DislikedYes, it's a good thing to look out for, although it's not always as clear as it is on that chart, but when you see it like that, as you say it another form of confluence to increase your confidence in a trades' success. And think about it - every reversal starts with a bullish engulfing within a certain timeframe.
How long have you been trading, Dharma, as you have an excellent understanding of the charts?Ignored
I've had quite a bit of chart time over the past year so that definitely helps when it comes to recognizing patterns and getting to know the behavior of various crosses. Right now, I'm really only looking at the AU and the EU. I have the GU charts on one of my virtual screens but I've had a difficult time trading it. It seems like the real juicy GU movements happen near the London open when I'm asleep. I've played around with using some pending orders on my demo account but haven't done any live PO trades on the GU.
Man, I've made just about every mistake there is in the trading book: chasing price and consequently buying tops and selling bottoms, moving my stop to give it "just a little more room", watching a 50+ pip trade turn into a B/E or loser because I didn't have an exit plan, not cutting losses quickly, and maybe the worst... entering a trade without really knowing WHY.
This type of trading suits me. I don't like methods which are too restrictive where you can spend days watching the charts but never get a "valid" entry signal. The flip side to this is that to take discretionary trades, you really do need to have iron discipline when it comes to cutting losses and taking profits. This is an area that I'm working on.
It has been really helpful to me to see the ongoing discussion and live charts here. I have been going through the thread as well but I definitely learn more in "real-time".