$1,000 a Day Is Doable (So Far)

Account balance: $107,437.16.

Reaching my 1% gain today was a bit more challenging that I thought. It took three trades: One fast $600, and four shaking $90+ trades.

My last trade was this evening, and it was a long position in the EUR/USD. Technically I shouldn't be executing any long trades because the price action is below the 100 EMA, but the 5 min chart showed the RSI passing 70.

My suspicion that a trend reversal on the EUR/USD was around the corner might not be farfetched after all.

$1,000 (or 1%) a Day

Account balance: $106,107.49.

I had a great morning of trading.

First, I woke up early! My alarm went off at 6 a.m., and I didn't automatically hit the snooze button. The goal of rising early wasn't to be prepared for FOREX trading. My intention was actually to attend a morning yoga class. I misjudged the amount of time it would take me to get dressed and walk over to the studio though, so I actually missed the class. This gave me plenty of time to pull up my Oanda account and dailyfx.com chart and trade.

Trading on the EUR/USD started off slow and confined. There wasn't much volatility. Then, as if out of nowhere (but actually because of a Spain downgrade), the price hit the lower Bollinger Band and kept descending.

I posted a $3,000 profit executing about three sell trades.

It was a bit unexpected considering that before the start of trading on Friday, I was almost certain we were in for some kind of EUR/USD bounce back. I suspected this after spotting the RSI divergence on the daily EUR/USD chart.

The Spain downgrade caused a change in the tide, and instead of fighting the flow ... I decided to go with it.

I've been thinking a bit about daily goals I can set for my Oanda demo account. Short, attainable daily goals seem like a practical way for a practical gal like me to trade without the emotional ups and downs that I know would accompany my risk-taking.

Aiming for 1% a day (or $1,000 on a $100,000 account) seemed right. On a day like today, $1,000 is not only doable, it can probably be accomplished in about a five-minute trade. On days where the price movement is tight and confined, I might have to look into breaking that $1,000 goal into four $250 sub-goals or 10 $100 sub-goals.

I do have concerns about setting any goal in monetary terms. I don't want to be distracted by the cliched dollar signs flashing in my face, playing to my ego. But so far, I seem to be letting the charts determine my entry and exit strategies--just as I had originally planned.

Emotions are in check and profits are up ... go figure!

My Strategy With Stocks

My FOREX trading strategy has not translated well to stock purchases. I purchased CIGX and JMBA last week, strongly believing they met all my criteria for going long.

But that was with the old EMA 100 strategy.

I've yet to try one stock with the Two-Touch Bollinger Band approach.

I'm having a bit of mental block with finding the pip value equivalent to stock prices. Pips don't necessarily equate to cents. One option in my exit strategy for this approach is to take a profit at 20 pips. How can I possibly apply that to a stock like JMBA? Should I be thinking in terms of percentage gains?

My gut tells me I should aim for a 3% gain with each of these trades. The problem is I don't want to miss out on a potentially lucrative stock run. Taking a profit at 3% when a stock has a 10% run will feel like a failure.

I need to devise a way to lock in a 3% gain but still leave myself available for more profits, should the opportunity present itself.

A trailing stop loss percentage seems to be my only option.

Perhaps tomorrow I'll make my first purchase under this new strategy!

The Optimum FOREX Trading Windows

I'm not a morning person. It's embarrassing to admit, given my age, but I slept until 10 this morning.

This presents a certain dilemna given my interest in stock market and FOREX trading.

Trading tends to slow down around 1 p.m. PST, coinciding with the close of the U.S. stock market. That gives me only a few hours to get a few trades in before the afternoon lull, when the price movement seems to bury itself into a tight Bollinger Band tunnel, only to emerge around 6 p.m. PST, when the European markets open.

I can't help but feel like I'm sleeping through some optimum trading. My only solution seems to be to adjust my sleeping routine for an earlier wake-up time. Perhaps I don't need to get up as early as 6:30 a.m., but getting up just one or two hours earlier may provide me with more opportunities to increase my account balance.

Grow, Baby, Grow

Account balance: $103,012.58.

I scored some lucrative trades last night--all going short. The "sell mode" continues.

This morning the charts are looking too promising though. The 5-min chart shows a frustrating horizontal side movement in the price action. I suspect the EUR/USD is in for a pull back, and I don't want to risk placing a long order when the price is below the 100 EMA. That would go against my strategy.

I'm also not confident enough to place trades while the price ping pongs back and forth in the horizontal Bollinger Band channel.

I want to "grow, baby, grow," but there isn't much in the charts that leads me to believe that's a viable option at this point.

So I'll wait and try to be patient.

I still plan on keeping my eye on the 5 min chart. If the price crosses the lower Bollinger Band, I might consider putting in a short trade. Worried that the price won't hug the lower Bollinger Band, I'll probably put a Take Profit order after 5 or 10 pips.

Now It's Time to Make Some Money!

The account balance reads $100,655.18!

I did it. I finally got my account balance back in the positive. All it took was two trades this morning.

I'm still in "sell mode" on the EUR/USD, and sticking with the Bollinger Band two-touch strategy has worked well.

Not every trade is successful though. I lost sight of the RSI divergence, and I actually put in a sell trade yesterday evening when I should have opted out of trading at all. At that point, I was so close to reaching $100,000, I was devastated at taking a step back again.

I learned my lesson though and have since avoided that mistake.

Now I'm looking forward to earning some money!!

Approaching $100,000

No doubt I need to refine my exits and entries for this new strategy.

But even still, my account balance reads $99,736.76!

Will I make it to back to the start sometime today?

Let's see if I can avoid screwing this up ...