Confessions of an ADD Trader

Trading Discussion
1

Okay, I admit it.

I’m a scalper.

A pip here, a pip there, sometimes 20… Or more… I don’t intentionally look to scalp, but it is often that way.

The idea with this thread is not to try to convert anyone to my style of trading, or yours, if you’re a scalper too. But rather dispel a few myths I have seen, and share a few trade ideas.

My basic premise is to enter trade setup with what I feel is the highest probability of a quick profit, but with hopes of a promise for more.

I’m not a 30 trade a day guy, maybe 10 though. The time I find the most productive is the Asian session. It also fits my time constraints.

I look for a few setups that occur quite regularly, I’ll get into those later.
I’ll also be posting up an almost blown demo account, (reasons it was almost blown are related to technology failure) so you can see trades happen. My live account does not use MT4, and is somewhat archaic in comparison, so the demo suits our needs better.

Here’s my routine.

#1: Start the trading day by looking at the daily chart. ALWAYS.
#2: Check announcements looking for high impact events.
#3: See what the last 24 hours looked like on a 15 minute chart, and then where price is in relation to that.
#4 Pick the pair with the most activity I look at 3. E/U, G/U, and U/J. Whichever of the 3 had the most movement, especially if it’s a range, I’m there. For a while at least;).

When I look at the daily, I’m looking for the way it shaped up to the days preceding, and what the candles are doing.

I’ll note the announcements, and keep an eye on the clock if I’m contemplating a trade near one. If the announcements are high impact, there is usually a decrease in trading prior to the announcement anyway, so that somewhat negates trading possibilities for a bit. If it’s a medium impact or lower, I trade as usual.

I use the minute chart, with a lot of toggles to the 15 minute, and 1 hour chart.
I’ll mark the day’s high, low, and notable recent s/r lines on the hour chart, and pay attention as price approaches those on the 1 minute.

I trade usually in the direction of the day’s trend, with occasional glances at the longer times looking for retraces, or continuation patterns.

If I go counter trend, I look for a quick in/out. If I get in with the trend, I’ll try to let it run.

I use one indicator, a simple ma 5 set for the open, mostly for direction on the hour chart. I will trade against it if the setup is strong enough.

TBC

:slight_smile:

2

Where is the A D D part?

3

Wanna go ride a bike?

:smiley:

4

The ADD part comes in with short term trades.

In…
Out…

Done. Where’s the beer?

I don’t like waiting for hours on a setup. Gimme a trade… NOW!:smiley:

5

so how is it working?

I have a similar trading style. I look to the daily and 1hr chart to pick pairs and direction. I trade mostly retraces I see happening or likely to happen on the longer time frames. I look at the 5 min and 15 min for entry I aim for 8 to 10 pips but will hold out for more I do use a tp but its usually at 20 to 30 pips, if a spike happens in my favor I don’t want a small tp to limit my profit.

I will trade in one direction at a time. I often get my 8 or so pips put them in the bank price retraces starts to go my way again and I get to put the same 8 pips in the bank again. I take about 10 trades a day. I have done quite well like this.

I have found a lot of what is said about scalping is not true. A few things that are true is money management and discipline are key. One bad trade due to poor judgment, greed, broker issues, or technological problems can wipe out lots of hard work and screen time. To be successful in the long run some stop has to be used even if its an oh crap stop. Individual trades have to kept small enough that a bad loss even one made worse by things like tech problems or a temporary spread spike doesn’t cause emotional trading.

How do you handle stops and MM?

My method only works if I don’t deviate from a few simple MM and trade size rules. I have found its true about the “noise” on short time frames any good scalping method must deal with that in some way I think I am even using it to my advantage. Most never risk more than 2% trade with the trend when indi a turns green and indi b is lower than indi c kind of methods that might work on a longer time frame will be a disaster below 1hr. The trend might be your friend but the spread sure isn’t.

I hope that post is not to long Master if you need to take a break and hav a beer or take a ride on your bike I will understand:D

6

Working well:D

Been at it for a long time, and it’s only really started to gel in the last year.
I’ve been with one broker, and one platform for both demo and live almost the whole time, and just started learning to use MT4 around the holidays. My broker made it available around Thanksgiving, but I really kinda still like the old one. It sets s/l and t/p with one click of the button. MT4 is a bit of a pain. Plus I can click and drag my stop loss there, and can’t in MT4.

On the live account, I use a 100 pip each way s/l t/p, but the second a trade moves into positive territory by 3 to 4 pips, I place a new s/l at spread + 1.

The “noise” is where I like to be. I’ll take 1 or two pips 10 times a night no problem. I’ll up my lot sizes, and pick them off one by one. Funny how pips can add up even though the market doesn’t really go anywhere.