Hellooo. So, for the longest time, my go-to pair has been USDJPY. Sometimes I also check out EURUSD, but I mostly trade USDJPY.
Now that I’m rethinking how I can refresh my trading journey, I’m thinking whether it’s necessary or recommended to trade multiple pairs and diversify instead of sticking to this pair that I’ve always traded.
What do you guys think?
Hey there, Ria! This forum feels empty without you ! It’s awesome that USDJPY has been your trusty sidekick! Rethinking your trading strategy is a great idea. Diversifying by exploring other pairs like EURUSD could bring exciting opportunities.
I would be careful with trading multiple pairs because there is negative or positive correlation between all pairs. So you may be increasing your risk rather than reducing it.
Be careful of currency correlation when you pick more than one pair to trade. In your example both of your pairs have USD in common. While not a massive deal it should be noted that trading in both of those pairs at the same time leaves you vulnerable to a shift in the value of USD. Also, you might find that if you go short USD in one pair and long USD in the other that any gains in one pair are offset by losses in the other.
There is a good argument ofr diversification of strategies, so that you can maintain a consistent overall performance even if your preferred pair is behaving strangely. So you might use both a D1 and a 15min strategy on USD/JPY.
But there are also indications that any technincal strategy’s performance will eventually decay for a period of time on any individual pair. This may not be apparent in the charts on any time-frame and I’m sorry I can’t give a rational cause. so this make sit advisable to run the same strategy on more than one pair, so that hopefully as one pair’s results start to cycle down you can seamlessly continue these trades with another.
I think it’s useful and a trader shouldn’t rely on a single pair as a single pair doesn’t always provide trading opportunity all the time.
Trading multiple pairs presents more of both opportunity and risk. I used to watch over 30 pairs. It was insane.
Now I’m watching 13 pairs, and still losing money. Studying multiple pairs can help you to expect the unexpected. Though there are correlations, no two pairs move exactly the same way at all times.
The bottom line is that if you’re not successfully trading one pair, you won’t successfully trade 5 pairs either.
BUT…BUT…if you can learn to trade well, trading 5 pairs will build your account much faster.
If you decide to watch 10 pairs, that’s ok. But you just have to be more selective about what trades you take. Otherwise, you’ll just lose money faster.
Trading requires practice, right? If you trade H4, how many trades can you possibly take in a day? How about D1?
The more you practice, the faster you learn and grow. That’s why trading demo is so important. Trade more, back test, and practice your strategy as often as possible.
Look at your mistakes; see if there’s a fault in the strategy or in you.
Also, consider something that moves different from USD/JPY. Maybe a CAD or AUD cross.
What would people say are the least correlated pairs?
How about? -
AUD/NZD v’s USD/JPY v’s EUR/CHF
GBP/USD v’s AUD/JPY
There is an entire theory built around pair correlation. If you go long EUR/USD, USD/JPY and short EUR/JPY then you have, in effect, gone both long and short on each one of the three currencies used in those pairs and therefore you can offset losses with wins etc… I do not recommend this approach.
Just for the sole purpose of gaining experience, I say you can trade other pairs too! Just not too much of course that your position size is affected or that you lose track of what you’re really trying to do.
I have my pairs grouped by region mostly and only have 1 trade from each group open at a time. Seems to work pretty well from a correlation standpoint. However, there will always be a certain level of correlation in FX no matter how diversified to try to make it.
As a trend trader, I just look for any pair that offers a trend movement. However, I favour the AUD as it’s the most consistent paired with either USD/EUR/CAD etc., albeit the USD/JPY is as good being a safe currency haven.
What I won’t do, though, is to match one currency with others at the same time, as that spells increased risk…
Hi, try to think about strategy diversification on one currency pair instead of one type of strategy on multiple pairs. Regards Greg
This is a good point. I have been reading about the importance of have different strategies as a way of diversification. This could also be in the form of using different TF’s.
never ever try something new in your real account, never ever, no matter if that is a new pair or a new strategy or a new indicator even! first try it in a demo account and after a period check the winning ratio. then you will be able to decide weather to use it in your real account or not.
Awww. Hahaha. That’s so sweet. Although I know I don’t really contribute much.
I’ve also tried trading EURUSD alongside USDJPY. Do you think that these two would be enough?
If you don’t mind, do you trade multiple pairs?
That’s interesting. This reminds me of Dennis’ thread on currency strength.
Are you referring to something similar to this?
That makes sense. I’ve mostly been trading majors so I guess the correlation between them would be more evident. I’ve been kinda intimidated by non-major pairs. But if you would recommend a minor/exotic pair to trade, does any specific pair come to mind?
I actually haven’t thought that far but super thank you for bringing this up!
This definitely makes sense and I’ll also give this a try.
Although coming from your experience, how long does it take before a strategy’s performance decays? I’ve pretty much been stuck with the one I’ve been using for the past couple of years.
Yeah. Although I haven’t really seen that as much of a problem since I haven’t been trading regularly.