Never mind. I got it.
Hey guys, need to tap into some knowledge again.
What is Michaels way to calculate pip gain per week when using a double tap entry? I think it was covered in a video at some point, but I canāt find it in my notes.
Last week I managed +4.4%, but adding all the pips from each (both) positions, I get 167.2 pips, which I donāt think is a fair representation?
p.s. this was my first week trading on my own using Michaels methods 
Nice week, well done.
Hypothetical Figures Of Course:
Two orders:
Buy @ 1.3200 (One Contract)
TP1 1.3300 - 100pips (First Tap)
TP2 1.3400 - 200pips (Second Tap)
50% off TP1 1.3300 (100pips / 2 = 50pips)
50% off TP2 1.3400 (200pips / 2 = 100pips)
Total gain = 150 pips.
Buy @ 1.3200
70% off TP1 1.3300 (100pips * 0.70 = 70pips)
30% off TP2 1.3400 (200pips * 0.30 = 60pips)
Total gain = 130 pips.
Thatās how Iād calculate it. But then again I spread bet, but basically you are splitting your position between the two. So if you were trading 1 contract that would be half a contract on both positions. So the principle should stand up.
EDIT: Looking back though, I only really look at the % gain so not sure if my method is actually what you were asking??
More and more I realise how preparation is the key, for me itās what makes the difference between virtually guaranteed good profits and what is nowadays break even, I canāt remember when I had a loosing week, but good profits and preparation go hand in hand for me.
See how the big numbers feature all the time.
Iām gonna have these levels on screen permanently, if youāre short on screen, print the daily chart off and stick it on the wall in front of you.
Exact same levels lol
The significance of key s/r played out nicely on Fri.
I had been thinking lately of the excersise that ICT gave us back 10 months ago in the no audio video in early March 2012 - The excellence of Execution - I am def going to give it a go, will alter it slightly to maybe 30pip sl and 30 pip tp - will open a demo a/c and only trade that - just to see the effect.
At 7.50 mins
Recently on ICTās videos he speaks often of that hard to spell word - equilibrium.
On the 1hr Fibre I have been watching this area - e.g. Dec 12 -14 equil was 3085 - see the effect of this area right up to Jan 10.
Or on Jan 10 an equil area of 3260 was estalished - see the effect of this area later.
On Wed Jan 16 ICT tweeted ā See how fiber used 3285 as equilibriumā
Two days later, on Fri past, see what happened at this point.
if too many lines show on the screen then you can always take out some and keep the proven ones, those that appear at the boundary between the areas that look and traded like ranges. To appear so, those lines have at least once shifted role from support -> resistance or resistance -> support, and have a couple of touch points either side. You may need to shift through time-frames to find the ones you like better, but they do appear on every time-frame.
there is a connection between desired amount of pips/trade - duration of time in a trade - frequency of lines on the screen. Thatās important, because many lines introduce frequent decision points, effectively reduce the time frame, accelerate the trade and reduce the pips. The spaced lines slow the trade and extend the pips, and that only says there should be a good match between the chosen lines and the āpersonalā time-pip frame of the trader.
hope this helps, good SR-ing this week!
This used to cause me so much hassle, how many lines do I need? It was so easy to go mad with the lines, thinking if I marked up every āimportantā level I saw, Iād have a much clearer view of what was going on. Obviously the opposite happened. Total confusion ensued as price ignored most of the lines I had on the chart and I started to lose track of which levels where the key higher timeframe levels.
So, I use the monthly/weekly/daily and 4H for marking up these levels. And actually, What I normally find is that if I only use the daily to markup key highs and lows, they will map out rather nicely to the 4H as well as the weekly and monthly. My charts havent really changed that often recently. Iāve had these same levels marked for weeks now, with the next level for upside around the 1.3480 (next key swing on the weekly). Once I have these key points noted, I will try and use them alone for entry and exit points. As usual, look left on the charts. There are so many key levels (daily and higher) that should be used for determining these levels and will typically be a few hundred pips apart, so marking them up and drilling down to a 1H the chart wont look cluttered at all, same goes for the 15M. This has added much clarity to my trading. Ignoring the ānoiseā is tricky, but things start to really fall into place when you have a nice clear idea of where price will be going.
This is how my charts look:
4H TF, over the last 4 months:
All of last weeks trading on the 15M TF:
As you can see, if you did get in at the top or bottom (shorting on Tuesday to the low on Wednesday), then you had some very clear higher time frame profit objectives that were reached rather convincingly.
Also notice the upper levels: 1.3180, 1.3280 and 1.3380. All institutional levels and all previous swing highs from September 2012, May 2012 and March 2012 respectively. Some very important price action around these levels, all of which are very old levels, illustrating their importance.
IbePippin raised a great point too and I actually do the same thing he mentioned. I use the higher time frame levels as my ultimate profit objectives intraweek. Asian range levels and other short term swing points visible on the 15M are used for my initial TP levels, but I wont mark them up on the chart until after Im in a trade.
So overall, I try to keep my charts are sparse as possible, adding some Pivot Points occasionally as well, but this is about as complicated as my charts get. For me, definitely a case of less is more. Not sure this helps you at all, but this is all I use and it works quite nicely. It took some getting used to though! For a while it felt like I didnt have enough information on the charts to make a decision. It also helps me with the āone shot one killā style trade.
Iāve been busy and just had a chance to look at the forums again.
Thereās a lot to read through, but what I find most useful is seeing other peoples trades.
Has anyone started a thread where people post just their trades; pre and post analysis, entry reasons, exit and so on.
I find I learn a lot more when I see what others have done/ are doing.
If there is a thread like that could someone point it out?
If not, is this something anyone else would be interested in having / posting on or am I just being a freak?
Hey guys and gals - just uploaded my new (and first for here) avatar - itās my beloved Mountains of Mourne - where I grew up, where I live close to, where I spend many Sundays walking in - you are all invited to visit.
To add to what other have said about drawing S&Rās on your charts. I find it nice and easy for me to see everything by having multiple time frame charts for each pair open at once.
At the moment I have the Daily,4H,1H and 15m charts all open at the bottom of MT4 on the tabs.
You can then draw out your structure, your S&Rās and your indicator divergences with ease. That way you can easily flick back and forward and see what is going on in each of your time frames. You donāt end up with lines and lots of rubbish blocking out your charts that way.
Itās also helpful in spotting your trades because you have not had to delete the annotations on the 1H chart so you can analyse the 4H chart.
PS:
Has anyone had any sort of edge from using the wolf waves? Iām marking them out but at the moment they appear to work out on the left hand side of the chart but on the right side they are appearing to be utterly unpredictable for me.
My thoughts on the week ahead ( I only trade the fibre) - I am looking for ICT ācleanā areas, obviously we are there now.
I use the daily for this type of anaylsis - I look left to see what has happened in the past, I zoom out as far as possible on mt4 and then click in one shot.
I see 3 clean areas up - 3400 (very tight stops have been taken), next area 3480, then 3540/50
Main question in my mind - is price trying to get up there - i.e 3480.
First I look to see did price make it there last time, that is Mar 26/27 when it tried - no, couldānt do it.
So itās back there again (almost), can it make it this time?, is anything changed?
This is where Market Structure/Flow comes into play - by using my eye (no indies) I judge what was the market āfeelingā last time, was it bearish or bullish the Euro, was it trying to reach 3480 with strength or not.
When I play out these scenarios in my mind on the daily then Iāll have a look at the hourly, however I am mindful of Mondays so I will be cautious - I doubt very much that I would enter any trades on LO Monday, but I have no rule against it - I just be cautious, I usually just watch and wait.
Monday morning - not too early - I know the London traders may not be all at their stations, Iāll open the 15 min chart with the absolute necessity - the 5hr ICT Asian showing (12.00 -05.00 gmt).
Then the show begins.
The difficulty with Mondays is that Fridays - the preceeding day - is not great for using as anaylsis, there are many Friday variables, early off, weekend news, weeky profit taking etc. - this is maybe why ICT suggests that Tue/Wed/Thur are that little more predictable and easier for us students to trade.
Anyhow, just how I approach tomorrow morning.
After some analysis this weekend I have a question on my mind. To me an ICT noob I see on the daily TF for the USDX trying to reach for 80.20 and the Eur reaching for 3400, 3485. This causes an issue if both are bullish. The only thing that I have come up with is the divergence of the cable and fiber. The cable has headed south. Is this why the USDX looks bullish? Is this the seasonality of the cable coming into play? Any thoughts?
I know pure muscle did a thread posting his trades for a while, itās old but certainly worth a look!
Edit: Just checked the thread heās doing another account too now.
http://forums.babypips.com/show-me-money-daytrading/44318-time-crack-some-pips-ict-style.html
ICT is currently doing one with his trades I would avoid that thread like the plague though for now as itās full of arguments and nothing on topic from anyone. Here is his myfxbook though to follow along. Heās going to put up videos explaining why he did what he did.
Inner Circle Trader System | Myfxbook
Iām completely unprofitable so far in these teachings but my myfxbook link is:
I write in a rough outline of why I took a trade in the comments. (The little speech bubbles next to things in the trade history)
If EURUSD is being kept higher while USDX and GBPUSD are doing what they are, itās making me think that EURUSD has been bought heavily keeping it up higher.
Lets see what happens!
Hey Shaer
Crazysac here. Just with a different name because I had too much of my personal information getting hooked up to the Crazysac username. Still avid follower of ICT - mainly thru Twitter. Been fortunate enough to be doing fairly well for the past couple months. Been averaging anywhere from 3%-6% per week. Started with a small account so nothing too special but in a couple years I will have something going. All of ICTās threads have become quite overwhelming, and I find that reading them just clouds my judgement because I let other people do the legwork for me. One of the best things I ever did was start a journal. Not just what trades I took, but writing down everything i am thinking about in terms of my plan for the week , my trade anaylysis , and things I thought i could have done better. I read it every week and it keeps me focused. Also, keep it simple. When it comes down to it I am only using market structure and support & resistance levels combined with fib ext & retracements.
One thing I do want to reiterate is something Michael said about support & resistance levels which really changed my trading. We are not looking to trade the support & resistance levels. We are looking for price to bounce off one of those levels & show us by breaking market structure on the chart that price is changing direction. Once market structure is broken you look for the retracement & initiate the order. That is the backbone of the way I trade and I highly recommend everyone apply it to their trading.
Hey Peterma
Hanging in the background but have to say I like the discussion about the bonds and their influence. What I have found most useful is to allow the bond market to foreshadow what may take place in the currency market. Ultimately you allow the chart to prove you right or wrong thru market structure. Too often in the past I would look at the bond market, see a divergence , and then act on that divergence by taking a short or long. It would usually end up in a losing trade because I was applying divergence on a daily TF to intraday trading, which just does not work. That is just my take on it, but nice work. Are those charts thru your broker?
And now back into the shadowsā¦