Thank you Jocelyn for highlighting that, ill keep at it.
Nice trade there Tony, are you looking at the 1.8300 zone as a minor support level. Iāve actually had to zoom out to the weekly to pick a level where i might want to consider halving my position.
Hi George, long time no hear. Hope you are well. Nearest level I have is 8100 on the weekly from 2004-2006 so will simply trail after it rather than set a target (unless I cant stand unrealised profits any longer!). Chart on my other computer so will post separately
Cheers Tony, Yeah i havenāt been posting of late, the posts from the regular contributors is so concise that there really isnāt much for me to add. Plus i dont have as many questions as i used to, iāve found a method that works for me based along the principles of this thread. I have all you to thank for that.
Yeah i have that level marked, i was just thinking since its a good 400 pips from my entry and last region of interest, price may find a temporary level to take a breather at before continuing its decent to the 1.8100 level.
I will give this a shot, I think the ideas brought to light in this thread, Though originally started on James 40 -100 pip thread, Are to allow us to become superior traders. (I) Me Believe the originators of these ideas trade long term positions, and knowing what is , has and might happen is key. So some sort of notes must be maintained to progress with the currency of choice.
A trading plan should be your starting point, Where would I get in , Why would I get in , What would I use (signal) to get in. Also just as and more important which must of us including myself. After I am in where to call it a lose ( setting your stop loss),where could I add to my Wining position ( never add to a loser to make up your loss , you only lose more ) and Where to take some of my position away to protect what I have gained.
So going by this ALL those questions should be written down before hand, and if possible any fundamentals that you might beaware of that could swing your trade. And at intervals throughout the life of your trade, Everything should be gone over again and updated.
This is the way we can trade and not just stumble through the dark. As we do all this we slowly become more in tune with the charts and start making the right choices by nature and it becomes easier.
And by doing this we can see where we made the wrong choice (examples It wasnāt a bottom or top so I got stopped out, I didnāt take some position away and it turned and I lost all my profits , I didnāt move my stop loss once in profit and lost some of my intial equity, ) With a good plan you will learn quicklly what to look for and hopefully start making less errors. Trading is never 100 % or everyone would be a winner. But we are on the right track on this thread. As this is really the basicsā¦ seems complicated but if there was a school I think this is were they would start. After BabyPips of courseā¦
Just my 2 centsā¦ Great trading to allā¦:rolleyes:
Made my first trade tonight using only s/r lines. The news today forced gbp/usd price action through an s/r line that had come into play a few years back and then again a few hours earlier. After the news, price action made a slightly lazy attempt to retrace, so I just waited, I think 6 hours to be exact. Finally on the 15 min chart there was a test that was rejected, and than again a retest. I went short and took 20 pips with a tight stop up above the s/r. 2r trade, not great but was more interested in the concept than the gain.
Not a huge gain after waiting all day for a comfortable setup but it does wonders for confidence.
Thanks all who contribute, I plan on reading through the thread again and pulling out the important posts so I can have them handy for a re-read every now and again.
[B]Jimmy Jones[/B]: Made my first trade tonight using only s/r linesā¦ I went short and took 20 pips with a tight stop up above the s/r. 2r trade, not great but was more interested in the concept than the gain.
Congrats Jimmy! I started incorporating this methodology into my trading plan a couple of weeks ago and have seen a great improvement!
Re trade documentation ā¦
Interesting ā¦ JimmyMac and Kenneth Lee have almost opposite points of view on this ā¦
I see JMās point ā¦ if your trading plan is in place, you donāt need excessive documentation and post-game analytics ā¦ but, on the other handā¦
Kenneth has a lot of validity, especially for newer traders. As I was reading his post, I was thinking ā¦ maybe write out a set of questions/criteria that can be answered with a simple yes, no, or a check mark ā¦ and print it out, one set of questions to a page and then use one page for each new trade.
That way you would have a quick way of ācheckingā that the trade you are about to take will meet your (already defined) criteriaā¦
Probably too basic an idea for the pros, but for newbies ā¦ could be useful.
I still would like more input from seasoned traders ā¦ do you document each trade and if so, why? And, briefly ā¦ how?
What Ive been doing is taking a screen shot when I enter a trade and saving it to a separate folder on my harddrive. Then, in notepad, I comment why I took the trade. Later when the trade is finished, I take another screen shot and update the notepad file with the results. This way I have a before & after picture. Sometimes Iāll do this if Iām unsure about a trade and didnāt enter, but still curious if it would have worked out. I try to name the screen shots and txt files the same using yymmdd.time.pair for a naming convention ie 080826.1500.eurusd.bmp & same for the txt file
Thatās a great idea ā¦ having a before and after visual ā¦ and should take just a few moment to do, so not interrupting the trading. Thanks for sharing that (I just added to your rep)
I took this trade because it failed to close beyond the 1.4806 level i had marked. i entered below the rejection candle on the 1hr chart. Since im new to this type of trading i was wondering whether my analysis was correct. Does this sort of behaviour happen often and is it indicative of a reversal.
Below is what i was looking at just after i took the trade
You correctly identified an area of obvious near-term support & resistance & marked it up for reference.
Judging by the fact you executed a āshortā trade, I guess you already established that the bigger picture was biased to the bearish on this pair.
Then you waited until price began showing signs of weakness before stepping in & executing your trade. You got a signal to go, according to your set-up/triggersā¦& youāve got a clear area above the zone to hide your emergency stop in case it fails to go your way.
In my book, thatās a pretty cool gig!! 
Well done!
Iāve added a 4 hour chart just to amplify your reasoning & to show the clear s&r flip zone which you accurately identified. The 15min reference over the past few days again very clearly highlights the lower risk/higher reward option which you nailed.
Keep thinking & planning along those lines & youāll begin to weight the odds firmly in your favor over the long haul 
Great trade.
Thanks Jocelyn, I was a spectator today. Looking at the cable, price seemed very volatile around the 1.8300 mark. Had i taken the rejection candle that occurred at 9am gmt i probably would have been stopped out. In such situations how do you negotiate a trade such as this?
Hey guys, i have a few points i need clearing up. Im starting to believe that is the level not the candlestick pattern that is important. Once i start looking for dojis, IB & OB they can be found everywhere but i low risk trade occurs when a trigger occurs at a level thats in play, is this a correct assumption?
This leads to my second question, do you only look at and trigger trades based on levels from the higher timeframes? Sometimes important levels can be a few hundred pips away. Do you play minor s/r levels in the direction of the main flow or is it better to stick to the major levels?
The following screenshots illustrate my point, we have a resistance line at 1.4806 but we also have a zone around 1.4685-1.4670 thats slap bang in the middle of my levels of interest, would engaging on and around the zone be seen as a high risk entry?
Thanks
pipvader,
youāve more or less answered your own question 
The candles or bars are merely representations of activity. Theyļæ½re the result of the [B]collective[/B] underlying psychology of the participants at that specific juncture. Note the word [B]collective[/B].
All these dojiļæ½s, spinning tops, bearish/bullish engulfing bars, hammers, inside-outside prints etc are simply the visual aids you use to determine whether or not youļæ½re prepared to take action at a specific level or zone. The higher up the timeframe scale they print, (generally) the more influence they exert.
Your next piece of the confirming visual aid puzzle is the near & mid-term support & resistance zones. Together, they offer you a little more clarity & focus. Combine the two & you got the guts of a half decent plan.
Youļæ½re going to identify layers of s&r zones up & down the ladder. These will be evident across all the timeframe references.
[U]If your plan or template calls for you act on & around these minor points of interaction, then as long as you can justify your risk for that particular trade, youļæ½re good to go.[/U]
Part of that risk will include the conditions weļæ½re currently trading under. Are we embedded within a confirmed trend run? Is price bouncing between clear range boundaries? Is it merely a consolidation or basing phase? These conditions will assist in influencing your decision.
Do you see what Iļæ½m getting at? My view wonļæ½t necessarily mirror yours. I got a couple different set ups & triggers for varying market conditions. Doesnļæ½t mean I always take the trade, but I can at least consider the options.
To directly answer the 2nd paragraph of your question:
yes, I will take on trades from both sides of the s&r spectrum. If I can identify a decent risk based opportunity from a close quarter or minor s&r zone then Iļæ½ll take it on. Given the fact the Euro is still adhering to a bearish trend bias, & there are no conflicting signs via the larger timeframes, then Iļæ½d only be looking for ļæ½shortsļæ½ on this pair.
Regards your second question in the final paragraph: see the [U]underlined item[/U] back up the post.
You should have an action plan firmly in place, married to the current market conditions every time you sit in front of your technical charts.
If you donļæ½t & your focus is blurred, then the result will likely be tentative, nervy decision making. If the conditions call for you to sit aside until the price action matches your plan or preferred mode of execution ļæ½ then thatļæ½s what you need to do. Patience & discipline wins this game.
You canļæ½t trade everything on every timeframe unless youļæ½re set up to do so.
Hope this helps.
If your primary timeframe is the 15min, then yes.
What youļæ½re essentially attempting to do with this exercise is use the dominant momentum to place you to the correct (current) side of the money flow. This is fine whilst a visible trend is in place of course. But thatās for another post
So, as an example: if the 1 hour frame is showing clear, obvious lower lows & lower highs & this is confirming the general trending motion on the 4 hour, then you might want to focus your attention to locating [B]ļæ½shortingļæ½ [/B]opportunities via your primary (15min) timeframe.
Iāll try haul up more examples of this type of scenario to clarify further if it will help?
Donāt overcomplicate it. Problems tend to surface when folks get all freaked out & cloud the waters with too much content.
If you can easily identify a trend or at least a [B][U]bias[/U][/B] of some description on say a 4 hour or 1 hour timeframe, then the road of least resistance is to allow that bias to sweep you along via your smaller trigger (15min) timeframeā¦& that will come into play by focusing on the appropriate IB & Stochs signals on that 15min frame.
Hope this helps, if notā¦ask more questions!!
Questions are free - the only cost is time
This is my first analysis after reading Tessās thread. I done my analysis on a 4hr and 1 hr charts and trade on a 15 mins chart. A chart of the GBP/USD 4 hrs:
I have mark out the relevant s/r levels. First level is 1.8324, followed 1.8404 & 1.8527. There is also a downsloping trendline marked in red. Now I will wait and see whether price can break above the downsloping trendline and reach the first s/r level. If it reaches the first s/r level what will it do? If it resists the downsloping trendline and James IB/OB setup occurs on the 15 mins chart, I will take a trade. I like to know what do the teachers in this thread think of my analysis? Hope to receive guidance.
I have mark out the relevant s/r levels. First level is 1.8324, followed 1.8404 & 1.8527. There is also a downsloping trendline marked in red. Now I will wait and see whether price can break above the downsloping trendline and reach the first s/r level. If it reaches the first s/r level what will it do? If it resists the downsloping trendline and James IB/OB setup occurs on the 15 mins chart, I will take a trade. I like to know what do the teachers in this thread think of my analysis? Hope to receive guidance.[/quote]
Ray
OK you have identified an area of interest. I would say it is at 8240-8330 or thereabouts. Question is what will you do if we get there? You should have a plan for both long and short (although you may decide at the time not to implement one or the other or both). What about if it carries on down tomorrow what is your plan then. Remember the plan incorporates your action tigger, stop, position size, fundamentals (especially news) and perhaps action on other pairs to guage the relative strength of the 2 currencies
Tony, thanks for the guidance. It seems that i am wrong as I only mark out the reisistance and leave out the support level. So I will analyze as:Since the general trend is down from the look of a 4hr and daily charts, I will look for short trades.
1)If price retraces back to the first resistance level and get resisted, I will wait for an IB/OB to form on the 15 mins chart and get in.
2) If price breaks the first resistance level, I will continue to observe it and see whether it can break another resistance level.
3) If price continues to drop and move to the support level marked on a weekly chart, when price breaks the support level, I will wait for a retrace back and get in. If price gets support, I will wait for it to rise towards the resistance level.
So what do the teachers think of my analysis?
If you actually isolate & strip back much of what these guyļæ½s post up with their charts & commentary, youļæ½ll see that theyļæ½re constantly waiting for price to test or confirm a potential bias.
Thatļæ½s kind of what youļæ½re referring to in your post right there.
Itļæ½s all very well having your support & resistance levels plotted or your trendline, fibonacci or pivot levels annotated on your charts, but if you donļæ½t allow price to actually prove itļæ½s intent or test these price assistors before engaging, then you might as well not use them in the first place.
The central theme of their analysis & trade planning revolves around the process of intent & confirmation. In order for them to execute away from one of their support or resistance zones, they require price to test or confirm itļæ½s intent. The reason they adopt that practice is to help reduce the possible occurances of false breakouts, continuations & reversals.
It doesnļæ½t mean theyļæ½ll be totally immune from those instances, but at least they wonļæ½t be trading blind.
You can use that principle across whatever technical tools you choose to utilize.