A Trading Journey - S&R, RNs and PA

Welcome!

Preconceptions:

 

1. All trading based on Support and Resistance and round numbers
2. Majority of trades are taken once PA confirmation has formed at my level
3. No indicators (MACD used only for divergence)
4. Timeframes used, D1, H4 and H1
5. 20 or so markets
6. 0 - 10 trades per month
7. I don't use MT to trade so there'll be no actual proof of my trades

I want to use this thread to document:

 

1. My thoughts throughout the trading day, including trade ideas, my feelings on trades/charts
2. Hunches
3. My actual trades, entries, exits, management etc.

Attached is the sort of thing I spend my time waiting for, to give an idea.

Details of my background and hopes for this thread in the post to follow...

SG

That CAD/J was a nice trade that I also profited on...looking forward to more charts.

My background

I currently reside in the UK working a full time job in IT. I've always had an interest in the world of trading, and decided to take that interest a step further 2-3 years ago, where I discovered this forum and the J16 material.

Why trading?

For two reasons. I enjoy it. And of course, I have a keen interest in making money and securing my future.

My journey so far

I've been trading for 2 - 3 years. I managed to avoid wasting my time on indicators from the start, and have been trading Support and Resistance practically from day one.

From my perspective, I know everything I need to to trade successfully and consistently. Although my account is moving in the correct direction, it's very slow, which is part of the reason for this thread.

My belief is that a traders career works on a continuous improvement model. And therefore I have never expected miracles or to be filthy rich within a few years, but the hope is that my bottom line will increase over time to come.

What I hope to achieve through this thread

Ultimately, I want to improve my trading through this thread. The J16 thread is a cool place to hang out with like minded people, but I would like somewhere to fully document my trading path, and hopefully readers will be encouraged to contribute their ideas/criticisms/opinions/help.

I can't remember who to credit the following line to but, I whole heartily believe trading successfully could not be simpler using the methods that I use. It's just not easy.


I'm young, I don't have any dependencies (just yet), so I have an opportunity in my life right now to spend my time and money on something that I could stand to benefit from and keep me entertained at the same time.

So, here's to 2012, please enjoy, and any input is more than welcome!

All the best,
SG

charts to follow...

Glad to hear, it was a textbook S&R trade. Stay tuned, charts to come!

As soon as I read this I thought 'hhmmmm james61 trader?'

So, what I am keeping an eye on in the days? Not much! I haven't picked the most interesting time to start a thread.

Personally, I don't see a huge amount of decent areas to watch right now after the holidays, I'm sure we'll see some setups develop over the next few weeks. But here's some, long and short term, comments on the charts.

Talking of controversy (see chart), I'd like to touch on the subject of round numbers when I get the chance. It seems they divide a lot of traders.

They're easy to spot . I guess I would class myself as a J16 trader. I've never found a more simple, easy to understand and logical way to trade

Something else I'd like to go over when I get the chance is what problems I have come across with my trading career so far, how I've overcome them, and also what I know I still have left to iron out.

The CAD/CHF is another one on my watch list...not as clean as I'd like it but something to watch for.

AUD/NZD is another fav of mine...I enjoyed the 1.28 & 1.32 shorts in Sept and Nov '11...were you in on any of those?

Do you frequent the Fail Better thread at all? Some like minded posts...they don't like the crosses much but otherwise, some good charts now and again.

Agreed. And it's lacking a round number, which for me makes it that much a weaker trade.

Nope, posted about it here but it was a good touch trade. I think I passed because it wasn't the first time back to the level. Good trading!

I'm a regular reader there yes. Can't say I see the objection to the crosses, it's just another tradeable chart IMO. There's a few wild ones, which I tend to avoid, but on the whole I'd say they're just as readable as the majors.

Just checked out your thread, looks like a good read.

Not much happening in the markets posted last night.

NZDUSD broken out of the ~0.78 level to the upside. I'd like to see a strong daily close above this level, and I'll look to taking a touch trade on the return. Failing that, if it returns today on the lower timeframes, I'll look for PA for confirmation.

EURUSD neatly rising to and retesting the 1.3 BRN. History shows it has previously been a strong pivot. Divergence. Let's see what happens if we pop to the upside.

Not a big fan of the Euro setup, the way it's played out so far. Comments on chart

Placing order for NZDUSD. Good break to the upside yesterday and a strong daily close.

Here's my concern with this trade - the blue shaded area on the first chart. I've watched price for a few years now, and I'd like to think I have a good understanding of how it moves. So from experience, I'm always a bit concerned that it could return below the .78 level to retest the TL or last level of support (the blue shaded area), and then finally continue in my direction.

This issue leads me on to one of my current issues. Not pulling the trigger. I'll cover this in the next post.

In this case, I know it's a very strong level, the market has made a decent break following several rejections, we have 38.2 fib and 365ma for support (for what it's worth), but it's all about basic support and resistance.

Stops and targets on the second chart. Generally 2-2.5% risk.

Entry .7802+spread
Stop .7744

Comments welcome.

EURUSD coming back down to test 1.3, I'll see what happens here.

Another interesting one on AUDCAD, a major wind up going on underneath 1.05 BRN. We had a false break before, but it's getting close to decision time for this pair... I'd say

May cancel this order based on dollar strength here. I'll follow the other dollar pairs closely to see if they fall through.

I'm not one for calling tops or bottoms, but I get the feeling Euro bears seem exhausted. I don't trade feelings so I'll sit on my hands.

Feelings are something else I wanted to write about at some point. In the first year or so of trading I had feelings all over the place, or I guess you called could call them predictions. I have been writing them down over the past few months, and I'm surprisingly correct on a lot of calls. Sometimes it just feels so obvious what is going to happen, but it's usually the case that there isn't a setup to confirm it in any way. I'll write about this another time.

Kiwi order still in, still have a slight concern over the shaded area previously mentioned, but I'll go with this.

I'm only watching 25 or so markets right now, mostly FX pairs, couple of index, crude, gold & silver. But I plan to start putting a few more on the list. I do a full updated list of what I watch when I get a minute

Not much else going on right now to mention in the markets. I'll update tomorrow morning

Took a short at green hashed line and exited at red hashed line. Felt that strong drop was an area where more sellers with unfilled orders were lurking. I do use MACD and BBs as confirmation tools but mainly I like S/D levels. This trade for me entered a strong supply area and a short was confirmed.

I very much like the way you map out S/R areas and will be following your posts and charts. I followed no masks thread for a good while. He traded between large round numbers but he has not been around in a good while and that thread pretty much has died. Your thread is similar.