analysis takes into account all market variables.
• My price action setups
As mentioned previously I stick to three basic and time tested price action setups. They work in all market conditions and provide a unique market perspective that allows you to develop a highly profitable forex trading plan. Price action trading is the only way I trade the markets and I have been trading these price action action setups successfully for years. My price action forex education course goes into great detail in regards to exactly how I trade using price action. I have recently also added a beginning trader introductory forex trading course in addition to my advanced price action trading course.

Trading Journal

A Forex Trading Journal to Track Your Trading Performance

Today’s trading article is going to discuss one of the most important pieces of the puzzle of professional Forex trading; creating and maintaining a Forex trading journal. I am also going to give you a trading journal to log all your trades. I guarantee this will help your trading and mindset.

If Your Impatient and Can’t wait to the end of this article. Here is a Link To My Forex Trading Journal – I Track All My Trades Using This Spreadsheet. Please Make a comment after reading this article and Click The Facebook ‘Like Button”, Pay it forward and share it around with other traders.
In last week’s article I discussed what a typical day in the life of a professional Forex trader is like.  I am going to first explain to you why having a Forex trading journal is essential to becoming a professional trader, and then I am going to show you what my trading journal looks like so that you get an idea of how to make your own. By the end of this article you will be able to create your very own Forex trading journal, and this is a huge step in the direction of professional trading.
• Why do I need a Forex trading journal Nial?
First off, you need a trading journal because you need to track your trading performance over time. Many aspiring traders get caught up on the results of each individual trade; however, the professional trader knows that their trading performance is measured over a long series of trades, not just one or two. So, it’s important to have a way to track your results so that you can see how you are doing over a series of trades, this allows you to not get caught up on any individual trade. You can think of your trading journal as a constant and tangible reminder that your trading performance is measured over a series of trades. Having this type of reminder is very important, especially early-on in your trading career, it helps keep you focused and it helps to remove any emotion you might attach to any one trade.
Next, developing a track record is something you should take pride and pleasure in doing. If you have a tangible track record that shows your ability to be consistent and disciplined over time, you won’t want to mess up this display of mental strength by committing emotional or stupid trading mistakes. In this way, a trading journal works to keep you accountable, you need something to be accountable to as you trade, because there is no boss looking over your shoulder threatening to fire you if you don’t do XYZ exactly right. If you don’t have a lot of money to trade with, creating a track record that shows consistent trading results over a long period of time is proof that you CAN trade, and if you have this proof you can find people to fund you. So, as we can now see, creating and maintaining a Forex trading journal is a key element to any effective Forex trading plan.
Finally, as we discussed in last week’s article about a day in the life of a pro trader, your trading should be a routine. Creating and maintaining a trading journal gives you the structure required to build your trading routine on and it also helps you examine and focus on each individual element of a trade, which we will discuss below. Essentially, Forex trading success is the result of doing a lot of things the right way every time you interact with the market, and a Forex trading journal helps you do everything the right way every time you trade.
• What should my trading journal include and how do I make one?
The images below are actual screen shots of my trading journal. I have entered example trade parameters below each heading just for demonstration purposes; it wasn’t an actual trade that I took, although it was a good price action setup. However, this is the same trading journal I use; you can use it too if you like, or tweak it to your desire.

- Entry date: This is self-explanatory; the date you entered the trade, the date you got filled is what you want here (if the order got filled). If the order never gets filled just delete it from you journal.
- Security / FX pair: The particular security traded, this will either be a currency pair or Gold / Silver for most of us. If you are unsure which currency pairs are best to trade, check out this article: best Forex currency pairs to trade?
- Entry B / S: Here you enter whether you bought or sold and record the specific level/price you entered at.
- Planned Stop and Planned Target: You will put your pre-determined stop and target price in these boxes. It’s very important to pre-define your stop level and target level. If you have pre-determined that you will trail your stop, you can just type something in this box describing your trail method, for example you might type; “trail stop each time trade moves 1 times risk in my favor”.

- Possible $ Risk: How much money can you lose on the trade?
- Possible $ Reward: How much money are you aiming to make on the trade?
- Position size (lots): Your position size on the trade, or the number of micro / mini / standard lots being traded. To learn more about position size click here: Forex position sizing.
- Exit Price: What price did you actually exit the trade at? To learn about exiting trades click here: Know When to Hold em, Know When to Fold em.

- Pips +/-: How many pips you gained or lost on the trade.
- Total P/L: How much total money you made or lost on the trade.
- Planned R:R : What was the pre-defined risk reward ratio of the trade?
- Actual R:R : What did the risk reward ratio actually end up being? This is important, if you aren’t achieving a risk reward of 1:2 or greater on your winning trades, you will see that over time it’s very hard to make money in the markets. Also, you will notice that if you take profits prematurely this greatly lowers your risk : reward ratio, and of course if you take a risk that is larger than what you had planned the same thing happens.
- Exit date: Date the trade closed.
- Setup: What was the setup / why did you take the trade? Did you trade a valid price action trading strategy?
• Final thoughts
Documenting your Forex trading results is a necessary component to becoming a professional Forex trader. As your trading journal progresses over a series of trades, you will start to see the significance of it more clearly. The power of risk reward and money management will become glaringly evident to you as you look over your trading journal after a few months go by. Having this tangible piece of evidence to explicitly show you how discipline and patience pay off over time, is a critical element to attaining and maintaining the proper Forex trading mindset. The reality of Forex trading is that at some point on your journey of learning how to trade, you absolutely have to figure out a way to become a disciplined and organized trader, otherwise you simply will not become successful in the markets. Creating and meticulously maintaining a Forex trading journal is the quickest and most effective way to develop into a disciplined and profitable Forex trader.