Trading Diary Aug 24th 09

Unlike Bob Geldof (Those too young to remember he was in a group called the boomtown rats with a song called I don't like Mondays) I do like Mondays.

It does go against the grain for forex trading as all the books I have read suggest this is not a good day to trade. In reviewing my Monday trades it has proved by far my most successful trading day.

Forex Breakout on pound dollar started moving early this morning and I was tempted to get in. I waited and noticed a drop in the candles around 6.50. This followed the earlier drop of the hour. It was heading towards the S1 pivot at a rapid amount of knots and I got in at 16491.7.

10 Min's later I was out of the trade with with 23 pips just below S2 pivot at 16468.8. I talked of resetting limit to 20 on Friday and forgot this morning. But had it in mind to get out with 20 pips!

As normal with trading I would have been taken out mechanically with 30 pips if I had waited another 2 mins. That's trading and 23 pips is a Nice start to the week!

FTSE

Still not playing this strategy too much at the moment, it yielded 20 pips this morning but charts looked strange and there was far too many pivots for my liking. Ftse does not play ball when they are close like that in my experience.

So naturally it broke the rules and gave 20 pips in 15 Min's....Interesting morning :)

The name of the game is 60 pips up this week....That's the target! So 40 pips to go....

To Your Trading Success!

Trading Diary Friday 21st August 09

Wealth mentor and author, Marcus De Maria, teaches the strategies that made him financially independent. He has taught thousands of people his brilliant, proven, yet simple strategies for wealth creation, stock market investing and forex trading. Free seminars available

Wow the weekend is here again, continued apologies on the lack of updates this week. I am still hampered by technical difficulties. So no charts unfortunately to show you entry and exit points. I have just taken 18pips on cable to end the week up by just over 25 pips. (Summary at end of post)

Not traded forex that much this week due to many different activity's. An example of this is below......I have uploaded some pictures of the Investment Mastery Golf day for the advanced traders. Joining us was Mark and Rob of progressive property and of course Marcus De Maria.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Marcus was actually very good at Golf! I have this perception that he's not really a sports person. With the amount of self development I have done its strange I still hold on to some of my old beliefs!

(Group shot of team with fellow skype traders Toj, Veronica, Brian and Adrian)

Oh did I mention I won the putting competition :)

(Check out my swing!)

Rob - progressive property Very good amateur!

Still got it!

OK enough indulgence and back to Forex trading, there was a pivot at 16436 this morning! It gave me a short trade of around 16410 on Pound Dollar. It failed to break the pivot significantly for a short. My entry was not that clear for the long trade, but a pattern had formed from

4 am with resistance around 16468.

I entered the trade around 7.55am at 16475 and exited at 16493.8 at around 8.06. Very risky as that is the same time of the ftse opening and can make cable move in completely opposite directions sometimes. But due to the way it had failed to break the earlier pivot I was confident that it would continue until 16500 before retraction.

Plus the fact that Bernanke was due to speak at 10, so I wanted to get in and out for some quick points before 8.30. The greed that I have been recently experiencing has left me only 25 pips up this week. I have taken some drastic action to correct this by resetting my limit to 20 instead of 30 and will get out at 15pips if I am close to any major pivot points or key numbers.

Also no second entry's! This cost me 30 pips on Thursday and reduced my winnings for the week. So I end the week with a clear reminder of why I took up trading and what has given me the strength to continue through the roller coaster ride of LOWS AND HIGHS!

I want to be finished by 10am and be on the golf course spending time with great people....Time is the most precious commodity to me and having control of mine is the ultimate goal....Besides 60 to 70% of business deals are done on the golf course! Enjoy the weather it doesn't happen too often in the UK!

To Your Trading Success!

Beginners Guide to Candle Sticks!

Here are two very simple guides to candle sticks and how they can develop a trade. I find price action as a very important aspect in trading. If you have traded before this may be too basic for you. But it never hurts to revisit earliear learning's!

To Your Trading Success!

Trading Diary Monday 17th August 09

Kindle: Amazon's 6" Wireless Reading Device (Latest Generation)

Having some major technical difficulties and can't put up the graphs showing my trades. Hence the lack of updates on my blog. I had a fantastic week but was thoroughly pissed off because I am now getting too greedy and I'm actually losing points for this reason.

Ended up 60 pips up last week but should easily have taken 120. I thought I had solved it but his morning I did the same. Got in early and took around 10 pips then got in again and took another 10 pips.

On the Second trade I had 20 pips and didn't take it. So whats going wrong? The major thing is I am not sticking to my exit strategy....I covered this a couple of months ago when I was not so consistent but have to keep reminding myself. The psychology of trading is so interesting!

Lose your focus for a bit and you slip back into old habits...I aim to write in this blog tomorrow of a clean trade of just 20 pips and no messing around with exit strategy's.

Should soon be doing my first public speaking event on trading. Very excited but its a good month away.... Will let you know how it goes

First Entry

Entry: 16398.1

Exit: 16389.4

Second Entry

Entry: 16370.1

Exit: 16360.3

I will give a brief summary of all my trades from last week Tomorrow. The super traders group is about to expand with three more joining myself Neville and Adrian. The mission is to create the biggest most successful trading group ever.

To Your Trading Success!

Fap Turbo Review - Automated Forex Trading!

The fourth generation and the best...If you really don't want to learn about the markets, candles sticks and doji. Or maybe you are an ill disciplined trader. Maybe you just don't have the stomach for it or the emotional control in the trades.

Fap Turbo will take all the pressure away....Leave and come back and it's done its Job. Much easier to set up and implement than previous robots and other automated systems.Watch the video below to see it in action! Then click on the link on the video!

Now so good it takes into account all the variables such as news announcements etc. Thoroughly tested and most people are on average making 19 to 40% and more on there portfolio.

Why not have this working for you building you cash while you play with minimum

money and learn? This way when you become good it's double your money time!

Easy Trading Success!

Trading Diary Friday 7th August 09

Thank Crunchie its Friday...... The week is coming to an end and I have finished up on pips for the 4th week in a row....Just! Saved today by actually trading the announcement (I know I said I wouldn't) But it made sense because they were being thrown everywhere with big moves and I felt it was an opportunity!

Non farm continued to make the market as I say "very interesting"! I took a calculated risk on a strategy we use for announcements and it paid off. But because my mind set was not to trade I was gripped with fear and missed 70 pips and more (So upset).

Cable dropped 150 pips and more in 10 Min's and I scalped 30 pips. The non farm announcement was better than anticipated which did not help the British pound! Trade is below....

(Fig:1)

Here's one for you to think about for the weekend! My friend Tojumul sent me a text on Friday morning. It said at 12hr 34 Min's and 56 seconds on the 7th of August this year the time and date will be 12.34:56 07/08/09 ....1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9.This will never happen in your life again!

This got me thinking about how many things will never happen in my life ever again! So many people waste and do not celebrate there time. Then finally get to the end and wish for so much more.

My trading journey is for this reason......My goal is financial freedom so I can do more with my life! I have no boss....Meet great people....Decide on what I want to do! If you want to change your mind set and move on with your dreams? Sign up for the free 45 minute wealth consultation!

It will be the best thing you have ever done in your life. If you are reading this blog then you have an interest in creating money which will ultimately support the life you desire....Don't wait, get on with it...You will never have this time again!

Have a fantastic weekend!

Understanding Pivot Points!

Pivot Strategies: A Handy Tool by Kathy Lien,

For many years, traders and market makers have used pivot points to determine critical support and/or resistance levels. Pivots are also very popular in the forex market and can be an extremely useful tool for range-bound traders to identify points of entry and for trend traders and breakout traders to spot the key levels that need to be broken for a move to qualify as a breakout.

In this article, we'll explain how pivot points are calculated, how they can be applied to the FX market, and how they can be combined with other indicators to develop other trading strategies.

(It may be easier to just watch the video)

Calculating Pivot Points By definition, a pivot point is a point of rotation. The prices used to calculate the pivot point are the previous period's high, low and closing prices for a security. These prices are usually taken from a stock's daily charts, but the pivot point can also be calculated using information from hourly charts.

Most traders prefer to take the pivots, as well as the support and resistance levels, off of the daily charts and then apply those to the intraday charts (for example, hourly, every 30 minutes or every 15 minutes). If a pivot point is calculated using price information from a shorter time frame, this tends to reduce its accuracy and significance.

The textbook calculation for a pivot point is as follows: Central Pivot Point (P) = High + Low + Close) / 3 Support and resistance levels are then calculated off of this pivot point using the following formulas: First level support and resistance: First Resistance (R1) = (2*P) - Low First Support (S1) = (2*P) - High Likewise, the second level of support and resistance is calculated as follows: Second Resistance (R2) = P + (R1-S1) Second Support (S2) = P - (R1- S1) Calculating two support and resistance levels is common practice, but it's not unusual to derive a third support and resistance level as well.

(However, third-level support and resistances are a bit too esoteric to be useful for the purposes of trading strategies.) It's also possible to delve deeper into pivot point analysis - for example, some traders go beyond the traditional support and resistance levels and also track the mid-point between each of those levels. Applying Pivot Points to the FX Market Generally speaking, the pivot point is seen as the primary support or resistance level.

Successful Trading!

Trading Diary Thur 6th August 09

I mentioned that the First Thursday of the month for online traders is interesting! Well all hell broke loose today on the main forex currencies. When you start getting too comfortable with the markets you do stupid things like I did today. Cable was channeling as predicted due to the 12 news announcement.

For some reason I still thought I could scalp 10 - 15 pips as it made a move up in the morning. I got burnt and rightly so, I broke my rule of not trading on these days and it was a good lesson. So 30 pips lost.

Okay so to top off my day the Monetary Commission chucked 50 Billion into the market. The UK is already bankrupted so throwing away more money is OK? The big players did not see it that way and cable went a bit mad.

I normally wait for it to clearly decide its direction if I am to play the news. Adrian my trading partner had left an oto (Order To Open) on a short position which I felt was far too risky.

Especially since I had already been burnt in the morning.

So what happened......Well Adrian's oto was triggered short a minute into the news and he made 100 pips in 30 seconds. A couple of the trading group also tried to get into the trade but IG could not fill the orders.

I think the word pissed does not do my feelings Justice.....Especially as I had my finger on the trigger but didn't execute. Secondly I attempted to get in at below the 50 level but was again rejected by IG.

When I checked I realised they had widened the stop loss for the news and I had not adjusted. It moved 30 points in my favour in 30 seconds. Not a happy Bunny!

Non farm day tomorrow and no doubt more madness.....

Trade On!

Trading Diary Wed 5th August 09

Wow an interesting morning to say the least, lets start at 6.10am. I entered a short trade on cable and scalped 5 pips. Got out early due to the news at 7.00 from Halifax on property. The Forex Market has been erratic the last 2 days for us online traders.

Pound Dollar has been channeling for days on the strategy we use on the hour. This can then affect even the breakouts if it continues too long. I suffered a double loss in one day about two weeks ago, I believe for the same reason. When the Forex Markets are channeling in anticipation of news it can be a major headache.

(Fig1)

On my entry for the first long trade I'm not sure why I actually entered. In hindsight it was in the middle of no mans land. I was discussing entry points with trading partners Neville and Adrian and they had decided on 16930 for the long trade. Basically I went with them even though I did not see a clear entry!

My fault really and soon as I entered the trade it retracted. The red candle ate the green and was followed by a second red, this took me out on stop loss at 16905.8. Very annoyed, but good thing Neville and Adrian had wider stop loss. I gave myself 30 on risk reward.... I think Nev had 45 and Adrian below 900 level. When I finally re-entered they were close to break even!

With 30 pips to gain back I set my limits for 60. I had the feeling it had broken the resistance of 16930. I rode my luck through 16950 which was the final major resistance in my opinion. I closed out with just over 40 pips 2 Min's before the 9.30 announcement.

35 pips up for the week with with two days to go, the pound continues to rise against the dollar. This makes my forex trades very interesting. Non farm news and MPC news on the first Thursday of each month will continue to make this an entertaining week.

Safe Trading!

Trading Diary Tues 4th August 09

OK 15 pips to make up after yesterdays bad trades. There was no clear range on the pound US Dollar currency. I noticed 2 hits on the 50 level, it then had a tight 15min spell of no moves greater than 5 pips. Each time the candle returned to opening.

This happened for 3 candles then indicated to go short. That was a false signal and the candle fully retracted followed by a green which hit 16950 again. Unlike yesterday the break was significant and as it reached 16955 I entered a long trade with entry of 16959.

(Fig:1)

Looking for 30 big ones this morning to make up for yesterday! I had to wait until 7.50am and twice I had 28 pips. I refused to close out due to how bad my trade was yesterday. I wanted to be taken out mechanically by my limit of 30 pips!

Bit risky but stop was now at plus 5 pips so it was OK to take the risk. 5 Min's later it finally reached 16989 and the Ig platform took me out of the trade. Not the pips that's important, but the execution of the trade is!

Speaking to fellow trader Richard Temple on Monday, he believes there is a synergies on the movement of Pound Dollar and the direction of the ftse at 8am opening. Apparently the ratio is 4 out of 5 so I will be watching that for the next few days!

Richard is a great friend and trades using ATM. I will be catching up in detail with him in the next few days to share our knowledge of the markets!

I didn't trade ftse this morning but the strategy yielded another 20 pips. The 9.30 news made it drop further and I think in total there was 50 pips if you were brave enough.

More Pips For All Traders!

Trading Diary Mon 3rd August 09

The 1st week in the Month means lots of news reports, I lost my first breakout trade having been fooled into a short position. There was a manufacturing announcement at 9.30 for the UK and I believed that slightly influenced my decision to enter the trade against my better judgement.

Cable had bounced at 16750 all morning and headed south towards the low of the day. It broke below 700 and I entered the trade. The next candle was a huge shock as it retracted in a major way. I gave it some room to breath as it had been ranging all morning. But I eventually got stopped out with a 30 pip loss.

First entry was 16700 and lost 30 pips, with the announcement due I was going to leave it at that. But the pound suddenly broke through the 50 level bigger than previous attempts. I entered the long trade but was made to sweat. Very conscious of the 9.30 UK manufacturing news, but realistically I knew this was the only hope of the trade going long.

Poor trade really and I was saved by what came out later at 9.30. The forecast was + 3.4%, if ever you need an indication that the big boys have inside info this was it. It began to rise at 9.15am a full 15 mins before the news was posted. I managed to get out of the trade just before 9.30 with 15pips.

On the back of the positive results the pound rose to the highest level since October 2008. I could have made my loss up and more! So 15pips down for the week but plenty of time to recover. I want a straight 4th week in a row of profits!

Trade well!

Candle Patterns

I have found using candle sticks to read the market as essential. My exit and entry's are based a lot of the times on the individual price actions of the candles. We all have our trading styles but would highly recommend you add this to what you know.

There are many candle patterns and this video looks at two. The Spinning Top and the Doji and what could occur when the candles appear in the market.

All the Forex Currencies have patterns and movements. Learning them well is the difference between a losing trader and a great trader. I have two favourites Gbp/Usd (Cable) and Eur/Usd.

You will find whatever pairings you love have patterns and regular movements. For a more in depth look at The Forex Currencies and how they differ, read Forex Patterns and Probabilities!





As a huge sports Fan the Trading Athlete has had the most impact in my understanding of trading. If you are not so sporty I would recommend Trading In The Zone. Read the books three times and complete the exercises in both!

Learn and Trade The Markets Well!