Strat's Long Term Stress Free Trading

Got to run to catch a 6 hour train ride to visit a company/factory we are thinking of buying.

Ta ra for now.

Rock n Roll,
Strat

Thanks Strat. Yup, apologies for my terminology - 'bounce' was the wrong word to use. I have taken to switching to a line graph based on the close to draw my lines (trend and s/r)which i'm finding helpful in clearing the clutter.

Thanks for taking the time to look at my chart, i've got an early start here in sunny Yorkshire so i'm off to bed.

Cheers
Dan

In my haste to answer your questions, I forgot to congratulate you on your observation. So, congratulations, you are the first person to know and ask about Volume. This shows that not only were you reading AND understanding the posts but you actually knew abour Forex volume or the lack of Forex volume.

So what about the rest of you lot - are you reading or just flashing through?

No flashers allowed on here!

Rock n Roll,
Strat

"the bigger the broker, the more representing the volume?" - I honestly don't know - I just know that the volume I get allows me to read price action better and more accurately - it helps me see the signposts!

I have been looking at the Volume Spread Analysis Thread here on FF and it is very interesting and I think the originator of the thread, nyse1982, is doing a fantastic job. It is something that I am going to study in detail (when I can get off this thread!).

"patterns, trends and most important of all recognize "correct" entry and exit points." These are only parts of price action - you cannot use these in isolation if you wish to be successful. They must be used together with other parts of price action so as I keep recommending - please take the time to read the J16 thread to understand basic price action.

As I previously stated, it is said that trading is 10% method and 90% psychology. I think everyone here who has traded live will agree with this.

When you are trading on demo, you are isolated from the emotions which gives us cold sweats and puts the pit of your stomach in your mouth!

As soon as you trade live with your real, hard earned money on the line, your emotions (greed and fear) kick in. You have to do it and experience it and then you will know who the real person inside you is. We each individually have to find the method and time frame that suits our personality best to try and keep these emotions in check. Read my post again on my USDJPY quickie - even when you think you have them tamed, they rear their ugly head!

It's not me that deserves credit for Dr. Joe - it is the man himself, good old Dr. Joe!

Rock n Roll,
Strat

Hey Dan, there is no need to apologise!

Have you been talking with Nicola?

Where in the best county in England? I was born and bred in Huddersfield but managed to escape in 1982.

Rock n Roll,
Strat

hi strat, could you please go over how you use & incorporate the 20 ema & 50 sma into your trading? you mentioned before that you do use 4 indicators. can you please tell us which ones & how you use them too? i am sure it is just for confluence and to affirm a decision based on s&r & pa. thanku.

The Daily 20 and 50 give us trend direction, support and resistance and whether it is a bullish or bearish outlook. The BOSS 20 and 50 does the same but from a Weekly point of view.

The only indicator I use is volume plus some experimental cycles and momentum indicators (of my own development - not MT4 indicators).

Look at AUDUSD and where the 20 and 50 are - where are they and what are they telling you?

CHFJPY - where is the 20 and what is it telling you?

EURGBP - what does the cross on Feb 26 tell you? What purpose did the 20 and 50 have on March 9?

EURUSD - where are the 20 and 50 relative to price and what are they telling you?

GBPCHF - what does the 20 - 50 cross on March 9 tell you?

GBPJPY - where is the 50 and what is it doing?

GBPUSD - what does the increasing differential between the 20 and 50 tell you?

USDCAD - where is the 20 and what is it doing?

USDCHF - see my comments on previous posts

USDJPY - what is the 20 trying to do? If it doesn't do what it is trying to do then what does that tell you?

There is no shortcut to price action - you have to study and study thousands of charts.

If you don't put in the effort you will never get the reward.

Rock n Roll,
Strat

Hope you all had your sell order stops in place below the support line at 97.52

Rock n Roll,
Strat

The first method of trading I learnt was using the 20ema and 50sma moving averages for every time frame, like a lot of guys on this thread.
I am still using them now while I learn rock and roll trading with Strat.
Even now on each chart I have I have those moving averages for the time frame I am looking at and the one above it.
The moving averages are great indicators of trend. If the 50 is above the 20 and the price is below them both then the trend is definately down, and vice versa. When the price is stuck between them it is in a box and direction is not always clear.

I see them as floating lines of support and resistance which can be just as powerful as the fixed lines of support and resistance I have drawn on my chart. Not sure if it is because a lot of traders use them but there is often price action off the moving averages. Is it coincidence that they are often sitting at significant levels? I don't know but I do know that if there is a moving average at a strong support/resistance level and that also coincides with a fib level then I am definately looking to see what the price will do there and if I can trade it ...

I hope this helps and Strat does not disagree with me too much LOL

Nicola

What a great tip this was.
UJ now at 96.14 and sinking ...

for both of your replies. i am not looking for a short-cut & i have put over a year of dedicated study into forex & i have not gone live yet (hoping to sometime this year). i can identify s&r & pa bar/candlestick signals (& how they are to be traded), but i would like to better learn how to identify whether price is going to bounce or breakout thru s&r as it approaches it. thanku.

When I switched trading methods the first most important thing I did was close my live (real money) account!! Being confused was costing me money and I went back to demo for quite a few weeks.

Then I downloaded read the J16 thread and Buffy's price action website several times! There is no short cut to this step ...
If you go to the J16 thread (and BIG THANKYOU to J16 ...) there are a list of file attachments you can download that include price action, price action set ups and fibonacci stuff. They are priceless. Also the videos in the guest area at J16 explaining them are brilliant, I cannot recommend them highly enough too.

Then I learned to draw support and resistance and price pivot zones. I only draw them for the time frame I am looking at and the one above it. Otherwise my chart looks like I dropped spaghetti on it and my trades would never go anywhere.

Then I had to learn price action, one candle at a time. I am still learning really. I know Strat does not like pin bars but they are the first one I learned and applied. At the end of the day they are just a powerful sign of price rejecting a level.
I learned all the other candle patterns one by one and went back over charts looking for them and looking to see what happened. On my desk I have big drawings of them under a clear plastic cover (for when I spill coffee) so if I have a blonde moment or I am bored I stare at them until they are ingrained in my memory! I also have reversal patterns and stuff so I can recognise them.

Then I tried to apply everything I was learning and watched what price did at S/R and PPZ levels.
I also draw support lines, trendlines and channels. They really help me notice when something is making a move and breakouts are great trades.
Once I did all that I demo traded using my new knowledge and some of my tricks too using the moving averages. It did not happen easily and not without a crisis of confidence either.
I am now at the stage where I am putting my real money on the line, only a $1 a pip at the moment (unless I am absolutely certain then I might go a bit higher) but I am planning on being a turtle and still having an account left by the time I master this ...

The more I learn the more I realise that I have to learn. There is no short cut for the reading and the looking at charts. But I absolutely know where I want to be and I am in the right place on this thread.
I hope this helps someone ...
Nicola

I am guesssing the term "lurker" refers to someone who reads the thread, but hasn't added their input yet. I fall under that category. I actually just ran into this thread a couple of days ago, to give you an idea of where I am at.

Thanks Nicola for the post, it gives me a clear notion of what I should be doing right now. That would be to open a demo account with which to practice the many layers of long-term stress free trading risk-free. I have done that.

Now, I want to attempt to answer a few of the moving average questions Strat posted a couple hours ago. Please correct me when I'm wrong (keep in mind my exposure to this material lol).

AUD/USD: The 20 and the 50 have been right above price for about a month now and price is pushing up in between the two. Since it has been below and is now pushing up, maybe even through both, does this hint at a possible setup in the near future?

GBP/JPY: Price has broken through the 20 and is now testing the 50. Time will tell if it holds. If we could get a nice hammer, or pin bar forming right on the 50 and closing, it would make for a great long trade targeting first the resistance at 135.60.

USD/CAD: The 20 is widening it's gap between it and the 50, and is right below price for near term support.

EUR/USD: Price has broken through the 20 and is moving towards the 50. I don't have a volume indicator on my platform, but if volume was higher than usual on the previous candle I would consider this very bullish.

Clarifying question: On EUR/GBP, I believe there was a MA crossover on February 6th, not February 26th, if I am seeing things correctly. It also happened right when price bottomed out, just to further prove that MA's are the past, not the future.

[quote=strat;2596809]Gianni,

I woke up in bed this morning with a huge problem. The 10pm closing for the UK traders - I'm surprised about that and that it is so much of a problem for them.


No probs..but firstly we are AC milan so its a good thing and my Dad is Sicilian so watch out and my mummy is from Leicestershire which is why i went A.C not City but i am Tigers.Dont say im a glory boy as my school chums used to say as i was born in Nottinghamshire and schooled in Leicestershire and London but im Italy for my national team.My son is Arsenal my bros Forest.Are you into that Rugby for girls in tights with big shinny helmets now?

right to work its called TRADER DISIPLINE !!!!

There is one thing that all markets have in common.....time.Its the 4th dimension or element of the fibonnacci of growth in the universe.The golden mean.There is order in the universe the fibonnacci numbers prove it.
Now the bars have a time.A time to open a time to close in fact we trade time dont we when you think about it and we try to predict a future time event and i know that Strat has had this "it just all came together", i feel this is because when you pick a winner you have become one with time and that market.
If we want to become one with her (the market) and gain lots of booty with all its shinny,bright sparkles which drive you mad she demands one thing from you as payment regardless of whether you reach that oneness with her.... your time.Its a big price.Time is life.So what do we do?well if she is our Queen, our endevour and our desire we must yeild to her wishes.What else can a good Knight do.It may be Mother Earth having the last laugh or being at your kids school play you MUST be on time.
Now this is my full time job so i have total control of my time so it was easy to make the shift but for me there is no time only bar time.
My day STARTS at 11pm gmt.Thats when i place orders or adjust my weekly and monthly.On the over night tickets i place take profits just incase she kicks off over night but if its an Asia pacific cross im up all night.I wake up for every 4 hr bar if i got tickets pending and if its in a consolidation zone on the overnight im workin the night shift.I let the 4 hr time frame tell me if its likely to engage soon and the hour so its cool.

Whens theres a bar to play i give 100000% attention at all costs the plan must go ahead.Like a fighter pilot on scramble during the battle of Britan.

Now when there is no bars or im locked off im getting ready for trigger time sleeping,eating training for that one moment of engagment man i love trading.During the day im sizing up my kill looking at the places she can hide or pause and i make all my choices during the day slowly at my own time.From7pm till 11pm regardless i take a trader nap as she always goes quite for some reason than at 11 gmt the Alarm goes and its trigger time.Did i get what i wanted, do i get to fill the ticket, my heart races the adrenaline pumps....no bars....oh well. or BARS!!! lock and load go standby code red.

It takes total dedication and that dosnt mean stareing for hours at the 5 and 15 min.Come on logic says if a 5 or 15 min was really a viable way there wouldnt be such a HUGE market of lossers scratching round the web for help come on ask yourself that together with this get rick quick vibe doom doom doom.How much time did you all put into your current buisness,your family,your house?This is no different.You wont find the grail you are the grail.For me the chase is as good as the kill and all the above is vital to a good buisness,any buisness.

It might sound crazy but have you seen the charts there crazy!
11 pm GMT be there,dont miss it and be fresh or stay with the 5 mins or give up.No time here for the wasters.Be a Warrior,grab your life by the short and curlys and get your loot.

Remember you only ever trade yourself,so do it miss that order over sleep see how you feel....worse if your down.I did it once 2 years ago on kiwi,i will never forget it........G

Whats your problem with pin bars?

So I see there is a discrepancy between some of the traders here and Strat on when the daily bar closes and opens. For me, and some others, it is at 10 PM GMT, or 2 PM PST where I live. For Strat, I believe it is 12 AM EST. This means our daily candles will look entirely different, which unless I am wrong will make it harder to come to an agreement on actual price action.

What can I do to change when my platform opens and closes the daily bar so we can be on the same page?

yep your right.Its all smoke and mirrors.Thats why we practice and we only have to agree with ourselves.
It did my head in too when i startd but get abit o trigger time and it will become clear..ish

Hi,

This is turning into an excellent thread.

The CHf/Jpy is nearing a major support level with confluence of the 20 MA lets see how price reacts around here.

BabaG - I want to be a warrior like you. Count me in.

Hey Nic's

For a supposedly 'Newbie' you have managed to cram in a great deal of learning and reading in a short space of time...my hat goes off to you...well done...

Is there a download of the J16 thread somewhere as sometimes I prefer to read from printed material rather than at the screen...ie when I take my daughter to her Karate class or sitting up in bed burning the midnight oil...this would be a bit lighter in weight than my laptop...

Also do you have alink to Buffy's website too please...

I feel an army is building up here!...