thalestrader

GBPUSD and EURJPY - both short trades, but neither with a terribly attractive R/R profile based on the proximity to potential support. Now, if price reaches that support, and if that support gives way, then you'd be looking at a very favirable R/R scenario.

ABX looks to have a small H&S bottom on the 5 minute chart - too late for me to trade it, but it is interesting to watch.

COP -17 cents And that is why I always have a stop - once in a while you get stopped into a trade and the market turns and races against you before you even have time to think.

COP sell stop 43.09 - Gapped open higher and sold back down to yesterday's close. Retested that low and has tried to rally feebly.

Covered 6B at 164.04, +33 ticks NUE +21 cents AET +02 cents ZMH -1 cent

Stop is now 1.6417 basis 6B

Short ZMH (see chart). Yes, all of my positions are shorts right now.

I wanted to post this 6B (Pound Futures) or GBPUSD short trade as it was setting up, but I was busy getting a bunch of orders entered. It has progressed nicely while I was trying to annotate the chart. First chart is the GBPUSD as the trade got started, and the second is the futures contract 6B (it has reached first support/profit target).

AET, a long from this morning is now a short trade, as is NUE, a potenital long from this morning (had a false bullish breakout).

Looks like it has been halted - I hate when that happens.

This stock should see 7.25 before the end of the day, and it might see 0.

NUE false breakout - I didn't take that one either (but not to worry, I do my part to take more than my share of fakeouts!)

Hi Folks, This has turned out to be a far sleepier thread than I thought it would be. But reading charts from the "hard right edge" as they say is what this business is all about, so I'll carry on for a bit longer. The first two charts, BNI (+30 cents) and AET (+06 cents) are trades that are finished and in the books. The next two show AKS and NUE consolidating at the highs of the day, and may be long trades for me later in the day (while not a hard and fast rule, I try not to enter new positions between 11:30 am and 1-1:30pm unless the move is exceptionally strong). The last chart shows HUM, and the sometimes result of trading breakouts to new highs/lows. I didn't take HUM, as I saw it after the fact, but I would have been tempted to trade that breakout (which would have resulted in a quick loss. Best Wishes, Thales

And that would be a wrap - short from 1.6302 and covered at 1.6243

The market has rallied back to test the breakdown from this morning's low. It first rallied to 1.6239 before falling back, and price has now rallied to 1.6242, besting the low by one tick, and has now fallen back a few ticks. If I were still short here, I'd bring my stop down to 1.6243.

You and me both - freestockcharts.com is excellent. Thales

BOOM! When price chewed through this morning's low it found a nearly 30 tick vacuum waiting for it! Obviously, had one traded it with a limit, the limit would have been filled for approximatley +60 ticks. If one were trailing, then at this point I would probably move my stop down to 5-10 ticks above this morning's low.

No sooner had I posted the previous update and price obliged with a new stop point at 1.6277 which would lock in +25 ticks or so.

Downside price action has started to get into gear with a low at 1.6262, a decline of 40 ticks. A reasonable profit target would be a limit at the 1.6241 low +/- a few ticks. I'd like to see price give a natural stop point within profitable territory so the stop could be safely lowered to capture some of the move.

lowering stop to 1.6313 This price decline has a good bit more overlap and choppiness than I'd expect of it for a retest of today's low.

With that new low, stop loss could probably be lowered to 1.6322

Well, I still think it will be interesting, but then again, I watch charts for fun! I'm going to continue with the GBPUSD. I am not trading it, and I do not trade forex (though I occassionally day trade the 6B and 6E). I am looking at a short trade at 1.6301, based on price reversing the HHHL pattern of the afternoon rally with a potential LHLL. Inital stop loss is placed at 1.6329 Profit objective is a retest of today's low at 1.6241. Best Wishes, Thales

Hi Folks, Well, had it been a real trade and had I sat up to monitor it through the night, it looks to me that the second hald would have been stopped out at 1.6337 or so for an 80 +/- tick profit. The first 1/2 was stopped out at an admittedly arbitrary stop loss level. The second chart shows the natural progression of stop levels for this "trade." Had the whole trade been managed accoring to the stops dictated by price action itself, then a +80 tick profit on the whole position would have been attainable, and at one point, the open trade equity would have been 100 ticks +/-. Of course, unless one is trading real money it is always a mere academic excercise to conjecture how the trade might actually have turned out, as even sim trading does nothing to train that most important prt of the traders soul - that part that deals with fear, greed, and the desire to be right, or at least not to be wrong. A 50 tick trailing stop would have been stopped out at 1.6354 for +66 ticks; and a 75 tick trailing stop would have been stopped out at just about the same price as the first 1/2 position was last night at 1.6379 for +40 ticks give or take a few ticks. Best Wishes, Thales

Since I didn't trade this, it is hard to say what I would have done here, but price jumped quick off that 1.6359 and I may have taken some off there. If not, I'd have one stop at 1.6380 (+40 ticks) and one at 1.6401 (+19 ticks), presuming I had a position that cold be broken in twain. See you on the other side of the night. Best Wishes, Thales PS As I was about to shut down I see that the first stop was just hit, so that would leave one half open with a stop at 1.6401. If I actually had this trade open, and I had just taken +40 ticks on half, I'd pull my limit orders and set up a 50-75 tick trailing stop and then I'd go to bed and see what it looked like in the morning.

Closing in on support, and I'd be moving my stop to protect some profit. 1.6401 would be one tick above the highest price reached after price first poked below the 1.6393 support. If you look at a time based chart (1 or 2 minute, for example), and you will se that there was a bit of resistance built at 1.6379. I guess that if I were trading this and I had a position that could be broken in two parts, I'd have a stop on half at 1.6380 and on the other half at 1.6401. I would probably also place a buy limit to take profits on one half at 1.6350.