Mysticforex

Hi Faretrade ! Welcome. What are you trading the CHF against? And, you promised to give your reasoning behind taking the trade.

Yes it is ! Lol ...

That is a Great Post by Ingot54. I also think Brookwood had some great advice. screentime, screentime, screentime, I this point in your development when you are not trading, you should be Backtesting.

I didn't see this posted here anywhere so I thought I would. The " I Look Back Now " thread inspired me. I read this several years ago in a commodities magazine, I have also seen it around on the web: 38 steps to becoming a trader They are as follows: 1. We accumulate information - buying books, going to seminars and researching. 2. We begin to trade with our 'new' knowledge. 3. We consistently 'donate' and then realise we may need more knowledge or information. 4. We accumulate more information. 5. We switch the commodities we are currently following. 6. We go back into the market and trade with our 'updated' knowledge. 7. We get 'beat up' again and begin to lose some of our confidence. Fear starts setting in. 8. We start to listen to 'outside news' and to other traders. 9. We go back into the market and continue to 'donate'. 10. We switch commodities again. 11. We search for more information. 12. We go back into the market and start to see a little progress. 13. We get 'over-confident' and the market humbles us. 14. We start to understand that trading successfully is going to take more time and more knowledge than we anticipated. MOST PEOPLE WILL GIVE UP AT THIS POINT, AS THEY REALISE WORK IS INVOLVED. 15. We get serious and start concentrating on learning a 'real' methodology. 16. We trade our methodology with some success, but realise that something is missing. 17. We begin to understand the need for having rules to apply our methodology. 18. We take a sabbatical from trading to develop and research our trading rules. 19. We start trading again, this time with rules and find some success, but over all we still hesitate when we execute. 20. We add, subtract and modify rules as we see a need to be more proficient with our rules. 21. We feel we are very close to crossing that threshold of successful trading. 22. We start to take responsibility for our trading results as we understand that our success is in us, not the methodology. 23. We continue to trade and become more proficient with our methodology and our rules. 24. As we trade we still have a tendency to violate our rules and our results are still erratic. 25. We know we are close. 26. We go back and research our rules. 27. We build the confidence in our rules and go back into the market and trade. 28. Our trading results are getting better, but we are still hesitating in executing our rules. 29. We now see the importance of following our rules as we see the results of our trades when we don't follow the rules. 30. We begin to see that our lack of success is within us (a lack of discipline in following the rules because of some kind of fear) and we begin to work on knowing ourselves better. 31. We continue to trade and the market teaches us more and more about ourselves. 32. We master our methodology and our trading rules. 33. We begin to consistently make money. 34. We get a little over-confident and the market humbles us. 35. We continue to learn our lessons. 36. We stop thinking and allow our rules to trade for us (trading becomes boring, but successful) and our trading account continues to grow as we increase our contract size. 37. We are making more money than we ever dreamed possible. 38. We go on with our lives and accomplish many of the goals we had always dreamed of. Most traders will identify with this list and should be able to place themselves within these steps. Keep in mind that very few people progress through these steps in an orderly fashion. Developing your trading skills is an iterative process. For example, you may reach Step 13., find that although you were making money, your basic premise for trading was flawed (you might have been benefiting from the bull market, rather than your own trading prowess and then have been rudely awakened when the market entered a bear phase) and you may drop back to Step 4. and start 'climbing' the steps again. Having the proper mindset, attitude and psychological makeup becomes increasingly important as you progress through the steps. The focus of the earlier steps is on external issues, i.e. developing proficiency in the mechanics of trading while the focus of the latter steps (particularly from Step 30, on) is on internal issues, i.e. improving ourselves mentally and psychologically, maturing as traders.

WP trade closed in profit. I am not going to bore everyone to death and post more trades. I simply wanted to bring this to people's attention. If the information sounds like it has some potential, start doing some backtesting. I'm sure even moderately experienced traders can figure out a way to make money with this. Chris

R3 trade opened and closed for a profit. WP trade opened.

I have today's weekly pivot @ 15042 on the gbp/chf. I have placed an entry order @ 14972 with a TP @ 15022 ( 20 pip buffer ). Since R3 is between current price and the WP, I have another entry order from R2 to R3. As I stated in an earlier post, this pair has a high probability of hitting R3 or S3 on a Monday. If it looks like it's heading down ( drops below the Daily Pivot, I will look for a setup to TP at S3. I will leave the entry order to the WP open until Thurs. I am a bit on the conservative side, with one order. Here's what a friend of mine does. He has an OBC in Belize, and has opened several accts with Gain Capital with 500:1 margin. On 1 acct, he will place 10 entry orders starting at 70 pips from the WP, 5 pips apart, ( 14972,14977,14982 etc ) al TP ing @ 15022 ( 20 pip buffer ). for a total TP of 275 pips. His stop loss is a Margin Call ( that's why the sub acct. ). He calls it "The Monday Accelerator". I have kicked myself in the rear more times than I can count for not stacking the way he does. ( I did it once but the whipsawing was just too stressful for me ). I risk 80 pips to make 50 because of the high probability.

That would be great Charlie. Are you a news Trader? Could you tell us a little about your strat/system?

ClocarT, No, just in MLQ. I know it can be programmed for "IntelliCharts". I am not a programmer, I Use a programmer I know in Romania for everything I need. I would assume some familiar with MLQ could convert it.

Thank You very much, I have been thinking about upgrading to some professional charting software. I 'll take a look at E- Signal. Chris

Lol... I knew I was putting my foot in my mouth when I said I wouldn't enter on Friday, it's up about 40 pips now.

Ok. This is a system taught to me my friend and Mentor Rob Booker. The SMA we use is the 800 SMA. Like you said TAMS, one can use any MA. The 800 SMA is large enough to make a move to it worthwhile. And trades develop more often than one would first think. 1 Minute Chart. The Dashed black MA is the 800 SMA, The Blue MA is the 200 SMA, and the Red MA is the 62 EMA. The indicator in the upper right hand corner is what we call The Radar Screen. The first line of the Indi shows how far price is from the 800, the second line is how long price has been away from the 800. 500 pips is about average for 1 standard deviation, it varies slightly from pair to pair. So on the 1 Minute Chart, GBP/JPY has been away for just over 2 standard deviations. ( BTW G/J is the only pair I would take a 1 Minute setup. The pair has to be a fast mover, otherwise, say on E/U, the 800 may come down to price before price comes up to the 800. I also would not trade it on a Friday NY Session as things tend to slow down a bit. ). Entering the trade is discretionary, You can enter on the break of a trend line ( ok, but not great ), You can enter when a candle closes above the 62 EMA ( better, but still not best ) or you can enter when the 62 is between the 200 and 800 AND has broken a trend line ( My favorite ). Trading off the 1 Minute Chart is not everyone's cup of tea, ( I started my current trader incarnation as a scalper, it to me a long time to delvelope into a swing or position trader ). But as I said this can be used on any TF. The best case scenario is when a 1 Min segways into a 5 Min setup, then the 5 Min into a 15 min etc For me, I have had the most sucess with the GBP crosses, Aussie, USD/CAD. EUR/GBP, CAD/JPY. The worst with the EUR/USD. If you would like the indicator, PM me with your email and I'll send it to you. Almost forgot, here's the chart:

Lol... That's not what I meant. I have an indicator that measures the time and distance that price has been away from a certain SMA. I also know the standard deviation for time away from the SMA. So, when price is say 2 or 3 Standard devs from the SMA it is time to start watching the pair closely for a move back. It is actually "counter trend" trading. Good on any TF. Obviously the bigger the TF the bigger the move. I am on a Linux machine at the moment and can not access MT4. I will post a chart example later.

Charlie, Here is a link to a free service that will send you an SMS when XXX price is hit on a pair you select. The pair selection is not very large, but it does include GBP/CHF. Price Alerts

Exactly, do you use it in your trading?

A friend of mine, Michael Kane,( one of the best traders I know ) was very upset by the Impact the Dodd - Frank Bill would have on his Forex trading. Hi accounts were in the UK but were repatriated back to the Staes on 10/18 when the Bill took affect. He decided to start an overseas corporation based in Belize. He has told me it is a rather simple process. Once established, he has reopened his UK accounts and resumed his normal trading style. He is holding a free webinar today, 1/26/11 between 2pm and 3 pm PST. He will explain how he started his overseas corp, followed by a brief Q and A session. He is not in the business of starting corporations for people, he is a trader. He is not trying to sell anything. Like me and others here at TL he believes in the free and open exchange of ideas. Pre registration is required. Here is the Link: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/112624422 Sorry for the short notice.

DJT, I don't trade the Dow, but looking at your chart ( nice and clean BTW ), it certainly looks like a retrace is in order. What Platform is that?

I belong to an informal trading group. We used to meet once a week and discuss charts, ideas, etc. Now we just shoot off emails to one another. One of our members ran all the numbers for GBP/CHF going back 10 years on Excel. I think the exact number was 94.6%

Monday, both GBP/CHF and GBP/JPY hit S3 today. G/C opened on it's Weekly Pivot so no trade. A nice Weekly Pivot trade on G/J though.

Wow, this is an old thread. I find Pivot Points quite useful in my Forex Trading. Particularly on the GBP/CHF, and the GBP/JPY. Probably, because when these pairs move they do so in no uncertain terms. On the attached chart, the BLUE dashes are the Daily Pivots, the Red Dashes are R3, S3 levels, and the wider orange lines are the Weekly Pivots. Now, I am not describing my system, just pointing out some interesting observations. On Mondays, R3 or S3 is hit better than 95 percent of the time. During the week ( usually sooner than later ), the Weekly Pivot is hit approx 92 percent of the time ( the last time I ran the numbers was about 1.5 years ago ). I use a 20 pip buffer, if price comes within 20 pips of a pivot point, I consider it hit. Now, given this high probability I am sure there are many smart traders who can figure out a way to make money with it. The Key of course is Backtesting, Backtesting, Backtesting. Oh, and did I mention Backtesting? How do you enter? Where's the optimal Stop Loss? etc. The chart displayed if the 4 hour gbp/chf. MT4. Those Pivot level indicators which stay on the chart ( Missed Pivots is an entirely different but interesting subject ).are allso available for an excellent program called "Forex Tester ". No, They don't pay me to plug it. I have been using it since 07 and love it. Here's the Chart, Hey, imagine that, came dwn and slammed the Weekly Pivot today!

So far so good. After testing the waters above 13500 yesterday and today, I think a moderate retrace is in order before a test of 13715 - 13750. Barring of course any disastrous announcements from the Eurozone.

I am new here, didn't know that. Sounds worth looking into. Chris

The topic name is rather self explanatory, but to be specific here's what mean and the way I use it.. Lets say you pick a moving average. any moving average, ( the higher the MA, ie: bigger, the more profit potential. I use the 800 SMA. Now sooner or later, on any TF price must return and touch or break that MA. Now, the question has always been, How do we know when price is ready to make a move back to the MA? My friend and Mentor has been obsessed with this for years. He and another friend of ours, who happens to be a genious with spreadsheets, figured it out about 2 years ago. They counted tens of thousands of candles on various pairs and different TFs to find a solution with the 800 SMA ( you can use a different MA, but then tens of thousands of candles would have to be counted again ). It was determined that 500 candles ( we rounded it off, could be 481 on GBP/JPY or 509 on USD/CAD ) So, 500 candles is the first standard deviation, 1000 the second Standard Deviation, 1500 candles the 3rd etc. Of course its more complex then that. You don't just start opening trades when the first or second deviation is reached. But it's not Rocket science either. As with any system, backtesting is key. Don't rely on someone else's backtesting. You must do your own, That's how you gain confidence, because you have tested it yourself. And confidence in my opinion falls into the realm of "Trader Psychology", which a lot of people say is 90% of the game, If anyone is interested in exploring this further, I could go more in depth into this. However, I should add that I consider myself a good analyst, a decent trader, but a terrible teacher. Chris

BTW... I see you have a link to the "Money Show" at the bottom of your posts, will TL be represented there at the NYC show in Feb? I try to attend each year. Chris

Oanda. This is not meant as a plug, I just really like oanda. I don't know if you live in the States, but you are probably aware of the new restrictions imposed on U.S. Traders. Repatriation of foreign broker accts, which means no hedging and FIFO. As well as 50:1 margin max. Oanda has never allowed Hedging ( it's a very simple process to open a "sub acct" with them if one wishes to Hedge. Hedging has never been part of my trading style, however, If I am in a long term trade, for me that's about a week, Lol I occasionally scalp (Hedge) the retraces ). As for FIFO, it must be something to do with the way they do their accounting. If I have say 3 long positions on g/j, I can close anyone of them any time I like. Now this part is just personal preference. Oanda's platform is Web/Java based. Nothing to down load. Trade from any PC ( even Linux ) anywhere you have internet. Many, many pairs, Gold and Silver. Their charts are very clean and sharp, with Time Frames from 1 Second to 1 Day ( I occasionally go as low as 30 second ). Adjustable font size ( a minor beef I have about MT4 ). Lightning fast execution. They don't have Micros, Minis, Standard, or Maxis. With any acct you can scale your position size. ie: 100 units = 1 cent a pip ( U.S. ), 1000 units = 10 cents, 10,000 units = $1.00 a pip, and so on. You can also scale out of a position the same way. I have never had liquidity or "fill" problems, though the largest position I have ever held with them is 500,000 units. I personally know someone who has opened positions with them of 15 Million units. ( this is not rumor or hearsay, we try to get together a few weeks a year and trade together, I saw it ). The down side: They don't offer a lot of Indicators, and because it's Java you can't write custom Indicators ( that I know of ). Can't Trade the News. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the spreads widen dramaticly for about 30 seconds pre and post News events. ( Honestly, a couple of years ago a good News trader taught me how to trade the News. I found the return did not justify the stress level ). I also have 2 MT4 accts, not very large, just trade a dollar or two a pip. I had a friend write a couple of custom indicators for me in MT4 code, so I watch them for setups, them switch to Oanda and use Price Action for entries. Chris EDIT: Oh, their mobile platform ( ie: smart phone ) leaves a little to be desired.