Weekly Trading Update - 07-11 September 2009

Well it's turning out to be quite a good week this week. My main 4 hour trading method has performed okay with one winning trade and one losing trade but it's just triggered another set-up today which is working out well so far.
The first trade occurred on Tuesday morning on the USD/JPY pair. I deliberately got up very early because I was watching this pair the night before and the EMAs looked like they were about to cross downwards. Well true enough they did so the next morning and I went short after a slight pull-back at 92.80.

The price then headed nicely downwards and I closed half the position for 40 points and let the other half run, moving my stop loss to break-even. I was originally targeting 91.00 as an exit point (which would have been hit today) but I ended up closing the position yesterday after the price hit 91.50.

Sadly a losing trade on the GBP/JPY pair at roughly the same time on Tuesday had already eaten into a lot of this profit. This pair looked like it was crossing downwards as well but after entering a short position at 151.65, I took a loss of 60 points (plus the spread) after the price broke upwards again.
I'm hoping the week is going to end on a high though because I've gone short on the GBP/JPY once again (as the daily Supertrend indicator is still red) entering a short position as soon as the price retraced slightly and touched 1.5200.
I've just closed the first half of the position for 70 points a short while ago and have now moved my stop loss down to break-even and set my target price at 1.5000, which I'm hoping will either get triggered today or early next week. If all goes to plan it could be a very profitable trade.
Apart from my 4 hour trading strategy (for full details simply fill in the short form above), I have also been testing out three new trading strategies (well two actually because I was already familiar with one of them), all of which will be released next week as part of a brand new forex course.
I've been trading them with small stakes and have made some decent profits so far. I'm still undecided about which time frames they work best on, but I'm sure I shall be using them quite a lot in the future because they do look very promising. Anyway keep on eye on this blog because I shall be writing a review of this new course over the weekend.

Forex Trading Tips

Forex Trading Tips

Forex Trading Tips Tip 1. Gamblers go to casino. All unproved, spontaneous actions in Forex trading — are a part of pure gambling. Any attempt to trade without analysis and studying the market is equal to a game. Game is fun except when you are losing real money... Tip 2. Never invest money into a real Forex account until you practice on a Forex Demo account! Allow at least 2 month for demo trading. Consider this: 90% of beginners fail to succeed in the real money market only because of lack of knowledge, practice and discipline. Those remaining 10% of successful traders had been sharpening and shaping their skills on demo accounts for years before entering the real market. A good demo account to start practicing with could be, for example, FXGame from Oanda. Tip 3. Go with the trend! Trend is your friend. Trade with the trend to maximize your chances to succeed. Trading against the trend won't "kill" a trader, but will definitely require more attention, nerves and sharp skills to rich trading goals. Tip 4. Always take a look at the time frame bigger than the one you've chosen to trade in. It gives the bigger picture of market price movements and so helps to clearly define the trend. For example, when trading in 15 minute time frame, take a look at 1 hour chart; trading hourly would require obtaining a picture of daily, weekly price movements. If a trend is hard to spot — choose a bigger time frame. Up and down market patterns are always present. Always make sure you know the dominant trend, unless you are a scalper. Scalpers have no need to spend their time studying big trends, what's happening in the market here and now (during 5-10 minute time frame) should be of only importance to a Forex scalper. Tip 5. Never risk more than 2-3% of the total trading account. One important difference between a successful and an unsuccessful trader is that the first is able to survive under unfavorable conditions on the market, while an unsuccessful trader will blow up his account after 5-10 unprofitable trades in the row. Even with the same trading system 2 traders can get opposite results in the long run. The difference will be again in the money management approach. To introduce you to money management, let's get one fact: losing 50% of total account requires making 100% return from the rest of money just to restore the original balance. Tip 6. Put emotions down. Trade calm. Don't try to revenge after losing the trade. Don't be greedy by adding lots of positions when winning. Overreaction blocks clear thinking and as a result will cost you money. Overtrading can shake your money management and dramatically increase trading risks. Tip 7. Choose the time frame that is right for you. Choosing wise means that you are comfortable and have time enough to analyze the market, place and close orders etc. Some people can't wait for hours for the price to make a move, they like action and therefore prefer smaller time frames. On the contrary, for others 10-15 minutes is a hustle to be able to make the right decision.