today, I've made the decision to start a journal to document my forex journey and to help maintain discipline in my trading.
Without boring you all to death, I have been trading for about 4 years, blown 2 accounts and currently rebuilding a 3rd account.
I previously traded mainly with ea's due to work and family committments and not having enough time to study manual methods, but like most others I am beginning to realise that true success will come to me through manual trading.
About 8 months ago, I came across a semi-automatic system which helped me to start to understand some of the nuances and indicators etc around and this has helped in my rebuilding process.
About 3 weeks ago, I came across a manual system, that is so incredibly simple and yet appears to be extremely profitable. For now this is the system that I am going to focus on and will share with you over the next few months.
I am enjoying my trading more than ever now that I am getting more 'hands on' and I'm confident that I will not only bring my live account back into profit but will also grow into an ongoing source of income to replace my 9-5.
I hope you will also gain along the journey with me....
DEMO PIP UPDATE: 27/05/11 - 27/07/11 = 2844.3
UPDATE 07/07/11:
I have commenced trading this strategy on my Live account, so thought I would update the first post with the rules and background.
LIVE PIP UPDATE: 07/07/11 - 27/07/11 = 739.4 (2 trades)
Chart Set up:
Daily time frame, I have all pairs open that my broker has, mainly because it means there is almost always a trade open.
100 MA - which I don't actually refer to in my trading decisions, but I like to have it there anyway
Stochastic (8,3,3) upper Levels drawn at 80 & 85 and lower levels drawn at 20 & 15
That's it!
I know hundreds of traders would tell me that is absurd and it won't work, but so far it is working and I think it's mainly because the strategy is purely based on price action and where the market is going.
Also being on the daily time frame, allows plenty of time to see what's happening and the various pockets of volatility that occur most days are generally just absorbed into the daily candle.
One thing I learnt from a fellow trader here at FF (Nanningbob) is that 2 things are inevitable in forex trading:
1. The price will go up
2. The price will go down
Strategy:
So keeping that in mind, I am looking for price being overbought or oversold and then waiting until price action turns and retraces.
Rules:
dk blue stoch line MUST cross the light blue signal line up for a buy in the 0-20 zone
dk blue stoch line MUST cross the light blue signal line down for a sell in the 100-80 zone
enter trade:
enter trade on the opening of the next candle once confirmation of the stoch line and signal line has crossed either the 80 or 20 line
(the signals must be clearly below the 80 or above the 20 levels for me to consider it a valid trade setup)
exit trade:
Preserving profits and getting to a free trade is #1 priority
set break even +2 at 50 pips
Jumping stop set at 50 pips
take 1st third of trade off the table at 50 pips (move to break even +2) - lock in some profit, free trade thereafter
take 2nd third of trade off the table at 100 pips
let the rest of the trade run, close balance of trade at next cross confirmed at close of candle or trade will close on retrace to jumping stop.
I spend about 15 minutes or so each morning checking trades, looking for potential set ups about a half hour before the end of the candle which is at 8am (my time).
The only problem is for me is I have to leave for work then, and have to check again around 9.30 and place or close any trades according to the setups. This short delay on placing the trades, generally doesn't matter seeing we are trading on the daily charts. Once that's done, I leave it to do it's thing until the next morning.
09/09/12 - UPDATE
Adjusted stochastic settings to 7,2,2
EA available at http://www.stevehopwoodforex.com/php...aad94a194c7e91
Without boring you all to death, I have been trading for about 4 years, blown 2 accounts and currently rebuilding a 3rd account.
I previously traded mainly with ea's due to work and family committments and not having enough time to study manual methods, but like most others I am beginning to realise that true success will come to me through manual trading.
About 8 months ago, I came across a semi-automatic system which helped me to start to understand some of the nuances and indicators etc around and this has helped in my rebuilding process.
About 3 weeks ago, I came across a manual system, that is so incredibly simple and yet appears to be extremely profitable. For now this is the system that I am going to focus on and will share with you over the next few months.
I am enjoying my trading more than ever now that I am getting more 'hands on' and I'm confident that I will not only bring my live account back into profit but will also grow into an ongoing source of income to replace my 9-5.
I hope you will also gain along the journey with me....
DEMO PIP UPDATE: 27/05/11 - 27/07/11 = 2844.3
UPDATE 07/07/11:
I have commenced trading this strategy on my Live account, so thought I would update the first post with the rules and background.
LIVE PIP UPDATE: 07/07/11 - 27/07/11 = 739.4 (2 trades)
Chart Set up:
Daily time frame, I have all pairs open that my broker has, mainly because it means there is almost always a trade open.
100 MA - which I don't actually refer to in my trading decisions, but I like to have it there anyway
Stochastic (8,3,3) upper Levels drawn at 80 & 85 and lower levels drawn at 20 & 15
That's it!
I know hundreds of traders would tell me that is absurd and it won't work, but so far it is working and I think it's mainly because the strategy is purely based on price action and where the market is going.
Also being on the daily time frame, allows plenty of time to see what's happening and the various pockets of volatility that occur most days are generally just absorbed into the daily candle.
One thing I learnt from a fellow trader here at FF (Nanningbob) is that 2 things are inevitable in forex trading:
1. The price will go up
2. The price will go down
Strategy:
So keeping that in mind, I am looking for price being overbought or oversold and then waiting until price action turns and retraces.
Rules:
dk blue stoch line MUST cross the light blue signal line up for a buy in the 0-20 zone
dk blue stoch line MUST cross the light blue signal line down for a sell in the 100-80 zone
enter trade:
enter trade on the opening of the next candle once confirmation of the stoch line and signal line has crossed either the 80 or 20 line
(the signals must be clearly below the 80 or above the 20 levels for me to consider it a valid trade setup)
exit trade:
Preserving profits and getting to a free trade is #1 priority
set break even +2 at 50 pips
Jumping stop set at 50 pips
take 1st third of trade off the table at 50 pips (move to break even +2) - lock in some profit, free trade thereafter
take 2nd third of trade off the table at 100 pips
let the rest of the trade run, close balance of trade at next cross confirmed at close of candle or trade will close on retrace to jumping stop.
I spend about 15 minutes or so each morning checking trades, looking for potential set ups about a half hour before the end of the candle which is at 8am (my time).
The only problem is for me is I have to leave for work then, and have to check again around 9.30 and place or close any trades according to the setups. This short delay on placing the trades, generally doesn't matter seeing we are trading on the daily charts. Once that's done, I leave it to do it's thing until the next morning.
09/09/12 - UPDATE
Adjusted stochastic settings to 7,2,2
EA available at http://www.stevehopwoodforex.com/php...aad94a194c7e91
