cowpip

Yep. This beast is cruel. Out for -65 (AGAIN!!!). Went short from 199.25, closed for +42. Currently long from 198.62 I have a 4-hour and a daily support line running near 198.67, and thus far, it's held twice. Ha! As if that's any indication.

Agreed... and true. It's anyone's guess what they'll do. PS: Really good sex cures my insomnia....

Yeah... it probably will. The hourly looks like it's ready to peek below. But this line of defense is proving a wee bit tougher than the last line of defense, it seems. That's maybe a tad bit of comfort.

The pound is being a little bugger. Just when you think it might be supported, some jerk pulls the floor out.

Closed for +32. Long GJ @ 200.17. I wanted an entry near 200.00, but it doesn't look like it wants to go back down there. Watch - it will now that I've reversed. My stop will be like a magnet to it. That's how I've felt lately.

Nice clean chart, Wasp.

I went short from 200.48 last night (rather, during my night). I'm quite frankly amazed that I wasn't stopped out. You just can't trust candle formations right now. I have a developing feeling that we're seeing a lack of liquidity in-play here. That would certainly go a long way towards explaining the crappiness of it all.

Stopped for -65. Wow... you don't see that too often, where the previous 4-hour bar (a very bullish one) is completely invalidated. This bloody thing doesn't want to give me a break.

Alright... I'll give this a little bit longer now that I've found the likely source of my troubles (see the discussion thread). I've carefully scrutinized my charts and am now reasonably certain they're correct. Currently long GJ @ 201.04

For the record, people reading this should know that part of my difficulties this week in not being successful is because I now realize that I had too many S&R lines marked on my charts and several were causing me to take reversals when I shouldn't have. Don't get too picky when plotting S&R. But pick the major levels where price dominantly reacts through history. I compared Wasp's chart with my own and noticed several lines that shouldn't have been there and a couple that were misplaced. It really is critical that these lines be as accurate as possible. I thought I had double-checked the lines, but when I revisted them, I indeed saw that several were off. This is, perhaps, one of the most important aspects of this strat: Getting the S&R lines marked CORRECTLY. That's an issue I'm going to have to be far more careful about. It can be a costly mistake.

Got it. Thanks again.

Do you SAR on the 4-hour charts, or do you prefer to SAR on the hourly or sub-hourly charts? I've seen you SAR long before a 4-hour chart ends, so there must be some discretion involved (of course).

Yes, that is a problem - and it bothers me. But it's improving. A bigger issue for me is knowing where and when to SAR. Thanks again. I appreciate you taking the time to reply.

I really (honestly) appreciate this statement. I was beginning to think it was entirely just me. To be honest, Wasp, this really hasn't been that bad of a testing period for me. I'm down about 150 pips since 18 August - and given my newness to this strat and my attempts to try and figure out a few of the nuances (and thus far, not succeeding consistently), I figure that really isn't bad at all. And in $ terms, I'm not really that far below b/e during this period, as I've still been playing some other pairs and making up some of the lost cash here. But THIS strat of yours is really the type I want to master. I know I can do it - I just need more time (or better market conditions) to do it. One thing I am doing is trading too much. I'm putting in on average about 5 to 6 trades per day, and that's too much - as any glance at your chart illustrates. Your last chart has been a huge help. But I need your help to understand one trade (the rest, I get - and I'm ticked that I saw the same thing but traded it differently). The trade I've highlighted in the chart below has me wondering why you would have taken this one. Price challenged support and the 4-hour closed above support. You then say you would have shorted at that level (which of course was the right thing to do), but why would you have done that? What was the signal in that case? I can see the signals in all of the other instances. I think part of my problem has been the fact that I've been looking at the 30-min and hourly charts way too much and the behavior I've seen there has caused me to take pre-emptive entries prior to the close of the 4-hour bars. I guess that's just par for the course, but I do need to be more diligent about sticking to the 4-hour charts. So anyway, if you could shed some light on why you took the trade I've highlighted in the attachment, I'd greatly appreciate it. I've seen you take this type of trade before, and have tried to duplicate it myself, but thus far have failed. Thanks a bunch.

Stopped for -60. And I think that's going to end my foray into this strat for the mean time - at least until after labor day when I can be more reasonably certain that liquidity is generating proper signals. I'm uncertain if the liquidity at this time is screwing up my testing. But I'm certainly not as profitable as I believe this strat should be. Time to stop and study.

Stopped and reversed Short @ 200.81 (loss -26)

Closed @ 201.07 for +53. Long GJ @ 201.07

Based on the 4-hour - where I should have waited to initiate a new trade in the first place - I have reversed YET AGAIN (I feel like a yo-yo). Closed -8. Short @ 201.601

Closed for a whopping +1 and have gone long @ 201.68 I must be doing something wrong. Things aren't working like they should. I may have to re-evaluate.

Stopped out for -65. Short @ 201.70.

Man,was that ever the dumbest reversal I ever took.

Reversed long @ 201.82 for +42

Closed -3. Short @ 202.24, dictated by the 4-hour candle.

Long @ 202.27

Closed @ b/e... This isn't quite how I'd like to see it running. I'll hang fire and see what's going on a little longer before committing.