I am new to forex and have a afew questions about scalping. I am currently using an Oanda demo account. I trade the eur/dollar. As it seems to be the most liquid and the spread is low. I trade on the 1min chart. I just go by price and candle stick analysis. If its bearish I go short until I am in profit, if the market is turning I just go long and so on…
So I am constantly in a trade, I have the buy/sell window open and I am ready to reverse and click submit if the trend changes. I have one eye on the candles and one eye on price. My question is do many people here trade like this?
I have read pip-syphons excellent steroid scalping method. I like trading like this and moving with the ebb and flow of the market. I have practiced trading on 4hr and long time frames but I did`nt like being down and waiting for the trend to reverse. I prefer to sit and the computer and trade contstantly and then finish when I reach my profit goal.
I dont use a stop loss when I scalp. Instead if the market is going about 4 pips in the opposite direction or if it looks like a strong bullish or bearish candle then I will just reverse my position to go with the market. Also I am trading small lot sizes.
Trading like this is fine if you can do it.
Except for one thing you need a stop! Put a stop out at 10 or so pips if you are closing your trades out at - 4. The first time Oanda loses there server when you have an open trade and you lose weeks of profit in a day you will know I speak the truth.
This kind of thing could happen with any broker or it could be a tech problem on your end it will happen.
thanks for your reply. I agree about the stop losses. I have also thought about what would happen if something happened to my internet connection. I think I will print out their phone number and also have stop losses in place next time I trade.
Do I have to manually put in stop losses every time I buy/sell or is there a way to have two stop loss lines, one above and one below the area in which I am trading. Just for safety.
I use Oanda for scalping too, in the user preferences there is a tab where you can set entry and exits that are fixed. Just go to that tab, and enter a stop loss per trade of 10.0 pips or whatever you fancy. That way no matter what trade you enter, it automatically has a 10pip SL added, you can always manually adjust as necessary.
God forbid you accidentally enter right before a news release you didn’t check and markets move against you.
In terms of the way you trade with the window and submit button I do exactly the same thing. With scalping I don’t rely on TPs. Stops are necessary so those are automatic. For me I like minimal exposure and certain profit. I either manually move my stop beyond a profit line (break even or 1 or 2 pips profit), or I’ll manually exit when I see things slowing down. The submit window is the easiest for me to use, also because it shows everything from pips in profit and prices / stops / TPs etc.
I use a slope direction trend line. When it changes color, I open my ea, and will make usually 2 trades, one the following 2 bars, 5 pips, no stoploss, my ea will keep trading the trend, and when the trend line starts to level out, or go more horizontal, I take profit of the open trades, and wait for the next trend.
I also use a forcaster updates every 15 mintes, and tells me its strong bear/bull, and OB/OS… So that gives me a basic understanding of whats going on, cause it goes from overbought-then neutral, so it tells me, the market is caught up, and wont gain much more ground, and could be seting up for a reversal or retractment… Also, gives good Support/Resistance numbers…
I use a few differant things, and usually spot on…
I also make my 15 trades, then close the platform, greed can be bad sometimes, thinking your rolling, and my as well get a few more pips, just to lose it all, funny how that works…