ADX Trading Journal

The purpose of this Journal is to develop a profitable mechanical entry method using the ADX indicator. I trade USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CAD, AUD and NZD.


This is what my setup looks like on 30 minute chart:

-ADX is set to default 14 periods
-For a buy signal I am waiting for the DI+ line to cross the DI- line. Then I wait for DI+ line to close higher than the crossed level (opposite for sell). I would then take a trade at the beginning of the next 30 minute candle.
-It's good if the ADX number is above 25.

I use ATR (14) for my targets.
-I mark out 10%, 20%, 30% up to 100% of the Daily ATR above and below the Daily Open price.
-My target is set to capture up to 80% of the Daily ATR. So for example, if price moved 40% below the Daily Open, my target if I was buying would be 40% above the Daily Open.
-In the GBPNZD example below price moved nearly 20% below the Daily Open, so my target would be about 60% above the Daily Open price.

Stop Loss
-I generally use a risk to reward ratio of 1:3 or greater. So for example if I enter a trade with a target of 60 pips. I would divide 60 by 3 to give me 20 pip stop loss. But I will experiment a bit with this.

I will open and attach a Demo Trade Explorer next week.

GBPNZD m30 chart

Friday Actual: 1.AUD 2.JPY 3.GBP 4.EUR 5.NZD 6.USD 7.CAD
Monday Prediction: 1.USD 2.CAD 3.NZD 4.GBP 5.EUR 6.JPY 7.AUD

Currency Pairs I will be looking for m30 ADX cross today
Sell AUDUSD
Sell AUDCAD
Buy USDJPY
Buy CADJPY
Sell AUDNZD
Buy NZDJPY

Trade #1 Sell AUDNZD

Trade #2 Buy NZDJPY

Trade #3 Buy USDJPY

Trade #4 Buy CADJPY

Trade #5 Sell AUDUSD

Trade #6 Sell AUDCAD

Trade #7 Sell AUDNZD

Monday Actual: 1.JPY 2.USD 3.GBP 4.EUR 5.AUD 6.NZD 7.CAD
Tuesday Prediction: 1.CAD 2.AUD 3.GBP 4.EUR 5.NZD 6.USD 7.JPY

As I look at my trades yesterday I noticed that the profitable trades came around the London open.
So from now on I will only for look for trades after 00:00 EST and before 05:00 EST

Currency Pairs I will be looking for m30 ADX cross today
Buy CADJPY
Sell USDCAD
Buy AUDJPY
Buy AUDUSD

Trade #8 Buy CADJPY

Tuesday Actual: 1.JPY 2.CAD 3.AUD 4.USD 5.GBP 6.EUR 7.NZD
Wednesday Prediction: 1.EUR 2.GBP 3.NZD 4.AUD 5.USD 6.CAD 7.JPY

The m30 ADX only gave me one trade yesterday between 00:00 and 05:00 EST, but it was a successful trade.

Currency Pairs I will be looking for m30 ADX cross today
Buy EURJPY
Buy EURCAD
Buy GBPJPY
Buy GBPCAD

Trade #9 Buy EURJPY

Trying out a slightly different strategy as no 30 minute ADX crosses today.

On m30 chart price has moved well outside the Daily ATR range.

Strategy: Wait for m30 chart to show reversal candle, then use 5 minute ADX cross as a trigger. Target is -50% ATR line

Chart 1 EURJPY m30
Chart 2 EURJPY m5

Wednesday Actual: 1.JPY 2.GBP 3EUR 4.CAD 5.USD 6.AUD 7.NZD
Thursday Prediction: 1.AUD 2.NZD 3.CAD 4.USD 5.EUR 6.GBP 7.JPY

The m30 ADX between 00:00 and 05:00 EST gave me no trade signals, but I entered a trade based on price going well outside the ATR range. Unfortunately my SL was hit however price did retrace to my target.

Currency Pairs I will be looking for m30 ADX cross today
Buy AUDJPY
Buy NZDJPY
Sell GBPAUD
Sell GBPNZD

Trade #10 Sell GBPNZD

Trade #11 Sell GBPAUD

Trade #12 Buy GBPAUD

Alternative strategy as price has moved well outside the Daily ATR range.

Strategy: Wait for m30 chart to show reversal candle, then use 5 minute ADX cross as a trigger. Target is -80% ATR line

Chart 1 GBPAUD m30
Chart 2 GBPAUD m5

Thursday Actual: 1.NZD 2.JPY 3.AUD 4.USD 5.CAD 6.GBP 7.EUR
Thursday Prediction: 1.USD 2.CAD 3.GBP 4.EUR 5.JPY 6.NZD 7.AUD

The m30 ADX between 00:00 and 05:00 EST gave me 2 trade signals- both successful and I entered a trade based on my second strategy which was successful as well.

Currency Pairs I will be looking for m30 ADX cross today
Sell AUDUSD
Sell NZDUSD
Sell AUDCAD
Sell NZDCAD

Trade #13 Sell NZDUSD

Trade #14 Sell AUDUSD