October was pretty dull for the first half still crawling back from the last Drawdown but that certainly changed during the second half.
Looks like the market started to expand and there is nothing Grail likes better.
I know it was a tough month for many. I know for a fact a lot of traders lost a lot of money. I was talking to a collegue and imagined most traders running around like headless chickens - changing systems, changing entry parameters etc etc.
We just sat there patiently waiting. We had made no money for almost 3 months but we got to a point where we werent losing any either - just went up a bit then down a bit. We didnt change anything and just waited - in markets like that the grail trader is best positioned for the strike.
The strike came in the last 2 weeks of October and for the month we have had a stunning result as you will see below.
You will also notice that the account is another £10,000 short of it's actual size. Thats because of the income account - for those of you who can't be arsed to look back in the blog allow me to explain.
Each of the grail crew operate two accounts - the main grail account (you see my own every month on here) and a second account which we refer to as the income account.
The income account uses a similar strategy as the main account with the exception that it has a different money management approach and different criteria for entry designed to maximise a monthly return of pips.
Now you may be thinking - isnt that what the main one does too? - well no it isnt actually, on the main account pips are important of course but the money management we use actually means that pips arent nearly as important as win/loss percentage.
Believe it or not we often have times when we are negative pips for the month but positive in cash. Work that one out on a dark night :)
Anyway, i'm digressing. The idea is that every time £10,000 is safe from drawdown that we then move £10k into the income account and trade it - in effect we are again compounding the compounded winnings.
So, to cut a long story short every £40K we move £10k into the Income or 'Holding' account. This month we hit £80k and so another £10k found its way transferred. The holding account now has £20k in it from grail along with it's initial 10k.
This is complicating isnt it but all you have to know is that what shows on the statements after this month is 20k down from what it actually has made :) - you'll see where i withdrew on the statement.
So, down to the monthly report then.
Month 13 October 2006
All figures include £20,000 in holding account not shown on statements
- Opening balance:.............................£61,785
- Closing Balance: ..............................£ 88,328
- P/L £ .................................................£26,543
- % Gain ................................................42.96%
- Lowest account value: ......... ....... ....£ 55,624
- Highest account value: ....................£88,328
- Maximum Drawdown: .....................£6,160 = 9.9% peak to valley
