Price Action That Matters

Trading Systems Free Forex Trading Systems
1670

Well, why not, it can be part of your trading plan.
Moving to BE is not the only way, different traders have different systems.

What about idea, you split your position in two trades and in one you do exactly how you proposed and then you compare over time which one performed better. Sort of live back testing :slight_smile:

Usually many systems use method, that you move to BE after you take of initial profit. So at that point you do guarantee some profit and you are shooting for more while making sure no loss can happen after that point. Your suggestion generates more profit for a profitable trade but also greater chance to get stopped out and lose opportunity for even bigger profitā€¦

======== edit, ahh already answered few times I really need to start reading everything before posting - note to myself :slight_smile:

1671

Thanks guys!!
I got it now.
Itā€™s the oscillating movement, and breathing room I always need to remember.
I will concentrate on keeping the plan in place.
Thank you very much!!

1672

I do have a story to tell you guys. It did a number on me, head was spinning.
Will tell it this weekend.

So close, but so far.

1673

I like the quoteā€¦ ā€œTake care of your losses and the wins will take care of themselvesā€

Iā€™ve had good success moving stops recently. The way I see it, I can always re-enter if I get a second signalā€¦ though, I do think where you enter matters here. If you enter on a retest or retracement after a valid price action signal then I think moving stops makes more sense. However, If you enter on the break of the previous candle I think you may get stopped out frequently, with no good way to re-enter. Though, I canā€™t really speak on the latter because I havenā€™t practised that method.

1674

The story of my lifeā€¦ lol

1675

Hey guys & gals! Right now i am really struggling with getting enough time on my hands to participate in this thread. I have many posts/replies from you i want to answer in return but i lack the time. Sorry for that. Just to let you know, if i ā€œlikeā€ your post it means i have read it, appreciate your contribution/answer very much and want to answer it and when/if i get enough time i will do so. :wink: You guys rock and this thread is awesome! Letā€™s do our best to make and keep it the best thread (highest quality thread) on babypips! Once again, a HUGE thank you to Aaron who dedicates a lot of his free-/quality-time to share his knowledge with everyone for free in here, on facebook and his personal website! I know very well how valuable time can be since i nearly have no free time at all due to my countless commitments. If i could buy 24 more hours for each day i would do it right away. :wink: But from next year i will be able to be a more frequent contributor to this thread. Have a fantastic weekend everyone! :smiley:

1676

Hey - am short on USDCAD - I am trying some intraday entries on demo - this is one of themā€¦after a few mistakes that cost me 2R (!!! you can tell Im new to this intraday lark)ā€¦I finally caught this one ā€¦

This is how the trade developedā€¦
Daily - large pin bar rejecting trendline formed yesterdayā€¦so I started getting interested in usdcad

usdcad daily.jpg700Ɨ324 26.9 KB


2 hour - saw a large two bar reversal form which was rejecting intraday horizontal resistance line, so entered on 50% retrace
usdcad 2h.jpg700Ɨ324 27.4 KB


another very nicely formed pin bar on the 2 hour also formed later on which gave added confirmation to stay with the tradeā€¦
usdcad entry.jpg700Ɨ324 15 KB


ā€¦if I am not being too greedy on my take profit promises 10R (at around 1.0280), provided I can avoid meddling till price gets thereā€¦
what do you guys think of the take profit level, am I being overly optimistic? Thereā€™s the 1.4000 level in the wayā€¦

looks like an inside bar forming on the daily (see the first chart) - so thereā€™s another chance to enter on the daily chart.

1677

No worries Diablo, I am glad you are apart of the team here even if you canā€™t always be responding right away. Most of us fall into that category and completely understand. Thanks for the comments about me and this thread. Without you guys it wouldnā€™t have any value, so thanks for being a part of it.

Have a great weekend.

1678

Thanks for stopping by and posting! I agree with your post and I sometimes get stopped out once, only to have a 2nd high quality price action candle form, and I get back in the trade again. Also about your last statement, retracement entry does certainly help out with moving to BE. Often times when price breaks a pin bar, it will pull back to the break point of the pin bar temporarily before continuing. If you entered at the break now your BE spot is directly on the area where price will find resistance if it were to pull back. If you took a retracement entry, you can move to BE and now the break of the pinbar will act as a buffer in case price pulls back to your price action candle. Retracement entries have numerous advantages.

1679

Losing twice on an intra day trade is not uncommon. Honestly losing 4-5 times in a row on intra day isnā€™t uncommon. Expect a lower win rate at those timeframes, but generally the RR you can achieve is much higher. If you achieve your 1:10 then you could lose 10 trades in a row to break even on that 1 win. That is why lower win rates on intra day trades are acceptable. If I were you I would move my TP level up just a bit, so it is touching the lows of the other candles. You are shooting for the rock bottom area of that first resistance box, but price may start hitting resistance before hitting your TP target. I donā€™t have my charts open so this is just a guess but it looks like it would be in the 1.04100. I would hate to see it go 95% of the way to your TP and then reverse and you miss out on 8 or 9 rewards.

Remember it takes about 100 or more samples to get an idea of how well something will work so make sure you get quite a few trades under your belt before you decide if it is or isnā€™t working for you. Please keep us updated on how things go with your intra-day retracement trading.

1680

Thanks Aaron - thatā€™s very helpful, keeps my expectations realisticā€¦I actually found it quite draining monitoring all the price action intraday, was watching a few other pairs, and had to force myself to stay objective and focused re assessing all the time through that string of little losses, could have been death from a thousand cuts! Will keep at it when have some free time during the day but I reckon I may just stick with trading the dailies :slight_smile:

Will let you guys know how I get on intradayā€¦

Happy weekend allā€¦

1681

Ok guys, hereā€™s what happened this week.
I was going short with Eur/Aud. The white lines are my entry, SL , TP.

EurAud.jpg700Ɨ311 23.1 KB


First off, I was so relieved to see that my SL point was high enough not to get hit, price came very very close to it. I was proud of myself to have put it high enough. (or then again maybe I was just doggone lucky)
So, after work, and after all of the family affairs, getting close to bed time, I jump on to see whatā€™s happening.
WOW! Man,ā€¦ Iā€™m pretty much down to my TP area! I am 57-59 pips in the green. 62 pips and my TP kicks in. But, I noticed that price DID hit it, by a pip or 2. But it just didnā€™t take! So, Iā€™m watching it, and it comes back around to my TP again for the second time! I seen it with my eyes. It was very very quick. So I understand that to be slippage.
Hereā€™s the 5 min TF chart.
EurAud2.jpg700Ɨ551 35.8 KB


Iā€™m very happy at this point. Likeā€¦Iā€™m in here! But, itā€™s really time to go to bed. (the white line is where I went to bed). And now I see it moving up. My heart is pumping, my breathing is getting heavier, and Iā€™m starting to loose it. Iā€™m trying to keep it all together. Iā€™m rationalizing it all. Now Iā€™m losing. Only 40 some pips in profit now. But, I need to go to bed! So,ā€¦decision timeā€¦LET IT RIDE. Stick with the plan.
Well, I wake upā€¦only one thing on my mindā€¦kind of not wanting to see what happened.
Opened up the computerā€¦checkedā€¦and then I swear someone punched me in the stomach.
I CANā€™T BELIEVE IT!! I should have taken ANY profits!! I got stopped out at my 28 pip SL.
I just couldnā€™t stop thinking about that all day long. Just shaking my head all day.
So, as I always do. I try to learn something from that. The word greed comes to mind. All I wanted was like 2-3 more pips. And yet I didnā€™t know it was at the absolute bottom. My hand was on the trigger the whole time. AND I DIDNā€™T PULL IT!! My account was at the highest itā€™s been too.
I picked myself up from the floor, dusted myself off, and am moving on now.
Live and learnā€¦ thatā€™s always been my moto in life.
If I did something wrong, from your guys point of view, let me know. (other than taking it while I was there, of course).
Thanks for listening.
Iā€™m okā€¦

1682

Hey Mike

Try not to worry, it happens to us all and a 28 pip loss is a drop in the ocean if your managing your account correctly. Youā€™ll be back up there soon. I see trading a bit like climbing a slippery ladder very slowly, two steps up, one step down, two steps up, one step down.

I took three trades this week and only one of them was a winning trade but this one winner gave me 95 pips profit. As Aaron says, itā€™s about minimising our losses when they can and will occur but maximising our wins when they happen.

Hang in there Mike, you will soon make those 28 pips back!

BA

1683

Trading can take a hit on your emotions. Although after a while it will become easier, you just have a got some losers under you belt, haha. Seriously though, after a while it wonā€™t be as big of a deal when you lose. I donā€™t get upset anymore when I lose, I only get upset when I break my rules or do something stupid.

Itā€™s good getting this out because this is how you find out what you may have done wrong and where you can improve. You are stepping through you losing trade, and this is a great opportunity to see if you could have done anything different. I had 2 observations that you may have wanted to do differently with this trade, and could do in future trades. The first one is what we have been talking about for the last few days and that is moving SL to break even. If price is 90% of the way to your TP this is definitely a good time to move to break even. This is a point in your trade where if price reverses there is a high chance it will be a complete loss. The other problem is one I see a lot and thatā€™s traders putting their TP areas at the absolute farther point they can. You are essentially putting your TP on the other side of a resistance band, so now price has to plow through a huge band of resistance just to hit your TP. Putting your SL on the side of the resistance band that your trade is greatly increases the chances of you reaching your TP, and the amount of pips you are losing is negligible. I also noticed you said price touched your TP but wasnā€™t triggered. This is because you have your bid charts open, but when you short, your position is closed on the ask charts. The ask chart is the bid chart plus spread. When you trade you always want to make sure when you are setting your SL and TP areas, you are using the correct charts. In this case, if you would have accounted for the spread, your TP would have been hit. What happened to you here is a lot like price hitting your SL and then immediately moving in your favor, which can also be pretty maddening. As you get better it will happen less, but it will non the less continue to happen. You are working hard at learning, so get back on the horse and keep up the good work!

1684

Thank you for that teacher!
I completely understand all what you said.
I realize, about myself, that I do not like to be wrong. (about anything in life actually). And in this game, boy, I must get used to it. BUT I STILL HATE IT. I keep reiterating the fact that itā€™s about the capitalizing on the profits, and minimizing losses. I do. But I will always have this thing about being wrong about something. Ok. Perfectionist. Thatā€™s me.
Iā€™m learning coach.
I am.
Thanks!!

1685

Hi Aaron, really getting into this thread now as Im starting to understand more of your teaching. I love it well done.

Id love to know more about your USD/JPY trade once its played out. If you get a chance that would be great.

1686

Mike, great post, have been there many times. I too am a perfectionist, have learned to NOT to get used to being wrong, I just do not accept it - never even contemplate getting used to being wrong.

The scenario in your post - regardless of all the plans, rules, trading strats, TA or PA arguments, S/R lines or whatever, when Iā€™m closing up for the night and Iā€™m right (i.e. in profit) then I hit the close button - only rule I apply, do not look back to see could I have been more right.

Jesse Livermore said that one of the greatest impediments for a trader is ā€œhopeā€ - maybe L. Williams is correct when he says that every single trade he enters he contemplates that it will be a loser - he anticipates what actions he can undertake to correct that assumption.

Anyways, thks for a great post.

1687

Hey Mike,

Know the feeling! I wanted to make a couple of points that might, I hope, help you with your emotions with trading, because it has helped meā€¦

One trade does not a trader makeā€¦you have to look at your trading over a large series of trades, and if you are following your trading plan strictly, then you should be confident in the fact that over a large series of trades, you will make money. Truly Understand this and embrace this concept and you should no longer feel emotional about one losing trade.

It may help you to add a trailing stop to your order, so your stop goes automatically to break even at a logical level, EG when price reaches a potential stall point, say a minor horizontal level between your entry and take profit, then you can go to bed without worrying you could lose your whole 1R.

My own psychology, and so my trading, improved hugely when I stuck to higher timeframes, it just gives you more time to plan your trades and feels less hurriedā€¦it keeps me calmer when trading and reduces anxietyā€¦couldnā€™t see your image post that well but it looks like you are trading the 15min chartsā€¦

Also, if you are trading live (I assume you are) you must only trade with a position size that you are truly comfortable with losing, because you could lose on any tradeā€¦trading too large a position size is guaranteed to make you lose sleep at night and to worry about every trade.

Finally, the best book on trading psychology I have read and has changed the way I look at trading is ā€œtrading in the zoneā€ by mark Douglasā€¦if youā€™ve not read it yet, it pays reading and re readingā€¦

Best of luck.

Amy

1688

High risk events for week of 11/17/2013

news.jpg700Ɨ491 46.2 KB

1689

Yep, the best book on trading psychology I have read so far. Turned my trading by 180 degrees. Very easy to understand and read, and the examples in the book will help you not only in trading, but also in real life situations.