A Newbie Journey To Financial Freedom

PATIENCE AND CONFIDENCE
EURNZD
When my trade was profit and then turn to loss, I was beaten by the "Little People" because of the FEAR. I lossed my biggest position and didn't add on EURNZD.


After tp, I re-enter one position.

Unfortunately the 1st entry was taken SL.
when there was a BUEB near the 63EMA, I tighted the SL and was hit.

Exit at the Resistance and 63EMA.

"I MUST FOCUS AND CONCENTRATE WHEN TRADING"
from strat's post 21228

Learned from this post:

1. identified the bullish PRICE STRUCTURE!
2. I MUST FOCUS AND CONCENTRATE WHEN TRADING.
3. the CLOSE is the most important PRICE level when using PASR.

To Trail or Not To Trail

Nicole, I must have tried every stop that's been thought of. As I posted earlier, it is all about preference.

It also depends where you are in a trade. If you are early in a trade, then you want as tight a stop as PA and your MM allows. When you have profit locked in and are in a trend a la EURJPY, you want to give it room to breathe by trailing behind each swing but that can leave a lot on the table.

You can trail by a stop above the high of two days ago or 3 days ago.

You can even try PSAR. If the ATR is 181, then if you really want to trail, that is what it should be trailed by but that is a lot to give back.

You can use all these methods and then use a PA signal in the reverse direction to get you out rather than wait to be taken out

If the question is trail using your brokers platform then I personally don't like doing it. I prefer trailing manually at the end of each day. I give enough to brokers without giving them CONTROL over my positions.

from Strat #Post 63

Time Frame Selection from Strat #post 71

It is about matching a time frame that you feel comfortable with, that allows you to trade easier and better with the lowest amount of stress and anguish.

YOU have to find a time frame which complements YOUR harmonics. Until you work on a time frame that compliments and is compatible with your harmonics, you will never be successful, comfortable or happy.

Pay attention to time frames and find the one which is compatible with you.

45 WAYS TO AVOID LOSING MONEY TRADING FOREX by Jimmy Young, CTA from Strat #Post 75


1) Knowledge Deficiency – Most new FOREX traders don’t take the time to learn what drives currency rates (primarily fundamentals).

2) Overtrading - Trading often with tight stops and tiny profit targets will only make the broker rich. The desire to “just” make a few hundred dollars a day by locking in tiny profits whenever possible is a losing strategy.

3) Over leveraged - Leverage is a two way street. The brokers want you to use high leverage because that means more spread income because your position size determines the amount of spread income; the bigger the position the more spread income the broker earns.

4) Relying on Others – Real traders play a lone hand; they make their own decisions and don’t rely on others to make their trading decisions for them; there is no halfway; either trade for yourself or have someone else trade for you.

5) Stop Losses – Putting tight stop losses with retail brokers is a recipe for disaster. When you put on a trade commit to a reasonable stop loss limit that allows your trade a fair chance to develop.

6) Demo Accounts – Broker demo accounts are a shill game of sorts; they’re not as time sensitive as real accounts and therefore give the impression that time sensitive trading systems, such as short-term moving average crossovers can be consistently profitably traded; once you start dealing with real money, reality is quick to set in.

7) Trading During Off Hours – Bank FX traders, option traders, and hedge funds have a huge advantage during off hours; they can push the currencies around when no volume is going through and the end game is new traders get fleeced trying to trade signals. There is only one signal during off hours – stay out.

8) Trading a Currency, Not a Pair – Being right about a currency is half a trade; success or failure depends upon being right about the second currency that makes up the pair.

9) No Trading Plan - 'Make money' is not a trading plan. A trading plan is a blueprint for trading success; it spells out what you see your edge as being; if you don’t have an edge, you don’t have a plan, and likely you’ll wind up a statistic (part of the 95% of new traders that lose and quit).

10) Trading Against Prevailing Trend – There is a huge difference between buying cheaply on the way down and buying cheaply. What was a low price quickly becomes a high price when you’re trading against the trend.

11) Exiting Trades Poorly – If you put on a trade and it’s not working make sure you exit properly; don’t compound the damage. If you’re in a winning trade, don’t talk yourself out of the position because you’re bored or want to relieve stress; stress is a natural part of trading; get used to it.

12) Trading Too Short-term – If your profit target is less than 20 points don’t do the trade; the spread you pay to enter the trade makes the odds way against you when you go for these tiny profits.

13) Picking Tops and Bottoms - Looking for bargains works well at the supermarket but not trading foreign exchange; try to trade in the direction the price is going and your results will improve.

14) Being Too Smart – The most successful traders I know are high school graduates. They keep it simple and don’t look beyond the obvious; their results are excellent.

15) Not Trading Around News Time – Most of the big moves occur around news time. The volume is high and the moves are real; there is no better time to trade fundamentally or technically than when news is released; this is when the real money adjusts their positions and as a result the price changes reflect serious currency flow (compared to quiet times when Bank traders rule the market with their customer order flow).

16) Ignore Technical Condition – Determining whether the market is over-extended long or over-extended short is a key determinant of near time price action. Spike moves often occur when the market is all one way.

17) Emotional Trading – When you don’t pre-plan your trades essentially it’s a thought and not an idea; thoughts are emotions and a very poor basis for doing trades. Do people generally say intelligent things when they are upset and emotional? I don’t think so.

18) Lack of Confidence – Confidence only comes from successful trading. If you lose money early in your trading career it’s very difficult to gain true confidence. The trick is don’t go off half-cocked. Learn the business before you trade.

19) Lack of Courage to Take a Loss – There is nothing macho or gutsy about riding a loss, just stupidity and cowardice. It takes guts to accept your loss and wait for tomorrow to try again. Getting married to a bad position ruins lots of traders. The thing to remember is the market does crazy things often, so don’t get married to any one trade. It’s just a trade. One good trade will not make you a trading success; rather it’s monthly and annual performance that defines a good trader.

20) Not Focusing on the Trade at Hand– There is no room for fantasizing in successful trading. Counting up and mentally spending profits you haven’t made yet is mental masturbation and does you no good. Same with worrying about a loss that hasn’t happened yet. Focus on your position and have a reasonable stop loss in place at the time you do the trade. Then be like an astronaut – sit back and enjoy the ride. No sense worrying because you have no real control. The market will do what it wants to do. 不关注手头的交易 - 成功的交易没有幻想的空间。 计算还没有实现的利润是种精神自慰，对你没有什么好处。同样的，担心还没有发生的亏损也没意义。专注于你的仓位和在做出交易的同时设置一个合理的止损位。坐下并欣赏这段骑行。担心是没有意义的，因为你不能控制市场。市场将做它想做的事情。

21) Interpreting FOREX News Incorrectly – Fact is the press only has a very superficial understanding of the news they are reporting and tend to focus on one element and miss the point. Learn to read the source documents and understand it for real.

22) Lucky or Good – Your account balance changes don’t tell you the whole story about your trading. Fact is if you are taking a lot of risk and making money you will eventually crash and burn. Look at the individual trade details. Focus on your big loses and losing streaks. Ask yourself this, "If I had a couple of consecutive losing streaks or a couple of consecutive big losses, how would my account balance look?" Generally, traders making money without big daily losses have the best chance of sustaining positive performance. The others are accidents waiting to happen. 您的账户余额变化不会告诉您有关您交易的全部情况。 事实是，如果你冒很大风险赚钱，你最终会崩溃并燃烧。 看看个人交易细节。 专注于你的大的亏损和连续亏损。 问问自己：“如果我连续几次亏损或者连续几次遭遇重大损失，我的账户余额将会如何？” 一般来说，没有大的日损失的赚钱交易者最有可能维持正面表现。 其他人正在等待发生事故。

23) Too Many Charity Trades – When you make money on a well thought out trade don’t give back half on a whim. Invest your profits from good trades on the next good trade.

24) Courage Under Fire – When a policeman breaks down the door to a drug dealer's apartment he is scared but he does it anyway. When a fireman climbs onto the roof of a burning building he is scared but does it anyway, and gets the job done. Same with trading. It’s ok to be scared but you have to pull the trigger. No trigger – no trades – no profits – no trader. 勇气

25) Quality Trading Time – I suggest 3 hours a day of quality, focused trading time. That’s about all your brain allows. When you are trading, be 100% focused. Half way is bullshit - it doesn’t work. Don’t even think that time spent in front of the computer watching the rates has any correlation to profitability - it doesn’t. Spend less time but when you're trading, be 100% focused on trading. 花费较少的时间，但是当你开始交易时，一定要100%专注在交易上。

26) Rationalizing – Killer. Absolute Killer. Put your trade on and let it run. If it hits your reasonable pre-determined stop, you're out. Think of yourself as a prizefighter. You just got knocked out. Moving your stop is like getting up after being crushed with a knockout blow. It’s pointless. Things will only get worse. Don’t ignore the obvious. You're wrong – get out. Come back the next day and try again. A small loss will not hurt you - a catastrophic loss will. 移动你的止损只会使事情变得更糟。如果你错了，平仓。第二天再回来再试一次。一个小的亏损不会伤害你，一场灾难性的损失将会毁灭你。

27) Mixing Apples and Oranges – Have you ever done this? You see the EURUSD trading higher so you buy GBPUSD because it “hasn’t moved yet”. That’s a mistake. Most of the time the reason the GBPUSD hasn’t moved yet is because it's already overbought or some 4:30am UK news was bearish. Don’t mix apples and oranges. If EURUSD looks bid, buy EURUSD.

28) Avoiding the Hard Trades – Bank FX traders have an axiom "the harder the trade is to do the better the trade". This I learned from experience. When I needed to buy EURUSD and it was hard to get them, that’s when it’s necessary to pay up and get the business done. When it’s easy to get them, then sit back and wait for better levels. So if you are trying to get into a trade, or more importantly get out of a trade, don’t putz around for a few points - get your business done.

29) Too Much Detail – If your trading more than 2 indicators then you need to clean house. Having many indicators stifles trading and finds reasons not to trade. A setup and a trigger is all you need.

30) Giving Up Too Easy – Your first trade of the day may not be your best but certainly it’s no reason to quit. I have a preset daily trading limit and I use it. You can’t make money by making excuses. Getting trades wrong is natural and should be expected.

31) Jumping the Gun – Don’t be penny wise and dollar foolish. Wait for your trade signal to be clear. Put on your trade and give it a decent size stop loss so that you don’t get knocked out by random noise. 等待你的交易信号清晰。

32) Afraid to Take a Loss - trading is not personal, it’s business. Don’t think that a poor trade is a reflection on you. It could be you're just ahead of your time or a commercial order hits the market and temporarily creates a small unexpected move. Again, place your stop beforehand and NEVER increase your pre-determined risk. If it’s going bad, it will probably get worse. I think that’s Newton's “body in motion tends to stay in motion…”

33) Over-Relying on Risk Reward – There is zero advantage in risk reward. If you put a 20 point stop and a 60 point profit your chances are probably 3-1 that you will lose. Actually with the spread its more like 4 to 1 (from entry point if it goes down 17 points you lose, or up 63 - you win; 17/63 is close to 4-1).

34) Trading for Wrong Reasons – Because the EURUSD is going up is not in itself a reason to buy. Buying EURUSD because it's not moving much is even worse. You’re paying the toll (spread) without even a hint that you will get a directional move. If you are bored, don’t trade; the reason you're bored is there is no trade to do in the first place. 如果你感到无聊，不要交易;

35) Rumors – Rumors are rumors almost 100% of the time. Think about where in the motion you heard the rumor. If EURUSD is up 50 points in last 15 minutes and the rumor is dollar negative, well - then you missed it. Whenever you in motion with the trade, determine where you are entering.

36) Trading Short-term Moving Average Crossovers – This is the money sucker of the century. When the shorter term moving average cross the longer term moving average, it only means that the average price in the short run is equal to the average price in the longer run. For the life of me, I cannot understand why this is bullish or bearish. Easy to set up on software, complete with lights, bells and whistles, and good for the seller getting thousands for the software but in terms of creating profit - it’s a zero.

37) Stochastic – Another money sucker. Personally I think this indicator is used backwards. When it first signals an overdone condition, that’s when I think the big spike in the “overdone” currency pair occurs. To be overbought means strong and oversold means weak. Try buying on the first sign of overbought and selling on the first sign of oversold. You’ll be with the trend and likely have identified a move with plenty of juice left.

38) Wrong Broker – A lot of FOREX brokers are horrible. Get a good one. Read forums and chats in several different places to get an unbiased opinion.

39) Simulated Results – Watch out for “black box” systems. These are trading systems that don’t divulge how the trade signals are generated. Great majority of them are absolute garbage. They show you a track record of extraordinary results but think about it. If you could build a trading system with half a dozen filters using the benefit of hindsight, couldn’t you too come up with a great system. Of course going forward is an entirely different story. High-speed number crunching capabilities allows for building great hindsight trading systems, so BEWARE.

40) Inconsistency – Every business (FOREX trading included) requires a business plan (trading plan). Unless you have taken the time to write down a set of rules that you can and will follow, it’s likely your trading will remain unfocused and directionless. Make a plan, have rules, follow them. Set goals that are realistic and you will achieve them. 制定计划，制定规则，并遵循它们。 制定切合实际的目标，您将达到目标。

41) Master of None – Focus on one currency for technical trading. Each currency has a unique way of trading and unless you get intimate with it, you will never truly understand its underlying idiosyncrasies. Don’t spread yourself too thin – focus, master one currency at a time. 不要把自己分散得太细 - 专注，一次掌握一种货币。

42) Thinking Long Term – Don’t do it. Stay in the moment. Especially if you’re a day trader. It doesn’t matter what happens next week or next month. If you are trading with 30 to 50 point stops, restrict your thought process to what’s happening right now. That is not to stay the long-term trend is not important. It is to say the long-term trend will not always help you when your trading a significantly shorter time frame.

43) Overconfidence – Trading is simple but not easy. Statistics show 95% failure rate of those attempting to become traders. If you're doing well, don’t take your success for granted. Always be on the lookout for ways to improve what you are already doing.

44) Getting Pumped Up – The trick is to maintain an even keel. When you are in a trade, you want to think exactly as you would if you didn’t have a trade on. To do this requires a relaxed disposition. This is not a football game. Don’t get psyched up. Relax and try to enjoy it.

45) Staying in the Game– I don’t recommend demo trading because traders learn bad habits when trading with play money. I also don’t think “letting it all hang out” right away is wise either. Start off doing trades and taking risk that is relatively small but still makes a difference to you if you win or lose. About a quarter to a third of what you expect to reach as your trading matures is reasonable.

I personally don't use R/R - if I did, I would probably never take a trade.
I do start out with risk no more than 2% of my account.

Cutting your losses - it's part of my plan and is controlled by my SL - I have already accepted the loss BEFORE I enter the trade.

Running your profits - the only reason I trade - see my EURJPY trade

Nobody, I repeat NOBODY, can tell where a trade might go. Sure, we have a good idea, others have fib projections, others have S & R, others have trend lines, others have pattern projections, others have pitchforks, others have cycles, others have time projections etc., etc. History can ONLY guide us to where we think the trade might go but that is all it is, a guide. Ultimately, the Queen (the market) will take us wherever SHE wants to go. The only thing we can do is jump on her train and stay on as long as it goes in our direction.

As I've said before, for me, I'm only really interested in trading big moves, or what I think will be big moves, major swings and new trends which at least have decent profit potential.

from Strat #Post 80

"I" will NEVER be right and that the only one who is right is the Queen, the market. This is the case of your ego controlling your logic and common sense. Recognise it now, and let it go. From now on, don't worry about being right, in fact, stop worrying altogether. It doesn't matter who is right and who is wrong - the ONLY thing that matters is making money. from Strat #Post 84


Even though price action is true for all instruments, you have to learn to play the instrument first.

Each financial instrument has its own peculiarities, characteristics, personality and idiosyncrasy - we must learn these first so that we can get a "feel" for how she behaves in a given situation.

When we feel we can dance with her without stepping on her toes, only then can we think we have a chance with her. from Strat #Post 85


Keep a journal of every trade - and review them once a month or once a week. Preferably take a screen shot of the chart when you make the trade so that when you go back to review them you can see what you were looking at when you made the trade. Write about what was good about the trade and what was bad. If you keep doing this you will find that you start making less bad trades and more good trades. You will also hone what techniques you like and what works for you. from Strat #Post 86


Always follow PA IN THE DIRECTION OF THE TREND. The latest candle/bar supercedes the previous bar because it is THE LATEST price action.

IF IN DOUBT, STAY OUT

NEVER SECOND GUESS A TRADE - IT IS TOO COSTLY from Strat #Post 92

FEAR

I am FEAR to make a loss, so I can't STICK on my PLAN, can't CUT A LOSS QUICKLY.

Write and Say 1,000 times "it's part of my plan and is controlled by my SL - I have already accepted the loss BEFORE I enter the trade."

When I made a PLAN, I should be PATIENCE with my PLAN and SIT on my hand.

CADJPY

WHERE TO TAKE PROFITS

Whichever way you do it, ALWAYS take PROFIT from the market. Forget about thinking it may go another 150 pips - as soon as you do that, your emotions kick in BIG TIME and you are a TRAIN WRECK waiting to happen. Be satisfied with what YOU got from the market. As long as you are CONSISTENT in trading, your pip haul will increase but it will take time, lots of it. from Strat #Post 110

PLAN THE TRADE & TRADE THE PLAN
1) Technical analysis
2) Trading psychology

We need to blend these two together sensibly and logically if we are ever to have a chance in making money at trading. No matter how good we are in our technical skills, once we have our money "on the line" (and the more money - the greater the STRESS and pressure), our emotions, greed and fear, kick in and take over control of our trade.

Remembering the lurker who PM'd me saying something like "Assuming I have my emotions under control.......", Yeah, right! BUT it CAN be done but you then have to draw on two other aspects of trading psychology - patience and discipline.

This is why I keep repeating ad infinitum, success and making money in trading is 90% trading psychology.

Therefore, my answer to this will always be from the trading psychology aspect BECAUSE we have to keep our emotions, specifically greed and fear, under control as best we can.

The best way I know to do this is through a TRADING PLAN

You PLAN THE TRADE and then TRADE THE PLAN.

If you do this, you will ALWAYS keep your emotions in check and away from any decision making.

There are, however, provisos in this:

You must have your $/pip not only at your M % risk level but also at YOUR EMOTIONAL TOLERANCE LEVEL. It is no good having a huge trading account which allows you to trade $10/pip contracts if you are a huge EMOTIONAL BAG OF NERVES during the trade. Reduce your $/pip to a level that you feel comfortable with WHEN YOU LOSE.

You must always define your RISK (LOSING) before even thinking about profits. Forget about thinking (and dreaming) how much you will win. Instead, think and ACCEPT how much you will LOSE.
Forget about profits - when you are CONSISTENT over a long period of time (at the very least 1 year), your profits will take care of themselves.

So, let's go ever a typical scenario:

You see and recognise PASR, so you want to make a trade.

FIRST - where does my SL go? How much will I LOSE if this goes against me? Do I ACCEPT the RISK (LOSS)?

If Yes, next step. If NO - reduce the $/pip until you ACCEPT the RISK(LOSS) or DO NOT TAKE THE TRADE.

This is CRITICAL and VERY IMPORTANT - you have to be VERY HONEST with yourself here - you MUST be able to say to yourself

"THIS IS THE RISK I AM PREPARED TO TAKE ON THIS TRADE AND I WILL UNCONDITIONALLY ACCEPT THAT IT MAY BE A 100% LOSS"

If you cannot do this then YOU DO NOT TRADE!

SECOND (and only after accepting the RISK(LOSING)), where do I take PROFIT?

As discussed in an earlier post, put on 3 contracts and take PROFITS at either the first and second levels of S & R as appropriate or in increments of 50 pips - which ever polishes your knob! On the last contract, you trail this behind a suitable level which you are comfortable with UNTIL you are either stopped out or you see a PASR REVERSAL bar

So, this is now YOUR PLAN

THIRD - Do I believe in my PLAN? Do I have 100% absolute faith in my PLAN?

If the answer to this is NO - make a NEW PLAN
Do NOT trade until you UNCONDITIONALLY ACCEPT YOUR PLAN

FOURTH - Plan accepted so place trades. Enter SL and TP levels

FIFTH - Trade Management - You are trading the Daily time frame so no need to check your charts UNTIL after 5pm EST - NY close. -right, Dan?

IF you have been HONEST WITH YOURSELF and accepted YOUR PLAN then there is NOTHING TO DO!

You will either be stopped out for a LOSS - which you have already accepted and is no longer a concern for you

OR

You have to start taking PROFITS

There is NOTHING ELSE FOR YOU TO DO

"Ah, but what if something happens and I see the trade going against me, what then?" I hear our high school student say.

FIRST - YOU SHOULD NOT BE MONITORING PROGRESS DURING THE DAY ON A DAILY CHART.

If you are doing this then YOU STILL HAVE THE MENTALITY OF A SHORT TERM LOSING TRADER. You must GET SERIOUS and CHANGE YOUR TRADING STYLE.

SECOND - IF YOU ASKED THIS QUESTION THEN YOU DO NOT BELIEVE IN YOUR PLAN and VERY, VERY IMPORTANT - YOU HAVE CHEATED YOURSELF - YOU HAVE LIED TO YOURSELF!

YOU EITHER BELIEVE IN YOUR PLAN - OR YOU DON'T - it really is that simple.

So, my short answer is:

PLAN THE TRADE & TRADE THE PLAN

from Strat #Post 111

Hammer & Shooting Star:

Hammer:
The hammer MUST be at the END of a DOWNTREND. It MUST have a long tail that has gone searching below looking for more sellers BUT found a level at which buyers were now prepared to buy at. The Japanese called it a HAMMER because it hammered prices down (nailed it!)

Considerations:
A hammer that will not produce a SWING LOW is more than likely a Bond hammer.
Be very careful of hammers in STRONG TRENDS. Think, the STRONGER the trend, the BIGGER and LONGER the hammer. Hammers fool many people in strong trends.

Look at the Bond hammer on EURUSD on Oct 6, 2008. I remember many people on the threads getting excited over this as it appeared on just everybody's data. Lot's of people took a TICKET TO RIDE (Beatles 1965) on this and burned in hell!
It was a Bond hammer because it "looked" pale and insignificant compared to the bars preceeding it, it had not found support. It just was not "man enough" to STOP a strong trend that had been roaring since mid July.

Now look at the hammer on GBPUSD on Oct 24, 2008. See the difference?
This "looked like" it could STOP the same roaring trend and it did - for a while. It found support AND the level where buyers were prepared to buy again. As I have said many times, after a strong trend and BIG hammer, I expect an IB and, Oct 27, 2008 duly obliged with a Bond hammer. This bar was telling us "I've had another go at selling for you, pal, but, those buyers are giving me a hard time so I'm going to take a bit of a rest".

Now for those that like FIGHTING strong trends and COUNTER TREND TRADING, this IB gave you an opportunity to enter on a discounted price at the high of the IB. You would have to stay on your toes to manage it properly to come away with 600 pips or so.

For an example of PERFECTION in a hammer look at AUDJPY on March 5, 2007. Isn't she beautiful and downright drop dead gorgeous? If only she would meet me every week!

See also CADJPY on Jan 21, 2009 for another beauty.

I purposely haven't put up the charts for these because I want YOU to go to YOUR charts and study this.

Now, while you are dreaming of how much you could have made if you had been in on that trend, LOOK at the 20. SEE how POWERFUL it is. SEE how it HELPS you determine the trend. SEE how it tells you which side YOU should be on. SEE how it provides DYNAMIC RESISTANCE. SEE how it has turned around and is now providing DYNAMIC SUPPORT. Never, ever, under estimate the VALUE and POWER of the 20 (right, Dan?)

Talking about trends, my favourite method of trading, if you are DETERMINED, PATIENT and can PERSEVERE and can demonstrate at least 3 years of consistent equity growth, then you will be qualified to work with me on this money making machine.

Shooting Star:
The shooting star is the opposite price reversal bar to the hammer
The shooting star MUST be at the END of an UPTREND. It MUST have a long wick that has gone searching above looking for more buyers BUT found a level at which sellers were now prepared to sell at. The Japanese called it a SHOOTING STAR because it was SHOOTING for higher prices and got SHOT!

Considerations:
A shooting star that will not produce a SWING HIGH is more than likely a Bond shooting star.
Be very careful of shooting stars in STRONG TRENDS. Think, the STRONGER the trend, the BIGGER and LONGER the shooting star. Shooting stars fool many people in strong trends.

See AUDUSD on July 15, 2008 for an example of a shooting star at the end of a "stair stepping" uptrend - it is not perfect, but good enough. Note how it produces a MAJOR SWING HIGH.

See EURUSD on July 19, 2002 for a shooting star at the end of a strong uptrend.

Conversely, a Bond shooting star in a rally in an already confirmed STRONG DOWNTREND almost always works but always trade with caution - see AUDUSD on September 22, 2008 for an example.

Now, what you are going to notice with shooting stars is that they will almost never look as powerful and strong at the end of a trend as hammers do.

Why? You must never forget we are ALWAYS dealing with ENERGY and The Laws of Physics/Nature. Just like a ball at the top of a hill, it will roll faster down hill, WITH LESS ENERGY, than it will rolling uphill. In fact, it won't roll up hill WITHOUT ENERGY. It takes a lot of energy (BUYING PRESSURE) to roll a ball uphill (uptrend). At the TOP of the hill, The Laws of Gravity are no longer fighting us; they are now on our side and the ball (prices) fall with less energy (SELLING PRESSURE). If you don't know already, prices FALL FASTER than they rise.

It is because of this that we can accept a less than perfect or maybe a Bond shooting star at the end of an uptrend providing it meets all our other conditions. However, you must always trade price reversal bars with caution.

One other point:

Price does not always need a hammer or shooting star type bar to reverse it's trend. There are many other bars and formations which form swings and major swings.

from Strat #Post 155

you will never LEARN and UNDERSTAND PASR – Price Action at SUPPORT and RESISTANCE without them!


Make sure you READ and UNDERSTAND my POWER OF TIME FRAMES


These are the FIRST STEPS to look at each of our 3 time frames - get into this routine

BIG BOSS

Do NOT use my Weekly Control Candle strategy on monthly charts as they may prevent you from ever taking a trade.

The Big Boss chart is giving us a 35,000 feet view. It is an OVERALL BIG PICTURE view. It is NOT for using to initiate trades UNLESS you are an INVESTOR

On this time frame you should be asking “Where are the Big Boys taking PRICE?”

“Where is PRICE relative to Support and Resistance?”

BOSS

The first question to ask on the Boss chart is “Is the Boss following the Big Boss or is it in conflict?”

“Where is PRICE relative to Support and Resistance?”

Make sure you UNDERSTAND my definition of SWING qualification as it will save you from many false moves

WORKER

The first question to ask on the Worker chart is “Is the Worker following the Boss or is it in conflict?”

“Where is PRICE relative to Support and Resistance?”

from Strat #Post 430

PASR

READ, LEARN and UNDERSTAND The Power of Time Frames then do each pair analysis from the Big Boss to the Boss to the Worker. If you UNDERSTAND PASR and The Power of Time Frames then it will be clear to you how to trade/what to look for on each pair. Do one pair at a time and don't rush it. Do not move onto the next pair until you have the first pair mapped out.

from Strat #Post 1083

HOW YOU DEVELOP your own trading style. Are you a swing trader or trend trader? There are many ways of trading trends, the two common ones are swing trading and Dr Joe trading. Find out which one YOU are. This all comes down to your personality and psychology of how YOU handle draw down within a trade(s). Be a SPECIALIST at one and don't try to be a Jack of all trades.

from Strat #Post 1209

DON'T HURRY INTO A TRADE

Stand out, Keep Patience, and Waiting a CLOSED to confirm.

AUDUSD

Big Boss

Boss

Worker


Get out by SL. No waiting a CLOSED above the Resistance.

USDCAD

Be attacked by the "LITTLE PEOPLE".

After exited by TP, I "HOPE" more. When I hope more, the GREED is up his ugly face.

EURJPY

Big Boss

The Whole Trend is UP and BUEB near the 72EMA. So, I look for long on lower time frame.
Worker

HH-HL, waiting the candle CLOSED above the 20EMA to enter.

After exit near Resistance and 72EMA, I re-enter but the PRICE didn't have enough energy to go on UP, so I exit.

CONTROL ALL YOUR EMOTIONS

You MUST learn how to CONTROL ALL YOUR EMOTIONS. Try to be "brain dead" when you are trading, knowing NOTHING but PASR. Are you PLANNING your trades? Make sure your PLAN includes dealing with your Little People.

from Strat #Post 1289