December 2012 Results & 2012 Year End Results for Forex Profit Monster

It's the start of a new year, that means it's time for my end of the year results post for Forex Profit Monster.  As you can see from the equity graph above it was another profitable year!  But before I break down the results for the year, I need to post the results for the month of December.  And before I do that, I'd like to take some time to reflect back on my trading in 2012.

This past year was the 6th year in a row that I've seen a profitable year trading with Forex Profit Monster.  The system that I designed and coded back in 2006-2007 has performed very well heading into its 7th year by showing me about 65,000 pips of profit overall. It's been grinding out nice profits during most months/years and also capitalized on the chaos that was 2008, netting me about a 300% profit for that year while most people were losing.  While I've enjoyed the success I've had with Forex Profit Monster, I've also continued to grow as a trader.  If you've followed this blog at all (or at least read some of the early posts) you've seen some of that growth... from the time frames I've traded to my metamorphosis to being a trend follower exclusively (I only trend follow now, I don't trade ranges or other mean reversion strategies anymore).

In the past few years I've watched my account grow in value to the point where it's almost time for me to take trading to the next level... by diversifying and trading more than just the Forex market.  The next logical step for me as a trend follower is to move into the Futures markets... trading commodities and other futures contracts.  To prepare for this I entered into a mentoring program in 2012 with one of the top commodity traders in the United States.  I won't mention his name as I haven't cleared doing so with him, but if you've been trading for any amount of time you would probably recognize him from his market related media appearances and his book written in 2011.  I've learned a lot from this trader, and continue to do so.  In fact, things have gone so well I will be working as an assistant to him in 2013 which will allow me to learn even more about trading futures as well as the trading business in general.  I have a lot to be grateful and thankful for as I look back at 2012, and am even more excited about 2013 and beyond!

On to results... here's what happened with my trading with Forex Profit Monster in December...

December was a great follow-up to November as I saw not only some nice winning trades during the month, but also some gains from trades that opened in November that closed out during December.  Once again the trends were nice and smooth on many pairs which kept the number of trades down and the profits up.  It was a rare month in that I had a 68% win rate... you don't see many months like that in a trend following system where the average win rate is usually more in the 30-35% range.  However the average risk/reward ratio was also lower... 1.74 to 1 instead of the 3 to 1  or 4 to 1 ratio where it usually is during winning months.  I had a profit of 657 pips in December, and here's how the rest of the monthly results played out:

19 trades total
13 wins:  892 pips
 6 losses: 235 pips

Total: +657 pips

68% win rate
Avg win:  68 pips
Avg loss:  39 pips
Avg risk/reward ratio:  1.74 to 1

Here are the results by currency pair:

EUR/USD  2W, 0L  +352
GBP/USD  3W, 1L  +166
USD/CHF  2W, 1L  +158
USD/CAD  2W, 1L   +38
AUD/USD  1W, 1L   +19
GBP/JPY    1W, 0L   +15
EUR/JPY    1W, 1L  (-41)
USD/JPY   1W, 1L  (-50)

Since it's the end of the year, that means it's the end of the 4th Quarter.  With October's 220 pip loss and the gain of 657 pips in both November and December, I showed a profit of 1,094 pips in the 4th quarter.  Here's the updated equity graph:

And here are the final results for 2012:


January: +891
February: +206
March: +1,667
April: (-293)
May:  +1,640
June:  +2,209
July:  (-343)
August: (-699)
September +1,103
October (-220)
November +657
December +657

That's a total of 7,475 pips, or an average of 622 pips per month.

There were 8 winning months in 2012 with 9,030 pips gained, and 4 losing months with 1,555 pips lost.  That gives me a monthly win rate of 66.6%, an average win of 1,128 pips, and an average loss of 388 pips, which calculates to an average risk/reward ratio of  2.9 to 1.

For more information regarding purchasing Forex Profit Monster (or my day trading system Forex Day Monster), please visit the website at www.forexprofitmonster.com or my eBay page at http://myworld.ebay.com/jimsgr8stuff4less where I list one or two items per week at a discount.

Best of luck in your trading...

Jim
www.forexprofitmonster.com

Forex Profit Monster Results - September 2012 and 3rd Quarter

The September results are in, and once again there is a recurring lesson to be learned.  After two losing months in July and August, September is not only a winning month but wipes out the past two losing months and then some.  With September's win of 1,103 pips, that gives me a total of +62 pips for the 3rd quarter of 2012.

Some would read that last sentence and say, "Big deal, you mean you traded 4 Hour charts for 3 months and all you won was 62 pips... why bother???".  

If you find yourself thinking this way then you have A LOT of work to do as a trader.  The point isn't that I made 62 pips across 3 months, the point is I WAS PROFITABLE AT ALL.  To be honest, at this stage of my trading I don't really even think about how much I win or lose anymore.  I focus on my process (following my predetermined trading plan including my exit signal) and let the profits accumulate as they may.  I know from testing my system (and also trading it live for several years now) what to expect over the long term and I don't let any minor setbacks derail my thinking or my actions.  

As a trader this is the stage that you need to advance to if you want to become profitable for the long run.  There are going to be losing periods and you can't let these periods shake you out of your process.  Even if you're trading a system that will give you a "perfect" 45 degree equity curve, there are still going to be drawdowns.  If you backtest a system and see a 45 degree equity curve over several hundred trades, that doesn't mean there aren't negative portions of that curve.  If you look at the equity curve with the same inputs in a Monte Carlo simulator for a smaller number of trades (say 20 or 30 trades instead of several hundred) you could even see equity curves that look like mirror images of your "perfect" 45 degree curve that you would never want to trade because they look like they're making you go broke.  When this is happening in real time "live" trading you have to remember that these times won't last and if your system is robust and you are seeing the same types of forward results you saw in your backtesting then you just have to keep focusing on your process until the losing period ends and you catch the wins that will pull you out of your drawdown.  I believe I've shown this fact in "real time" over the past 5 years on this blog... and I've also seen the profit accumulation in my trading account... that's what keeps me going during losing times.

On to the details about September's results...  let's start with the equity graph updated for the 3rd quarter:

As you can see, not much positive gain for the 3rd Quarter, but no drawdown either.  Since I've started graphing the equity curve by quarter instead of by month there have been fewer drawdowns showing in the curve and I've recovered from them more quickly.  That's another lesson to remember... the higher the time frame, the less volatility that will show in your trading.  This is true in both the time frame you trade and the way you track your results... you need to ride out the small losing periods and stick to your game plan!

Here are the results for September on the 4 Hour chart across the 8 pairs I trade with Forex Profit Monster:

27 trades total

13 wins:  1,890 pips

14 losses:  787 pips

Total: + 1,103 pips

Win rate:  48% 

Avg win:  145 pips

Avg loss:  56 pips

Avg risk/reward:  2.58 to 1

And the results by currency pair for September:

EUR/USD  2W, 0L  +520

USD/CHF  3W, 0L  +349

EUR/JPY  1W, 2L  +160

GBP/JPY  1W, 1L  +145

GBP/USD  1W, 2L  +142

USD/CAD  2W, 2L  (-70)

USD/JPY  1W, 3L  (-70)

AUD/USD  2W, 4L  (-73)

The results for 2012 so far:

January: +891

February: +206

March: +1,667

April: (-293)

May:  +1,640

June:  +2,209

July:  (-343)

August: (-699)

September +1,103

That's a total of 6,381 pips, or an average of 709 pips per month.

For more information regarding purchasing Forex Profit Monster (or my day trading system Forex Day Monster), please visit the website at www.forexprofitmonster.com or my eBay page at http://myworld.ebay.com/jimsgr8stuff4less where I list one or two items per week at a discount.

Best of luck in your trading...

Jim

www.forexprofitmonster.com

Forex Profit Monster - June Results - 2nd Quarter Results

As you can see from the updated graph above, it's time for the 2nd Quarter results for 2012 (and of course the June results) for Forex Profit Monster.  (Actually the results are overdue, but I've been so busy that I haven't had time to update the blog).

The one thing you'll notice about the equity curve pictured above is how much smoother it is since I've started tracking it quarterly instead of monthly.  This is a lesson for those of you who are impatient... while I've changed nothing at all about the trading system or the way I trade it, the drawdowns now look almost nonexistent.  Just by spreading the data out over time the equity curve smooths itself out.  Something to think about if you find yourself getting upset and angry after a losing month (or even a losing trade)!  If you are trading a system with an edge if you are consistent and patient over time you will profit.

Here are the results for June:

31 trades
10 wins:  3,105 pips
21 losses:  806 pips

Total profit: + 2,209 pips

32% win rate
Avg win:  301
Avg loss:  38
Avg risk/reward:  7.92 to 1

And the results by currency pair as traded on the 4 Hour chart:

EUR/JPY   2W, 2L  +777
GBP/USD  1W, 2L  +687
GBP/JPY   1W, 3L  +605
USD/CAD  1W, 3L  +333
AUD/USD  2W, 1L   +68
USD/JPY  3W, 2L   (-47)
USD/CHF  0W, 4L  (-105)
EUR/USD  0W, 4L  (-109)


The yearly results and total so far:

January: +891
February: +206
March: +1,667
April: (-293)
May:  +1,640
June:  2,209


As for the 2nd Quarter of 2012, it was a good one!  A total of 3,556 pips were added during the months of April, May and June.  That brings the total for 2012 to 6,320 pips and the all-time total to 63,190 pips since I started trading the system in the Fall of 2007.

That's it for now... I'll post the totals for July in the next few days.

For more information regarding purchasing Forex Profit Monster (or my day trading system Forex Day Monster), please visit the website at www.forexprofitmonster.com or my eBay page at http://myworld.ebay.com/jimsgr8stuff4less where I list one or two items per week at a discount.

Best of luck in your trading...

Jim
www.forexprofitmonster.com

Forex Profit Monster Results - March 2012

Time for the March results (and quarterly update) for Forex Profit Monster. March was a great month with over 1,600 pips of profit realized, mostly from Yen pairs that had entered into sustained trends in February.

Here are the results:

33 total trades taken

14 winning trades: 2,752 pips

19 losing trades: 1,085 pips

Total profit: + 1,667 pips

42% win rate

Avg win: 196

Avg loss: 57

Avg risk/reward: 3.43 to 1

Here are the results by currency pair as traded on the 4 Hour chart:

GBP/JPY 2W, 1L +726

EUR/JPY 3W, 2L +620

USD/JPY 2W, 1L +461

EUR/USD 2W, 1L +67

USD/CHF 2W, 1L +60

GBP/USD 2W, 1L +28

AUD/USD 1W, 4L (-73)

USD/CAD 0W, 6L (-222)

The month of March ends the first quarter of results for FPM, and all three months were positive; with January posting an 891 pip gain, February added 206 pips, and March 1,667. That's a total of 2,764 pips for the first quarter of 2012, and a grand total of 59,634 pips since I started trading Forex Profit Monster live in the 2nd quarter of 2007. (You can see a graph on the performance since 2007 at the top of this post.)

For more information regarding purchasing Forex Profit Monster (or my daytrading system Forex Day Monster), visit www.forexprofitmonster.com or my eBay page at http://myworld.ebay.com/jimsgr8stuff4less where I list one or two items per week at a discount.

Thanks for reading the results blog for Forex Profit Monster, and best of luck in your trading!

Jim

www.forexprofitmonster.com

http://myworld.ebay.com/jimsgr8stuff4less