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First demo trade this month. And a win!
 GBPAUD. "Continue reading" for more. Played the bearish pin bar at the the 61.8 Fibonacci retracement level.
The pin wasn’t the textbook “hanging-out-in-space-on-a-swing-high-or-low” variety, but it was a trend continuation signal in my eyes having both touched the bearish trend line and rejected the 1.62 round number. (See thumbnail at right.)
Importantly it was WITH the trend!
(A few losing trades logged here were not, including the most recent debacle on thise very same currency pair. Go figure.)
Continue reading “Trend Continuation Pin Bar on GBPAUD Reaps Pips”
It’s been a while since I’ve actively demo traded.
 GBPCAD. 'Continue reading' to see the result. This post is all about two failures I’ve been pretending to ignore since the end of September.
The first I would put down as a c’est la vie philosophical moment, the other a bloody fool infraction.
First the unlucky one: On September 29 I saw a nice looking pin bar on the GBPCAD (see thumbnail at right).
Simple set up: Bearish pin bar, in line with the bearish longer term weekly and monthly trends, with a tail dangling up into plenty of space. The pin had rejected a 61.8 Fibonacci retracement level and the 1.63 round number.
Pretty good I thought. Placed a sell order about 10 pips below the low of the pin bar and a stop about 10 pip above the tail.
Targeted the recent (bullish) daily trend line, which roughly coincided with the Fib 50. Might have pulled stop to breakeven at 1.62 and perhaps taken profit on half my position at 1.61.
Continue reading “One Stupid + One Unfortunate = Two Sad Forex Trades”
Success!
 'Continue reading' to see what happened Entered long on AUDCAD on a retrace of the bullish outside bar/candle (BUOB) of Tuesday, September 14.
But I did not enter on Wednesday, rather I entered on Thursday after price action tested and rejected both the 0.96 “big round number” and the bullish trend line.
Snapped the thumbnail on right the next day (Friday).
Set stop loss originally ten pips below the BUOB. And moved it up as the trade progressed.
Set a modest first profit target for half my position based on a 61.8 Fibonacci enhancement level, which was taken out on Friday.
Let the rest of my position run. See the full graph below to see what happened!
Continue reading “Pleasing Execution, Result on AUDCAD Long Trade”
I’m a little late posting this up. This is my first demo trade entered on a 240-minute (four-hour) chart.
 'Continue reading' for full chart result I scoped a big double high low close (DHLC) on the NZDUSD, September 14.
The double highs, within a couple of pips of each other, were at a price that had met significant resistance back in early August.
Per the thumbnail on right, I placed a sell order (green line) some 10 pips below the low of the bearish candle and set a wide open stop (red line) some ten pips above the high.
The order was met.
I was planning to move the stop to break-even once price hit the 23.6 Fib level, but never got the chance!
Continue reading “First Trade on H4 Chart; Bailed for Break-even”
Here’s a short, long over-due update for the purposes of my forex trading journal:
I haven’t quit. But neither have I been demo trading.
I’m trying to be more picky in the setups I take. And I realise I have much to learn about risk and money management.
On both counts the James16 Chart Thread at Forex Factory is informative. And there are some free videos at the James16 Group website, which offer both a reality check and a guiding light.
James16, a Texan (I think), offers up his price action trading method. From what I can tell it is similar to Nial Fuller’s (who was mentioned in my original post).
However, James16 has a different take on entry strategies and intra-trade management, which appeals to my more conservative instincts.
I am neither a paid up member of James16′s private forum nor Nial Fuller’s training course, nor do I have any vested interest in mentioning either of them here.
Disclaimer: Nothing in this post or anywhere on this website should be construed as “advice” in any legal sense of the word. (I am not “qualified”!) You make your own decisions.
All I have to do is look at the graphs to know what I did wrong on both these trades.
These were the “other two” demo trades referred to in my previous post that I entered into last Monday, August 16, and which I expected would take out my “set and forget” stop loss levels early this week.
Continue reading “To Fail to Stick to the Plan is to Plan to Fail”
The USDCAD short trade I entered into on Friday the 13th has resolved itself.
 To see what happened, 'continue reading' I referred to it in my last post (August 20). It’s the trade for which I moved the stop loss (red tag) from a point above the trend line (right thumbnail) to a touch below entry (6 pips to be precise; larger chart below).
More proactive intra-trade management would have resulted in a decent gain on this trade. There were opportunities on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, when I checked progress, to set a trailing stop. This would have taken me out with a positive pip gain and restored some respectability to my scorecard (right column).
As it is, breakeven or better counts as a “win”.
Another thing for me to take note of when setting targets and managing open trades is Fibonacci, but I need to read up on it.
Continue reading “Breakeven is Beautiful for a Newbie Forex Trader”
As my virtual account says “ouch” after a 186-pip loss, I’m scratching my head wondering why I was so impulsive.
 'Continue reading' to see what happened It was definitely a newbie effort and one that I will learn from (if I haven’t already).
I entered a GBPCHF long trade (blue tag) on Wednesday August 18, thinking that Tuesday’s test and rejection of a minor (and not particularly well established) resistance level was proof enough of a bounce back to higher levels in this “range-bound” market.
The small image at right was snapped yesterday, after price action had nearly stopped me out. But it had retraced back into green territory, which gave me renewed confidence.
Sods law. It tumbled back down overnight to take out my original wide stop. (See the result in the larger chart below.)
I now note that there is bearishness in this supposedly “range-bound” market. Had I taken more time to analyse the chart, I would have passed on this trade.
The trend is my friend. And I snubbed it.
Continue reading “Busted on Impulse: GBPCHF Long Trade Tumbles”
I entered a long AUDUSD forex demo trade at market price (0.8969; blue tag) on Friday, August 13, after noting that the Thursday candlestick looked “pin-like” after brushing a “support level” during the day.
 Continue reading for chart of outcome The thumbnail on right was captured some time after I entered the trade, at the end of my work day here in Bangkok.
Unfortunately, things didn’t change much overnight.
The candlestick at Friday’s New York close looked very similar, with no dangling tail. It was clear that my stop loss (red tag) level might be tested come Monday.
Sure enough, it was taken out (see result chart below).
So, what went wrong? What can I learn from this trade?
Continue reading “AUDUSD Long Goes Wrong: Too Early & Tight?”
The result is in on the USDCHF short trade mentioned in my last post.
 Continue reading for full chart Despite there being more factors going for this setup than for that lucky long trade, including confluence with the longer-term trend (360-day SMA; the maroon line) and the August 10 long-tailed pin bar, the trade stopped out.
I think I may have set the stop loss (red tag) far too tight. It was a couple of pips above the high of the pin bar. Previous rejections of the resistance line (July 12, 13, & 27) reached higher. And I could have risked up to 85 pips to still offer a 1:2 risk/reward ratio. As it was, I virtually risked (and virtually realised) a 71-pip loss on a 172-pip gain that never happened.
This time it was the profit target (green tag) that was never threatened. It may be reached in the next day or so, but I’ll stay out to see what happens.
Full chart follows …
Continue reading “Better Setup Tanks: Was the Stop Too Tight?”
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Forex Standings Cumulative results of demo trades logged in "Forex Trading":-
Trades won 5 - 7 lost
Pips gained 421 - 1,011 lost
Avg. gain 84 - 144 loss / trade
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