Price-Structure-Order flow

That is SO close! That observation is a valid one and will serve you well, if you chose to exploit it. Take a look underneath the areas you have highlighted with your lines...

When price comes to retest those areas, what happens. Remember the market is not "one dimensional" thus you may not see it on a monthly chart. You will have to dig for it in lower time frames. And worse, it won't always bee the same time frame, but the pattern is there. It is consistent and regular. And it took me YEARS to find it.

Update on Gold - Long:

Gold stopped out with a nasty 350 pips loss...OUCH! I played this one wrong. I didn't let a signal appear, and if I had this loss would not have occurred.

congratulation bro, you nailed it this time....keep it up

Is this an example of what may have had you thinking long on gold?

Why are you thinking about bullishness in this market?

Daily clearly showing Lower High and Lower Low.

I was making reference to Don's last two posts.

GBP/USD - Long: Stopped out

Entire position stopped out for a total profit of 213 pips on the aggregate position

I explained why I was bullish on the Gold market (and still am) in this post #48 and #49. Again, I repeat...my entry on this trade was a "rookie" mistake borne mostly of style differences between my day job, trading futures on tick charts and longer term swing trading. I fully understand this was a trading error and will attempt to correct it (as I have already made a slight rule change to my entry criteria). I still expect a higher low in gold sometime soon. I'll just have to wait and see.

Thank you Mrsaini. Its gratifying to see your trade work exactly as you planned it!!

Stalking a Short on NZD/USD:

This market is making a lower low after making a lower high last week. Due to the volatility this market has sown in recent weeks, the area where I am looking for a signal is quite large. For now I'll just have to wait and see what we get. I am also watching a similar situation on the AUD/USD.

Update on WTI - Long:

Oil looks like it is starting to rise toward the yearly highs. The aggregate position is now positive by about 350 pips. I will wait to the end of this day's trading and asses where or IF to move stops and place limits.

USD/CAD - Long:

Just triggered on USD/CAD long. Continuing bullishness on USD is causing a break of a weekly flag formation. This break was the exact opposite of what this particular pattern is supposed to produce. However, as I do not trade patterns, I am willing to try this for a long, with a lot of room to go to the yearly highs. Two of the positions have been triggered, and it appears we will not get a trigger on the third.

I will post after some time. Too much accounts to be finalized before year end for tax and SEC compliance.

update on WTI - Long:

Good solid close above last week's consolidation provided the opportunity to bring the stop up just a little above break even. I have set limits on the first two positions at the top of the weekly range, and a 3rd and final limit near last year's high. The first hurdle will obviously be to limit out on the first two positions. For now, risk in this trade has been eliminated.

USD/JPY - Short:

Triggered overnight on short positions for USD/JPY. Again, I may be a bit premature here, but will have to wait and see. Intraday charts are now ranging indicating a at least a stall in the buying order flow. Sellers (be they profit takers or new entries) are active at the highs of the last two days. Nothing to do now but wait and watch.

Trying out a new trading platform. I was getting sick and tired of the limited options available on Metatrader, which everyone here seems to adore. I think it is a fine beginner's platform, but if you want real options, like I do, in order placement, and time frame separation, I am finding that this platform is far superior. cTrader. Granted, I've only started playing with it today, but as the markets are slow, and I am currently monitoring my last posted trade (USD/JPY), I thought I would post this screen shot of the same trade but seen through the eyes of a different platform.

Of concern on this trade is that while metatrader showed a short "signal", this platform does NOT. There is a big difference in intraday charting when you consider what time the daily candle closes...and thus all the intraday charts start a new day. I always like the NY session close (GMT-5) My other platforms on Metatrader could not configure the charts to this time. You have to find a different broker that offers this on their server. So if I want my charts to be synchronized with the close of day NY, I have to find a broker who is willing to set their server time to this.

NONSENSE!!

This software allows you to configure the time to what ever you want, then adjust the data display accordingly. As well there are more options on time frames to view, which I have found extremely limited on Metatrader 4. While its a little better on MT5, I still prefer the over 26 available time frame options, as well as tick charts. I LIKE IT! Anyway from now on any "legacy" charts will show metatrader 4 and/or 5 as my trades come off, and any new trades will show cTrader...

USD/JPY - Short: Stopped out

This trade stopped out for a loss of approximately 40 pips. I was a little premature (again) in entering this trade, as the signal to enter was a but dubious. Further more, with a better software, that expresses the data on the NY close (as it should be), there was no signal at all.
Lesson learned...this is why we demo trade...to hone the skills and techniques to keep from making mistakes with live money.

Update on USD/CAD - Long:

This trade is starting to work and took a little patience, but all positions are now positive. I will wait until end of day today (NY Close) to move the stop in tighter.

What do you use as an entry signal?

Whilst mt4/5 requires you use the brokers time, I would have thought most brokers use NY 5pm close. This also means the broker takes care of time changes for "summer time" in NY and for me for daylight saving in Oz.

While I won't bore you with ALL my "secrets"... I will tell you that I look for a trinity of things to occur that I can readily see across the market. In the large charts, intermediate, and intraday charts.

1. Price moves into a "target" area, where I anticipate a change in the order flow
2. I actually "see" a change in the order flow. This usually means I see it move from unbalanced to balanced
3. I see price reverse out of the balance area and become unbalanced again, in the opposite direction.

It's really not that complicated, but it does take a little practice to get it right. One must remember that you will NEVER see all of this happen in just a single time frame. It will be reflected across the entire market. The idea or concept of time frames is a technician's construct. But neither the price nor the order flow cares whether we view the market with daily candles or tick candles. It does what it does, and WE must find the clues and take action.

Now using that information...see if you can spot the "false" entry signal on the USD/JPY that caused me to loss 45 pips.