todds

Yes, the quad top, followed by the big down bar and a lower high. It ultimately worked but it was very volatile and I barely got stopped out for a BE trade

Took partial profits when it dove back through the big round number of 85.00 and the rest under the breakout swing. This was a BE trade. It had promise for a while though.

Looking at this USD/JPY long. I like that it is bouncing off support but don't like the time of day. If it chops around too much longer before breaking out I'll cancel until the Japan open.

Just as a follow up to the NZD/USD short the attached chart shows how frustrating trading can be. See the stop out by just pips (blue circle) before returning to hit 2nd profit target. In a previous life I would have been furious, but it has happened so many times I am learning to just take it as part of the game. Next!

Mystic, my entry is the blue line, stop is the red line and TP's are the green lines. I caught my first TP then it retraced the entire move on the next bar and stopped me out for a BE trade. See updated post above for the entire trade. Brutal!

here's a short I'm looking at on NZD/USD. Update: 1st profit taken move stop for free trade Update: wow, that wasn't very nice. I didn't expect it to retrace that whole down bar. Pretty much a BE trade.

It never made it to 2nd target but the trade was good for +0.86R nonetheless.

The 2nd PT is probably a little ambitious. It will likely need a big retracement before it gets there and I don't want to go through that. Took 1st PT and will trail stop for as long as she'll let me.

stop to BE. It's a slow mover but what you might expect for a retracement. Getting 1st PT would be nice.

Good story, unhappy ending. I bailed at -0.5R when the price action signaled a reversal on lower time frames. It still might work but I am taking Thales' cue to get out with minor losses when price doesn't behave as expected. Next!

I like the story behind this one: 5 waves completed Bouncing off of a Support zone Ultimate target is retracement back to previous 4th and 50% fib area

Yes, I have been kicking myself all morning for missing that one!

I hope this one works because I am already in at lower levels on a daily time frame. I'll be really watching what happens at that light blue line though.

Even though I didn't take it it's nice to know they work sometimes. 1st PT, stop at BE

Here's a short that looks interesting in GBP/USD. I am just watching this one but I like the big down move preceding the correction. I would have preferred to see the shooting star candle in the blue circle nearer the top of the correction.

Cory, thanks for taking the time to respond. I am starting to get how this thing works. I don't think my broker is doing anything funny, and they are an ECN, it's just a matter of getting used to how forex works. It's a little different than futures. Your suggestions have helped. Reading through all 500+ pages of the thread was interesting because I was able to see how everything progressed. People come and go. You should look back on your early posts and compare to now. Your trades now look very much like those that Thales would take. I think it is just a matter of being extremely picky about which trades you take and which you pass on. I am learning that once one gets the general concepts about the entries, being ultra picky and only taking the ones that scream to be taken is the difference. The charts I posted recently have not been ultra picky but I just wanted to get something on the board. I am still working on this part of trading. I hope this thread picks up again with the veterans. I was disappointed to see that it had slowed down after I got caught up, but certainly understand that people need a break. I do very much appreciate what Thales and everyone have contributed. They really could charge for this stuff. It has given me a whole new perspective on trading and led to other discoveries about price action. Happy trading Todd

Cory, I am somewhat new to Forex. I have been trading futures for the past two years. The fills and spreads in futures are very tight and consistent. With forex I have gotten a lot of weird fills both with live trades and sim trades. The attached chart is an example. It was in sim so it may not reflect what would have actually happened. My stop was way down there. I am not sure if this is my broker or if it is the way forex is. I recall reading about this type of thing somewhere in this thread. What has been your experience? Who is you broker and do you like them? By the way, I have read through the entire thread and followed your progress. Your entries have gotten very good over time. Feel free to critique my trades anytime. It would be an honor!

Not sure what happened here. I could have sworn the stop on the final 1/2 was at my entry but somehow I got stopped out at the first profit target level. I have had some funny things happen with this broker. Total gain on trade: 0.63R sim

1/2 off 2nd half to BE Final target looking for area of last 4th wave and 38% retrace of down move. I should note that all trades today have been in sim. Just trying to get the hang of this thing!

sold 1/2 other 1/2 to BE let it ride, watch price action at key R levels

Tightened stop after retest of BO failed. -13 X 2 = -26 pips.

Here are a couple other trades I'm looking at.

Ok Cory, I'll jump on board and post one with you. Probably not the best entry but just wanted to get my feet wet with posting. Long USD/JPY after bounce off up trend line and 123 set up.

Rande, was Jan's father a successful trader? I'm curious if he was taught at an early age a reliable way of looking at the markets from someone who knew what he was doing, thus avoiding the long process of discovery most of us who do not know such a person have to go through just to get the requisite skills necessary for any chance of success.

I assume we are talking here about a trader who has never tasted lasting success. For this trader uncertainty abounds, especially if his method is predominantly discretionary. "Does my system still work? Have market conditions invalidated it? Have circumstances in my life altered my judgment? Did I simply get lucky during my testing period?" If 2% represents a dollar figure that the trader finds painful, then losing 3 or 4 in a row will be difficult to handle no matter how much he intellectualizes the expectations of his method. I would agree that if a trader were given the opportunity to trade something as certain and unchanging as a coin toss with a 2/1 payout ratio for winners to losers and still couldn't pull the trigger then they might have some serious psychological issues. That begs the following question: What if the person tossing the coin was a stranger and the trader never had a chance to examine the coin. How many 2% losers in a row would the trader be able to endure before he began to question the "system"? I don't know enough traders to answer your question but I bet there are a lot of traders who did serious damage to their accounts, and thus felt a lot of pain, through a hundred tiny cuts trading flawed methods. If a student who was serious about getting good chose an instructor with the above qualifications I would think there was more wrong with the student than the instructor.