Barra's Trade Journal

Trading Style
I'm a breakout trader, primarily trading GBP/JPY and on certain conditions GBP/CHF.

Home
Based in Brisbane, Australia, I look for setups between 7am GMT & 1pm GMT ... this fits in nicely with waking hours here in OZ ... 5pm AEST to 11pm AEST.

Approach
Whilst I have documented trade setup's / strategies, I'm still discretionery in nature, looking for market information (news, technical analysis etc.) & gut feel to enter & exit the market. For me, FX trading is all about locating support and resistance zones - nothing more, nothing less. Finding these S&R zones and looking for them to be broken.

Mantra
I beleive in taking a lot of small profits, using strict money management disciplines.

Barra

1. Establish the low & high of the overnight period 5pm > 7am
2. Look to go short on a breakout of the low (typically between 15 & 25 pips below the low as a stop market entry).
3. Look to go long on a breakout of the high (typically between 15 & 25 pips above the high as a stop market entry).
4. 30 pip stop
5. Take 1/3 of position off at 10 pips & move stop to breakeven
6. 2nd 1/3 off at 20 - 50 pips (look for obvious S&R level)
7. Last 1/3 off at 100 - 200 pips (look for obvious S&R level)

Enter from 7am - 10am

Barra

1. Establish the low & high of the early morning period 5am > 9am
2. Look to go short on a breakout of the low (typically between 15 & 25 pips below the low as a stop market entry).
3. Look to go long on a breakout of the high (typically between 15 & 25 pips above the high as a stop market entry).
4. 30 pip stop
5. Take 1/3 of position off at 10 pips & move stop to breakeven
6. 2nd 1/3 off at 20 - 50 pips (look for obvious S&R level)
7. Last 1/3 off at 100 - 200 pips (look for obvious S&R level)

Enter from 10am - 1pm

Barra

If there is a breakout (price expands beyond 5am - 9am H/L) during 9am - 10am, strategy # 2 is now invalid.

If it is a break down, use the low of the 10am bar + 15 to 25 pips as a short entry level.

If it is a break up, use the high of the 10am bar + 15 to 25 pips as a long entry level.

1. Take 1/3 of position off at 10 pips & move stop to breakeven
2. 2nd 1/3 off at 20 - 50 pips (look for obvious S&R level)
3. Last 1/3 off at 100 - 200 pips (look for obvious S&R level)

Enter from 10am - 1pm

Barra

Idea here is to compare GBP/JPY & GBP/CHF crosses .... looking for a 24-hour low/high on the CHF, and NO 24-hour low/high on the JPY cross .... CHF cross can be a good leader of the JPY.

From the bar (60 min) that generates the signal, add (for a long) and minus (for a short) 15 - 25 pips as a stop market entry level.

1. Take 1/3 of position off at 10 pips & move stop to breakeven
2. 2nd 1/3 off at 20 - 50 pips (look for obvious S&R level)
3. Last 1/3 off at 100 - 200 pips (look for obvious S&R level)

Enter between 7am & 1pm GMT

Barra

On the GBP/CHF, establish H & L from yesterday's session (I use a 60 min chart). Draw 38.2% Fib Extension from H & L. Add 3 ticks and sufficient ticks to be +/- 11 pips from 00 or 50 level. If this takes my entry price beyond 50% Fib extension, set first 2 targets at 10 pips and last target at 100% level. If entry is not beyond 50% Fib Extension, P1 @ 10 pips and stop loss to BE, P2 at 50% Fib Extension, and P3 % 76.4% Fib Extension. Stop Loss of 30 pips.

Barra

Establish Fib levels (retrace & extend) from previous week’s bar.

Wait for a false breakout (pierced level but quickly retraced and closed back inside earlier range) of the level and then place a stop 20 pips below the low/high of the bar that pierced the level.

P1 @ 10 pips & stop to BE
P2 @ logical S&R zone (max 50 pips)
P3 @ next logical S&R zone (max 200 pips)

Barra

No Trades for Monday 3 March 08.

The market broke out of Friday's range overnight Sun/Mon, too early for my strategies - I only take trades between 7am GMT & 1pm GMT.

The downtrend of GBPJPY is still firmly in place, with good daily ranges.

Barra

No trades for Tuesday 4 March.

GBPJPY ranged for the most part of the London session until a breakout in the early part of US session, too late for me.

Back again tomorrow.

Barra

No trades today.

Another strong breakout in the US session, for those that are up at that time of the day.

Barra

Strategy # 2 - 2 trades

10.05am Short 206.06, P1 hit @ 205.96 and then stopped out on remaining positions @ BE ... BE trade

12.52pm Long 207.13, P1 hit @ 207.23 and then stopped out on remaining positions @ BE ... BE trade

Sometimes I think that my tight stops / BE approach after 10 pips limits my profitability ... but ultimately it is designed to protect my account.

Barra

Strategy # 1 - 1 trade

A classic breakout today!

8.35am Short @ 205.73, P1 hit @ 205.63, P2 hit @ 205.49 (38.2 fib), and P3 hit @ 205.06 (76.4 fib).

33 pips per lot

Barra

Barra, I'm a bit confused about the times you use to establish H&L's. I'm in California PST. And what do you mean when you said "5pm AEST to 11pm AEST" would that be the hours I establish the H&Ls? Is AEST American Eastern Standard Time? And one more thing, your strategy seems to work when the west is asleep. How can we take advantage of this? Is there an EA in the making? That's the only solution I can see using this strategy. So far I like what you have but would be difficult to utilize.


thnx

Hi criss73,

I establish the high and the low based upon London timeframes ... eg. for the first session I look to establish H/L from 5pm GMT the previous trading day to 7am GMT on the current day.

Let me first say that I am based in Australia (AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time) .... I start looking for trades at 7am London time through until about 1pm London time. If you are from the US West Coast, that translates to unfriendly/normal sleeping time (11pm LA Time to 5am LA time) For several years I traded the Russell 2000 index, but ultimately the timeframes that I had to be awake here in Australia got the better of me, hence why I looked for an instrument (GBP/JPY) that suited my waking hours!

I am really excited about the GBP/JPY cross .... it trends nicely and Support & Resistance is easily identifiable. Ranges are good, so profits are easy to reap. From my experience in FX, the London session is the best to trade, followed by the early part of the US session. Having said that, if you like FX, you need to find a cross that works for you.

My strategies may be a bit challenging to code. I use Tradestation 8.3 - I haven't yet tried to program them, but would be happy for someone to try

Barra

Strategy # 2 - 1 trade

11.24am Long 206.573, P1 hit @ 206.673 and then stopped out on remaining positions @ BE ... BE trade

Barra

Strategy 1

Long 205.36 @ 9.13am - hit P1 @ 205.46, p2 @ 205.72 & p3 @ 206.31

Average 46 pips

Strategy 3
LOng 206.23 @11.04am - hit P1 @ 206.33 and remaining positions BE - BE trade

Barra

Strategy 3
Short 206.80 @11.43am - hit P1 @ 206.70, hit P2 @ 206.64 and remaining position BE stopped out at 206.72 - 8 pips average

Barra

1 Trade x Strategy 3

Long 204.71 @ 12.39pm, P1 hit at 204.81, P2 hit at 205.06, and remaining position stopped out at 204.78 ... average 17 pips

Barra

No trades today - stopped looking about an hour before the US CPI result.

Barra

Strategy # 2

Short 194.23 @ 10.43am .... P1 hit 194.13, P2 hit 193.93, stopped out on remaining positions at 194.16 ... 15 pips average.

Barra