With USDJPY we are several hundred pounds up this week, and still in; but as I’ve mentioned before we cannot count these until cashed. A small shortfall of £100 with NZDUSD. Small up of £35 with DTE Energy Co. And, IG (our broker) costs for the week of £3.28.

As an aside, how this affects you (the fund investor) personally will be shown as we move into overall profit. Until then it is pointless. Your initial investment into the fund is guaranteed. Okay, it is sensible to allow a few years for a fund to grow but, like me, with patience, we are all wanting a massive gain.

An exciting week for me regarding being comfortable with goals and strategies. I am gradually completing my ‘day trading’ page which will soon give you the strategy that I use. These strategies will seem simple to the novice trader, but execution takes time, dedication and effort to do correctly and consistently.

I’ve coined the abbreviation CrUP, meaning: Conditional, recent Up and Price. Each part is equally important. Missing any one and we are at a higher risk of getting the trade wrong. Each aspect of CrUP will be covered in detail soon under ‘how I trade’.

One aspect, however, under Price, that cannot be learned is the method by which we buy or short. We have three choices: on-market, on-stop or on-limit. Covered in more detail in my ‘day trading’ section, but in the meantime, I will show you an example from this week.

Above is GBPUSD, which I narrowly missed. You may recall that we caught the last swing up of GBPUSD the previous week. Looking at a chart in hindsight makes it seem obvious. To get the trade right, however, takes an understanding of ‘how to buy’, i.e. on-market, on-stop or on-limit.

My buy was on-limit, at the exact lower pin position (the arrow marked ‘buy point’ shows this). However, the spread is a couple of pips (these are points up or down measured by the right-hand axis, the spread is the broker’s profit, and if we don’t allow for it then we don’t get in). In my case, I had allowed for the spread, so it was my buy position, my instinct, that was out).

The following day provided an equally, arguably better, buy opportunity with a retrace down from the previous days close.

I appreciate that those not familiar with this form of trading then the explanation is double dutch. However, it is a diary for me as much as for you so you will have to allow me this one.

I have a couple of other examples from this week where, similarly, the buy was either too ambitious (in the case of GBPUSD) or not ambitious enough – hence the £100 loss in NZDUSD.

Noticing this outcome and being able to gain from experience is what counts for the future. And the future is this week coming with great opportunities looming.

I mentioned a watchful eye on gold. Both gold and silver have climbed against the long-term trend as indicated by the COT report. I’m waiting for a retrace of the price before buying. Also, NZDUSD could be in for a move upwards.