I ended up cancelling my NZDJPY trade and wanted to take a higher probability trade on the retracement of the AUD/USD. There have been no changes to the fundamentals of the AU economy, gold or US economy from what I know, and therefore found it a high probability trade. I also, took off my USDCHF as it was betting against my AUD/USD trade.
AUD/USD
The good thing now is that i consider the currency correlation of my trades, 
the BOJ kept their interest rates at -0.1%, which was bearish on the USD, I’ll wait until 3 pm to enter a trade after the effects of interest rates. What I noticed is that every little change in each major economy affects the US and every other major economy. When one major economy moves it has ripple affects on the other economy.
A lot to learn, but gradually I’ll grasp the idea and get better at trading.
I actually took a position based on a 1 to 1 RRR, since the BOJ outlook and monetary policy statement seems good. I waited till it reached a good spot to match my S/L and a decent spot for T/P. I believed it was a high probability trade and the MA is heading downwards also.
The next economic data for JPY to release is in one hour + one hour and a half and need to be careful with my JPY trade that is currently open.
@Ben1987
JUST AN OBSERVATION…
I notice YOU ALWAYS only use 1 Chart Window at a time
Have you considered Multiple at a time for Correlation
now it looks like your interfacing through Oanda Webtrader,
so they may not have the ability to do that
have you tried this as an idea
Trade the way you are trading, but have another tool open PURELY FOR ANALYSIS AND MONITORING
the tool i would suggest (that i am not an affiliate of , and that i use myself regularly) and it’s free and there are no catches
you do need to create a free account, but thats it
it’s called NETDANIA NETSTATION
here’s a link
it’s confusing at first
but go in, Create a profile after you’ve logged in
a profile is a tab
then practice adding stuff to it , like calender or charts do that to begin with
later you can get into more technical things
here’s the link
click the button to launch the netstation
it has cool features like c-trader , like detaching charts
but does so much more
now if you like it, be aware at one stage you can download java and let it run from you desktop directly
i recommend give it a try.
i constantly here you saying things like… i don’t what this will do or what that will do
well… maybe if you had more charts open you’ll be more equipped to make that decision
in my own experience, i found when i start working correlating pairs, i took a step up by a few notches… definitely
i reckon check it out and see how it goes
the whole single chart trading thing, will only take you so far.
let me know how it goes
Thank you Martin, I’ll definitely give it a shot and look at it later tonight. I am starting to understand why you guys go for more a swing trader and technical approach when it comes to trading. Good News usually puts the pips slightly up or down depending on the impact but rarely changes market sentiment or market trend unless it’s a huge impact. I am devising a trade plan while I gain practical experience and it’ll probably be a while before I can fully make it profitable.
It’s more of a hybrid type of trading involving scalping, day trading and swing trading. The later I neeed to incorporate definitely. I think for swing trading a more technical approach is important with some fundamental understandings useful.
ATM my thoughts on how to approach my trading is:
Not to open too many USD trades at once, consider EURO and yen crosses.
Plan my trades around economic events because they do tend to strongly affect my pip value on my S/L and T/P when I am day trading. I usually have S/l of 15-20 to T/P of 18-24.
If I can get in early on an economic event that I know I can profit, I’ll take a scalper approach in my trading, take what you can.
I need to experiment with swing trading, where I’ll use H4 & D1 to approach my decision. I have never swing trade but I assume a S/L of 50-60 and T/P of 80-100 could be a good amount over a 3-5 day period. Also, it will make me take a more technical approach to my trading which I should consider actually.
I definitely need to combine all three approaches to maximise my earning potential. Once I start practicing swing trading, I’ll be able to see on a longer term which will improve my trading.
I have a slight idea on scalping and day trading, however, swing trading makes me uncomfortable and I know it’ll probably be the most beneficial experience, I’ll gain but I am leaving it to last 
.
I am calling it a day
I lost on my USDJPY trade because i read the news wrong, they’re going to continue using monetary easing even thought there are signs of an economic recovery!
Anyways, I lost -$1.45
[quote=“Ben1987, post:156, topic:128536”]
I am starting to understand why you guys go for more a swing trader and technical approach when it comes to trading. Good News usually puts the pips slightly up or down depending on the impact but rarely changes market sentiment or market trend unless it’s a huge impact. I am devising a trade plan while I gain practical experience and it’ll probably be a while before I can fully make it profitable. [/quote]
If that is the only thing to take from this past month, it is a month well spent.
This is one of those things that makes sense, but doesn’t actually work out particularly well in real life.
I know that you have already seen my post on this subject, but it might be worth reading again. Building a trading plan takes time, especially when you probably still need to pin down which indicators your plan will be based on. In my experience, at least, it takes months of intensive back-testing, forward-testing and tweaking to build a plan that you’d actually want to go live with.
Spreading your efforts across three separate strategies on three completely different timescales means each plan is going to take that much longer to build, and that much longer to refine. In practice, it is going to take you longer to become profitable, and getting profitable ASAP is the name of the game. Once you have a proven money-maker, then you can take some time building additional plans in your spare time.
Having watched you trade, I’d say you are prone to burst of intensive trading, you like short trades and you like even shorter stops. Take a look at the M5 or the M15 to see if either of those suit you. If they do, see if you can build a plan that focuses on them.
Ben, what is happening to you has happened many guys when learning, death by 1000 cuts - shortish stops getting hit often.
Think about mixing FA with TA - for example on your USDJPY chart, see the little flat area that closed out Firday - end of week, guys going off to bars/home etc, not much price action - wonder what is being set up for Monday - then have a look at your stoch indie - any clue there, can that help you think about direction Monday morning.
Then again the FA, USD is wobbly, so nothing wrong with your thinking re JPY, but again check out what happened after your trade, a Double top formed - not unusual in FX to see price move against the FA to form a DT or hit a previous level, then maybe set an order below the level - SL above it.
Guys had bought the little flat area (ref Friday) with stops under, MM’s tried to reach some of those yesterday, they will do it today - therefore that would have been your trade - tight SL long TP.
Also Eur/Usd and Usd/Chf - often they will mirror each other intraday.
Yes, combining all three Technical, fundamentals and sentiment is crucial, you are right.
Yep - they’ve taken those stops just now the aim is for below 110.30 - many guys will be happy with the 50 or so pips, others will hang in.
Yes, I agree, swing trading is not within my comfort zone and most likely I am more suited as a scalper trader, actually. However, I want to incorporate swing trading into my trading to put more emphasis on technical analysis and overall trend of the market.
This is for me to get a greater understanding of the market, and also, I don’t expect to be profitable for the first 6 months. I’ll rather lose now than lose continuously in the future.
I want to know everything about the forex market, when to switch to become a scalper, day trader or swing trader. I think it’s possible if I plan to stick around forex forever to incorporate my ideas, who knows, I might change my opinion after more experience.
Another note, I see my mistakes as futile to my overall goal in forex ATM and just focusing on practical experience and the process in becoming good later. Also, Personality wise I am more of a discretionary trader rather than a systematic trader. I find it hard to stick to a very systematic approach because IMO a candlestick signal can mean that the time limit of the candlestick just formed at the right time. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t take candlestick reading lightly, however, I prefer to look at how are the bulls and bears acting on the candlestick in the market, what is affecting these prices to move in the direction it’s going, what psychological T/P or S/L that I need to put into consideration which is market sentiment and all these things I consider are price action signals for me, which I should probably type up on a trade plan actually.
In the end, I don’t want to be profitable ASAP and skip my learning in forex but be consistently profitable year after year after year. 
Traders who expect the markets to conform to their personality are called failed traders. Profitable traders are traders who become who the market demands that they be.
I cannot emphasis this enough. The market does not care what you want, or how you think things should work. You either adapt your psychology and your behaviours to suit the market, or you lose your investment capital.
This is a very frustrating comment. You seem to think that failing more will make you a better trader, but practicing failing strategies only makes you better at failing strategies. Do you practice drowning over and over again before learning to swim?
I know you are worried about ‘missing out’ on some key knowledge by being successful to early - is that really a thing? - but this is like saying you don’t want to learn to drive until you have qualified as a mechanic. Not only is becoming a mechanic completely unnecessary, but you would actually be better mechanic if you knew how to drive because it would give you context for what you are learning.
You will learn more from your first profitable month than from six months of losses. Remember - profitability is not the ‘end game’. It is the beginning of the game. Playing the tutorial for longer than necessary doesn’t help you in the long run.
As I was typing this, a thought struck me. Are you sure of your motives? This rather feels like you are coming up with excuses to avoid truly testing yourself. After all, losing doesn’t count if you are not really trying, right? 
Yes, the market markets probably made their move to do some stop-loss hunting, however, if the FA is not good on behalf of JPY overall, shouldn’t I be entering a trade now, long to take advantage of a reset back to the correct fundamentals. Plus the news was actually confusing monetary easing even though they have expectations of economic growth for this year.
I don’t expect the market to conform to my ways of thinking, A discretionary trader is someone that bases his decisions on current market conditions. Whether if it’s ranging, trending or even news events. Also, I am pretty sure there are certain market conditions that are more suited for a Scalper, Day or Swing trader approach if I am not mistaken.
Hence, why I said I want to learn on how to be a Scalper, day and Swing trader because I am changing my personality to suit the market. I want to be an all’rounder for all market conditions.
I also believe you take “discretionary” as a bad indicator of being unsuccessful trading, But being a discretionary trader you have to follow the news continuously to avoid short S/L or over the top T/P (which I am making mistakes on and definitely want to improve on), trying to read price action, understand market sentiment, look at psychological T/P or S/L areas, look at candlestick patterns and try to follow the overall trend of the market.
I just see losing as a learning experience; I have a lot of ideas that I want to test on the Forex market with serious intentions of making money, of course. If I didn’t take it seriously, I wouldn’t have controlled risk management 
I only have been trading for close to three weeks I believe with real money, I do have a book journal I write in that I do not show on the online forum, a structured thought process that I consider in my trades which I call “trading approach”, so I am pretty serious about this forex business.
I am just realistic and I believe 80% of my trade ideas are probably rubbish and write this journal to review my trades.
Excellent, and let me know if you need a hand on the basics of setting it up.
if you like i can make a pdf for you and upload it with a basic type of setup to get your started.
that’s good to hear.
yeah… hehe
but also keep in mind that the majority of trades are stupid and fickle (i’m not being rude, i’m being factual),
and the point is… you need to therefore understand that SENTIMENT is stupid and fickle at times.
New can correlate with sentiment because news impacts sentiment regardless of whether news is factual or not.
just something to keep in mind when viewing the news.
Probably…
but the big question is
ARE YOU RECORDING YOUR PLAN
example : I created a flow chart a long time ago,
it’s been refined over time to iron out the error in it and to add detail where it’s needed
do you have a plan or flow chart that reminds you of what to do when you trade
if you don’t , CONSIDER IT SERIOUSLY.
very true
don’t open to many at once, start with one maybe two, and then when you master how to do that,
you can then add more if needed
if you placed 2, for example and then you realize (which WILL HAPPEN) that you NOW need to open another… TOUGH LUCK you only get 2
and this attitude will teach you to be patient and wait for your entry’s
something else to keep in mind.
yes, but keep in mind … this does not always mean Take it Short term
compare a bank robber who goes into a bank and take a million dollars in one hit
compared to something like the movie swordfish where a bot is inserted into the bank network and takes like 3 cents at a time, for a few decades
and at the end of that LONG TERM there are billions
so… yes
TAKE WHAT YOU CAN… GIVE NOTHING BACK
GOOD LUCK WITH IT MATE
I’ll take your advice and create a trading plan for news events, trending and ranging markets with your post and won’t trade for the rest of the week with the intention of switching gears on being a scalper, day trader or swing trader.
You are quite right, of course. In this context I do interpret ‘discretionary trading’ as a bad thing.
You see, discretion, like respect, is something that is earned. At the end of the day, it simply means ‘the right to decide’, and the ‘right to decide’ is only as good as the decisions you make. So for a trader who has demonstrated understanding of the markets by designing and running profitable systems, with years of profitable trading behind him and hundreds of hours of watching the markets, ‘discretionary trading’ may make sense.
However, it is absolutely the worst possible way for new, inexperienced traders to start.
Look at how we chose judges - the ultimate ‘deciders’ - here in the UK. You don’t just rock up and become a judge. You spend years earning a law degree and then spend decades applying what you have learned in real world situations. And of all the barristers and solicitors out there, some tiny fraction will be chosen to exercise ‘the right to decide’. Because getting it right, consistently, is hard.
I don’t want to beat you over the head with this, Ben. You’ve clearly decided how you want to trade, and how you want to proceed. But I do feel that you are making the road for yourself far harder than it needs to be.
But what do I know? My experience is all I have to go on, and you are not me. So, best of luck, however you decide to play this.
You have more experience than me, so I won’t be trading for the rest of the week devising a suitable plan for next week, I HATE missing out on the market but what can I do. 
@Ben1987
An observation if i may…
you know how people tell newbies, Leave emotion out of trading ?
well. there’s many ways to interpret that,
there’s the really obvious way
and there’s stuff like this…
this is emotions while trading
and TO PROVE IT, You can’t have an emoticon if you did not intent to express an emotion
(yes i’m joking, but i’m also being serious)
the point is… LITTLE STUFF LIKE THIS will eat at you ,
it’s best to kill these useless hates while they are small and defenseless
trade without emotion
don’t feel anything about missing out
if you miss out, MOVE ONTO THE NEXT ONE
emotions should not form part of the process AT ALL
think about it
