For the last two months I've been Forex trading again after a 17 month hiatus.

I first started trading Forex in 2008/09, and after developing a simple trading strategy, I began keeping a trading journal. it was going great, but I found it difficult to maintain self-discipline and I began carrying out random trades (known as "scalping") which became something of an addiction. This, together with a number of mistakes (including the dreaded over-leveraging) caused me to hang up my trading hat. At that time I wasn't sure if I would trade again. Although something at the back of my mind told me I would, when the time was right.

Fast forward 17 months to last June and I began trading again, initially on demo accounts. My motivation for returning to Forex trading was primarily the worsening economic situation. With my business sales falling, rising inflation and low interest yields on my savings and investments, I had an appetite for more risk and an eagerness to increase my income and investment returns.

Over the last 2 months I've been trading on real money as opposed to demo, and seeing steady growth. Still using the same daily pivot strategy as before, but with some refinements. I'm now targeting 10 pips daily instead of 30, to increase probability. I have began experimenting with automated trading and have coded a trading bot for the MT platform which is currently still in the backward testing phase. I will write more about this later.

At the same time as trading my pivot strategy, I have begun actively trading silver. I've found it a really easy market to actively trade compared to Forex. I'm also learning and developing my own active trading strategies for trading Forex.

I feel that this time around I'm much more disciplined and on the right track. My motivation and confidence levels are very high and I'm eager to learn all I can. I'm also fully committed to following a careful financial trading plan I have worked out to manage risk.

I will start keeping a regular journal again and record my progress as I find keeping a journal is important and helpful in the journey towards becoming a successful trader.

Posted on 21 August 2011