Trade what you see NOT what you expect

cable testing top of flag/channel (or whatever you want to call it!) too.

Euro 4hr chart looks a lot better now.

Nice trading again today 131!

I saw this and again hesitated and didn't take it. Like you said, I think that I just need to take these trades which look good with a reasonable stop level and doing that will increase my confidence.

The thing is, I could have set a very small stop on this trade but for some reason I seem to be afraid to take the trade but I will take a CT trade with the same amount of stop without much hesitation. Seems like I mentally have it backwards but I am pleased that I'm "seeing" good setups.

Thanks, Dharma. Don't worry about missing it, there will be plenty more opportunities. To be honest, I hesitated too, as I was going to enter straight away on the bar after the bear bar closing on the ma's, but thought to myself "no, hang on- the ma's are not very angled, and it could drop from here", so waited one more candle for confirmation, and got in eight pips higher than I could have done

Would you consider shorting the wick of this 15M candle at this level?

Yes, I'm aware of that possible H and s for the future on the 4hr, and we are at the 50 figure resistance too. I'm long so can't short- if I weren't long- I'm not sure- it's a small pin compared to the long green candle- I think longs on a retrace are the better play, as we've broken out of the morning range

Euro isn't giving a decent retrace, it's more like a flag on smaller tf's. I did go long on cable here, catching the retest of the flag breakout on cable. In long at 87

US500 just broke a major top with that 1H close so things are definitely looking bullish there as well.

Yes, the s & p's pushing up.
I've just covered +17 pips on half my cable position.

and another 1/4 off my new euro position +47pips

Back from school run, and closing the last quarter of the recent position on euro below the figure, and 1hr trendline +82pips. I've still got a quarter running from 1.2587

Taking a quarter off cable here too +32pips

I see there was a second chance entry to get long after that inverted hangman above the trendline.

Yeah. I spotted that after the fact but definitely a nice entry point right at previous resistance turned support.

You are trading like a pro dude. Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the suppoort, Dharma! It's simply just a matter of taking the entries when you see them- some like today work out nicely, and some days you get you 10-20 pips, and stopouts. The main thing I find for my own personal style is to get covered quickly, and move that stop up if practical. If I get stopped out I can generally find another often better entry anyway. When I catch a longer run like today you could say in hindsight that I took profit too soon, but it's this "grind", taking 10-20 pips that I was talking about that all adds to your account. The moves today are just bonus time! Especially if you get to scale in again on second chance entries. I haven't done the maths, but am pretty sure that I'm better off taking my 10-20 pips every time, and leaving the rest to run. Of course there are traders who prefer doing exactly the opposite, but it's all down to understanding your persona and your comfort levels to find what suits you.

The market usually quiets down between the London close and about 1h before the NY close. I'm spending some time going through the PDFs and continuing through the thread.

Finding the "best" way to trade is definitely key and, as you say, it's a personal preference to what fits your mindset and schedule. I also like the idea of taking some off at obvious S/R levels. What I need to work on is then adding back in after a retracement.

passerby

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I thought that I would copy and post the section on covering from the PDF again here based on the discussion that we were having earlier. Lots of good stuff in here if you haven't read it recently.

Covering Our @$$
If you noticed the contents, there isn't a section on Profit Taking. The reason for this is simple, we are not going to take profit. You're saying I know this guy's nuts for sure now. No profits? I didn't
say we weren't going to make money just not TAKE profits. We are going to let the market give us as much profit as each trade is able to.
I have been around a while on the forums, mainly lurking here and there. I really hate to see people I think of as good or even great traders lose money because of a lack of one or two trading ideas.
Like realistic stops and covering their trades.
This is probably the single most important section to learn other than stops. Like I said before, anyone can get in a good trade. The difference between a great trader and a bad trader could be
nothing more than the application of the covering ideas presented here. I have seen traders up even hundreds of pips take a loss because those are the rules of their strategy. That is simply wrong
unless you're doing this to occupy your time only. In this section we will show the different ways to cover our trades. We will also show how the PA
again is the best tool we have to show us when to close the trade or to adjust the trade to allow us to receive all the profits available.
Everyone has heard the statement “Cut your losses short and let your profits run”. That is so true and even people with some bad habits can succeed if they can do nothing more than receive all the
profits off every good trade. There are two ideas about covering. One is to guarantee some profit off every trade, another is to
receive the most gains off every trade but maybe break even on some, but no loss if it can be helped.
The main idea about covering is very simple. When price has moved in our direction, we either, lock in some profit or just move our stop to BE (break even) some will move it to +2 to cover any
commissions they might owe to take the trade but still a BE trade.
The difference between the two types is that some will close a good portion of their trade at say 20 pips then move their stop to BE. If you closed ½ your trade at +20 then got stopped out, you would
keep ½ your gains. So you would have made money on a possible losing trade. But by doing so you have also limited yourself to less gains unless you can find another entry point to add to your
trade. Another use of this type of covering would be if you closed ½ and your stop was -20 pips, even if it goes to your stop it would only be a BE trade no loss.
The second style of covering is that most or no profit is taken, we just wait to move our stop. This way we will make as much gain as possible off the same trade. Two people with the same entries
but covering differently will have very different account balances. But as you have seen during this entire strategy there is always more to consider than just move your stop x number of pips. You
have to use the tools at your disposal to help you make the best choice possible. The moving of your stop is a critical choice as too soon a move can get you stopped out too soon.
The best traders don't seem to move them until probably 30 pips or above positive has been achieved. But the PA is the ultimate deciding factor.
When price has moved from an area of concern like where you entered your trade, and then a possible retest of that area, then a stop move might be right.
The choice of which style of covering is a personal choice. Sometimes it is dictated by our account balance. Some may be in great need of increasing their balance and to them, locking in some gains
might be more important than making massive gains. But as we will show, because you locked in some profits doesn't mean you can't make some awesome trade gains. I have noticed even some of
the best traders here don't always manage the trades for maximum profits. But I have seen some that know how to apply some simple techniques to increase the trade values.
So get ready, we will jump in and learn how to make more money per trade by letting the trade work.

Guaranteed Profits Trading
We will start with the one most beginners will be interested in and that is making profits off almost all their trades. The mentality changes as your account grows. When your account is small you're
more concerned with keeping what you have and small gains, because you normally cannot keep refunding a trading accounts. But once your knowledge and skills improve it is almost a natural
step to start getting bigger gains off the same trades. We see how with actually no increased risk we can really grow a small account quickly. A lot of these ideas, more experienced traders may not
bother with as they are trading at levels which they are satisfied with anyway. But as traders just starting out or one that has just now GOT IT we would like to grow our balance as quickly as
possible as long as we are not increasing our risks.
The key is to use the profits you are making in the same trade to compound your gains. Just as you might trade a higher amount after a weeks gains, you can trade a higher amount after your trade has
developed and has proven itself. The best trades to do this on of course are the ones that change the trend and have great movements. This happens time and again though.
The first part of trading for guaranteed profits of course is to lock in some profits and cover. That means take some gains off and move your stops so you don't lose some or all of it. You may not
want to move your stop past your entry or to your entry straight away, but even if you moved it a few pips you would have a positive trade if only a few pips.
The whole idea behind the covering idea is not the small gain you might keep if it comes back against you. It is the building of confidence you will gain as you see that you don't have to stack
loss after loss to trade. Plus when the trade moves in your direction, you are at the right spot at the right time. I talked to a trader the other day who had 11 BE trades. BUT still made over 369 pips for the day. Also knowing how this trader covers he could have made over 200 pips off those BE trades as he
only moves his stop doesn't lock any profits on the initial move.
So this is the goal, not to make money off the failed trades but mainly to not lose any. That is worth so much more than even a few big gains when you first start trading any strategy. You have to
really see for yourself that trading doesn't have to be extremely risky. It is just how you go about it that is risky. Like we showed earlier with stop placements and now covering the gains should
outweigh the losses with little effort. Just learn the entries and how to read PA and you will succeed.
The key to growing your account in a safe but fast way, is to take gains off at the right places then add them back when you see another entry signal. I will have to go to charts to make this clear.

Guaranteed Profits Covering Summary
So as we see it isn't too hard to get those trades risk free pretty quickly. That is the key, don't mess around get your trade covered. There are two different places to cover and lock in profits.
One place as we know because it is one of our trades, the 1 and 5 o'clock trades. So anytime the price moves from your entry towards the MA's it can turn right on them. That should be a no
brainer to cover there because it is a place we could take a trade from on its own. That is the first rule, if we would take a trade in the opposite direction there then cover the trade you're in. If it just
retraces and you get another signal to enter a trade in the same direction as your original trade you can add to it there.
When the PA starts showing reversal signals such as the highs are equal or lower on the swings consider the trade over and take your profits. The only time you might not is if you're in a position
trade off a higher time frame chart. It can be you entered at a high point on a daily chart and if you close it all could miss your chance for a truly awesome trade. But you will gain that experience as
you go.
As we said in the beginning this covering and locking profits is more geared to traders more worried about losing than massive gains. But the only difference is the taking of a good bit of profit
at the initial point. Where, as once you get more confidence at that point you would just move your stop to BE or +2.But even at the profit taking points like the MA's or when you get trade signals, taking some profitsis done by almost everyone. Then adding back when it turns back into the original direction as we
saw.

Covering For Maximum Profits
So what is the difference between the covering choices. We have seen how we can cover and lockin some gains which to a small trader might be more important. But you will see that the other style
of covering although migh not ensure as much gain on a losing trade, will more than make up for it on the winning trades.
The main difference in the two is that the people that get the max gains, instead of closing a portion of their position a the initial covering areas will just move their stops to either BE or add a couple of
pips to cover any cost for that trade. So if we all started with $10 a pip they leave $10 on. The first group took $5 off so for the first 20
pips got $200 but for the next 50 only $250 versus $500. You can see the difference straight away. It is something we can all do and you can grow your account very fast that way. There is no
difference in risk as they are both being covered, but you might feel you're losing because of the lost gains off that first movement. But in the larger picture you will far exceed those losses.
Plus another thing that happens with the second group is at those areas where we can take away and add on, they normally don't take away as often. They tend to have larger targets based on the next
S/R levels. Most don't add on too much either, I only know a couple that do it on a regular basis. So that is an area the guaranteed profits group could pull ahead and still have their locked-in profits.
If you are a long term trader you will see some of your trading ideas in the second group. Not adjusting, larger targets at S/R levels. There is a very easy explanation for this. Most of those
traders were long term traders first. Then due to market conditions and the frustrations of only trading the trends one way have learned to extract profits in all conditions – the very reason this
complete trading system was developed. So either style is good, the key is the same with all your trading, pick what feels right for you, then
run with it. Because that is the ultimate goal to enter and manage your trades and have neutral emotions while doing it. Just like driving a car there are lots of rules and hazards. But when we are
motoring along we are pretty carefree and when the traffic becomes hectic we know what to do to stay safe.

Covering Summary
The main thing to remember about covering is to just do it. There isn't any reason you can give me that once price has cleared your entry area – how far depends on the action – that you don't make
that a risk free trade. It doesn't hurt us at all to take BE trades. We will only get better from them as we will be learning better entries because of it.
Make sure you know what type of market you're trading. If it is the end of a sessions, there where you might cover could be the whole trade. You don't get huge moves during consolidation. Also
learn to look at higher time frame charts even when you're in a great trade. IF you're in at an extreme high or low off say the daily you could be in a trade that could last for weeks so closing it
all may not be in your best interest. If you find yourself in a trade like that, don't forget that you can add on at any point you see a signal
for an entry going your way. So learn to manage your trades once you're in is the first part. But to truly make it big in this market, knowing that you have a few more choices to make before your
trade is done is key. Plus by managing your trades it will also give you more insight into how the PA is flowing plus
show you some of the entries where you could have joined a trade if you missed the original entry. That is also crucial always look for secondary entries to add on or enter trades. Even if you don't
need them look for them to better understand what is available.

Morning all,
Yes, it's all good stuff, Dharma. Not much movement in the markets now, cable news coming up and USD news later on, should liven things up a bit

Yesterday's long on cable was just stopped out on that news spike +10 pips. Look at this - I mean, talk about criminal! My Sl wa just under the daily pivot. Euro long still running, and I entered long again and grabbed 2o pips up to the figure.15 min cable chart below. Will look to reenter long on a dip