Ready to jump on board again

The Pound climbed again last night as I was watching Wonderland and is setting up another opportunity to sell the Queens currency when it shows signs of weakness.
As with my last add in trade, I will look to take some profit on this one early while holding my core position for my 1st take profit level.

I won't kid myself, this is taking longer than I thought, but at this stage there is no reason to doubt my analysis.

Will look for opportunities this week to sell and take early profits to add to equity while the market continues within its range.

Until next time, take care and enjoy the Sydney sun today :)

ForexFitness...   

Falling, falling, looking good :)

Just thought I would say that as the GBPUSD nose dived yesterday on some less than expected news data.
We closed the day below the 1.5918 support level and my core position is still looking good to reach target.

These past few weeks have been a classic example of the importance of not risking more than you are comfortable with in a trade. I've got a big stop on this one, so my leverage is small, simple.
I have lost count of how many times I have read traders using a very tight SL because they wanted to increase their position size. They measure how many pips they can risk to stay within their money management rules and place their trade.
Now on the surface, this may see like sound advice. They have MM guidelines and they are sticking to them. Only problem is, they are going about it backwards. They are adjusting their lot size first, then calculating where they should put their SL based on this.

I'm sorry, BUT THAT IS NUTS!!!!!

After setting MM rules and following them, your next objecting with regards to controlling your risk, is positioning your SL in a strategic position so as to minimize the chance of it being hit. This means finding a suitable market position on the far side of support/ resistance or some other market parameter such as a pivot, Fib level etc. Once a strategic "hiding place" for your SL has been found, you should then calculate the appropriate lot size to stay within you risk parameters.
If your SL is a long way away, then you should decrease your leverage to maintain the same % risk exposure. If you have found a good place nearby to hide your SL, then your leverage can be larger.
It really is that simple.
Of course this means some months you will make more than others, but so what. you are taking the necessary steps to ensure you stay in the game financially and emotionally.

On another note just raised the weight on the incline press the other day by 2.5kg's. it's not much, but I could feel it. When looking for progression particularly when you feel your lifting is starting to plateau, just increase with tiny increments. This way you will feel confident about still being able to complete the required reps for each set and you won't get discouraged. Throwing an extra 10kg's onto the bar when you are pushing your limit (or close to it) already is not going to help. You'll seize up after 5-6 reps and probably pop your shoulder.
Anyway, waiting to see if the GBPUSD can finally escape heart attack alley, escape this range and head to my target.
Take care guys.

ForexFitness...

Emotional trader

This topic has been addressed more times than any issue with regards to trading forex.

There's a very good reason for this:

TRADERS JUST DON'T GET IT!!!

Emotions will kill even the most technically or fundamentally astute traders if they are not kept in check.
To put things in perspective; if I went to the gym concerned about not being able to lift as much as I did last week, or worried that some mindless Ape was going to try and kick me off his favourite machine just because I glanced at his 20 inch bicep and wondered how much "juice" he needed for that, I would be a wreck.
When you are battling the markets and keep having your mental metal challenged by the zig zags of a trading range, you need to have preset escape routes so your finances and sanity don't go into a nose dive.

Ok, so what does all this mean?

I am not even going to address this issue referring to timeframes lower than the daily/weekly chart. If you're a 5-15 min scalper, I'm afraid you are on your own.

3 key things:

A) Never over leverage a position:
Sounds obvious huh...

But when you are trading and thinking about how much percentage you want to gain this week/month, you are setting yourself up to make the most common and fatal mistake a trader can make. Your mind crunches some numbers, spits out how much $ you need to make to reach your goal and come hell or high water, you are going to achieve it right?!
WRONG!!!
The market doesn't care what your goals are (most traders fail miserably by the way - FACT!). The market will do whatever it does and the most crucial thing we can do is control our level of exposure (risk). What I mean is, If you think there is only 300 pips in this swing trade, but you want to make 15% this month, you may have to up your leverage to make this percentage. However, if this puts you at risk of losing too much money when things go wrong, you are likely to become irrational.
Price starts moving against you and before you know it, you are already 4-5% underwater (floating loss). You start to panic, it goes against you a bit more, so you pull the rip cord and exit the trade.
Later that evening, price then returns to its original trend, moves past your entry point into what would have been a nice profitable position, and you find yourself on the helpline seeking charity from someone so you don't neck yourself. 

With this in mind, we then need to consider our stoploss.

B) Always use a stoploss:
Whether an actual one placed on your platform, or a mental one where a daily/weekly close above/below a certain level, tells you your analysis was incorrect and it's time to bail before your plane disintegrates on impact along with your loot. using a defined stop loss (I do), allows me to accurately determine how much leverage I can use and stay within my own % risk parameter.

Alright,  but how do we make money?

C) Have clear objectives with regards to take profit levels and make sure they are larger than your stop loss.
This allows you to be wrong 50% of the time and still make money. (By the way, if you are wrong 50% of the time, you have lots of work to do).
When I first started trading, I was in and out of most of my trades within 3-4 hours (sometimes 1 hour) as I would get nervous every time the market retraced and reduced my equity. It was ok, problem was, my profits levels were (at best) as big as my stop loss. Screen time was also a killer and sucked the life out of my normally steady nerves.
Now, I watch the weekly charts and look for clear signs of a reversal starting. I then look for technical reasons why this might be happening. If I find a good excuse for the market to be doing what it is doing, this limits the random factor where false signals are given as a form of entrapment. Once I'm happy that price action is confirming the signal, I enter my trade, place my SL above the highest recent market peak and set my targets below.

Using this method, If I get taken out and I lose 3% of my account, so be it.

It's a cost of doing business.

I'm confident of making it back (and then some) with my next swing trade.

In summary, don't bet the farm, always know how much you are risking and set your target levels.

Weekly charts are awesome, cuts the emotional baggage and makes trading a whole lot easier.

ForexFitness...

A great finish to the working week

Up at 5 this morning for a legs workout.
For me, I just keep it short and quick to get it over with.
I hate training legs as it's so damn tiring, so now all I do is 15 mins high intensity and high RPM on the bike followed by a few sets of squats.

I find my definition comes out well with the bike work and give a nice shape to the quads.
The squats I do to compliment and also for back/core strength development.

A quick cool down and I'm done and out the door in 30mins.

Later today I'll hit the pool with some resistance hand paddles as this brings out shape and definition in my chest/shoulders/back and arms like nothing else.

I don't know what it is, but some can get all the definition they need from the gym, I need more.

I'm fairly large with muscle bulk, so size is never an issue, but I really need the highly repetitive and medium intensity of resistance based swimming with paddles to get the shape and fullness I want.

Oh yeah, and the Pound dropped nicely last night on good US employment data and I decided to close it out for 35 pips after the first 15 min candle spike down.
I did this because the market is still well within the current weekly range, so I think we will get another opportunity to sell again at the completion of another short term rally.
Anyway, off to the beach for some breakfast.
Have a great weekend everyone.

ForexFitness...

Now that's breakfast, shared with wife and bub.......

SNAP BACK

Don't take the market for Granted:

Britain didn't raise interest rates and the ECB have cut the Euro return.

I thought this was the drop to come, it took a while, but then it eventually started falling on bigger volume.
I went to bed feeling good about the trade then woke this morning to see the gains reversed.

We are still in the trade and I have no reason yet to question the 1.5710 target.

Manage risk, put stop losses strategically and make your profit targets bigger than your Stop Loss levels.

Of course, strategic trade decisions are key and I find the weekly chart best for finding highly profitable swing trade positions and targets.

Stop loss placed at 1.6124 so we are still in play (on both core position and re-entry).

Next, I will chat briefly about emotions in Forex. It's not ALL about strategy but about managing risk and not being greedy.
Poor risk management and greed (or the desire to make a fortune too quickly) brings more traders undone than anything else.

Until next time, take care and enjoy this sunshine.

ForexFitness...

We are in again

Just taken another short trade on the GBP/USD PAIR at 1.6069 with a stop (FOR THIS TRADE) just above the recent 1 hour swing high at 1.6124.

Now, my overall trading strategy is to keep my core position open with a larger stop, then drill down into the 1hr and 4hr charts to look for re-entries when price pulls back against the emerging new trend.
In this case, there is some resistance at 1.6120 which we nearly reached last night and current 1hr price action is suggesting we go short again.

I am quite prepared for this stop loss to get hit as it is only 55 pips away and my (potential target) at 1.5710 is 350 pips to the southern end of the chart, so my RISK/REWARD is very favourable.
If the SL DOES get hit, I will simply re-enter when I get another Price Action signal to go short.
Once we get our head around the fact that losses are a part of trading and are in fact seen as a cost of doing business, then they are much easier to accept. In the same way as a new start up business or any business for that matter has to outlay money to make money, to keep the business running, the same is with trading. Any new opportunity involves risk, the key is not to mortgage (or bet) the farm on any one particular opportunity. As long as your outlays are smaller then your turnover, your in profit.

And that's the name of the game......

ForexFitness...

Are you in the game on trading?

My other passion is trading currencies, something that got me hooked about 5 years ago while surfing the net looking for a new income.
There are stocks and bonds, but nothing moves like currencies, once you get an idea of market structure and where the big institutional money is being placed, things become much easier.

The first few years are tough as you wade through all the marketing gimmicks thrown at anyone who types "trading" or "currencies" into their browser (yes, I've been through all that). There are odd bits and pieces to consider and can assist in your trading decisions, but as stand alone "indicators", they are doomed to fail.

In this space, I will be helping out anyone interested in getting fit and/or making money from the most exciting (and largest) market in the world.

I'm currently holding a short position on the GBP/USD pair and likely soon to be adding in after this bullish retrace is over.
Targetting 1.5710 as my first target, these trades will add about 38% to my account if and when the target is reached.

Stay tuned, I have some exciting news and info coming up soon that will blow your socks off.

ForexFitness...