Ok, I found a great online charting tool (Real Time Forex Charts) so tha EG trade is roughly…
Entry: app 0.8311 (probably a few pips above)
S/L: app 0.8302 (probably a few pips below)
1st target/ B/E: app. 0.8336
I wish I could show u guys a screenshot but as soon as tha market reopens I’ll post one. Current price as of market close is roughly 0.8328 and tha trade looks ta be well on its way to being completed successfully. I’ll consider B/E before my target is hit just in case. I opened 2 lots so I will be closing tha first at tha point I mentioned earlier and letting tha second run because I have no projection after tha first. Wish me luck and happy trading!
Ah yes, the delima of letting your profits run vs. if you never take profits you can never win. Obviously you will have to take profits somewhere.
I suggest you create a simple set of take profit rules and follow them with discipline. You can then improve them over time.
I’ll suggest a very simple system and you can test it out and improve on it at your leisure. It’s similar to Tymen’s PSAR-BB Midband system, but a bit simpler. This is just a starter set of 4 rules, but anything beats nothing for a start.
After entry, if PSAR crosses past your stop loss, trail your stoploss two spread distances behind PSAR until you stop out or PSAR crosses the 20SMA (or BB Midband).
After PSAR crosses BB Midband, trail your SL two spread distances behind the BB midband until you stop out.
If price moves in your favor more than 1.2 X ATR at any time, take a minimum profit of 0.4 times MFE (maximum favorable excursion) regardless of where PSAR or 20SMA is.
If at any time price exceeds a 3.3 std dev BB (a major breakout), take profit as close to the maximum peak above the 3.3 BB as you can and aways before the price drops back below the 3.3 st dev BB.
Following this, you won’t have many very good trades turn into losers. If you get stopped out early, you can always re-enter for just a few pips if it still looks good, but never try to re-enter more than twice. Easy peasy.
If you can make these better and/or simpler, please share with us
Also, I see you like to trade patterns. Have you looked at autochartist? A very cool pattern recognition service. My broker provides it free. Note, it’s good at seeing patterns, but it’s price direction predictions are only right about 50% of the time. About the same as flipping a coin.
Thnx for commenting Graviton! I can tell that u have a lot of experience and I appreciate u takin’ tha time ta impart some knowledge. That system is very complex if u ask me! I will have ta test it on demo but it’s gonna be a big difference from how I normally trade using MAs and bands. And tha funny thing is I no longer trade using patterns! Well… not in tha way I used ta… I just watch for tha outcome of patterns within trades I’m already in. I can’t even remember tha last time I drew a trendline in hopes of better reading tha market. I don’t discredit any of those previous methods, I just found it extremely difficult ta read because PA would react differently ta tha same patterns every time. Now I just look for certain market conditions and overall PA. I don’t even pay too much mind ta stochs. I’ve found that if I’ve properly analyzed a given condition, I can get into a trade well before signals coincide. Take tha trade that I initiated on Friday… I don’t wanna sound ****y (or jynx myself) but I’m almost sure I’ll walk away a winner because certain market conditions were met. I even noticed a divergence take place after tha trade entry… and I bought while tha trade was in ‘overbought’ territory. (I will show a screen very soon) I’m still tweakin’ buh this works out a lot better for me. As far as takin’ profits, I now prefer tha 2 position/ 1/2 take method. This allows me ta both take at least a small profit as well as let my trade run. Thnx again for reading!!
DayDreamin, for sure always test any new method carefully in demo. I’d never test in my good account (again :o). The 2 position 1/2 take method is prefered by Tymen and many who trade at babypips, so it’s got lots of testing behind it. There are many good take profit methods. One is to always take profit at a preset R/R ratio, or to take half at one R/R ratio, like 1:1.5 and the other 1/2 at a higher ratio like 1:2.5. Another is to take profit if the trendline of your trade is broken. Another is to always take some minimum % of profit, say at least 1/2 of the maximum profit point or MFE, after price has moved up a given amount, say 1 X ATR. Any good rule(s) followed with discipline should prevent a good win from turning into a loss. The funny thing is, in my own opinion, taking profits is more important than entries, but most systems don’t put much effort into optimizing it. Again in my opinion, at least as much effort should be put into taking profits as into making good entries. The only traders I actually see putting that much effort into optimizing taking profits are the very experienced and very successful ones. That should give us all a good hint as to what’s really important Happy trading
Wow, never really considered that but there is definitely truth ta that. I’ve always focused on making informed entries. I guess tha two go hand in hand. Surely food for thought.
Anyway, my EG trade is still open. Why is it that as noobs, even when we know not ta do something we do it anyway? I KNOW better than ta trade on Friday and Sunday but I was (and still am) very sure of this particular trade. Wish I didn’t have ta wait out these choppy conditions tho… I also took another trade and was stopped out by a few pips because I didn’t account for tha spread with my stop loss (which I never realized was so HIGH on Sunday… sheesh…). App. 25 pip loss taken in stride… I ended up hoppin’ back in at a slightly better position overall and moved my S/L ta accommodate for tha large spread (which has settled down anyway). Not tha best way ta start tha week but a lesson is a lesson. I was hopin’ ta post my two wins as my senior post (Yay, I’m a senior member!!) but I’ll just have ta wait a bit longer…
Here are tha *current screenies for my two trades…
thats some good advice if i ever heard any theres nothing worse than finding out your system doesnt work too well when its trading real money I test new ideas by demo account testing, backtesting with EA’s, forward testing with EA’s with alerts taking the place of market orders, and then live testing with minimum lot size - 0.01 lot trades before I will risk anything larger.
Hahaha, my smile can barely fit on my face!
GBP/JPY just hit my first target and I’m still in with S/L at B/E. I guess a win at 101 posts instead of 100 posts isn’t bad…
Just entered a short on EUR/CAD at 1.36448, S/L at 1.36754. 1st target/ B/E at 1.36102.
Edit: I should mention that I jumped tha gun a bit with my EC trade (FXCM filled right at market 'cuz my order was close ta PA) so I’m sacrificing almost 6 pips.
Edit: I changed my S/L ta 1.36796 ta allow a little additional buffer room. I know, I know… never move a stop… but this 1 is because of tha loss I just took… I’m moving my S/L a little past my actual S/L projection. I don’t believe in finger crossing but ::fingers crossed::
I agree whole-heartedly SDC. If I’m skeptical about a trade I normally place alerts and watch what happens and make a note for next time. When I say tweaking I mean where I choose ta enter, trailing, etc. Thnx again for commenting guys, I appreciate it; 'specially from traders as experienced as u guys. :o
Aaahhhh!!! It happened again!! Right after I moved my stop PA moved 2 pips past my projection! That plus tha spread stopped me out! Ever confident in my strategy tho, I again hopped back in at a slightly better position and set a new stop. PA is moving in my direction now… (go fig…)
Lesson: I was trying ta keep my R/R as strict as possible (roughly 1:2 w/ take) but I MUST account for tha spread past my S/L plus a few pips.
PA’s been dancin’ around my target on tha EUR/GBP trade. Just been watchin’ and sittin’ on my hands… Do I stick ta tha trade or B/E and snatch a few pips early?? This stress can’t be good… I’ll just keep reading around here and close my chart for a while… ::fingers still crossed::
EUR/GBP 1st target hit/ B/E. Good thing I trusted my strategy. Still a little worried about tha EUR/CAD trade but we’ll see in tha mornin’… (well, late mornin’, lol)
Ok… I trailed my GBP/JPY a lil too close imo and was just stopped out a little above B/E. My EUR/GPY trail was also stopped out a little above B/E but that’s fine 'cuz that trade was spent anyway. I’m kinda upset I didn’t trust my EUR/CAD trade but at least it still went as expected for tha most part. I’m currently in a NZD/USD trade that’s acting funny but I will stay true ta my plan. Long at 0.72961 with a S/L at 0.72758. Target/ B/E at 0.73149. Because of those two bad trades… I mean learning experience trades lol my daily P/L is 30 pips but for -$0.86. :rolleyes:
Uh… big surprise, my NZD/USD trade was stopped out. I placed another long order a little lower based off of a long order I just initiated on AUD/USD with just 1 lot this time. It hasn’t been hit and if my aussie trade closes then I’ll remove this one. If it is opened, I will use my target from last time. Anyway, I’m long on AUD/USD at 0.91619 with my S/L at 0.91449. Target/ B/E at 0.91830. I believe tha reversal setup was a little more apparent on tha aussi chart so this trade may be more valid.
I removed my NZD/USD order; PA is moving away. I also entered a short position on EUR/JPY at 113.715 with a S/L at 113.906. Target at 113.478.
I’ve decided ta close my full positions at tha levels I post instead of closing 1/2. Since my R/R is roughly 1:2 for most of my trades I think this will be better for me in tha long run because my losses shouldn’t outweigh my wins every time. Also, I will scale in backwards (I’ve read u shouldn’t do this) in order to lessen my losses and increase tha gains of trades that turn against me for a short time. If you haven’t read on my other thread, I’ve been using bad MM so this will help in that department. I will focus on B/E when appropriate.
Wow, never made a post from my phone before… Anyway, My EUR/JPY trade went straight ta my projection but didn’t hit because it was about 2 pips off. I moved my S/L ta B/E after gettin’ chopped up a while and after checkin’ my mobile broker it looks like I was stopped out. I wish I were in front of my screen… Oh well… My AUD/USD trade is still open however so I’ll be lookin ta B/E on that trade soon. I’m sure tomorrow will have a lot less choppy conditions and better trade signals. I’ll post a screenie when I get home.
Sorry, it’s been a while. I was busy havin’ my *ss handed ta me by tha markets. At any rate, I’ll be back at it next week if my UK transition clears in time. I’ll be taking trades based off of tha 60m time frame and higher so fewer trades that last longer and with more management.
Just a note… I ‘foresee’ EU makin’ it down ta tha 1.22662 area in tha near future in order ta make a run at tha 1.38712 region in tha next few weeks/ months. Not so sure about tha down move but I believe tha 1.38712 call is sound.
I just got a netbook and this cool 4G service that I’m not sure I can say tha name of here. Anyway, it’s $40 a month and I basically have tha internet everywhere with unlimited usage. Seems ta me ta be a pretty good deal. Spent app. $400 bucks total. That, plus a chart pattern book I bought are all I’ve invested monotarily in FX trading. I think this was a good investment; as now I can properly manage my trades IMO. Anyway, tha FXCM trading station works fine, and I actually just got filled on a short trade on the EU. Here’s a screenie ta show where I entered. My trade was based of of PA and Fibb lines drawn on different TF… It’s kinda cool tradin’ away home…
EDIT: I trailed tha move down ad got stopped out +2.3 pips. I still believe in tha downward move so I will try ta re-enter at tha 68% Fibb. Second screen shows first trade and pending trade.
EDIT: I got stopped out at -12.5 pips on tha second trade. My setup has come up again though, so I will attempt a short 1 more time. 3rd screen shows pending trade.
Edit: I decided ta cancel tha pending trade in order ta make another contract. B4 doing so, I pulled tha trigger early and lost 6.1 pips. Tha trade would have been profitable if I had left it alone. Here’s a pic.
Happy trading 
I also took another trade and was stopped out by a few pips because I didn’t account for tha spread with my stop loss (which I never realized was so HIGH on Sunday… sheesh…). App. 25 pip loss taken in stride… I ended up hoppin’ back in at a slightly better position overall and moved my S/L ta accommodate for tha large spread (which has settled down anyway). Not tha best way ta start tha week but a lesson is a lesson. I was hopin’ ta post my two wins as my senior post (Yay, I’m a senior member!!) but I’ll just have ta wait a bit longer… 
PA’s been dancin’ around my target on tha EUR/GBP trade. Just been watchin’ and sittin’ on my hands… Do I stick ta tha trade or B/E and snatch a few pips early?? This stress can’t be good… I’ll just keep reading around here and close my chart for a while… ::fingers still crossed::
Phantom target hit…
