I've just watched the Cable market (GBPUSD) bounce up and down whilst it recovered after a fall of about 150 points at 5am this morning.
When there is a fast fall such as this, there is nearly always a good opportunity to gain some pips on a recovery, especially if the fall takes the chart into a demand zone. Sure enough, there was more than one opportunity to play the cable as it recovered, by going long.
You just needed a bit of patience for the price of Cable to play out as it does tend to like snaking up and down a bit.
The strength of cable is still there and a lot of us don't seem to know why that is! - Is it finally going to break the highs at 1.7045 I wonder? - I believe the
message of this particular blog entry is patience and opportunity, both characteristics can bring great rewards trading!
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Sunday, 11 October 2009
FOREX and Binary betting
As well as trading using a regular broker's platform, I thought it would be a good idea to supplement my income with a few 'binary bets'.This is just another method of trading, with the proviso that you decide how much you are going to win if the trade is a winner. It's a very flexible way of supplementing trading.
By placing a calculated (by the broker) amount of money (your bet), on whether a FOREX pair reaches (or doesn't reach) a certain price by a certain time, you can win an amount that you decide, or lose the amount of the bet.
I use Bet on Markets as my broker at http://www.betonmarkets.co.uk/ although there are many other binary betting companies.
It's good fun, because you still use your skills as a FOREX trader, but use them in a different 'vehicle' to trade. Give it a go!
Thursday, 20 August 2009
The Holy Grail?
Just finished reading Mark Douglas' brilliant book 'Trading in the Zone' for the second time!
I remember that the first time I read it I found it very heavy going, but this time it all seemed to make a lot more sense. This is always the case with these sort of books.
If ever there was a 'Holy Grail' to be found in trading, it is the goal of being a 'consistent' trader - nothing else really matters, if you can crack this one, then you are pretty much guaranteed success! (Provided you're not competely useless at money management and have a workable trading strategy).
I never really realised how much in trading was about the psychology and not about the knowledge of the markets!
Mark goes quite deeply into belief systems and how we think, or have been programmed to think since birth and how we need to rework these beliefs to become a consistent trader.
Quite a lot of my time is spent reading this sort of material, as it can benefit you in all areas of life. Part of my trading strategy is to gen up on anything to do with the psychology of trading, you won't be disappointed if you do as well!
I remember that the first time I read it I found it very heavy going, but this time it all seemed to make a lot more sense. This is always the case with these sort of books.
If ever there was a 'Holy Grail' to be found in trading, it is the goal of being a 'consistent' trader - nothing else really matters, if you can crack this one, then you are pretty much guaranteed success! (Provided you're not competely useless at money management and have a workable trading strategy).
I never really realised how much in trading was about the psychology and not about the knowledge of the markets!
Mark goes quite deeply into belief systems and how we think, or have been programmed to think since birth and how we need to rework these beliefs to become a consistent trader.
Quite a lot of my time is spent reading this sort of material, as it can benefit you in all areas of life. Part of my trading strategy is to gen up on anything to do with the psychology of trading, you won't be disappointed if you do as well!
Monday, 20 July 2009
Trading on the Move
Just got back from a couple of cruises around the Baltic Capitals and realised that trading on the move has always been one of my passions. To be able to travel and afford to do it by trading, seems to be an obvious solution!
However, (Isn't there always a hitch?), cruising is probably not the best way as I had to remortgage my house to use the on board internet facility, this was a bit of a shame as I was getting used to picking a spot in the sunshine on board to look for some trading opportunities.
The idea of travelling to a relatively big city and then trading from there for a few days is probably the next best bet, moving on to the next city when you need a change!
One thing I was always conscious of, was the hour going forward and back with great regularity, so this would upset your favourite trading times.
I felt a bit fortunate to live in the London area and have the best FOREX trading opportunities during the morning hours. Still, trading on the move could work, but you'd still need the dicipline to do it!
However, (Isn't there always a hitch?), cruising is probably not the best way as I had to remortgage my house to use the on board internet facility, this was a bit of a shame as I was getting used to picking a spot in the sunshine on board to look for some trading opportunities.
The idea of travelling to a relatively big city and then trading from there for a few days is probably the next best bet, moving on to the next city when you need a change!
One thing I was always conscious of, was the hour going forward and back with great regularity, so this would upset your favourite trading times.
I felt a bit fortunate to live in the London area and have the best FOREX trading opportunities during the morning hours. Still, trading on the move could work, but you'd still need the dicipline to do it!
Thursday, 14 May 2009
Trading too much - again!
It's so obvious, but so difficult to do - You are on a good streak, you've been successful in a trade and then lose it all in another one because you think you're invincible.
Why don't we just stop (especially if we've reached our daily target) rather than trying to better our score? - It can't just be greed can it?
Anyway, since the beginning of May I've really restricted my trades to only the best, i.e. the ones that score out the best and yes! - I've had much better results already, and it's only half way through the month. Perhaps 'Less' is really 'More'!
Why don't we just stop (especially if we've reached our daily target) rather than trying to better our score? - It can't just be greed can it?
Anyway, since the beginning of May I've really restricted my trades to only the best, i.e. the ones that score out the best and yes! - I've had much better results already, and it's only half way through the month. Perhaps 'Less' is really 'More'!
Thursday, 9 April 2009
A Journal for Losers?
I've just been reading Stan Weinstein's 'Secrets for Profiting in Bull and Bear Markets'
It is mainly geared towards long term trading and investing in stocks and although the book is quite old (1988), I did pick up on a twist to the usual 'journal' concept.
Instead of keeping a journal of all your trades, how about a journal for just the losers? - When entering the details of a losing trade, be honest with yourself as to why it did not work out.
As far as I am concerned, the most important money management you can do in trading is to minimise your losses, so I do like this concept of learning from your losers whilst the winners look after themselves.
Happy trading!
It is mainly geared towards long term trading and investing in stocks and although the book is quite old (1988), I did pick up on a twist to the usual 'journal' concept.
Instead of keeping a journal of all your trades, how about a journal for just the losers? - When entering the details of a losing trade, be honest with yourself as to why it did not work out.
As far as I am concerned, the most important money management you can do in trading is to minimise your losses, so I do like this concept of learning from your losers whilst the winners look after themselves.
Happy trading!
Thursday, 26 March 2009
Patience Required!
I had entered a trade today in GBPJPY early in the morning just waiting for the price to breakdown lower. My stop was wide (80 pips).
All day I watched with baited breath as it violently swung up and down almost hitting my stop. One minute I had a good profit and then within five or so further minutes, a loss of the same amount!
Eventually, just as I was about to finish for the day, a quick breakdown in price hit both of my targets with ease.
The moral of this story is to ‘Set and Forget’ i.e. don’t continuously watch a trade of this sort, or to just be patient and let the market do what it wants.
My analysis suggested that the price was to go lower, so why get all stressed out watching it move up and down all day!
All day I watched with baited breath as it violently swung up and down almost hitting my stop. One minute I had a good profit and then within five or so further minutes, a loss of the same amount!
Eventually, just as I was about to finish for the day, a quick breakdown in price hit both of my targets with ease.
The moral of this story is to ‘Set and Forget’ i.e. don’t continuously watch a trade of this sort, or to just be patient and let the market do what it wants.
My analysis suggested that the price was to go lower, so why get all stressed out watching it move up and down all day!
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
Personal Development for Improving your Trading
Today I found myself reading one of those thin ‘Personal Development’ paperbacks
(Which I managed to read in a day or so – quite fast for me!) and one of the ‘exercises’ was the ‘wheel of life’ which is a common theme in these sort of books.
Pick eight facets of your life eg. health; wealth; money; relationship; friendship etc. and score them 0 to 10. I thought this would be a good exercise for a trader, to list eight trading related facets and see where any improvements could be made.
The idea is that you will like to improve the ones which already have a high score, but you should concentrate more on those that have lower scores, for an all-round ‘healthy’ life as a trader.
Some of the areas I thought of were: record keeping/Admin; entry/exit strategies, trading plan, goals, routine etc. To be a good trader, you need to be good in all areas of trading, so this exercise can only be tremendously useful – give it a go!
(Which I managed to read in a day or so – quite fast for me!) and one of the ‘exercises’ was the ‘wheel of life’ which is a common theme in these sort of books.
Pick eight facets of your life eg. health; wealth; money; relationship; friendship etc. and score them 0 to 10. I thought this would be a good exercise for a trader, to list eight trading related facets and see where any improvements could be made.
The idea is that you will like to improve the ones which already have a high score, but you should concentrate more on those that have lower scores, for an all-round ‘healthy’ life as a trader.
Some of the areas I thought of were: record keeping/Admin; entry/exit strategies, trading plan, goals, routine etc. To be a good trader, you need to be good in all areas of trading, so this exercise can only be tremendously useful – give it a go!
Let's start Here!
Well, It was bound to happen – just thought that it would be a good idea to get down in text my everyday experiences to help me and others learn to trade, focussing on those little aggravating points that nobody ever mentions, but are all part of the trading experience.
Yesterday I watched as one trade was in profit by 70+ pips and then saw it turn and not only wipe out all the profit, but stop me out in the other direction – how annoying is that!
There are a couple of obvious things to learn here – the first approach would be to watch the chart and see a retracement form and then GET OUT! – yes, easier said than done. This way, I would only lose a little of my 70+ pip profit, but at least walk away with something.
The second approach would be to always make the first ‘target’ (executed on ALL trades) easily achievable, thus locking in some profits.
The second approach is better if you are not peering at your screen all day and to be honest I’m not! That’s why I came back to find my lovely profit gone! – still, lessons learnt.
Yesterday I watched as one trade was in profit by 70+ pips and then saw it turn and not only wipe out all the profit, but stop me out in the other direction – how annoying is that!
There are a couple of obvious things to learn here – the first approach would be to watch the chart and see a retracement form and then GET OUT! – yes, easier said than done. This way, I would only lose a little of my 70+ pip profit, but at least walk away with something.
The second approach would be to always make the first ‘target’ (executed on ALL trades) easily achievable, thus locking in some profits.
The second approach is better if you are not peering at your screen all day and to be honest I’m not! That’s why I came back to find my lovely profit gone! – still, lessons learnt.
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