forrestang

Once again P2 being stopped at BE. This lack of follow through on what seems to be everyone of my P2's is just killing me:) I either have poor P2 selection or just bad management. This is really making my R:R profile go to $#it

P1 hit with a really good fill somehow Catastrophe Stop on 2nd half below most recent swing low on 5 minute(1.6799).. Going to manage the 2nd half differently. I plan to manage the remaining half on the 5min chart and exit when I get a break after/if a LH appears, the opposite of the entry trigger. ----EDIT(23:05)----- Stop at BE on 2nd half, since going through P1.

Excellent suggestion. I actually do keep one, actually several journals with pictures. I have one for FX and two others for other projects. There is a template in my blog, which is simple and is just a word doc with a table of content links at the beginning. It's nothing fancy, just the way I keep track of my trades.

I'm sorry, I'm confused as well;) Are you referring to the outlook that Thales posted to show his example in the E/J..... Or are you referring to the trade I jumped in in the G/U?

Interesting outlook. Of course price could break this consolidation in either direction..... but I wonder if this current consolidation/chop could be struggling to make marginally lower lows.....i.e. Kiwi's '3 Indians?' What do you think Gabe?

I think it looks ok. I can see a bit of potential support it may be digging into based on a wider angle. Out of curiosity, has your outlook changed based on the picture I am posting? This is the picture of the E/J, I am reposting. What do you think about the G/U for a long as I have on this picture.... if it puts in a HL. This is the 2nd picture. ----EDIT------ Added another picture, with better looking lines. I entered this trade prematurely for sure. But just throwing it up there.

I don't think I would have been overly enthused about that trade if I were watching the G/U at that time? I can somewhat see that price is moving into a general area...... but to me that area looks like a bit of a chop zone? Also there is a line in dark blue that I drew above that I 'may' have possible constructed if I where watching.

I did read your post back when you posted it. I read that you use your value oscilator for both entries and exits. I guess I was just wondering if you meant to say that you use them for entries as well as exits? Then I was wondering IF you use them for entries...... do you...... aaargh, can't phrase the question properly:crap:, no worries, good to see something is working for you. You two have just managed to confuse me. You guys are avoiding trading near S/R? I go through hell and high water to find trades that occur near S/R..... i.e. a bounce off of an established bed of support, looking to get long for example. Or are you saying you don't want to trade INTO S/R zones AFTER having initiated a trade? I would say with your comments though, that has been my one criticism of the thread from the beginning...... The REASON, or more appropriately the CONTEXT of the trade. For example if one sees a L-H-HL forming, is that reason enough to take the trade, or do we want some big picture context to come into play. I can't tell you how many trades i pass on because I have decided before hand where S/R lies. As you can imagine this is good and bad. I miss lots of profitable trades unfortunately, and to the newer trader this can drive one mad under the right circumstances! Thales, I know you don't go through and find S/R levels in the manner maybe some of us do. I.e. the day prior. But would you say that ALL of your trades are initiated in an area of some form of S/R?

Seems like you trading on the bar interval you are using, you'd get over 20 trades per day based on what you're doing, per pair? How are you selecting the trades that you choose if I may ask? Forrest

For those of you guys trading the currency futures, what are you paying per round total in fees and commissions?

Who cares? If I had an indicator that wasn't for show, and ACTUALLY helped me make money in some way, I'd absolutely use it, and have no such compulsions of feeling bad. Let's not forget 'why' we trade the markets. It is not to be able to say that one is cool for not using anything but price, the point is to make money. Sure it's interesting, but would it be interesting if there was no potential for profit? If there is something that you truly find makes you money, it's foolish to feel guilty about it. Wether that be a MACD, or only taking a trade when your cat walks across your trading desk and meows....

:haha:........................:rofl:

Nice reaction on the 3 that met the support area. But again I didn't see an entry.

Thales, The entry that would have put you in this trade, there was a lot of overlap in the bars. And I'm not focusing on the bars, but what I'm saying is that it was a swing that was a lot of chop to develop the LH. So price wasn't distinctly moving. Does this factor in at all to your trades?

Just posting some S/R levels I'll be looking at throughout the day. Anybody see anything similar?

I am looking over my FX Journal, and my P/L - R:R profile in particular...... and splitting my trades into 2 lots is really hurting me. The frequency in which my P2 actually hits is extremely rare. I usually am stopped at BE prior to my P2 being hit. My P2s are reachable, and quite often they are hit, but my management is slowing down progress. Most times my P1 is at a 1:1 with my ISL. Now, splitting this trade into halves means that if I am stopped out, it's really mathmatically close to a 2:1 if you factor in the frequency in which my P2 is hit. I seldom get immediately taken out for a FULL stop, but when it does happen, it virtually takes two winning trades(in which I split halves) just to get back to where I started. Just looking over this, my profits literally would just about have doubled if I only traded towards 1 target, at least until I figure out how to manage my open positions better. Obviously there are a multitude of ways to manage a position, and I don't think anyone can just say "do this and do that and profits shall reign down upon the!" So I'm just posting this as something I was looking at today.

I see the H/L/HL's sequence in the trades. I should have explained, but like Gabe mentioned I'm wondering what the reason behind the trade was? It is probably just that the screen shot is so tight that we can't see what's going on around at the areas a trade was initiated. And given so many trades I can understand why as it would be rather tedious to give detailed explanations on each trade. So I suppose I am just wondering if the trade was taken soley based on swings, or if there was a big picture context in place for the trade?

I am having a hard time seeing what it is you are doing?

I am calling off the E/U trade, just my personal preference, it still may shape up to be a great long bouncing off of support? My G/U, I sat through quite a bit of heat with that uncomfortable decline(dropping below what I anticipated to be the HL), and because of it I am not willing to sit through any more retracements beyond my entry on this trade. My stop is BE, targets will remain were they are, and the chips will unfold as they may. -----EDIT (14:16EST)----------- P1 just hit Adding 2nd chart, stop for 2nd half still at BE, will adjust with a natural swing that comes into play.

Blue line would be entry if the HL remains intact. Purple lines are just S/R levels picked at some point.

I almost shorted the G/U last night, I had a resting sell stop but literally pulled it last second. I see it moved on to quickly hit my P1. I then would have moved my stop to BE and it would have stopped me to the tic essentially before moving on to hit my P2. Lately, since I've been more interactive with managing my trade, my P2 has become more a mattter of ceremony than anything else, in that I'm not getting much out of my 2nd half of my trades lately. So I know what you mean about follow through.:doh:

Not to bragg or anything:cool: But seriously, it bounced at the level I chose, but the entry didn't seem to be that obvious? I wasn't in front of my computer, and honestly I dont think I would have taken this. Is there an entry here? I'm sure one can look really deeply to find one, but what about the obvious type entries? Have we moved too far off that support level to continue to look for the H-HL?

I spent quite a bit of time looking at the chart trying to figure out which 'fake BO' to which you were referring? I was thinking you meant 'fake BO' of the swings, i.e. HHs and LHs etc...... But it seems like you were referring to BOs from those hinges you constructed right? If so it seems like the chart pattern itself is rather arbitrary, in that the BO would be meaningful only if it coincided with price leaving a former S/R level, with some type of price action to confirm it? I.e. the breakout from the hinge/chart pattern is just a coincidence with something else. Like in your first circle, I'm having a hard time seeing why you'd expect price to break to the short side, or looking for a BO at that point? The second circle, I'm also wondering why you'd expect a long BO at that point? It seems like 'IF' you wanted to go long, you'd have to wait for price to break above the point on the picture, where price was in a decline, made a low, followed by a HIGH, then a HIGHER LOW Followed by the BO. This is the white lines. If you were looking short, It seems you'd see price was on the rise AFTER that big drop(big green up bar), then made a HIGH, followed by a LOW, then a LOWER HIGH, then the BO. This is the orange lines. Of course it's easy for me to say the two above bullet points in hindsight, but I'm just not seeing why you'd expect price to BO where you pointed to on the chart, unless it was purely looking at a chart pattern? I managed to confuse myself writing this, so if the above is unclear I fully understand.:hmmmm:

Probably too early to look for something so specific, but G/J looks cleanest in line with S/R right at that horizontal line I drew. We'll just have to wait and see:cool: -----EDIT----- Here's another look with the hour chart. Possibly Support slightly higher as well. Although I like the lower level a little better as it clearly shows a trading range above and below it.

There was some nice action in the E/J, G/J and also the G/U just now. :doh: