Wow! thanks @TTH, I hope your backtesting turns out out “Gold” haha .
Hope to see you around more often.
I love that statement. Very rarely mentioned and yet that is what professional traders are doing and will not let you in on it until you pay for their lessons! The usual song is a minimum of 1:1 or 1:3 to preserve your capital, but how many such valid and sure trades can you get as compared to what is quoted above??
DAY 50 UPDATE (MAY 9TH 2019)
Hey Journal…
And I thought yesterday was interesting.
No of Trades so far: 16
No of Active Trades: 2
Profit Trades: 7
Losing Trades: 5
Break Even Trades: 2
Good and not so good stuff to report today journal, I made a mistake trying to do what was proper, uurgh!!
Well, here’s what happened:
AUDCHF Short Update
Remember the short trade on this pair yesterday, well I’ll tell you what happened, 12:30AM this morning I was window shopping for potential trade setups and found this:
AUDNZD D1
Juicy huh? and just at a time when AUDCHF was really taking it’s time heading to the south pole, so I did what my plan allowed when two setups on similar pairs show up (except that one was already active ), I closed half the position on AUDCHF and set limit orders on AUDNZD. A bit costly in that it shed 0.25% of equity (based on current price at exit on AUDCHF). Now here’s where the complication got worse, I closed both half of the positions meant for TP2 and left only TP1 positions active (easy to forget when all I was thinking was just close two of these and open them up on that other nice looking pair). Well here’s how AUDCHF already suspected of dilly dallying turned out:
AUDCHF D1
Right bang on that first TP, and I only realized this when I was fully out of the trade. Something to clearly work on next time I’m doing something like that. It was still a profitable trade though at 1:0.65 risk to reward. I’ll take it but do things better next time.
CADJPY Short Update
I had to redraw the daily levels on this chart on further review (do let me know if you disagree with those levels). I got out on the remaining half position on this pair on the lower key level. There’s no telling beforehand if the level would hold or not and this trade was entered and managed on a lower timeframe, strategy dictated to exit with price at the same or higher key level. That makes it two profitable trades in as many days.
AUDNZD Short
AUDNZD D1
New trade taken off of a Pin Bar candle formation at a swing high, I talked about this pair earlier on. Entries and exits are as shown on the chart. Let’s hope it doesn’t make me wish I had stayed full position on that AUDCHF short.
USDJPY Short
USDJPY H4
Second trade taken today. Price broke down a key daily level on this pair and subsequently formed an Inside bar Pattern right below the broken level. Limit orders were set according to the IB strategy and the trade has since been triggered and active.
We are watching to see how our first Inside bar trade performs. Entries and exits are as seen on the chart.
A little longer than average for a daily report today but that’s what we always prefer to see. Hopefully the green days will continue more often than the red ones haha .
@jairusmaloba yes I concur with that sentiment, It’s usually much easier, mathematically speaking to take trades with fixed Risk to Reward, this works for some according to the strategy employed (they may miss out on trades that never make it to their TP or take a full loss on trades that were clearly moving against them right from the onset and they should have gotten out earlier. In the end though more trades turn profits to make the strategy worthwhile).
Price action (from what I have learned) is quite different though. I assume it is reasonable that If PA gets us into a trade then it should also be able to get us out, whether or not any levels have been hit. So you surely raised a valid point
Alright, I’ll be here tomorrow to gloat or rant about my two new trades haha . Hopefully it’ll be the former.
See you tomorrow Journal.
HASSAN
NIGERIA
DAY 51 UPDATE (10TH MAY 2019)
Hey Journal…
Pretty Slow day this one…
No of Trades so far: 17
No of Active Trades: 3
Profit Trades: 7
Losing Trades: 5
Break Even Trades: 2
So one more trade got triggered yesterday before NY close on the H4. Here’s how they all doing:
AUDNZD Bearish Pin Bar Short Update
AUDNZD D1
Price pretty much remains the same just hovering around entry zone. We still are watching how this turns out in the coming days. I suspect the Big Round number Price of 1.0600 might be having an effect on price breaking lower. I missed the psychological price level because I thought I had the checklist all in my head, guess not, (every new trade now gets a checklist vetting before orders are set). Hopefully it manages to and we can head home safely to target.
USDJPY Bearish Inside Bar Short Update
USDJPY H4
Price is currently consolidating in a box between our entry and stop levels on this one. We have the advantage of the psychological price level of 110.000 above our entry which acts as another form of resistance that price needs to break above before hitting our stop. Interestingly price seems to be cooking up and inside bar formation on the daily as well. Guess we’ll find out pretty soon which direction gives way, hopefully it’ll be the floor and not the roof on this one haha
GBPUSD Short (Bullish Engulfing Bar)
GBPUSD H4
Price formed a Bullish Engulfing Bar on a daily support level.
Even though the BUEB was a valid one from a key level and we took this trade, it had a couple of things against it, which makes it less than Ideal to have been taken.
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The trade had price traffic to the left, too many micro resistance levels through which price must break through to reach target. My plan specifies avoiding these types of trade.
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There’s a minor resistance just above entry which is currently acting as a challenge for price to break through, I don’t feel very confident about this trade in retrospect. I’d feel better knowing I did everything as dictated by the strategy when trades move against me. Then it’s easier to understand that the market was just doing its thing rather than feeling at fault for taking the trade.
I have since moved this notice to my morning and evening routine for the next twenty trading days to ensure it never happens again.
And that’s this morning in a wrap Journal, nothing spectacular. But good lessons learnt.
I’ll see you on the other side of today guys.
Don’t be like me and have a beautiful green day in the markets today .
Please remind me: - On the GBPUSD did you buy using the Bullish Engulfing Candle because it poked its head above the upper red line on your chart? You mention minor resistance! How do you determine your key levels inorder not to get pulled this way and that by minor, major and in between?
Hey @jairusmaloba, how’s the weekend going for ya?
You’re correct I did buy on that little poke above the minor resistance (upper red line) just like you said. I was a little worried about the resistance even before entry and eventually entered on the thought that that little close above the minor resistance was enough of a break above, I was wrong :(… if you looked at the daily chart of this pair this is what you’ll find:
Trading into this kind of traffic is what I’ll be trying to avoid in the future.
The only good news about this trade is that I managed to stalk it just enough to around breakeven and got out with no loss… lesson learnt and I luckily managed to get out by whiskers.
Minor resistances aren’t necessarily fully avoidable always especially when trading on high time frames, but too much of it makes trades in their direction more often than not result in either choppy movements on trades, sometimes even leading to losses. I learnt this from Jonathan’s Price Action Thread here on BP. So the cleaner the area to which my trades are heading into, the better for my trades.
Key levels from which I look for PA to take my trades are determined from level marked of off clear swing highs and lows on the daily charts. Here’s a pretty good example on GBP/JPY
Appreciate that you took the time out to understand why I do what I do…
Thanks for the info, I can also now understand why you require so many pairs to trade on. You are looking for clean clear signals. However, On Sunday I opened my charts to analyze your decision and I feel like your initial trade idea was valid with a target of 1.3050. I guess its a wait and see!!
DAY 54 UPDATE (13TH MAY 2019)
Hey Journal
It’s looking like a good Monday to be in the Market, not that I’ve had any trades taken today lol
No of Trades so far: 17
No of Active Trades: 3
Profitable Trades: 7
Losing Trades: 5
Break Even Trades: 2
So what’s to report this starting day of the trading week:
USDJPY Short Update
USD/JPY D1
This one’s looking like a winner finally.
Price finally makes a definite breakdown below the 110.000 psychological handle on this pair, much to the relieve of my balance haha
We have since hit TP1 and now out on half position with the other having its stop moved to BE. I wouldn’t be surprised if this heads much lower as it spent a pretty lengthy amount of time making a directional decision at that 110.000 key level.
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GBPUSD Long Update
GBP/USD H4
I had a discussion about this trade just a few posts ago here with @jairusmaloba, where I explained my developed prejudice on this trade after I had already made an entry. I got lucky to have price head back up to my break even exit and I took the chance. you can give it a read if you’re curious, it’s just a few posts above this one.
Price as we have seen is still having problems with the minor resistance just above it. Good thing I exited when I did I guess.
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AUDNZD Short Update
AUD/NZD D1
Finally some movement on this pair as well, it’s a welcome Monday relief after this pair spent the last couple of weekdays before the weekend seeing really slow movement.
Price finally makes a definite move down below entry this morning. We are now approaching the first minor resistance (First Trouble Area) where we will take profit on half the position and move the stop on the other half to break even. This trade took it’s time but we’re finally seeing some movement.
So that’s it for our “carryover” trades from the previous week. I’m ofcourse watching and waiting for a few more pairs to do something interesting and tradeable this week. Here are the charts of three of those I’m currently watching:
@jairusmaloba, you’re correct, trading only top PA signals means you have to look at relatively many different currency pairs as they occur rarely as much as average ones. I think I’m improving on that front and still trying to do better. Soon this Journal will morph into holding only A+ signals only and less ones like the GBPUSD trade above. How’s trading going for you this Monday?
Not too good. I missed an entry on EurUsd as I thought it would drop further down first. Only for it to go upto the target😠
DAY 55 UPDATE (14TH MAY 2019)
Hey Journal…
Not so much activity as Monday’s on this end but things are forming up slowly anyways…
No of Trades so far: 17
No of Active Trades: 1
Profitable Trades: 8
Losing Trades: 5
Break Even Trades: 3
No new trades today yet, but here’s how the old babies fared:
USDJPY Short Update
USD/JPY H4
Well this one never made it to TP2.
Price decided it wanted to have a retrace back to the broken 110.000 level and is already approaching the recently broken support for a retest. Second position therefore has been taken out at BE. We are watching for further bearish PA at this level for another run “Southside”. Not as much profit as we wanted but it’s officially another profitable trade on this one.
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AUDNZD Short Update
AUD/NZD D1
A bit slow , but grinding lower still for the moment.
Price had no trouble hitting TP1 at the first trouble area (Minor Resistance). We have now taken profit on half the position and moved the other half to BE. Watching how this unfolds further. TP2 is around the 1.04500 level so we’re keeping the other position open for likely run of price to that support area.
AUD/NZD therefore stands currently as the only active trade running. Hopefully we can get some nice PA trade setups before the market closes for the day.
See you around Journal.
@jairusmaloba, eh , markets do that to ya enough times I guess… part of the business lol.
Personally though, I would be looking for a possible bearish action at the 1.13000 level… Big round no, and price has clearly respected it many times in the past.
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Just my opinion though and good luck with your trades today my friend .
See you around Journal.
DAY 56 UPDATE (15TH MAY 2019)
Hey Journal…
You know it’s work when I come in later than usual for my updates right . I had quite the stressful day be we gotta do what we gotta do right…
No of Trades so far: 19
No of Active Trades: 1
Profitable Trades: 10
Losing Trades: 5
Break Even Trades: 3
You’ll think I must have had a blast today snagging up two sweet wins even with work on my hands now eh? Uh… wrong! They’re just consolation profits (aka quite profitable BE trades) but I’ll take them haha
Right, so on to the order of the day, what’s happened since the last time we were here:
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AUDNZD Short Update
AUD/NZD D1
Yesterday we talked about how this pair was the only active trade running and how I’d love to have a couple more babies join him. Well it’s still there, slugging along doing nothing for the moment. Why do we think that is? Well…
Price seems to remain above the minor resistance level(1.05500) where we got out half of our position for a small profit a day ago. This is part of why I consider trade management as vital, the decision to take action at that level and bank in some profits no matter how small is obvious at this level as price could just as likely head back north from here even though our bias is still bearish on this pair. We are still watching this without much of an attachment as it is basically a free trade at this point onward.
AUD/NZD H1
I have attached the H1 chart of the pair above for a closer look at the Price action at that first take profit level. Can you see how price has bounced off of this area multiple times in the past 48 hours? If you trade shorter time frames you might wanna watch a break of that neckline after the double bottom formation we have there.
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CHFJPY Inside Bar Reversal Short
CHF/JPY H4
Took this trade earlier in the day before heading out to work, here’s how it turned out.
We entered on limit order entry trigger at the break of the inside bar candle pattern to the downside as seen on the chart here. The trade was eventually short lived as we were taken out of the trade after moving the stop to BE.
It is seems to be heading back south but no further entry on this one until we get a valid trade signal once again.
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GBP/NZD Bullish Engulfing Bar Long
GBP/NZD H4
Price formed a Bullish Engulfing right on the marked key level on this pair and I had a limit order set which got triggered early in the morning before I headed out to work. I came back and this was how the trade turned out.
I have attached the chart below for a clearer view of the trade.
This is another reason why trade management is absolutely crucial and why I’m focusing really hard on implementing and improving on what I’ve learned in this area. If I had managed this trade poorly, I’d be out with a full loss as of this moment. Unfortunately though I wasn’t at the computer to move the other half position on this trade to BE once the first profit target got hit (although I had planned to do exactly that). We got out at a small profit and no loss in the end. It’s not a bad day if it isn’t a losing day eh ?
If you got an idea of how to do this automatically without a trailing stop I’d pretty much appreciate a help with that .
We are since fully out on this trad and watching the pin bar currently forming on the current candle as seen above… If it closes bullish with it’s body within the range of the previous candle then I will further review it as a potential long. Again, the idea is not willing price to move in a particular direction, but rather to react to what price is doing on the charts.
I did miss a couple of really good trades this week and would be updating that over the weekend hopefully so you can have a look at what happened with them. Missed another one today because I decided to take a nap ending up longer than I planned . Well you can’t always get em all can you?
Alright… guess that’s a wrap for today… I’ll catch up with you later tomorrow dear Journal…
How’s trading going for you guys today?.. some pretty nice moves on the EUR for one.
Good info there. I was actually wondering why you didn’t automate the move to BE. I use ctrader which has a facility to set the quantity of lots you want to close at BE or at any other point that price would have reached, and how far you want your SL to move once you reach a certain point. I also receive alerts on my phone once price reaches the levels I’m watching. I don’t know much about any other platform just a little about mt4.
DAY 57 UPDATE (16TH MAY 2019)
Hey Journal…
Pretty slow day today on my end, no trades, no trade adjustment, no action .
No of Trades so far: 19
No of Active Trades: 1
Profitable Trades: 10
Losing Trades: 5
Break Even Trades: 3
So just a picture would do really for what AUD/NZD has been up to since last time:
Price finally seems to be making a move to the downside albeit ever slowly, we still are watching how it turns out and if price manages to close below the recent low to the immediate left of price we may likely see more downside in the coming days.
And that is just how interesting the trading day has been on this end so far.
@jairusmaloba, I did a bit of digging and found a couple of EA’s that allows me to do just that… Still testing them out and I’ll be sure to update here when I successfully use it in a trade.
Better day today for your trading ?
DAY 57 UPDATE (FRIDAY 17TH MAY 2019)
Hey Journal…
It’s Friday but it ain’t a ‘no trade’ day … since Thursday ended with no single trade (there were one or two set ups but I missed them
) one more trade set up today and we’ll take it.
No of Trades so far: 20
No of Active Trades: 2
Profitable Trades: 10
Losing Trades: 5
Break Even Trades: 3
So what do we got to round up the week:
AUDNZD Pin Bar Short Update
AUD/NZD D1
Price still edging lower inch by inch on this trade… It’s become a familiar sight now haha… Price is now right on the minor resistance where we exited half position on this trade and may well reverse on us for a BE exit (will consider exiting at market if a valid reversal PA shows up), if it however hits target, it’s just a little above 0.5% profit on equity, so we’d like that if the market is generous enough lol .
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USDJPY BEEB SHORT
USD/JPY H4
Price after breaking down the key support zone market on the daily chart has reversed back for a retest and formed a Bearish Engulfing Bar pattern right in the now resistance zone, we entered via a limit short on this trade and are now a little below entry. Watching how this plays out by days end.
Here’s a view of that resistance zone on the daily chart:
USD/JPY D1
An that is this week in trading in a nutshell… hopefully I’ll be able to pop in sometime then to update on the week and some of the trades I’ve missed.
See you around Journal…
Have a great weekend Babypips
DAY 60 UPDATE (MONDAY 20TH MAY 2019)
Well hey Journal…
It’s another week and the market’s decided not to be so benevolent for a Monday …
No of Trades so far: 20
No of Active Trades: 1
Profitable Trades: 10
Losing Trades: 6
Break Even Trades: 3
Monday turned out badly for our UJ short:
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USDJPY BEEB Short Update
USD/JPY H4
Price rallied higher over the weekend and managed to break and close above the 110.000 big round number. It’s since hit our stop and we’re out full position for a loss on this one.
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AUDNZD Pinbar Short Update
Well this one’s interesting. Price jumped higher by a strong 35 pips over the weekend… We’re still in the trade but there’s no telling (at least on my end) what this pair is going to do next now. And still our watch continues on AUDNZD…
No new trades yet today but I got some pairs on my radar… Check out USDCHF Bearish Engulfing Bar on the H4:
Zoomed in.
I already have my sell stop orders right below the BEEB . Hopefully we’ll see some green by days end.
DAY 61 UPDATE (TUESDAY 21ST MAY 2019)
Hello Journal…
Tuesday Update, pretty dull for a day after Monday on my end, but that’s PA trading on large TF’s for you, you gotta be able to bear the barren spells without favorable trade set ups.
No of Trades so far: 21
No of Active Trades: 1
Profitable Trades: 11
Losing Trades: 6
Break Even Trades: 3
So today was pretty boring, but yesterday turned out in a queer manner… Why? Well… I did something out of what the plan dictated . Although it is PA based and did work out, I found myself thinking about it quite a lot after the trade and thought I should let you in on my crazy stunt journal… Here’s what I did?
I TOOK A TRADE IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE
I decided looking at the NZDCAD H1 chart that there was a BEEB just after a break and retest around a minor level that was worth shorting. Here’s how it looked:
NZDCAD H4
Right after the breakdown of the middle red line level which was pretty significant, I was looking for a tradeable PA based set up on a retest of the level, I mean the trend was obviously favoring a short as it’s been down all the way last week, but the short trade never materialized on the H4, after the trend moved down a bit further I switched back to the lower TF and found I could have spotted the Inside bar short set up right on the H1, and it would have been tradeable based on my plan, here’s what I was looking at:
Tradeable Inside bar in line with bearish trend after a pullback and retest of broken key support level
And right when I was thinking of how I missed a nice 2% boost to my trading balance (I hadn’t spotted any other set up all day), I saw this playing out:
The BEEB at the the retest of the minor orange resistance zone was tempting, and I took it, knowing what I was doing (Taking trades that isn’t from an already marked key daily level. I felt strongly about the trade (subjective nature of the personal self taking control over the objective plan-following self here ) and went short on the BEEB that was so alluring to me at the time, here’s how the trade turned out:
I ended up making a profit on the trade but not the way my plan wanted me to and that is not something I should be doing.
A better way to have played the trade if I had spotted the H1 inside bar ealier would be to short it with stop above the key level (the high of the mother bar), take profit on half position on the minor support level that got broken and adding another 1% short on the BEEB I found at the retest of the minor resistance using the now remaining 1% at 100% profit as insurance for the new pyramided short.
At the end of the day at the bottom key level, I would have been out with a nice 1:3 risk to reward trade all the while risking only 1% of my account to get there. I would have been very happy with myself and the fact that I did follow the plan.
So that resolves the allure of taking PA setups found within key levels, Only if it’s risk free, and pyramided down to the next key level.
.
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The only set up found so far is this BUEB setup on GBP/CHF.
Zoomed in
However the downward momentum leading to that PA pattern makes it an unlikely trade for me so I’m watching the daily for a stronger PA that might signal a long entry on this one.
…
…
On the good side, it’s day 60 and 20 trades later my account is still not in the red, currently standing at 4% gain, I would say I am very okay with the results so far, the goal is to achieve a consistent average monthly return of 2% or more on equity and then everything else will follow.
So far…So good… and the learning continues…
That’s enough rambling for today Journal… tomorrow will be a good time to catch up again, see you then
DAY 62 UPDATE (WEDNESDAY 22ND MAY 2019)
Hey Journal,
Ack!!, Today’s going to be officially the quietest day so far on here. I was at work and wasn’t able to look at the charts for most of the waking hours today. Sucks, but another reason why I really can’t maintain trading on lower timeframes.
Nothing much to do today except give an update on our old man the AUDNZD short. The tough old man finally retired from active service at break even haha
I missed an okay set up on the H4 charts while I was away for the day but better than than trying to rush trades…
In the end the stats remain the same as yesterday’s:
No of Trades so far: 20
No of Active Trades: 0
Profitable Trades: 11
Losing Trades: 6
Break Even Trades: 3
Still got more work tomorrow, Hopefully the dailies turn out something nice or I can catch a set up in my free time tomorrow on the H4 charts. How’d trading fare for you guys today? Hopefully good.
That’s it… Tomorrow hopefully should be less boring.
Catch you around Journal.
Good to see so much dedication from someone being from really poor country and still wanting to dive into this really. I realise that you probably using your saved up moneys for this journey, something from family budget and so on really. I’ve missed with how much capital you’ve traded.
DAY 63 UPDATE (THURSDAY 23RD MAY 2019)
Hey there Journal,
So it’s a late night post in today, I’ve been stalking a few pairs all afternoon for a possible trade set up and decided to slow things down a bit. Well it worked out and we got a brand new baby trade today.
Quick summary before I delve into matters of the charts today:
No of Trades so far: 21
No of Active Trades: 1
Profitable Trades: 11
Losing Trades: 6
Break Even Trades: 3
So here’s how I rolled out my trade orders for the day:
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USDCAD Pin Bar/2BR Short
This pair had been ranging for a while and fired of a bearish 2 bar reversal candle pattern on the H1 as seen below:
USD/CAD H1
the 2bar reversal pattern occured right at the key price level of 1.35000 and looks like it might be heading back down to the bottom of the range on the H4 timeframe as shown below:
USD/CAD H4
The pair had made several attempts at breaking the key level as seen on the charts. If my trade bias is right, then we might be looking at another leg down to the 1.3440 level (marked in thin red) in the short term and as far down as the 1.3390 or the lower key level of 1.32750.
There is quite a lot of traffic just to the left of the chart that may hinder the price movement down, so I’m being careful with this one and will be rolling my stop to break even as soon as price movement gives me the chance to do that.
Keeping our fingers crossed and watching how this plays out.
However, there is a possible trade I am currently watching at the moment and may consider trading at end of day:
EURUSD BEUB/Pin Bar Long
EUR/USD D1
Price is now at a key level that last served as support in mid June 2017,
that was two years ago and a strong bullish signal, will make me consider a buy here even though the trend has been slowly bearish in recent times.
Alright, that’s pretty much Thursday in a nutshell on my end. Tomorrow will tell us a bit more about these two pairs so it’s likely gonna be a pretty active Friday for me.
Catch you tomorrow Journal.
Been meaning to pop in here for some time now just to tell you that your thread too is very impressive.
A lot of hard work here. Nice to see.
I really wish you well.