I haven’t used any indicators (besides MA) for a while. I took a look at this ATR guy…Thanks to the Babypips glossary.
It seems pretty helpful.
I’m making my chart folders of my 6 chosen pairs for D1, W1, and M1.
I can feel the craving for more charts. This is strange.
I have a habit of scanning so many charts looking for trades, and now that habit is trying to dictate my behaviour.
This will take some time to adjust to. Focusing on just 6 charts… oh boy
EUR/USD
USD/DKK
USD/SEK
AUD/SGD
AUD/JPY
CAD/JPY
For some reason I’m liking the kroner. I just like the way it trends.
I quit the kroner for a little while, but…
Kroner, I just can’t quit you.
And there are upcoming trades im a few of these that I’d like to catch. So, I want to pay close attention to these.
Perhaps, once some of these moves pass, I’ll just keep an eye on these and not even bother looking at other charts. That would start the whole cycle all over again.
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@MattyMoney has a very practical approach to this by looking at 5-6 pairs (if I’m not mistaken) and then inferring how the other pairs are doing. That’s because of the strong correlations b/w most of the pairs. He recently replied with an explanation along with an example. Might have been his info and money ideas thread.
If you’re using a platform like MT5 you can store trendlines, Fibs, remarks and other objects in workspaces and revisit them. This makes a running analysis of specific pairs easy because you simply carry on from where you left off.
Hi Dushimes
I can see you’re using IG which I also use, so I may have something that will assist in completing your journal.
If you go to your IG dashboard then select Live Accounts (or Demo Accounts) at the top -> history -> P&L Breakdowns -> select the date range -> changed to show position closed. This will then give you an Excel report you can download. I simply copy the lines from the Excel report into my own Excel journal file which will complete most of the data entry for you. I then just complete some extra lines I’ve added to my journal and write any comments that might be necessary.
Like Mondeoman, I also complete my journal before my next trading session, as I won’t allow myself to place any new trades before my previous journalling is complete. And like Mondeoman pointed out, your previous trades (and any mistakes) will then be fresh in your mind moving forward into your next session.
Also with regards to having too many pairs to monitor, you could always take the 28 major pairs and eliminate any containing CHF, CAD and NZD so you are just left with the ‘parent’ currencies (EUR, USD and AUD). It’s not something I do myself but I’ve seen it mentioned by others.
I hope some of that above may help.
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Whoa! Ok. I gotta check that out! Thanks!
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I did some analysis a while back and chose 4 pairs that I thought were furthest apart in terms of correlation:
EURUSD
USDCAD
AUDNZD
CADJPY
I explain why here:What would you do different if you start now to learn forex?
I also trade some commodities like Gold, Silver, Oil, Soybeans, Wheat & Corn (the last 3 only one at a time due to strong correlation).
To be completely honest, I start with these 4 pairs because they’re at the top of my list, but I do not stick to them exclusively these days. If CADJPY isn’t giving any signals but EURJPY is, then I’ll trade EURJPY. However, I am always careful not to open multiple pairs in the same currency.
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I didn’t want to do that. But, if I keep doing things the way I’m doing them now, I’ll get the same results.
So, time to try something different. However, I still like the ifea of trading the whole market.
Perhaps with more skill, I can trade that way again in the future. But not now.
For now, I just need to take it slow and narrow my focus.
Thanks for your suggestion.
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I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner, but another option is to ONLY trade momentum on D1/W1.
Whenever a trade is losing momentum and starting to consolidate, I start jumping in.
The only problem is that when it comes, you gotta pay attention and you’ll be busy. Because that’s like your busy season.
But in between, you got nothing to do. Possibly for two to three weeks. Just waiting and watching for exits, adding to positions…
I think I never chose this option because my brain just wanted to be busy and trade bounces, which can be harder to trade than momentum.
You’ve accounted for the possible spreads and liquidity for exotic pairs? @MattyMoney had another excellent post showing his broker spreads here.
My own broker advertised spreads show a higher than avg spread for those specific exotics.
Not suggesting you should avoid trading with them. Just that you keep these factors in consideration when deciding currency pairs.
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Take a look at this M1 for USD/DKK. Sure, the spread is higher, but the moves are nice. I just like how it trends.
A nice breakout is brewing!!
Great idea!!
I downloaded my trades, and with a little editing, I was able to bring them onto my journal.
I gotta take some time to review my winning trades. I had a string of wins, but wasn’t sure what I was doing different.
So, I took screenshots of the trades from late July to the end of August.
In the trades above you can see where I could have exercised better SL management to let the trade run longer.
You can see where I got scared and closed, and also where I stayed in too long.
Of the trades:
4- I don’t remember what the strategy was
2- S/R break through
1- passing a recent low
6- momentum trades
14- S/R bounces
Of those 14 bounces, 12 were AFTER the actual bounces was confirmed.
I never thought I could learn anything from my wins—all this time I’ve been focusing on my losses.
This goes to show me that waiting for the bounce is a good idea. I thought that placing an early order BEFORE the bounce was a good idea. Maybe not. You don’t know for sure where it will bounce.
That’s the funny part about trend lines. They often expand, but you never know when or until when. That makes it hard to place an order in advance. Therefore, waiting for bounce confirmation makes sense.
In my mind, waiting for bounce confirmation will require a much wider SL and lower pip value. But sometimes price will retest or come close to retesting, hence triggering your entry order. And those are the really good ones because you can get in at the price your want.
Also, trading momentum…with these trades, paying attention to the candles is important: long candle wicks, dojis, engulfing candles, etc. At peaks and valleys, those are all clues. Also, shorter candles, lower highs, or higher lows. These are all clues.
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So, based on these results I should focus on entering trades AFTER the S/R bounce. I have to undo the habit in my brain.
I can feel the cognitive dissonance in my brain. My brain still wants to anticipate bounces, but these results show that’s not the best way for me.
The momentum trades, I understand.
But the S/R bounce trades will take some getting used to.
Brilliant progress. Backtesting may show that the S/R bounce trades may not be profitable in the long run, unless combined with other indicators. If you are trading S/R bounce, and a million other retail traders are doing the same, the banks will just love taking out the stops. If you are in the minority, working areas that are not popular, you will stand a far better chance than those simply looking for bounce confirmation.
I noticed that everyday I would review all the charts and make a list.
I would take the trades I wanted, then forget the rest. Repeat the next day.
What I should do is keep the list and work that list for the rest of the week or longer.
This would save me some work and time.
I wanted to limit myself to just 5 currencies. There’s only one that has a set up for me. After that, I have to wait a while for the next set-up. Boring…
So, just as a test, I reviewed all the charts and made a list of upcoming setups.
I would like to focus on this list. There’s 20+ pairs on that list. I won’t be necessarily trading all of them, but I’ll be watching them.
I could get set ups anywhere between now and the next month.
Some are short term, some are long term.
This should help me focus. Let’s see.
This is something I’ll have to think about. Trading bounces are tricky. I don’t want to be shark food!
To be honest, I like the idea of momentum and swing trading much better. Less work, for one reason.
Another reason is avoiding the slice and dice that goes on once price is trending.
Breakouts are choppy. But entering before the breakout would be nice. Then you can just sit back and watch the bloodbath from a distance.
But getting in early is difficult. I’ll be keeping a closer eye out.
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I had just posted about trading S/R bounces. I had said that it’s best to trade AFTER the bounce confirmation.
And today, I was doing the exact opposite of what I just said!
I heard a voice in my head: “But this time will be different. It’s definitely going to bounce clean off those lines.”
I was trading some JPY exotics and one of them had hit the SL. I saw how JPY wasn’t gonna bounce, but keep going.
I seriously didn’t want to delete my other orders. But, I realised how hipocritical I was being. I went back and deleted those orders.
It was really tough to do. Reversing those synapsis in your brain is no joke.
The first step to reversing a habit is the hardest, I guess.
There is a part of me that wants to focus on trading momentum, and reduce my attention given to bounces.
I’m getting to the point where I could spend all day staring at the charts. And it’s not necessary at all.
It may not even be healthy.
Looking for trades on the D1 should be a 2 hour task on a good day. 4 at the most, if the market is about to start cooking.
But 5 or 6…that’s just another job. The idea should be more money, less time. Not the other way around.
I just read this thread and I have to admit that I have occasionally experienced some burnout. I have to keep in mind that this endeavor is not a sprint, but a marathon. Taking a day off from the charts won’t kill me.