Simple PSAR/Fractal Break Out Strategy

ONe note....because of price action against the euro i have substitued gbpusd (M30) for gbpchf (M30).

so far the market is slow however, trends materialized while I slept on all pairs and am now long in eurusd, gbpusd and gbpjpy

remember to always place emergency stops when playing with tf's this low

5:30 GMT Update

eurusd: long since 1.5519
eurusd: currently will go short at 1.5498

gbpjpy: currently long at 212.41
gbpjpy: currently will go short at 211.66

gbpusd: long at 1.9658
gbpusd will go short at 1.9622

5:35 GMT Update

eurusd: on my current open long position I have moved s/l to a temporary position at 1.5519 which is one pip below the latest low fractal. this is just a mental stop however, as i have not qute been up enough pips to just close in a profit

5:40 GMT Update

eurusd: curretnly i will go short at 1.5509 which is the closest fractal that is also below the bottom PSAR configuaration

6:00 GMT Update

the news is coming out, and not in profit in any position...have tightend up my stops in case of a move against me

6:05 GMT Update

seemed to weather the news with no losses

eurusd: i could add another long position at 1.5530 + spread above the latest high fractal and also above the PSAR dots, but i am thinking i won't as market is kind of ranging. If there had been a breakout move and a consolidation, then no question

6:10 GMT Update

eurusd: i have place my s/l for my long order at 1.5514 which also coincides with the low fractal inside the short PSAR. I will also place a short order here.

6:15 GMT Update

eurusd: price broke through upper PSAR which means that my short order is no longer valid as right now it lies above the lower PSAR dots. Next bar i am expecting this to be a valid short entry agtain at 1.5514

6:25 GMT Update

gbpusd: should take a slight bounce downward off the trendline, but then shoule continue it's move up

at this point i will not let any of my trades go into negative however i will give my gbpusd and gbpjpy trades a little slack as they are traded off M30

6:30 GMT Update

gbpusd: trendline breached hopefully up up and away

I have reached 3% profit and will lock in 1%

6:40 GMT Update

Yeah...i am a big chicken, but i closed out all three trades at 2% profit. I will look for re-entries and keep my profits small.
and yes.....this system does take losses

6:45 Update

eurusd: a new upper fractal has formed which would currently give me a re-entry long at 1.5553 + spread



Here is a chart where you can see the fractals and the PSAR. I will also go to M15 for eurusd and draw recent Trend Lines.

the horizontal lines are as follows:

Red= Sell below this line (Fractal)
Blue= Use for s/l
Green= Buy above this line (fractal)

7:10 Update

eurusd: Long triggered and will not let me green pips go to red

7:40 update

eurusd: closed with 10 pips profit....1% one of these days i will learn to stay with the trend, but this trading can move against me real quick

7:45 GMT Update

eurusd: currently i would not go short until below the fractal at 1.5534

eurusd: another upper fractal has formed, but i am unsure if I will take it at the moment due to the movement we have already seen

When you have a minute would love to see your eur/usd chart, to at least confirm we all set them up correctly. Thanks.

before i go to work today i will get you a chart

Time to play inside bar on gbpusd M30

8:10 GMT update

will lock in profit from playing IB short

8:30 Update

isn't this turning into a nice trade

8:45 Update

closed trade for +20 pips 1.5%

Here is my updated chart since PSAR short was breached.

Hola Damonl!

Why wait after 6 months to quit job? Quit now!... Just kidding... Don't let me be the devil's advocate... LOL

Oh, since you are using the Bill Williams Fractal indicator, here's a nice custom Fractal indicator which uses lines so you can see those fractal prices as chart time extends. (One needs to understand how Fractals are computed before complaining on repaintings.) For your perusal.

Good luck!

Hola my friend....thanks for the indi

you bring up a good point, fractals will never repaint if they are present after 2 bars have closed behind them. please keep this in mind when using an early entry fractal

happy pippin'

Hi damonl,

could you please tell us where is your entry and exit point....thanks

Hello Mohan...

my entries are 1 pip above or 1 pip below the fractals, but only in the direction of the PSAR.

most times i will also play a M30 gbpusd or gbpjpy breakout of an inside bar, and sometimes i will go against the early fractal, but only in a known ranging market and during peak times.

Exit is up to you. Try just closing in profit even if it is for 1 pip to start with. Get a feel for the market, and for the trading style. Sometimes i will exit if I am up 10 pips and it comes back to 1 pip and other times i will let it ride. I am not really here to teach exits, you must learn to read your charts and above all, take some profit.

Even i still get my exits wrong, but i mainly do take profit.

I am working on adding an MA for helping me stay in the market, but i am still experimenting.

Hope this has been helpful

I am going to refrain from saying a lot while trading as I get distracted and miss trades, so for now i will probably just upload updated charts.

the charts can be read as follows.....

1. Red horizontal line is my lower level support....1 pip below this and i will sell

2. Lime horizontal line is my upper level support....1 pip above this and i will take a long position

3. Blue line is my hard stop which i only will insert if i am around news time. otherwise i will close the trade manually when it reaches this point.

both the red and lime lines will coincide with fractals and proper direction using psar. the blue is usually placed at a fractal or at the psar reversal point.

I will not place any pending orders, all my orders are taken live and exited live even when I lock profit.....this is still manual

As a general rule, you will be able to read my charts that i upload using this table of rules...

see you tonight and happy pippin'

it seems that i will keep my profits small as we are in a range right now and there is no guarantee that london will bring us out of that range

if you see other indicators on my chart it is because i am looking for ways to make sure that I don't exit a position prematurely....this part is a work in progress

it may even be advisable to wait until we are out of the range and some new fractals form espeicailly while scalping eurusd

pritchett speaks at 8:30 GMT and so who knows what will happen between now and then

happy pippin'

at this moment, until things start moving it may be advisable to risk way less than 2%. plenty of opportunity will present itself as things start to tkae shape and usually these 1st trades when the market has made no move for many many hours is where we will be the most vulnerable.

we have formed a new fractal, but looks like we are at the moment still ranging.

since stops are tight right now, i will probably take a breakout of this new info.

trend has become bearish. due to the ranging market, i think i will not take any serious trades until a new fractal has formed after the psar reversal