Monkey See, Monkey Do

Hi Trader:

Here’s my plan for Wednesday…

First choice: Short GBP/USD Enter @1.9425, Exit @1.9350 or hopefully all the way down to 1.9300

Second choice: Short EUR/CAD Enter @ 1.5325, Exit @1.5275 or hopefully all the down to 1.5250

These are from two separate sources Babypips’ Pick of the Day and Elang’s post. You may want to personally read what these two gents have written. Possibly you’ll come up with a conclusion different from mine.

Hi Trader:

By the way, if you happen to know of any email lists, web sites or self proclaimed FOREX wizards that offer free advice regarding which pair(s) to trade please post that information here. The preference is to find the free (even a free one week or so trial is helpful) one’s that send you an email each trading day. Afterall that’s what Monkey See, Monkey Do is based on. :smiley:

I hear these comments all the time and they bother me a lot. It represents the inherent distrustfulness that so many market participants have. Certainly, skepticism is good and healthy, but I would really love to see traders act more cooperatively than they do.

How do you know that these system vendors aren’t actually trading their own systems? Maybe they are. Or maybe selling the system is a way to build trading funds. There’s also the system developer who is good at coming up with good strategies and methods, but is a poor trader when it comes to execution. There are plenty of folks like that. My point is, system vendors are not necessarily greedy folks just out to make a quick buck - though I’m sure there are some of them in the business too.

That all said, the biggest problem with this whole game of folks buying systems and whatnot is that they go into the thing completely blind. They don’t know what they should be looking for, or even if they should be looking at all.

For example, there are tons of day trading systems out there, but how many people really have the ability (or inclination) to be day traders? That a disconnect. There are tons of forex systems, but many people are better off in stocks.

Even if a trader isn’t going to actually develop their own trading system/method, they should still go through an assessment process as if they were. That will allow them to at get an understanding of which direction they should go.

By the way, if you happen to know of any email lists, web sites or self proclaimed FOREX wizards that offer free advice regarding which pair(s) to trade please post that information here.

I used to use e-forex.ro daily EURUSD trade recommendations sent at 7:00am GMT, I hope this is not a spam.

Hi Trader:

Here’s another free service that sends trade recommendations “PipsandTips.com” These people seem to be reasonably accurate, really simple and straight forward. All you receive is a short email with a link. Click the link and you’ll find yourself on a web page with a nice little caption that says whether you should go long or short with whatever pair they’ve picked. They show the enter, stop and a couple exit prices. They also state whether the trade is still going on or if it’s over.

Today’s trade, buy EUR/USA and it shot up over 1.3000, was fantastic. However, I didn’t get to my email soon enough and only got in on the tail of a heart thumpin’ ride.

On another pair…

Guess I misunderstood Elang’s post about GBP/USD. I thought the instructions were to ride it up to about 1.9700 if it made it up into the neighborhood of 1.9450. I entered at 1.9500 and at the time of this writing am hoping she climbs from there.

Stress…

I can’t beleive how much less my stress level is since I woke up and stopped entering into any one trade with more than 1% of my account. Now it’s like nothing can go wrong, and even if it does the repercussions are seemingly miniscule :eek:

If they are referring to EUR/USD as EUR/USA alarm bells go off in my head. If you are a signal service, you should at least get the market nomenclature right.

Hi RhodyTrader:

That error was the result of one of my brain cramps not theirs. Not to worry though, I don’t intend to become a signal service. Thanks for posting! :o

Hi Trader:

Here’s another free signal service that I use. The bold text below is a copy and paste from a free signal services’ email that was sent to me. As you can see it’s rather recent and may be worth your while to run a few charts off this information.

[B]Cindy’s 1-11 10:14am EST signal


If this is your first signal please read my site first on how my
signals work:
Top Forex Review

Here is the new signal:
Buy GBP/JPY at current price of 233.86
Stop: Open
Target: 237.80
Margin: 4% if you are in the GBP/USD trade below. Use 8% margin if you are not in the trade
below.

Our target was hit on this signal sent about two weeks ago resulting is a
188 pip profit:
Buy: GBP/JPY at 231.94
Stop: Open
Target: 233.82
Margin: 4% if you are in the trade below. Use 8% margin if you are not in the trade
below.

That shows why it is important to be patient and hold the given targets.

I’m still in this trade that I sent a few days back, you can enter now at a better
price of 1.9412 if you want.
Buy: GBP/USD at 1.9686 (this was my entry price a few weeks back)
Stop: Open
Target: 1.9770
Margin: 10% (this is the biggest margin I have ever given on my
free signals because it is such a close target)

I had a few of you email me about it when we were down a little you must understand
that these are swing signals (may take up to 10 weeks) not day trading signals.

The signals are sent in real time by email so make sure to take off any
spam blocking of my email address. Also I only send them in them in the
NY or afternoon session (up to 11pm EST), so don’t worry about ever
needing to get up in the middle of the night. Also when I say 4%
margin that means trade 4 lots if you have a $100,000 account, or 4
mini lots if you have a $10,000 account. I do not place stops but
will let you know if I am stopped out. Since starting in July 2006
(It’s now November) I am 15 for 18 in calling winning trades, but that
is no guarantee of future results. If you don’t like swing trading
signals please don’t sign up. I never send day trade signals.
My average hold time is 6 days per trade, but I’ve held some up to 90 days.[/B]

Hi Trader:

Here is another trade from our very own BabyPips.com Blog…

Short EURCAD at 1.5140, stop at 1.5180, pt1 at 1.5110, pt2 at 1.5060. I entered at 1.5146 and hope to ride it down to the 1.5060 PT. The chart looks like all systems are a go for this maneuver :cool:

Maybe I’m missing something obvious here.

Is your basic strategy to gather a whole load of different signals from various sources and then pick and choose which ones to follow?

Or is there some method in deciding which signals to follow?

How can you determine whether the way you pick signals is getting better or worse (i.e. how can you track your performance beyond what your bottom line is)?

Hi Colin:

You seem to have a firm grasp of the marrow of Monkey See, Monkey Do. On a daily basis signals are accumulated from free sources. Signals are compiled from other traders who post their information within this forum, BabyPips.com’s blog and from whatever free signal services willing to email out their trading advice to me.

The data derived from each source is compared with what other sources have recommended for that same trading day.

Here’s what is taken into consideration before any money is shot off into cyber space on someone else’s speculation… (Actually, I’m happy you asked about this because it forces me to review my logic and checks & balances imposed as support of my methods of madness :confused: )

  1. Is the source providing the information good at what they are doing? Are they making money? Are the trades they are recommending usually successful? If not I won’t make any money on their advice. Success breeds success. If you want to be rich follow around a rich person and do whatever they did to build wealth (yes, of course, provided it was legal and so forth, blah, blah, blah…) WAIT A MINUTE! WE COULD CALL SOMETHING LIKE THAT - MONKEY SEE, MONKEY DO!!

  2. Is the information the source provides understandable? If I can’t figure out what they’re trying to tell me to do - what good is their info? Some people state what pair to trade and where to enter a trade if the price goes above or below a specified number. Combine that with the time you found the information (it’s usually emailed, there’s frequently a time zone different to consider and you may not always be able to check your email as frequently as you’d like) :mad:

I like it when I’m simply told what price to enter the trade at, whether I should buy or sell the pair and where I should exit the trade. I’m not a “HEAR ME ROAR” type of person, I’m a “WANNA BE RICH” type of person. Not a lot of pride woven into my method, just the bare continuously on-the-surface-fact that I want to be rich. I can look at a chart and figure out if I missed a preferred entry point. If the entry point has been missed, by factoring in the suggested exit point, I can do the math and see if the trade is still worth pursuing.

  1. Is the source normally in sync with what other’s are predicting? This part is neither a cut and dried nor black and white issue. I have to actually think here :frowning: In a trading prediction posted shortly above where you posted your message, I placed a trade recommendation from a lady named Cindy. Cindy states right up front that if she doesn’t have something abnormally lucrative and exceedingly likely to execute-as-planned she isn’t going to bother sending anything out.

In regards to what she suggested I, admittedly, blindly followed her recommendation. She offered up GBP/USD. I hopped in, as she recommended, at about 1.9490 and totally blew a part my own hard and fast rule of never putting more than 1% of my money on any one trade. She said to go with 10% - and I did. When the market closed for the week on Friday evening I had gained close to 100 pips in my favor! Fortunately, I followed her advice to a tee. Fortunately, I made a typing error and went with 12% instead of 10%. You could consider this trade to be more like a 1200 pip increase in my favor since I normally stick with the 1% rule. Of course, that is kind of stretching logic and the truth since the pair moved about 100 pips not 1200.

The following bold text was her advice on GBP/JPY, which I also followed exactly as she recommended. I used the 4% idea too and made out extraordinarily well!

[B]Here is the new signal:
Buy GBP/JPY at current price of 233.86
Stop: Open
Target: 237.80
Margin: 4% if you are in the GBP/USD trade below. Use 8% margin if you are not in the trade
below.

Our target was hit on this signal sent about two weeks ago resulting is a
188 pip profit:
Buy: GBP/JPY at 231.94
Stop: Open
Target: 233.82
Margin: 4% if you are in the trade below. Use 8% margin if you are not in the trade
below.[/B]

I felt, having dealt with this person before that I could trust her judgement - and won. Could it have gone the other way - OH YEAH BABY! I took an educated, well thought through trade from a credible person and worked it more like a gamble and won. This was great, I’m happy about it. At the same time, even though I won and made a good sum of money, I hope I can resist weaking again and put 10% or even 4% of my trading funds on one trade. In retrospect, even though I won, I was an absolute idiot to have taken such a risk.

I also read the BabyPips.com blog (they send me email updates too) and got the idea to short EUR/CAD. I messed up and entered at 1.5140 and exited at 1.5136. I misread their recommendation and entered far too late. When I realized what I had done, the pips were in my favor by +4, I managed to exit with a few additional pips in spite of the fact I was a dummy and wasn’t paying attention as acutely as one should when trading.

Call me lucky… “HI LUCKY!!” :smiley:

Do I read charts and watch the news? Yes, indeed my friend, I do. Confidentially - just between you, me and the crowd that reads these treads I do pick many of my own trades and execute them. However, I look at my recommendations as just one more free signal source and compare my trading ideas to everyone else’s for the grand conclusion of what pair to trade and how to trade it.

Hey llh - like what you’re doing here, seem to be an honest guy with good intentions. And the fact you pick Elang’s trades out as good examples shows you recognise someone who knows their apples as he undoubtedly does (not often he’s wrong as his system and info is great). Not so sure about the swing trades with open stops mind you, as we know this can be dangerous and might be worth mentioning this for the benefit of those who may just be starting out on their Forex journeys and perhaps will enter these trades without really considering what they are doing!! I will be keeping up with this thread for sure!!

Hi Shandy:

Thank you for posting on Monkey See, Monkey Do. Your considerate words are much appreciated as well :slight_smile:

Regarding the mention of stop losses on this tread, you are absolutely correct, they are essential. If someone takes it upon them self to knowingly falter and sway from their use, a decided error may cloud that trader’s day. I support the use of stop losses even though it appears that they aren’t always factored into all trades.

And now, due to no fault of your own, you are destined to read what surfaces when my mind starts to wonder beyond the immediate discussion…

While listening to one of G. Gordon Liddy’s radio programs he made a memorable statement. In response to a listener’s phoned in comment (the actual comment has no bearing here) he replied; humankind has two primary purposes, procreate and educate. I found that statement remarkable. No longer will I nor should I procreate, however, the ability to educate still ranks highly on my agenda - even if it’s only to provide small tokens of wisdom here and there such as my opinion on the importance of a well placed stop loss. By educating, in whatever subject afforded, I can still in a small way leave my foot prints in the shifting sands of time.

The aforementioned sentence may sound overly dramatic regarding our seemingly insignificant conversation, but if you think about it educating is outrageously vital to each potential receiver.

Hi Trader:

In case you haven’t heard, GPB/USD is climbing the wall again! Actually GPB/JPY and GPB/CHF have done a bang up job as well. Right now they are all really close friends of mine :smiley:

Hi Trader:

Recommended trade EUR/USD:

Short in the 1.2945 area, stop above 1.2980, objectives at and below 1.2880.

Did USD/JPY surprise us or what! It climbed from around 120.24 all the way up to 10 pips shy of 121. The most exciting part for me was that as soon as I bought short @120.24, it began its resistance bugling climb. For me, it certainly wasn’t a recipe for the good kind of excitement.

:o

Hi Trader:

Here’s another vote for shorting EUR/USD :wink:
Short EUR/USD; enter @1.2908; S/L @1.2923; Exit @1.2898

Best of luck on all your trades!

whatever happened to monkey see, monkey do?

how on earth did this thread get 5 stars???

Interesting thread but where has he disappeared?

May I ask what makes you say that? It seems like it could be a pretty sound method to me. Just wondering if I’m missing something :slight_smile: