Trade Update - GBP/USD Short

The Trade: GBP/USD Short


Reason/Setup:
This trade is based on the Elite setup on daily charts. I am little late in entering this trade, but since its based on the daily chart, I feel I have some leeway here. Also the trend is strong and the past history suggests that the pair has some more room to fall.

Trade Details:

• Date Entered: April 24 2008, 4pm
• Entry: 1.97253
• Lots: 10
• Stop Loss: no stop loss set
  
• Target: 1.95983

• Date Closed: April 30 2008, 8:00 am
  
• Result: Manually closed position.
• Total Pips: -434
• Profit/Loss: $454.35
• Rating: 2

Comments:
As it turns out, this is not the best trade to enter. As seen from the chart, the price has been moving basically sideways in a very tight channel, with the up and down days alternating. With that in mind, the better trade would have been to play the trend inside the channel and expect a bounce higher, or wait for a breakout from this channel. The only consolation was that the overall trend is definitely downward.

The other point to note is the pattern of the CCI. It basically just oscillates from positive to negative which indicates an unhealthy market. This is the kind of pattern a trader should stay away from unless you are playing the channel as it kill you.

Trade Update - EUR/USD Short

The Trade: EUR/USD Short


Reason/Setup:
This trade is based on the Elite setup on daily charts. I entered this trade before the actual signal was triggered as the trend was clearly visible and I had captured the trend in lower time frames. The 3 EMA is just about to cross the 34 SMA. And the Dollar has been in a major rally mode against all majors the past couple of days, so hopefully this trend will continue. Also the entry on this trade was perfect, so all it needs now is some good execution.

Trade Details:

• Date Entered: April 24 2008, 2:45 pm
• Entry: 1.56702
• Lots: 10
• Stop Loss: no stop loss set.
  
• Target: 1.5400

• Date Closed: May 02 2008, 5:30 am
  
• Result: Pair hit target.
• Total Pips: +2702
• Profit/Loss: $2702
• Rating: 5

Comments:
This proved to be a great trade to enter and one of those high probability trades. I had placed the target at one of the Fib levels and it worked out perfectly. It too a few days for the trade to play out, but in the end, I captured a near 270 pip run. While it does look like it ready to continue down further, I am just going to take my profits and close out the trade.

Trade Update - GBP/CHF Short

The Trade: GBP/CHF Short



Reason/Setup:
I entered this trade based on the OzFX setup. And I got this setup on both the 1 hour chart and daily chart.

On the daily chart, the indicators signal a move down by the pair, but the price action is saying otherwise. As can be seen from the chart, I am seeing 3 up candles as of entry. Looking at the 1 hour chart, I noticed multiple down candles with good volume and the indicators signaling a move down. Once again, the price action of the current candles shows a move up.

I am going to trust in the indicator and hope that the price action is an aberration and will soon do in the direction signaled by the indicator. I am looking for a quick 30 pip profit and do not have a stop loss set for this trade as its a very volatile pair with big spread.

Trade Details:

• Date Entered: April 23 2008, 11:30pm
• Entry: 2.0124
• Lots: 10
• Stop Loss: no stop loss set.
  
• Target: 2.0094

• Date Closed: May 01 2008, 10 am
  
• Result: Manually closed the trade.
• Total Pips: -5938
• Profit/Loss: $5772.42
• Rating: 1

Update 04/24/2008 1pm:
This pair is killing me. Overnight this pair moved close to 200 pips against me, and in the day, it has moved another 100 pips. So i am now down close to 300 pips on this trade so far. :(


Comments:
This is by far my worst trade ever. There were mistakes everywhere, and I don't think I made a single good decision on this trade. So I decided to list all the mistakes I made on his trade so it will server as a good lessen in the future on what not to do.

First of, as can be seen from the chart, the entry was terrible. I am not sure what I was thinking, but the price action is what I need to be paying attention to. Not a laggy indicator. And the price action on both time frames indicated a move higher. Yet I went short the pair based on the indicators. MISTAKE ONE.

Next mistake, which was probably the biggest one was to not place a a stop on the trade. My thought on this was this being a volatile pair, I would get stopped out of my trade before it moves in my direction. So I decided to have a mental stop for this pair. But I entered this trade just before heading to bed, and I could not have been in front of the computer had the trade gone against me. And thats precisely what happened. Next day when I woke up, I was down 200 pips on this trade.

Mistake #3 was made when I didnt cut my losses short. When I woke up, I saw I was down 200 pips or USD 2000 on this trade. But now I was stuck in htis trade and was hoping for it to move back down so I can close it for atleast break even. Within the next hour, it proceeded to move up another 100 pips. I continued holding this pair hoping it will eventually move back down, but that never happened. This mistake cost me 300 pips.

Mistake #4 was made when the pair rallied by almost 500 pips against me and then pulled back by over 300 pips. At this point, had I closed the trade, I would have been down a little over 200 pips. But instead, I got greedy now, and though the pair would continue to move down and I could even break even with this pair. That never happened as the pair soon resumed its move up and went past its previous high.

The only good thing I did was to close this trade finally. By the time I closed this trade, I was down over USD 5775. My single biggest loss and the worst trade in my life.

Also while holding this trade, I also had couple of other trades without any stops and they were all down huge. At one point, I had managed to bring down the equity in my account from 15K to 4K. I will never ever do that. NEVER EVER!!!

Trade Update - EUR/JPY Short

The Trade: EUR/JPY Short


Reason/Setup:
Entered this trade based in the OzFX setup on daily chart. This was a perfect entry signal with the AO just turning red and the AC showing multiple red bars and the Stoch moving down. The pair has had a good run up so far and a pullback is imminent. I entered the trade as soon as the new candle appeared. I placed the target point based on Fib levels of the last run up.

The OzFX forum recommended not taking the daily signals today.

Trade Details:

• Date Entered: April 23 2008, 4:30 pm
• Entry: 164.228
• Lots: 10
• Stop Loss: no stop loss set.
  
• Target: 162.378

• Date Closed: April 29 2008, 12:10 am
  
• Result: Pair hit target.
• Total Pips: +1850
• Profit/Loss: $1775.70
• Rating: 5

Comments:
This was one of the best trades I have made. It certainly is my biggest winner so far. The entry was perfect and the trade was executed well. The price moved in my favor right from the beginning, and this was one of those low tension, low risk, high probability trades.

Trade Update - EUR/USD Short

The Trade: EUR/USD Short


Reason/Setup:
Entered based on Elite setup on 4 hour chart. I missed this trade in the 1 hour chart as I was sleeping. But the trend is clearly visible and I decided to enter a bit early on the 4 hour chart.

Trade Details:

• Date Entered: April 23 2008, 8:15 am
• Entry: 1.58744
• Lots: 10
• Stop Loss: no stop loss set.
  
• Target: 1.58144

• Date Closed: April 24 2008, 1:40 am
  
• Result: Pair hit target.
• Total Pips: +600
• Profit/Loss: $600
• Rating: 5

Comments:
Now I entered this trade before it was signaled by the system. But the trend was evident and hence I did not want to miss out on the few pips by waiting for the signal. Ideally, I should have entered this on the 1 hour chart and pyramided on the 4 hour and daily chart.

As we can see from the chart above, this was an excellent trade to enter and I would have done well if I had not closed this trade when I did. The pair continued to move sharply down after hitting my target, and had I held, I would have been sitting on more than 350 pips profit by now.

Trade Update - AUD/JPY Short

The Trade: AUD/JPY Short

Reason/Setup:
I entered this trade based on the OzFX setup on 1 hour chart. The down trend was strong and I had multiple red candles showing the price action. Even the AC and AO had multiple red candles. This might indicate that the downward momentum has nearly been exhausted, but lets see how the trade goes.

Trade Details:

• Date Entered: April 23 2008, 7:00 am
• Entry: 97.69
• Lots: 10
• Stop Loss: no stop loss set.
  
• Target: 97.49

• Date Closed: April 23 2008, 7:40 am
  
• Result: Manually closed trade on trend reversal.
• Total Pips: -370
• Profit/Loss: $357.30
• Rating: 2

Comments:
Looking back this was a low probability trade to enter in the first place. The idea time to enter this trade was st the start of the 3rd down candle. I would have had couple of down candles with good volume, and a wide Stoch as well. And the AC would have just turned red meaning there is more room to go down.

Now that being said, we can see from the chart above that the air was trading in a range for a few hours before it continued its move down. So had I had the patience to hold on to it, I would have eventually hit my target. Nevertheless, its a bad trade to enter in the first place. Entered it just to keep busy.

Trade Update - AUD/USD Short

The Trade: AUD/USD Short


Reason/Setup:
I entered this trade based on the OzFX setup on 1 hour chart. The general trend seem to be the strengthening of the Dollar, and this pair was acting accordingly. The trend is solid with multiple down bars with good volume. The Stoch is also wide and the AO is red.

Update 04/23/2008 4pm
Now the Elite setup on 1 hour chart has this pair generate a sell signal. Hopefully this should be enough to get the pair to move lower.

Trade Details:

• Date Entered: April 23 2008, 7:00 am
• Entry: 0.94611
• Lots: 10
• Stop Loss: no stop loss set.
  
• Target: 0.94411

• Date Closed: April 23 2008, 11:40 pm
  
• Result: Pair hit target.
• Total Pips: +200
• Profit/Loss: $200
• Rating: 4

Comments:
This trade took a long tome for it to play out. First off, since I had had multiple red candles at the time of entry, the downward momentum had almost worn off. So as soon as I entered, the pair started moving higher. Luckily the trend in the higher time frame was a move lower. So I just sat put, and the pair move down and hit my target eventually.

As can be seen from the chart above, the pair was in a strong down trend and continued moving lower after it hit my target point.

Trade Update- GBP/USD Short

The Trade: GBP/USD Short


Reason/Setup:
I had previously entered this trade on the 1 hour chart, and it had been a good move. I now noticed that the same Elite setup was now playing on the 4 hour chart meaning the move from the lower time frame was continuing on the bigger time frame. I could have done well to continue holding that position. But since I had sold it, I decided to take this opportunity to enter the trade one again.

This time, I kept the target 60 pips away since I was working on bigger time frame.

Trad Details:

• Date Entered: April 23 2008, 7:00 am
• Entry: 1.97888
• Lots: 10
• Stop Loss: no stop loss set.
  
• Target: 1.97288

• Date Closed: April 24 2008, 1:10 am
  
• Result: Pair hit target.
• Total Pips: +600
• Profit/Loss: $600
• Rating: 5

Comments:
This was a good trade to enter. I wish I had held on to the trade from the 1 hour chart and pyramided into this trade on the 4 hour time frame. Good entry and exit and an overall good execution. It might seem I entered a bit late in the candle, but I wanted for the 3EMA to cross the 34 SMA before entering.

Trade Update - USD/CHF Long

The Trade: USD/CHF Long


Reason/Setup:
This trade is based on the Elite setup on 1 hour chart. I had set a buy stop order for this trade before going to sleep. And it was triggered. I was also late in entering this trade by almost a candle. Target was 30 pips away.

Trade Details:

• Date Entered: April 23 2008, 12:30 am
• Entry: 1.0068
• Lots: 10
• Stop Loss: no stop loss set.
  
• Target: 1.0098

• Date Closed: April 23 2008, 5:45 am
  
• Result: Pair hit target.
• Total Pips: +300
• Profit/Loss: $297.09
• Rating: 4

Comments:
Not the perfect entry you would expect, but the pair had momentum, and I got a win. It can also be seen from the chart above that the pair had a strong momentum behind it due to the strengthening of the Dollar against all currencies. I need to figure out how I can hold on to a big breakouts like this one.

Trade Update - GBP/USD Short

The Trade: GBP/USD Short


Reason/Setup:
This trade was based on the Elite setup on 1 hour chart. But I placed a sell stop order for this pair. The price was below the 34 SMA where I hoped the setup would be valid if the price fell to. But the candle where the trade was triggered was a huge one, and just spiked low enough to have the trade triggered. But the 3 EMA did not cross below the 34 SMA, But I am holding on to this trade and hoping that the move down continues.

Trade Details:

• Date Entered: April 22 2008, 11:30 0m
• Entry: 1.9878
• Lots: 10
• Stop Loss: no stop loss set.
  
• Target: 1.9848

• Date Closed: April 23 2008, 5:00 am
  
• Result: Pair hit target.
• Total Pips: +300
• Profit/Loss: $300
• Rating: 3.5

Comments:
As its been happening to me the past few days, as soon as I entered this trade, the price moved up and I was immediately facing a huge loss. According to the Elite setup, the moving averages had still not crossed and this was not yet a valid trade. But I still help on. Finally few hours into the trade, the price decided to move back down, and went on to hit my target and continued moving down even further.

Trade Update - EUR/CHF Long

The Trade: EUR/CHF Long


Reason/Setup:
I entered this trade based on the Elite setup on 1 hour charts. Th e price has made a break of the 34 SMA and so has the 3 EMA. But I am not 100% convinced with this trade. While prior candles were positive when the moving averages crossed over, the price has been moving pretty much sideways for hours now. The CCI is also kind of moving sideways. It probably is not an ideal entry case if you ask me.

The only saving grace is that the long term trend (daily charts) is showing a move higher even though the 4 hour chart is showing a move down. I have put the target 30 pips away.

Trade Details:

• Date Entered: April 22 2008, 11:00 pm
• Entry: 1.60546
• Lots: 10
• Stop Loss: no stop loss set.
  
• Target: 1.60846

• Date Closed: April 23 2008, 5:50 am
  
• Result: Pair hit target.
• Total Pips: +300
• Profit/Loss: $297.32
• Rating: 5

Comments:
Looking back, this was a great trade to enter. Good price action leading to entry even though the price moved sideways. And then once it broke out of the sideways trading pattern, the stock just moved a lot higher. I only wish I didn't place a small target and had a way to ride the upward trend. Or maybe find a better way to re-enter the trade in a higher time frame.

Trade Update - GBP/AUD Short

The Trade: GBP/AUD Short


Reason/Setup:
Entered this trade based on Elite setup on 1 hour chart. I was a bit late with the entry, but the price action was ideal. I had multiple candles which had closed lower consecutively. And when the CCI crossed below 0, it was at a nice angle suggesting a healthy trend.

The green highlight in the chart indicated where I entered the trade. I also closed the trade in the same bar when it hit my target point.

Trade Details:

• Date Entered: April 22 2008, 7:20 pm
• Entry: 2.1030
• Lots: 10
• Stop Loss: no stop loss set.
  
• Target: 2.1000

• Date Closed: April 23 2008, 7:35 am
  
• Result: Pair hit target.
• Total Pips: +300
• Profit/Loss: $285.24
• Rating: 4

Comments:
Another near perfect trade. Made money as soon as I entered it. I was in this trade just about 15 minutes. I wish all trades would be this easy. Patience really pays well. Maybe next time I can place bigger targets (50 pips) as the pair continues to move lower.

Trade Update - EUR/AUD Short

The Trade: EUR/AUD Short


Reason/Setup:
This trade was entered based on the Elite setup on 1 hour chart. The price action was almost perfect with the candles showing consecutive lower closes and good volume. The 3 EMA had crossed below the 34 SMA. The only worrying factor was the CCI, which had crossed below 0, but is almost flat with the 0 line. But higher time frames signal a move lower. Target is placed 30 pips away.

Update 8:10pm
Perfect trade. Good entry and hit my target quickly (30 minutes is all it took). Maybe next time I can place bigger targets as the pair continues to move lower by a lot.

Trade Details:

• Date Entered: April 22 2008, 6:00 pm
• Entry: 1.6881
• Lots: 10
• Stop Loss: no stop loss set.
  
• Target: 1.6851

• Date Closed: April 23 2008, 6:30 pm
  
• Result: Pair hit target.
• Total Pips: +300
• Profit/Loss: $284.37
• Rating: 4

Comments:
A very nice setup and good trade. This pair continued to move a lot lower after it hit my target. Too bad I couldn't catch that move. But at least I had the discipline to take profits. I didn't give it a perfect rating because I did not place a stop loss. Had the price gone against me, I might have ended up taking a larger loss than the 30 pips I would have with a stop.

Trade Update - EUR/JPY Long

The Trade: EUR/JPY Long


Reason/Setup:
This trade was based loosely on the Elite setup on 1 hour chart. I say that because the trade was entered very late, and the 3 EMA had crossed the 34 SMA and was well above it. But it seem like the pair has good momentum behind it, and the OBV indicator is also showing money flow into the pair.

Update 04/22/08 11:30pm:
Reduced the target to 25 pips to compensate for the late entry. It seem that the pair has 4-5 up candles followed by 2-3 down candles which essentially negates the upward progress.

Trade Details:

• Date Entered: April 22 2008, 7:00 am
• Entry: 164.621
• Lots: 10
• Stop Loss: no stop loss set.
  
• Target: 164.871

• Date Closed: April 23 2008, 2:00 am
  
• Result: Pair hit target.
• Total Pips: +250
• Profit/Loss: $249.20
• Rating: 2

Comments:
I was lucky to get a win in this trade. This trade did not follow any particular setup, and I entered because my other trades were losing big amounts, and I was trying to trade more and make up for those losses. But this is a terrible trade.

Trade Update - GBP/JPY Long

The Trade: GBP/JPY Long


Reason/Setup:
I entered this trade based on the Elite setup on 1 hour chart. The pair had showed some nice uptrend with consecutive up candles. And it was also a nice break of the price & 3 EMA above the 34 SMA line. But, I entered this trade very late. Almost 2 hours late, and that has cost me about 60 pips. But this is a volatile pair, and I feel it might have some more upward momentum. Setting target to 60 pips.

Update 04/22 11:30pm:
Price has been going against me. I am now reducing the target to just 25 pips form 60 pips to account for the late entry.

Update 04/23 7am:
I am really caught with this pair and I dont know how to exit. The trend has clearly reversed. And there is going to be a big move down if you ask me. But I am sitting in a 170 pip loss at the moment. I know I should probably take the loss and close the position, but I am not able to do it. Very bad.

Update 04/23/08 4pm:
Finally closed this position for a big loss. Entry was good, but the signal reversed, and I held on to it too long. This pair is now signaled for a sell using the OzFX system.

Trade Details:

• Date Entered: April 22 2008, 7:00 am
• Entry: 206.084
• Lots: 10
• Stop Loss: no stop loss set.
  
• Target: 206.284

• Date Closed: April 23 2008, 4:10 pm
  
• Result: Closed trade manually.
• Total Pips: -1410
• Profit/Loss: $1306.18
• Rating: 3

Trade Update - USD/JPY Long

The Trade: USD/JPY Short


Reason/Setup:
I entered this trade based on the Elite setup on 1 hour chart. At the time of entry, the price had just crossed over the 34 SMA and so did the 3 EMA. The entry was made at the beginning of the new candle. I had a 30 pip stop and 50 pip target.

Trade Details:

• Date Entered: April 22 2008, 7:00 am
• Entry: 103.462
• Lots: 10
• Stop Loss: 103.162
  
• Target: 103.962

• Date Closed: April 22 2008, 7:20 pm
  
• Result: Closed position as it was moving against me.
• Total Pips: -250
• Profit/Loss: $245.13
• Rating: 2

Comments:
As can be seen from the chart, the candles prior to where I entered the trade were all mixed. There were both up and down candles, and also candles with long wicks. This usualy means the price action is not very strong. Considering the candle prior to the entry candle was not positive, I should not have entered this trade. I manually closed this trade soon after entering it as the price moved against me.

Trade Update - CAD/JPY Short

The Trade: CAD/JPY Squeeze


Reason/Setup:
Entered this trade based on the signal from the squeeze indicator on 1 hour chart. was late with the entry, but the pair had earlier moved higher and now has fallen back to where it started.

Trade Details:

• Date Entered: April 21 2008, 9:00 pm
• Entry: 102.14
• Lots: 7
• Stop Loss: 102.44
  
• Target: 101.84

• Date Closed: April 21 2008, 10:30 pm
  
• Result: Pair hit stop loss.
• Total Pips: -210
• Profit/Loss: $203.52
• Rating: 2

Comments:
Another not so good trade. Yes that fact is that even if I had entered the trade as soon as the signal was given, I would have still been stopped out. Had that been the case, I would have rated the trade a 5 since I followed the system. But that fact that I was almost an hour late should have prevented me from entering the trade. So overall a very poor trade.

Trade Update - EUR/JPY Short

The Trade: EUR/JPY Short



Reason/Setup:
Entered the based on the OzFX setups on 1 hour chart. I also used the Elite setup on 1 hour chart to confirm the trend.

In the OzFX setup, I have both the 30 minute and 1 hour chart showing similar trend. The Stoch is relatively wide and is moving down. The price action also shows multiple red candles indicating strength in moving down.

The Elite setup was used just to confirm trend. Here the 3 EMA was below the 34 SMA and the CCI was below 0. SO it was safe to enter the trade.

Trade Details:

• Date Entered: April 21 2008, 6pm
• Entry: 164.042
• Lots: 10
• Stop Loss: 164.342
  
• Target: 164.542

• Date Closed: April 21 2008, 10:45pm
  
• Result: Pair hit target.
• Total Pips: +500
  
• Profit/Loss: $485.18
  
• Rating: 5

Comments:
This was one of those good trades because of near perfect execution. I had placed my target 50 pips away and a stop of 30. Since the trend was strong on multiple time frames, the pair continued to move i my favor and almost hit my target point. But it then started to retrace its losses before starting to move back down. Good placements of stops and targets coupled with proper identification of the trend helped me win this trade.

Trade Update - EUR/JPY Long

The Trade: EUR/JPY Long


Reason/Setup:
This trade is based on the Elite setup on 1 hour chart. This is not a conventional Elite setup entry as in there was no cross over of the moving averages Instead, I am looking for the prince to bounce off the 34 SMA line as this pair has been in a long uptrend and we have seen some sideways movement of late.

Trade Details:

• Date Entered: April 21 2008, 4:15pm
• Entry: 164.412
• Lots: 10
• Stop Loss: 164.112
  
• Target: 164.712

• Date Closed: April 21 2008, 4:45pm
  
• Result: Pair hit stop loss.
• Total Pips: -300
• Profit/Loss: $291.07
• Rating: 2

Comments:
As we see now, this wasn't a good trade to do. Few things going against me. First when you have such a long up trend, there is bound to be some consolidation. And next, the price has been moving sideways which is not good when entering trades. We need to wait for a definite break either up or down before looking to place a trade in this scenario. It didn't take too long for me to be stopped out of this trade.

Trade Update - GBP/USD Short

The Trade: GBP/USD Short



Reason/Setup:
Entered this trade based on the A-MACD setup and Elite setup, both on 4 hour charts. But on the Elite setup, the 3 EMA has not yet crossed below the 34 SMA. And also on both setups, the CCI has crossed the 0 line, but the angle is not healthy and is hugging the 0 line. It could potentially move back up which means this is not the ideal trade to enter.

Also on the 4 hour charts, I was late in entering this trade. I did not enter the trade as soon as the new candle started.

Update 04/21/08 4:50pm:
Thinking back, this is not a good trade. The 3 EMA never crossed below the 34 SMA in the Elite setup when I entered the trade. And of course, the pair promptly moved against me as soon as I entered. That is what happens when you ignore your rules and try to enter your trade early.

Trade Details:

• Date Entered: April 21 2008, 3pm
• Entry: 1.97855
• Lots: 10
• Stop Loss: 1.98355
  
• Target: 1.97255

• Date Closed: April 22 2008, 2am
  
• Result: Pair hit stop loss.
• Total Pips: -500
• Profit/Loss: $500
• Rating: 2

Comments:
As mentioned in my update, I entered too early and the signal in the Elite setup never developed. Systems and rules are only as good as its being followed correctly. Every time I try to break the system or rules, I end up with a losing trade.

Trade Update - GBP/CHF Short

The Trade: GBP/CHF Short



Reason/Setup:
This trade was based on the OzFX setup on 1 hour chart, but the real driving force was the strong trend in the 30 minute chart. So I entered the 1 hour chart a bit early trying to catch the reversal. It could be a premature move.

Trade Details:

• Date Entered: April 21 2008, 11:30am
• Entry: 1.9955
• Lots: 10
• Stop Loss: 2.0005
  
• Target: 1.9895

• Date Closed: April 22 2008, 4:40pm
  
• Result: Pair hit stop loss.
• Total Pips: -500
• Profit/Loss: $495.58
• Rating: 2

Comments:
It sure was a premature move. Jumping into the trade before the Stoch gave a signal for good trend cost me in this trade. As can be seen from the chart, the very next candle, the trend reversed and so did the AO and Stoch indicators. I give this a rating of 2 since I broke my own rules of not basing trades off lower time frames and not waiting for the setup to develop on the 1 hour chart.

Trade Update - EUR/CHF Short

The Trade: EUR/CHF Short


Reason/Setup:
Another trade entered based on the OzFX setup on 1 hour chart. The price action showed a nice move down and the indicators seem to agree. The Stoch was also wide apart indicating a good entry. Checking the 30 minute chart, I noticed that the trend was strong there too.

The only flaw with the trade was I entered it late. I had missed about 30 minutes since the candle opened. But considering that the 30 minute chart showed strong trend, I decided to take it anyway.

Trade Details:

• Date Entered: April 21 2008, 11:30am
• Entry: 1.6034
• Lots: 15
• Stop Loss: 1.6064
  
• Target: 1.6004

• Date Closed: April 22 2008, 1:20pm
  
• Result: Pair hit stop loss.
• Total Pips: -450
• Profit/Loss: $445.83
• Rating: 3

Comments:
In retrospect that late entry did not do me any good and in fact cost me a win. I entered close to the bottom in that candle, and that meant when the price pulled back, I got stopped. As with my previous trade, I entered with a large position size and tighter stop which did not help either. It didn't take much time for me to get stopped in this trade.

Trade Update - EUR/JPY Short

The Trade: EUR/JPY Short




Reason/Setup:
This trade was signaled by the OzFX setup on 1 hour and 4 hour charts. The main entry was based off the 1 hour chart and this was for a quick 30 pip trade. As seen from the 1 hour chart, this was a good entry. The price action had been lower and the indicators had fired off correctly. Also the Stoch lines were wide apart indicating that the trend down is strong. Now that my account has reached 15K mark, I decided to enter with 15 lots per trade and kept the stop and target 30 pips away.

Trade Details:

• Date Entered: April 21 2008, 10am
• Entry: 164.096
• Lots: 15
• Stop Loss: 164.396
  
• Target: 163.796

• Date Closed: April 21 2008, 12:45pm
  
• Result: Pair hit stop loss.
• Total Pips: -450
• Profit/Loss: $435.83
• Rating: 3

Comments:
While I made a good entry on this trade, I made a complete mess of the position sizing and stop placement. The plan to increase my position sizing to 15 lots meant that my stops would have to tighter. And this really hurt me in this trade. Had I placed my stop even as wide as 50 pips, I would have walked out of this trade with a win.

Trade Update - EUR/GBP Long

The Trade: EUR/GBP Long



Reason/Setup:
I entered this trade based on the A-MACD and Elite setups, both on 4 hour charts. On the A-MACD setup, the moving averages have crossed over, and the AO and MACD are moving towards 0.

On the Elite setup, the 3 EMA has not yet crossed over the 34 SMA. But we have had some strong long candles which pushed the price above the 34 SMA. Hoping the trend wil continue.

Trade Details:

• Date Entered: April 21 2008, 7:30am
• Entry: 0.80354
• Lots: 7
• Stop Loss: 0.80054
  
• Target: 0.80854

• Date Closed: April 22 2008, 2:30am
  
• Result: Pair hit stop loss.
• Total Pips: -210
• Profit/Loss: $418.11
• Rating: 3

Comments:
There were couple of mistakes I made on this trade. First off in the A-MACD setup, I entered this trade late. Even in the bar where I should have entered, I entered at the very top. And on the Elite setup, the moving averages had not yet crossed. So it was probably lack of patience on my part to enter it when I did.

Another important factor was that in the run up peceding my entry, the candles had been long. When this happens, I should probably also check the volume indicators to see if the steam has run out for this pair.

Trade Update - GBP/CAD Short

The Trade: GBP/CAD Short



Reason/Setup:
I entered this trade based on the A-MACD and Elite setups, both on 4 hour chart. The entry seemed ideal on the A-MACD setup as the moving averages were just crossing and the AO and MACD were pointing to a move down.

On the Elite setup, I was a little late with the entry. But the 3 EMA had crossed below the 34 SMA and the trend was downwards.

Trade Details:

• Date Entered: April 21 2008, 7:30am
  
• Entry: 1.9897
• Lots: 5
• Stop Loss: 1.9972
  
• Target: 1.9797

• Date Closed: April 21 2008, 9pm
  
• Result: Pair hit stop loss.
• Total Pips: -375
• Profit/Loss: $372.11
• Rating: 3.5

Comments:
As it can happen sometimes, entering a trade based on a long candle can be dangerous. In this case, I entered towards the lower end of the candle and the price continued to move up ever since. Unfortunately for me, I did not catch the move up as it would have been a good trend to catch.

Trade Update - GBP/USD Long

The Trade: GBP/USD Long


Reason/Setup:
Entered this trade based on the Elite setup on daily chart. From the chart it can be seen that Cable has closed higher the past 3 days, and the 3 EMA had crossed above the 34 SMA. This indicated a move higher.

I entered the trade this trade early on as soon as trading started.

Trade Details:

• Date Entered: April 20 2008, 6:15pm
• Entry: 1.99931
• Lots: 5
• Stop Loss: 1.98931
  
• Target: 2.00931

• Date Closed: April 21 2008, 1:10am
  
• Result: Pair hit stop loss.
• Total Pips: -500
• Profit/Loss: $500
• Rating: 5

Comments:
There is nothing wrong with the entry as the signal was valid in the setup. However I should probably not use the Elite setup on daily charts as its unpredictable.

Trade Update - AUD/JPY Long

The Trade: AUD/JPY Long


Reason/Setup:
Entered this trade based on the Squeeze indicator on weekly chart. I had entered this trade last week, and made some good profit. And the indicator signaled this trade once again this week. Even though I was a bit late in entering the trade, I still decided to take te trade since it was based off the weekly chart. When you trade of such big time frame, you have some leeway with your trades.

I entered with just 3 lots and looked for a 150 pip profit initially with a 100 pip stop. But as the trade progressed, I reduced the target to 100 pips.

Trade Details:

• Date Entered: April 21 2008, 6pm
• Entry: 97.11
• Lots: 10
• Stop Loss: 96.11
  
• Target: 98.11

• Date Closed: April 23 2008, 1am
  
• Result: Pair hit modified target point.
• Total Pips: +300
• Profit/Loss: $291.26
• Rating: 5

Comments:
This was a good trade to enter. Since you are trading on a weekly chart, you need to have patience. The trade did go up and down for few days and at some point, I was down on this trade. But eventually it moved in my direction and more importantly, it did not hit my stop loss.

Weekly Summary: April 13 - April 18

The Background:
This week turned out to be one of those invaluable learning experiences. Remember the previous week? It had ended in a bad note where I lost close to 3K in the last day of the week. So when trading started for this week, I was all about going and making a few trades and making back the money I lost at the end of last week. I had set myself mental targets of recouping the 3K loss and making another 3K extra for this week.

The Losing Streak:
Now when you start trading with a mindset like that, I soon realized it just leads to more losses. The first couple of trades this week were good trades, where I followed the setup correctly but still made a loss. Among the main reason was the fact that almost ever pair gaped big time on open on this week due to the comments passed at the G7 meeting. This fired off various entry signals in my indicators, and I entered the trades. I soon realized that when a pair gaps on open so big, the indicators do not generate valid signals. In fact they were in a totally messed up state.

By now, I had added to my losses form previous week, and I felt I had to now make up the extra loss too. SO now I started entering trades where the setups did not always generate valid signals and where all the rules were not followed. I could not get any signals in the higher time frames (1 hour and above), so I started looking for trades in 15 and 30 minute chart. The problem with that is in lower time frames, the signals are very unreliable. The tend to be very choppy and more often than not, I got stopped out of my trade.

The Aha.. Moment:
By Tuesday, I realized what my problem was. I was just over trading. And the more losses I had, the more I traded trying to recover my losses. Which in turn led to more losses. I was in a terrible losing spree, and just 2 days into this week, I was down a further 2K in equity. And I was entering so many trades every day that I still have a backlog of trade updates I have to write for my journal.

The Turnaround:
So from Tuesday on, I decided to stop worrying about the losses and start with a clean slate. I decided I will not over trade, and I will not trade from charts lower than 1 hour. I will also enter trades only when the setup clearly says so. This had such a magical effect in my results. To put that into perspective, in the first 2 days, I made 19 trades of which 12 were losing ones. Over the next four days, I made a total of 25 trades with just 7 losing ones.

Finish Off With a Cuban Cigar:
And Friday was the perfect way to end the week. After a good run up on the Yen and CHF pairs, they were starting a pullback. I caught these pull back right in time using the OzFX setup on 1 hour charts. And everyone of the trades I entered was a perfect. Its not often when you get a situation like this when 7-8 currency pairs show the exact same chart setups and move identically. You got to make use of these situations. And just like that, my account was back to its highest levels since before end of last week.

Lesson: Draw downs are inevitable. Do not try to over trade to recover the losses. Stick to the plan and trust in the setups to get you into good trades.

As always, its not time for the details trades and results for this week. You can it in the link here.