Cutting the cord with M1 scalps

I took this one this morning. Again it did really show itself until around 7 AM my time and I take the kids to school at 7:05'ish. This is why I closed it. The target was the mid quarter line. Seeing how it broke that easily, I might have stayed with it to the BRN.

Entry was based on both stochs being oversold and rising as well as the retest of the quarter as support. I am trying to find a way to identify a trade in the brief time I have. The CCI of Clive's is still on the chart, it is just squished. As I go back and forth between the 70 SMA, 100 LWMA, and the faster 34 SMA, I realize that it does not change my entry much and rarely changes the bias. Sometimes the 34 SMA gets me in quicker though, like it did here. using the 70 SMA or 100 LWMA would have kept me out of this trade until the retest at around 7:40, which was a textbook Clive entry.

I will probably look at these entries in a few ways over time to see what reduces the hesitation and adds to my confidence.

I added the same chart with the 70 SMA and Clive's CCI, for comparison's sake. It helps to see them like this.

That is definitely an improvement as far as entry goes. Almost right where you want. The challenge you have to tackle is placing orders ahead of time. When you can get to that point - in my opinion - you are reading how price has behaved, you have a good understanding of what to expect and you are placing your orders in strategic places. NOT using market orders based on what price is doing now. It's a subtle difference, but it made a world of difference for me. The only way for that to happen is to have complete understanding in what your trading edge is AND complete confidence in yourself and your trading. You will take losses. There's no way to avoid that nor should you. BUT you can keep them minimized, you can work your plan and positive things will happen.

Like where you put your trade in on the last chart - If you had placed an order to buy after price moved up past the mark initially and then as it came back down - it would have picked your order up, you would have had a better entry by at least 4 pips, and you would have worked your PROCESS. That is where you need to be investing your emotional energy, in HOW you are trading, not the what or the why or the who or whatever. JUST HOW good are you at your process. That is why I have been telling you to drop your lot size WAY down. Get good, then get big. You won't get big along the way, you can't get big to start. Get good first. Then and only then can size be added.

1 last thought. It doesn't matter which MA you play with. You can curve fit those to fit any situation. There will be days when the 34 looks golden, then the next day it chops you to bits. Same thing with a 70 or 100 or 200 or whatever. The thing that is of most importance is that you have confidence in whichever way you decide to go. They both will have plus's and minus's. Both can be good and bad. There is no perfect average, there just needs to be one that you are completely comfortable with using.

Let me encourage you. I know your purpose is to be able to 'cut the cord' from your job. IF you truly want to accomplish this, you have to decide what are you willing to do to make it happen. I keep seeing you talk about how you can't get up for London or Frankfurt or whatever. At some point - if all things remain the same - you may have to do that. Are you willing to go to bed after dinner so you can get up and put the work in? Check out this article - it really hit home for me. http://www.mercenarytrader.com/2013/...lling-to-risk/

Mongolian

A lunch trade again. Taken because of the pullback to the quarter, which showed resistance earlier. Also because of the trendline, as drawn. Also because of the oversold CCI. I took 5 pips instead of waiting to see if it would hit the mid quarter because I am already late getting back to work and because that would be 1% of my account at full strength. Dropped risk significantly in an effort to increase confidence and decrease hesitance. I plan on getting up at 2 to 2:30 AM as well. Maybe not everyday, but most days. Mongo dropped the challenge on me....

I just looked to see where the pair went after I got out. Good thing I was happy with the "orphan pot" because it went against the sell. A solid buy showed right after this.

Another Single. Nothing flashy. Coming off the 70 and the quarter. AUD has been stronger than the USD all morning. The dollar news release at 10 pushed really high, as you can see from the large candles to the left of my trade. With Oanda, the spreads get nuts during red news. Best to wait until spreads normalize, which I did. I exited based on 5 pips (1% of account at full strength) and because of the B or 2, however you label your patterns, just to the left. My buy could be part of a Ross Hook and I need to be aware of that. As I watch the PA while I type, it appears that was the case. however the trend line is still holding. If it breaks south of the quarter (it just did) I will wait for a retrace back to the quarter, then consider a sell at that point. I do not want to take the breakout.

On another note, I set my alarm for 3 AM this morning. I must of turned it off in my sleep. My wife asked me this morning why I did not get up and I told her the alarm did not go off. She told me it did! Perhaps I will try to readjust my clock by 45 minutes first.

Trying to get up that early is tough at first. However I found that once I started doing it - my body would adjust and I could just do it. Then the really fun part was when I felt like I didn't need to anymore, my body still woke up @ 3am anyway. Nice chart. Good work by the way!

Hi Capstone

Some really nice entries there surfing the waves beautifully...

Now all we gotta do is get you holding a touch longer, and I understand perfectly about school runs etc but could you not have got it to BE before leaving???

Anyway school runs aside and rushing back to work , then try this exit for a while see how you get on. Entry for me off of the CCI is when an oversold crosses back up over the -100 level or if you want to be cautious the zero level, placing a pending order above below the candle. Now if thats our signal for getting in then how about using the opposite to get out???

So lets take your 7 am trade it looks to me like instead of closing you could of moved to BE then watch the CCI stay over the zero line and wait for it to cross down over the zero line which I think happens at 07.29 your time when that happens trail stop up under that candle. But then price moves up for a couple of more candles before dropping back down again below zero at 07.32 so drag trailing stop up 2 pips under it about 1.4543. The next candle continues down taking you out. now if I've got it right looks like you entered around 1.4529 so giving you a nice 14 pip winner.

Of course you could of set your TP for the 1.4550 level for another 7 pips but sometimes they don't get there or they blast straight through and you get a bit more with my momentum fading method.

All we're doing here is letting the market take you out when momentum fades on the move up, simple as that. This way you should get the most out of your entries. Of course sometimes you're get a BE trade but just look to see if it sets up for a new entry either at a better price if pullbacks not finished or a slightly worst price. Swings and roundabouts.

So very simply use the reverse CCI signal to get out trailing your stop accordingly. By the way I used the zero level for your exit, have a look how it worked if you used the +100 level instead. It would of trailed about 3 candles before being taken out at 1.4545 about 2 pips more.

Just a quick word on moving to BE asap. Many traders don't like it and say "let your trades breathe" , but sorry I don't agree, I've found if I've got a good entry it will just go and leave my BE stop alone,. My thoughts are I don't want to be in a drawdown situation, if price has come back past my entry I want out, simple as that. Sometimes of course you will get knocked out and it will go again but just put a pending order above next positive candle and rejoin the trend as long as your setup is still valid. I usually have a pending order sitting way above/below the price action ready for just such a situation so I can drag it straight into position if needed.

By the way whats the spreads etc on your broker, as you will need to trade pretty close around the price action so need tight spreads. I use Capital Trust Markets as can put orders, stops etc right next to the price if I want to, worst spread is GBPNZD at about 4 to 5 durring peak times EU and GU below 1 most of the time.

Anyway hope that all helps but the biggest factor for me is only trading strong trending pairs , can't say that enough as that to me makes all this price action trading work 70% of the time...

Hey by the way if you're around for the LO and FO tomoz drop me a line and lets bag some pips!!!

I did not get up for LO. When I do, I will let you know at your thread though. I tend to sleep pretty hard over night. I have to change that, unless someone has $10K USD they want to lend me......LOL

Here is a trade from this morning. I was not a big fan of it from the beginning and was not prepared to give it much room. It did not need it. This pair moves slowly and the USD and the JPY were next to each other on the strength meter. It did finally fall though. It was at as much as 6.4 pips. I thought I closed at 5.2, but missed it a bit. Oanda does not always have the best spreads, but their execution is lightning fast these days. Anyways, just shy of 1%, if at full strength. One thing is for sure, I am not hesitating anymore and gaining confidence each day. I think it was the amount being traded. Dropping lot size to the minimum has helped. I will slowly increase it back over time as my confidence grows and hesitance shrinks.

Bingo.

I was up this morning at 4:30 my time, took a shower and was at my station by 5:00. A small victory! I have been watching AUDUSD as they have been the furthest apart in strength. I missed the sell between 5:00 and 5:15. There were a couple of entries there that would have worked, as PA pointed out with the descending triangle. I guess I can get up, but that does mean I am totally awake, lol. Anyway, PA was hitting a M15 and H1 support line by 6:00. I started looking for the reverse. It has not happened yet. It may not. I like the odds however for a long at 0.87625 with a BPC, if it gets there. I can wait.

Hi Capstone

Hows it going ???

Here's the entries that I would of taken trading that AUDUSD chart you posted, easy to spot afterwards I know but they all fit my rules. Firstly they are all CCI +100 overbought pullbacks to a key level mostly my 100lwma or previous S & R. I would enter by dropping a pending order under the candles arrowed as first red candles after a CCI signal at a key level. The very first CCI signal that I didn't mark is a bit suspect as not at a key level but even if I had taken it a 10 pip stop wasn't hit anyway so would be fine.



Notice on the last CCI signal that theres a couple of signals before the one I marked?? I would of dragged my sell stop pending order 2 pips under them as up against the key level , the 100lwma, but they wouldn't of been hit so I would of dragged pending order up under each new red candle until hit as per the arrowed one here.

It important to enter at Key levels so my stops would of gone above the key levels so nicely protected

Notice they are all top of waves sell entries no bottom of waves or breakout trades....

The only time I use a breakout entry is as per the one here at the 0.8775 level as there has been a build up of downward pressure so we can expect a powerful break with no retest. Unless theres been a build up , you're better off waiting for the break and enter on retest. Of course the better entry for me is the pullback before the break through so I get to BE and see what happens.... Not really a breakout man but I know you like em so put it there for you. If you're going to trade breakouts make sure you see this build up of pressure first so that if it happens it shoots away and doesn't come back to your entry.

The reason these entries all work is quite simply its trending strongly as defined by the slope of the 100lwma, can't emphasize this enough to you that is the first filter and absolutely paramount for successful trading. Only ever trade with the trend and the stronger the trend the better...


I use the 8 CCI as you know so get quite a few signals but I qualify them by only taking ones at Key levels which are:

 

1. Previous support and resistance levels
2. your favourite 25 levels, I don't bother with the quarters so much.
3. Yesterdays high,low and close.

Also love break and retests entries of these levels even without a CCI signal...


Good luck next week maybe I'll see you at LO if you feel up to it....

Wakey wakey!!! Rise and shine!!!!

Now that is funny...

CT trade based on H1 and M1 support. Had 8 pips at one point (1.5% at full strength). Let it run to see if it would go. It came back though. Got out at 1.4 pips. Ugh. Can't go broke making profit I guess!

A bad lunch time trade. Went short based on previous resistance, overbought CCI and Stoch. Also, the candles were looking like a short as well. There is nothing wrong with taking a loss, but if my profits are short, I need to keep losses short as well. I let this one go a little long. I drew a trendline from the M5 chart and waited for price to break it before exiting.

Took a CT earlier that lost 7.9. Ill advised. Took it based on stoch and support zone. I have since gone to the M5 chart. You can see the support here from yesterday. taking another stab at the CT. In it still

Out of that trade with 8.8. I will take it. It is CT and do not want to be greedy. Now to nail continuations, my mental nemesis....

Hi capstone

Just had a quick look at your trades and if you don't mind me saying there's one thing to me that's causing you grief, giving you losers and small winners.

You're basically trading against the 1 minute trend. Your first trade you buy in a classic downtrend. The 2nd you sell in a very strong uptrend. Your 3rd you buy in a downtrend, I see it worked ok but I would still recommend when you see a level you like like yesterdays low in your 3rd trade. Wait for price to react and go into an uptrend with HHHL's then buy on first pullback. Just a safer way of doing it. Quite often it will come back and give you a DB to enter on so you won't be any worse off by waiting for confirmation. Might be late back to work though.

I see in your last post you say you want to nail continuations and I agree thats what you should concentrate on as opposed to levels. Don't get me wrong great to trade these higher timeframe levels on the 1 minute chart but just wait for them to turn and the new 1 minute trend develop then jump on board. Never buy when the 1 minute is trending down and never sell when its trending up. Wait for confirmation that you're right with the 1 min trending in your desired direction then jump on first pullback.

Can I suggest that for a while you don't buy at levels just watch the 1 minute trend develop then jump on board on first pullback you see. Only enter on CCI signals with the trend , buy wave bottoms in uptrends -100 levels. Sell wave tops in downtrends CCI +100 levels. Your green MA looks pretty good for the trend so sell CCI signals below it and buy CCI signals above it. The steeper the slope on your MA the better. I think you will find your hit rate will improve but more importantly your winners will be bigger.

Demo trade it for a while see how you get on.

All the best Clive