Cutting the cord with M1 scalps

I am going to try this, I mean, I am going to do this! I am looking to cut the "job" cord. You know what J.O.B. stands for? It stands for Just Over Broke. I am tired of being there. I was self employed in the Real Estate industry for 10 years. The industry collapsed. My business failed and I lost everything in the process. It has made family life difficult, as the children do not understand why we had to move away from their friends, why we rent a house now, and why we have not had a vacation in 5 years! Getting back into corporate America has been tough due to the economy and the fact that I was self employed for so long. Corporate America is not looking for a self starter, they are looking for a yes man that will stay content and happy in one position forever. Okay, maybe I am being extreme, but maybe not....

Anyway, I have been watching charts for a long time now. I have lost a lot over that time as well. I am back to my core now, scalping the M1 charts, with direction from higher timeframes. It only takes a few pips to make a great percent return. That also means it only takes a few pips to ruin a great month! I am not looking for 25 and 30 pip runs, I am looking for a solid set up to take 5 - 10 pips. If I can only take 1 pip, I will.

I will attach an explorer account. I have been using my current charts since about the beginning of September, so the Explorer starts on Sept 1, 2013. I was up about 6.2% in September and was at 4.1%, before today. Lost in AJ trading after 11:30 my time. On Friday, that is bad. Anyway. I am not here for anyone's approval or applause, only to try to keep easy records of what I am doing. If anyone wants to follow along, you are welcome. I welcome constructive comment only.

I currently work as a car salesman, so my trading times are limited as well. I will be looking for trades from 6 AM to 8:15 AM my time and maybe in the evening a bit. This will make the journey long. I am alright with that. I will make deposits as I see it prudent. I also have 4 children, so time is limited even more!

Welcome to my journey!

Hi,

what indicator do you use? You said direction after higher timeframe, what timeframe?
Please write some infos more about your strategy, I am interesting in it.
Thanks dude!
armaros

Go to this post: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...71#post7029671 . It is all there I think.

Here are the directions: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...73#post7021773 .

After you download the template and indicators. Take a look at the the M15 and H1 timeframe. You will see different TMAs there. That is intentional.

Here is a classic example on AJ and one on UJ. I am using the AJ chart. That is the template. Also note that the template uses a 100 SMA, but I also use the 70 SMA a lot, probably more.

Thanks Capstone! I will check it after market open, next week.

How long are you using this strategy? What win rate do you have with it?

No trades yesterday or today. I did not like any of the action on any of my pairs during the time I have to trade. There were a couple of setups while I was at work, but that does not help me.

Anyway, Who really believes these NFP numbers anymore? They have been shown to be a sham over and over and yet they are traded with wild swings! I do not trade the news because I am with Oanda and their spread goes through the roof! Looks like a long opportunity on AUD/USD now, but I have to go to work.....need to Cut that Cord!!

I entered this AJ long CT based on BH cross and what appeared to be divergence. The divergence did not play well however. I also noticed that the AUD was gaining strength while the JPY was losing it. It has not triggered a stop and I have hung on. I will edit this post with the result.

The result is added now. Approx 2%. I exited due to the S1.

Way to go Capstone. I'll be following your progress as I intend to do the same. It's pity you can't devote more time to trading. I think that if you want to make this your business you have to treat it like a business and at least devote the time you would to a job. At least until you're pretty consistent. But I understand your position. I'm confident you're gonna make it.

Ok, so it has been a while since I have taken a trade. Like I said, my time is limited and the 6-7 AM EST hour has correlated with London's lunch this week because of DST. I have not seen set ups in the that hour that I am willing to risk anything on. The kids went back to school from fall break this week as well, so that changes morning routines at home a bit. No excuse though. As Keen reminds us, if this is our business, we better treat it as such. The market is your client! Treat your client right, with undivided attention and laser focus, then deliver as needed. Do not keep the market waiting, because it will not. If you need to be there an hour early because of DST, then be there! The good news is I did not take any foolish trades trying to chase things. I am starting to develop a plan as well for following through on the original post. See, every successful business has a business plan. I have run a business with a plan, and one without a plan. Care to guess which one survived?

So, I did change my charts around a bit yesterday. Same concept with slightly different MAs. Here is this mornings chart for one of my pairs. It is a quicker chart. I may go back to the other one as well. This one is the Bhbabon3. I have a bhbabon2 as well. I will show all three of them. They all say the same things with the same concepts, but your eyes will relay the information a bit different on each one. It will be good to see these side-by-side. I have not done that yet. These are USD/JPY charts from 6:13 AM EST to 9:40. The first is my current chart. I was playing with the Genesis Matrix on this, but am still undecided. Credit to Realjumper for creating the matrix. The second chart and third chart are based on the 34 EMA and 70 SMA. I just changed what is shaded in.

Short USDJPY. This is a slow moving pair that always makes me a bit nervous! I will not tolerate much with this one. The USD was at a 7.00 and the JPY was at a 2.00 when I entered.

Like I said, I would not tolerate much, and that served me well. it was only 1 pip to my favor at best. I got out with 0.4 pips, which is a paltry 0.2%. That is alright. It reinforces that I am reading this correctly. I got out and did not hang on like I did earlier in the AUDUSD trade because the strength of the JPY dropped back below 2.00. The USD was getting weaker as well. Not every trade is going to win, but if I can minimize loss , or only take a very small gain, I will. Here is the final chart, from red line to red line.

Todays trade. AUDUSD. I tend to go for the CT more often then the continuation. My chart shows the continuation just fine, but for some reason, I am always nervous in taking it. That does not make sense, I know. It is something I need to work on. Before I took this CT (shown between the red lines) the continuation trend can be seen and it was a great one, in terms of the trading I do. Anyway, I entered based on divergence of BH indies, Perceived exhaustion of AUD and strengthening of USD on the meter. Exited because I had to get my kids to school. It was very close to 7 AM ET. I do not like trades going without the ability to monitor them. That is part of trading this way. I am good with that.

I took the short on AU and exited prematurely. The strength of the two made it safe to stay in, but the price was getting stuck and the BH had crossed back up and that is why I exited. I had 0.5% on that. Not good enough. had I stayed with it, there was a total of 1.5% or so. Oh well, It is profit.

At the moment, it does look like it may go up a bit, and the BH is confirming that. We are also at the bottom of the H1 and H4 TMAs, so I should start looking for longs.

Finally, this chart is a faster MA chart. The green money line is a 34 SMA and the ribbon is a 21SMA and a 14 LWMA. The EU was the trade to take, It netted 10 points. Result would have been the same because I trade for as much per point.

Took this purchase on AUDUSD M1 chart. This is considered CT by me based on my TF and chart. I still struggle with trusting continuations.
1.) Price made a higher low, then bounced off S1.
2.) BH had crossed up as well and was coming from the bottom.
3.) 70 SMA offered support, which triggered the trade.

Exit was based on proximity to the money line (200 SMA).

2 bad trades in a row. The first one I should have let run. The Babon had me in the right direction. The second as against everything.

What a horrible day. Fell back into bad habits and patterns. Need to slow down again. I ended with two positive trades. I have a lot of ground to make up now, just to get even....here we go.

The cat woke me early today. The Christmas tree went up last night. At 4:30 this morning, I hear ornaments rolling across the floor. I will take it as God getting my butt out of bed. I took care of the cat (we still have the cat, lol) and ornaments, showered, poured my coffee, then sat down to an immediate set up. Could not be better than that. Best of all, the family is still sleeping! Total focus on charts!

AUD/USD long M1
1. BH pointing up
2. 21 & 34 Babon white
3. price supported on top of 50 SMA
4. Rising chaos gator that went green.
5. price rising from the bottom of the M15 TMA

Result: 2.2%, 6 pips.

I am still using the BH and the Babon. I really like them. Thank you to Favorite and the folks at the daytrading thread. I have integrated the M1 Genesis stuff as well as you can see on the charts. I also am playing with the 75 EMA, idea courtesy of Islander. Now that all of that is done, I will say that there are 3 other very similar templates that I look at. I may post trades based on those as well.

This was a -0.1 pip trade, that was supposed to exit at even. I need to get back to work, as I am now on lunch break. I spent the morning pushing snow off of cars at the lot. I need to get out of there!

I sold the AUDUSD based on a red babon, a downfacing BH, and a red genesis. I was also watching USDJPY which was rising. I attached that chart as well. It should have been the trade to make. The JPY has been stuck below 1.00 on the strength meter all lunch! Here are the charts.

Ok. Here we go. It gets real now. I am making a significant investment into this. Those looking will say I am an idiot, look at that explorer account. Well, we will see. I only need 5% per month of carefully placed and patiently waited for trades. I know what my weaknesses are in this career and I have a plan to work around them and toward my strengths. My wife is on board as well and that is huge!

I had a buddy ask me a few months ago how I liked being a car salesman. I told him I did not like it all. It is not the atmosphere for me or my skill set. I am not saying that my skill set is better or worse, it is not a ranking, only different. Anyway, he mentioned a scene from the movie Fight Club. I have never seen the movie, but he told me about Ed Norton getting something from a gas station and asking the cashier if that was wanted he wanted out of life. The cashier said no and that he wanted to be a vet. Ed Norton then pulls out a gun and sticks it to the cashier's head and tells him he has 1 year to make significant progress towards being a vet or Ed would come back and kill him.

I know life is not a scripted movie, but the point is there. Why do we settle into patterns and habits that are familiar, even if we do not like them. We settle into them and find it hard to see our way out because they become too comfortable, even if they are painful... I have taken my fist significant step. My wife and children deserve better than they have had over the past 6 years....Here We Go!!

I'm confident you're gonna make it! Will power is stronger than anything else. Please post on your good and bad days. We all can learn from your experience.