You can look for signs on lower time frames, what type of strategy do you use? is it trend following?
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Opportunities comes and goes, maybe in the future sgd/jpy will be in better trading condition for you
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I focus on swing trading, based on price action.
You’re right. I think I’ll follow your advice. I’ll just watch it for now and not worry about trading it. If I worry about trading it too much, I will probably force trades that aren’t there.
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I was looking at a confusing setup, and I didn’t know which way to trade. I decided to stay out.
I was in bed, and I realized I should have shorted. I ended up just going to sleep.
I saw the chart, and so far, the thought I had before going to sleep was correct. My indecisiveness was annoying. Then being too lazy to get up and make the correct trade adds insult to injury.
ok, so basically are you wait for breakout and trading this breakout direction?
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Yup. The right place, at the right time.
ok, so your method is trend following, swing high/low is your pending order level, after break these points you want to follow trend. I think you are worried about wining percentage but for trend following strategy you can expect 30-50% win rate, you can’t expect 60-70% win rate because that is the nature of this kind strategies. You can expect many loses, even big in a row, couple small loses/ profits, and few big profits. My trend following strategy prove this theory. In long therm, you can make profit. Regards Greg
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You make a great point. I don’t mind having a low hit rate. For some of my trades, I could be wrong 4 times before I catch the trend. That’s an 80%% fail rate. But those losses are made up for after 2 or 3 days, once the trend starts running.
The problem is that sometimes, I misread the direction, or just simply take bad signals.
I used to always exit too early, but I’m doing better at that now. But taking losses, then cutting winners too short is when the balance starts getting low.
Thanks!
I have a couple trades that I’ve been holding for about a month. Price gave a retracement sign, but I decided to hold.
Price has pulled back significantly. Profits for one pair went down about 50%. But my strategy said to hold.
The retracement seems to be over. However, had I been more aggressive I could have pyramided.
Pyramiding is difficult because you run the risk of losing your original position. I have a good position, and didn’t wanna risk losing it.
If I don’t risk it, I’ll wish I did. If I do risk it and lose my original position, I’ll wish I didn’t.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. After practicing charts, I’ll say that, for my strategy, in the end the potential profits are worth the risk.
Building confidence to take these risks is more difficult than I anticipated.
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When I practice trading, I can be more aggressive. Of course, that’s just practice. The market is different.
If I want to be more aggressive, perhaps I need to develop the tolerance for that risk. Trying to be super aggressive can be overwhelming.
What might work better for me is to ease into it somehow. Maybe I can make a list and a schedule of some kind. Be more aggressive with a certain type of trade for 3 months, and see if I can get used to it.
I am working on this at the moment, too. It is not easy because you have to sacrifice a good trade.
In addition to that, what if you would sit down for an hour per day and trade the 5m chart on demo? You have to admit, that lower timeframes are great for exercizing because you have a lot of priceaction coming at you in a short amount of time. You could train to have a higher risk tolerance and to be more agressive. I really think your swing trading could benefit from that. Whats your time zone dushimes?
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Thanks for the suggestion. But M5 would be a different strategy, and unfortunately would skew my D1 strategy while trying to adapt to it.
Each TF is like a different world–it looks different and moves different. I’m gonna have to stay where I am.
I’ve missed the trends that I should have caught for this month. I’ve fallen backwards and got stuck seeing a trend how I wanted to see it; not how it is.
This is very frustrating.
It seems I get stuck seeing charts a certain way, then literally can’t see the contradictory signs.
I hate to admit this, because I thought I was smarter than this. But apparently, I’m not.
In the above picture there are two ways to see the image: an old woman, and a young woman. Some people see it one way only.
The trades I missed were the same way, and I thought I was passed this. I see the trend as bullish, then when price retraces, I expect it to resume bullish. So, I go long.
But the conditions seemed wrong. That’s why I only took the trade in one correlated pair. And I was wrong. Price gave VERY clear bearish signs, and I was stuck in only seeing a bullish trend.
Now price is bearish, and it’ll be bearish for the rest of the month.
If I’m not smart enough to manage something the way I should, then I have to make myself so.
No retreat, no surrender!
I just eliminated three more pairs from my roster: SGD/JPY , USD/SEK, and AUD/CHF.
SGD/JPY because it’s the least compatible for my strategy based on recent signals.
USD/SEK just because I want further reduce my roster.
AUD/CHF because I have other CHF and AUD pairs.
Now, I’m watching 9 pairs.
There’s a part of me that wants to go back to trading just a few pairs, in order to focus more on reading charts correctly.
I seriously thought I was passed misreading direction like this. But I’m not.
I’m really tired of studying charts like this. But what I’m even more tired of is making such easy mistakes and missing out on huge swings. When I look at the charts, it looks SO SO easy. The signals are there, I just get so fixed on what I WANT to see, that I sabotage myself.
Yes, some of my trades require being wrong a few times before catching the trend. but some trades are like sniper shots. Just wait, wait, and take the trade. Then do nothing but watch it for a month and a half. Easy.
But I mess it up. If I can get this right, I’ll really learn to follow the signals, and not my emotions.
I’ve talked about my two strategies: trading S/R levels, and trading retracements that have no S/R levels.
Both are profitable.
Trading retracements that have have no S/R levels means there are no clue and confirmation combinations. The risk is high, and so is the mental stress. But the profit is huge. This strategy is helpful in the event I have missed the initial sign.
Trading S/R , however, the signs are clear, but I misread them. The beauty of trading S/R is that you ignore the random walk once price starts trending. Sure, it’s chaotic and profits will drawdown enough to scare the pants off you. But, if there’s no exit sign, go back to sleep.
For me, the goal is to work less, not more. I’m studying hard, but deep down, I’m quite lazy. Perhaps not the laziest person you know, but maybe 4th or 5th.
Trades D1 with S/R lasts anywhere from a few days to 90 days. It’s the laziest strategy I could have, haha. One trade, then just monitor it for 2 minutes everyday. That’s perfect for me!
This is what I should focus on.
If I can get better at my entries/exits, I won’t have a need for trading my retracement strategy.
For now, I should put my retracement strategy to the side and focus on S/R. Just thinking about it makes me a little bit anxious.
My brain is starting to say ¨Well, what about all the potential profits?¨ This means I’ll have to let go of certain setups, and that hurts. It makes my desperate side angry. The FOMO is trying to break free!
But, I have to resist! I can’t think about short-term profits–but trading correctly in the long-term.
Besides, what I’m doing now isn’t working. I’m not applying either strategy correctly, anyway. So, focusing on one won’t hurt my profits–there are none. I’m losing. So, what am I missing out on?? More losses? No thanks.
The FOMO side really wants to keep doing exactly what I’m doing now.
ACCOUNT BALANCE DOESN’T LIE
If my FOMO was correct, my balance wouldn’t be going down constantly. It’s time for a slight change of pace. Starting at market open, I’ll be focusing on S/R only.
Patience, young padawan.
Hello @dushimes, I hope you are doing well.
Is there a question on this post I’m a bit confused.
Do you mind also sharing something from your strategy or if you have already shared to guide me there?
Also, let me know if you don’t mind, are you a full-time or part-time trader??
I’m asking that because in the reply below I see you have a strategy for the Daily. And most people having a strategy for the Daily are part-time traders.
On this allow me to disagree, because if you are aggressive on your backtest and you are profitable I don’t see any reason why not implementing this aggression to your trading.
Is like one Kobe or CR7 doing practice on the training ground and not doing these moves in the big matches. Think about it 
It happens to everyone, don’t punish yourself so much. I believe this is the moment when your mind will have the “AHA Moment” to be 50/50 on everything and open-minded to the market.
I wouldn’t say that this is bad to admit bad signs, if you admit something, that means you have spotted the “problematic side of yourself” and now you can work on rectifying it
If you have two profitable strategies why you don’t stick with them?
I feel you are telling us that something isn’t going right.
Why you don’t do something to rectify this specific aspect?
Did you try to zoom out a TF when you are not sure? Did you try Premium/Discount or Fibonacci in combination with the retracement S/R?
Did you try to change things you’re doing and not they are not working OR you are not getting the results you are expecting?
I totally agree with that, but keep in mind that this industry has minds, Algos, and in general people dedicated to that 100% and they are working countless hours.
So when you work, work 100% for this amount of time you have set, cut all the distractions and focus.
Been there, done that. I spent the whole year to find my trading strategy style.
I really haven’t understood exactly what you are trying to achieve, to work less and have better results?
If yes, until you find out how to do it, you have to work like hell, when you are there, enjoy your consistency.
By the way, in my humble opinion, if you are targeting to be full-time trader and you have this strategy, investing your own capital, maybe its gonna take you some time.
For that there is a way, if you want to know, ask for it
Again I’ll speak between the lines because I don’t know the strategy. What I mean by that is I don’t understand why you are saying that you have to put on the side the retracement strategy.
The most effective and profitable time I had in trading it was following the trend and waiting for the retracement to enter again.
Help me to see if I can help you because I believe that there are a bit of mixed confused on your head.
In a friendly tone,
Be safe. 
Thanks for reading!!
My goal is to be part-time only. Meaning that I don’t want to be in front of my computer 40 hours per week. That’s the same thing as having a job. I don’t want that. There are some who love the screen time, and that’s ok. But it’s not for me.
You’re right, but I’ve been too scared to do this when I have open positions. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. That’s the scary part. I have to risk my original position.
The problem is that I’m not applying them correctly. I miss signs all the time. It’s really frustrating. So, instead of thinking about how to do two things correctly, for now I’d like to focus on doing just ONE thing correctly. If I can do that, then I have no need for the other strategy.
This is why I want to focus on just one strategy.
What every trader wants…haha…consistent profits.
You’re right. There is no other way!
For me, some retracements are small, and some retracements are large. The small ones are not worth closing and opening positions. The large ones are. The large retracements are their own trend and can last a week maybe. It depends if there are signals.
You are welcome.
You can easily achieve that following higher TF analysis.
Like W,D,h4 and through that I suggest you to find a way of entry on h1 or m15.
This is what I do the whole year. I made a lot of mistakes, I cleared all the distractions and now I’m dedicated and consistent on that.
Price is fractal, in all timeframes. I highly suggest you to look closely at what happens before every impulsive move, sometimes you have BoS(break of structure) on the m15 and immediately fill my order from m15 on the OB(order block) or some other times kick like a donkey the algorithm accumulate orders (aka liquidity) and after hours or days comes back to the OB in the h1, fill me in and travels. Just pay attention to the impulsive moves, not the corrective, and also focus on the higher TF trend.
Try to trade trading pairs and not consolidations.
Now when it comes to the hours, honestly, if I want to spend my weekend off the charts I’ll do my analysis late on Friday(I’m based in Europe, in Greece more specifically).
If I don’t have something to do during the weekend I’ll do my analysis on Saturday evening or Sunday morning to have the rest time free, I’ll set my alerts and that’s it. The next week I’ll wake up at 7 a.m., during my morning coffee I’ll check the pairs I have in mind and after I’ll hit the gym. If the alert hits me during gym time I’ll check my phone for the confluences I want to see and set the next alert.
No alert, no entry, no confluence, no entry. Blind buy or sell, thanks but no thanks, been there done that. Doesn’t work for me.
So you spend like 3-5(8 if you have focus issues) hours one day for the whole week, I believe it’s valid and very worthy.
Well, mate, I don’t want to get involved with your risk management or trading plan, but if you already have an open risk 1% of your capital, until for this trade you move your SL to BE to be risk-free I suggest you to sit tight.
If you are risk-free, then, if you don’t want to risk 1%, you can always risk 0.5%, 0.2% or whatever, with whatever risk you will be okay if you lose it you will be more comfortable. Or for the shake of a test, you can have a second terminal on your PC (if you are using mt4 install mt5 or vice-versa) open a demo account with one broker and demo it. Or place a trade position in your Tradingview IF you are using Tradingview.(if you don’t I highly suggest it!)
I believe if you test it in a demo, and keep a record in your journal (if you don’t have one check this out: https://stonkjournal.com/) the FOMO will jump from the window.
I believe you are in a psychological state in which you are more afraid to lose or be wrong than to open a position.
If you don’t apply them correctly then work harder . If you miss signs add alerts, if you don’t have a paid subscription to Tradingview which gives you the first program 20 alerts btw, or if you can’t afford it, there are other free applications that can do that work for you. Just do some research.
And believe me, alerts are game changers .
My advice on that is to focus on something that suits you and makes you enjoy the market, seeing a move and not blaming yourself why you are not riding it, but seeing it and saying to yourself “This is an awesome impulse and I’m gonna wait for the retracement to exploit and ride the trend”.
Never be harsh on yourself when a move happens and you are not in, this is very bad for your psychology.
Always try to enjoy it. And have patience, this industry requires tons of that. Still struggling with that.
And to don’t think that I’m an invincible guy, I was there, and I caught myself telling me “What the f*ck dude, EUR/USD made 480 pips move and you didn’t manage to enter” and immediately I respond “Oh shut it, I got sick of you, let us see what you can do now and stop crying like a baby”
Results? 1:9.78
h1
h4
D
And I’m not posting this to flex or whatever, I posted you my last week’s trade and let you know that I broke a lot of my rules for that trade.
First of all, the trade was started on Monday, usually, I don’t trade on Mondays, second, its a countertrending move, I don’t like them, stresses me a lot. Third, this third was the most tricky part, it filled me in 5 minutes before London close (btw it was also a Bank holiday this Monday for the UK but I believed in the algorithm) and I was ready to remove my limit order, if you see also how the h4 closed on Monday, that wicked h4 candle made me sh*t on my pants, but then I stopped for a moment, I visualised my loss, and I said to myself “if it’s going to happen I’ll be okay whit that”, and why I’m gonna be okay with that? Because the confluences were met. When the confluences are met, I can break the rules.
These things like breaking the rules and such, came from data collecting and experience seeing it live.
I have backtested my strategy for 2 years on each pair
I didn’t like it when I was doing the backtest, but what I like now is the data I have and what I can do.
As I told you, try to back-test and collect data, at least for 2 years, if you have a paid program on Tradingview on h1 charts you can go back until 2016 if I’m not mistaken.
If you have the data, then the consistency will come, believe me on that.
Okay, to clear up your mind try to use Fibonacci retracement from 50% and after, if the price is reacting to the 38.2% do not get involved, (if you want to be conservative, if you want to be aggressive be my guest, but if you lose, be okay with that, don’t blame your self.)
Also, I don’t know what you are using for signals, if you want to ride a bullish trend let’s say, a good sign on the retracement is when the h4 changes from bearish to bullish, then you wait to reach again your h4 structure 50% on the Fibonacci retracement and then you enter.
And that’s it .
Try to simplify things and not overcomplicate them or think about it 100 times.
During my backtest I made amazing things that worked out and now I’m not even thinking about doing them.
But worked out !
Last but not least, if you are hesitating to risk from your own capital, which is highly respected, to save some time, I suggested you to demo the positions you hesitate to open, but I believe from my personal experience that when money is not on the table you are making excuses like “if this was real money I’d never do this trade and sh*t”
Well, there are prop firms which give you a capital starting from 50$ with no time limit.
Due diligence and if you can afford it, give it a try. At least you will lose 50$ not 50k .
Be safe, and take care
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I’m feeling annoyed at how I trade. I was reviewing some chart samples, and it all seems so simple…and dare I say, easy.
It really does. How can something look so simple, yet be so difficult in live trading?
In part, I mean that as a rhetorical question. But I’m really asking myself what’s wrong? It’s gotta be impatience. My eagerness makes me see things that aren’t there.
However, I have to be willing to ask myself if it only seems easy because the chart is complete? Does the completed chart give meaning to my signs? Or do my signs give clues to what’s coming?
Nope, it’s the latter. The signs are clues, but I have to be willing to entertain that question and be honest with myself about the answer. This endeavor is very frustrating. So close, yet so far.
I made a mistake yesterday, but I have been trading less. That’s a good thing.
But I have made some other mistakes. In one of my charts, there have been 3 swings over the past few months. The first one, I did well. The next two not at all. Price swung up and down, and I didn’t catch other one of them.
It really makes you feel ridiculous. Great trades, and I missed BOTH. It’s like, someone was giving away free money in your neighborhood, but you forgot to go. You go outside and see everyone with bags of money, and you’re the only one who didn’t get anything.
Then you say, I’ll remember next time. And the next time you forget again!
This probably sounds weird, but that’s how it feels to miss out on such trades. Each swing lasted about a month. One trade, then just do nothing but watch profits go up for a month.
It makes you wanna eat ice cream, then go back to bed.
But, I’ve never been closer than I am now. I feel like there’s just two pieces of the puzzle that I’m missing:
1- not taking signs for granted
2- taking said sign
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This is true. With pyramiding, if my original position gets stopped out, getting back in is a real pain.
Yeah, and I foolishly misread the direction of that trend. It sucks.
haha What choice do I have? But you’re right. I didn’t realize that patience was the most difficult part of becoming profitable.
Thanks, I’m working on it.