Would it be too much trouble to pay me back my $20,000, my sexy darling?

dear M.A.C.Doug

where could i found short summery of your way of trading

I use trendlines, fibs, previous swing points and round numbers to determine support/ resistance. I use candlestick patterns and some chart patterns

I have two main trading styles - multiple time frame and single time frame set ups

1. trade bounces of higher time frame S/R on lower time frame

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2. Single time frame S/R, chart patterns and candlestick
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This whole page shows how a combination of both types being used at once
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Also I read a lot of news and I have been known to trade releases. Im not so interested in doing this these days
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Unfortunately there is another category of trades, revenge, boredom, impatient, hopefull and just plain senseless. These haven't helped my cause. Removing the stop to hope a loser will come back has been the account killer every time.

Psychology is the most important factor and we have just started getting into that area in my thread the last few pages.

I notice you are knowledgeable in harmonic patterns. I am interested in them after seeing Shahab8b use them sucessfully. I would like to add them to my arsenal but I am having a bit of difficulty understanding them. Could you help me with them?

Whittled away a lot of my gains this month testing my scalping prowess on the new platform. It didnt go so well. Apart from the fact I sucked, the so called instant execution broker hung some in profit orders out till they were not as profitable before executing. I closed one trade with 10 pips, $100. the order hung there for about 5 seconds until it was 5 pips and only $50. No more scalping with Go Markets

I enjoyed taking things a bit slower with this 4 hr chart set up. Very little screen time. I didnt get back to see how it went for 24 hrs. I took .5% risk for a 1% return. I am going to be doing more of this type of trading I think and have more of a life away from the market

That's the way to go. As soon as someone start being profitable, he will realize that staying in front of the computer for a long time isn't worth it. You can either start trading a higher timeframe or start using EAs.

I'm still trying to convert my Metastock code to Oanda's API but it isn't that easy because I have to forward test everything (can't backtest my code with Oanda). Friday my EA produced 3 trades worth 5 pips in the london session and 7 trades worth 5 pips in the american session + one 8 pips loss that came from a coding error.

Of course, I'm preaching in the defense of what I know, but think about it. For example, if you trade 4 hours chart and you happen to have a buy signal, you can use a 10 sec chart to pinpoint an almost perfect entry point and your trade doesn't go much(or at all) against you. That's why I love EAs : 10 sec entry points are invaluable and my human mind would go crazy watching 10 sec charts for the whole day while EA don't mind.

To get an idea of the massive advantage that gives you, you can use 1 month charts, find signals and pinpoint your entry on a daily chart. Markets are fractals so that would be a valid comparison point, even though stock markets are biased to the upside.

You can also do that with S/R bounces but I wasn't able to hard-code them in Oanda's API (that's easy to do in metastock). They can be quite a powerful signal, and pinpointing entrys should do well.

Quite frankly, I think that using 1 min charts for scalping is suicide because good setups usually move very fast and by the time your system gives you the head-up, price has already moved several pips in the direction you wanted to take the trade. I think it's because many big players use sub 1 min charts and "force" their way out of good profitable setups. Retail players are kept at bay not because they are stupid or don't have a good strategy but because they lack the speed.

At my personal level, I'll take a system with an 90% hit rate but a low profit/loss (<10 pips per trade) over a system which would give me hundreds of pips while draining my emotions and frustrating me when I have to wait. Having my winning trades close profitably in less than 2 minutes on average is really nice. I close any trade that last more than 3 minutes because it means the market isn't willing to go along. Dancing with the market should go smoothly and trades should not be forced.

What's frustrating is seeing a trade goes 100 pips in your direction when you only took a 5 pips profit. What's great is seeing a trade reverse 50 pips against you right after you took your profit.


Anyway, keep us updated on what you decide to do I understand your trading style but 4 hours charts are alien to me !

It is time consuming but Im a trader, I love it. I have spent alot of time learning to dance with the price action but it takes constant practice. Im getting better at taking the losses. I dont want to lose this ability, in fact, I want to get better. I will try to trade like this at least a couple of times per week. I keep an eye on the bigger picture anyway so I can do my 4 hour chart trades the rest of the time.

5 hours, 73 trades, all long, and 5% return without the market moving anywhere. I was anticipating a breakout higher and although that didnt happen, it certainly tried enough times for me to bank an excellent return for my effort

Congrats for such a return ! That's 10 times what I made this morning
And it looks like there might be a breakout right now and I'm long since 1.2997 : classic divergence trade. For once I didn't scalp because I noticed that my divergence trades usually go tens of pips in my direction while I only scap 5-10 pips.

But hey, this ranging market isn't easy. My EA mostly avoided it by not trading actively but I guess it could also be traded with divergences. But I really don't like ranging markets : they tend to breakout when I try trading them.

Thats right - as soon as I take a break to post in my journal, off it goes. You have got an excellent entry - I saw that while I was capturing charts for my post and thought "that would be a nice entry" I did manage an entry at 3017 and I have locked in break even. I am stopping now. I expect to get stopped out of that trade but I have nothing to lose

I moved the stop up and got taken out adding another 1% for the day. I think it may go higher but I'm not touching it now that the stops have been run

Inspiring stuff there Mac, keep it up!

You heard it first here on the 19th of june. Price had bounced from the low of 1.18 and was at 1.23. No one, I mean no one was calling the Euro long at that time. Even Cliff Wachatel was calling an end to the rally and new lows.
and this

This weekly chart trendline is 18 months old and was broken 3 months ago. Price tested the backside of the line again last week and provided some excellent opportunities to take pips on the lower time frame

How are you hanging MAC?

Now that was a fantastic call

Here is a nice confluence of two fibs, the backside of 38.2% retrace of the swing up and the 23.6% retrace of the latest swing down. I recommend daily S/R lines to be traded with a 10 pip stop and a 30 pip target on EUR/USD. There were four entries possible with 3 winners and one loser. At 1% risk per trade for a 3% return, these trades would have returned 8% net

Glad to see you posting Mac, hope all is well!

1:10 risk/reward on this GBP/USD daily chart technical set up that I noticed over the weekend. Should get a decent bounce at least enough to lock in break even at the C level. Its a nice fib confluence of 38.2% of A-B and 38.2% of X-A. A nice head and shoulder supported by daily pivots on the lower time frame supported my timing and Im 30 pips up as I type

long 1.5370
stop 1.5270
tp1 1.6370
tp2 1.7070

1.38 is the first real resistance I believe the Euro will encounter on its way to 1.42 and then 1.48.

The fundamental driver for this move is as follows:

The U.S is using the printing press to solve their financial problems but Eurozone is tightening its belt to solve theirs. Which technique is the more prudent longer term? Which technique would you prefer your money invested with?

Greenspans Q.E created this mess in the first place so how is more of the same going to make the U.S economy strong?
Eurozone de-leveraging is the only way out of the bust. They will return to economic strength and investors are already acting, driving up the price of everything against the USD

The U.S has no choice but to depreciate its currency. It has very little to do with stimulus and a whole lot to do with inflating its way out of the debt it cannot repay any other way

Yeah!! and hows this for risk reward, go Dougie go Dougie

1:25 risk vs reward, not bad

Good stuff MAC.

How do you feel about your money management over the last couple of months? Progressing? Becoming second nature and less of a daily battle?

I havent been trading very much, I have a tax debt problem and other financial problems due to extended unemployment/trading losses that I now have to address. I have been busy with work and only checking the market occaisionally. I only have a very small live account. During this time I bought gold at 1200 and held till 1270, I am holding GBP/USD at 1.5370 and I got 300 pips from my 1.31 entry on Euro. These trades have doubled my account and I was hardly even trying. The few times I have scalped I lost. I have other battles to fight at the moment so there is no daily battle with the market anymore. Strangely, my trading has been more successful with only 1% of the effort I put into fulltime trading. Whats with that?