trade setup - GBP/USD

just like the Euro, i see the cable is range trading as well. With no big news looking to come out today as well, i still think it will be trading on technicals.

looking at the chart, again we see cable chilling around the highs and resistance levels. looking at this i decided to pull a trade. (white rectangle).

i sold at the market at 1.5618.

stoploss: 1.5660 - just above a strong resistance level.

take profit: 1.5570 - near daily low and support level.

trade setup - EUR/USD

ok i got a trade in.
and while typing this post out, Euro went for a run up, which i also think is due to stops and europe opening.

so i think Euro is range trading at the moment, which means sell on the high, buy on the low.

so looking at my chart i see that we are at the moment around the resistance level and haven't really broken out of these levels. (the white square)

so i decided to sell EUR/USD at the market at 1.3026.
stoploss - 1.3110 - which is just above a strong resistance level
take profit - 1.2970 - which has been the daily low and support level

Yesterday recap and News

So what happened yesterday?

first lets look at the trades and orders:

My Euro trade hit the profit level of 1.3040. Euro was pretty much rangeing all through yesterday, so my strategy for this trade went quite well.

I also came out of my USDJPY position by taking a profit on the downside around 87.20 area, as was expected dollaryen dropped down.

Now lets take a look at what to look out for today:

we have the net lending to individual report coming out at 8.30am GMT from the BOE.

In the Eurozone, we have the industrial, economic and consumer sentiment indices at 9am GMT.

The U.S has their weekly unemployment claims at 12.30pm GMT.

overall, yesterday was a very ranging and dull market, with very little movement.

Today my game plan will be the same, play the range, with a close stoploss in case of a breakout.

Entered trade - EURUSD

I entered a trade today and this time i'm following the trend!

so my reasoning:
Euro still looks bullish
EMA 5 crossed over EMA 10
MACD and stochastics bullish
crossed above the pivot point of 1.2997

entered at 1.3011
stoploss 1.2950 - yesterday low
take profit at 1.3040 - just below yesterday high

trade setup - EUR/USD

so i've found a trade setup for the Euro that i'll be watching out for.

there's been a bullish trend on the Euro which is clearly seen on the 4 hour chart.

So i'm going to be looking at entering the market on a long position.

now when i look at the 1 hour chart i see an area which would be good place to enter.

yesterday low for the EURUSD was 1.2951. which is also close to where the bullish trend line is on the chart.

so i've placed a white square around that area.

as soon as i see a crossover on the EMA's at those levels. i will enter a long position.

Morning recap and news

So what happened yesterday?

first lets look at the trades and orders from yesterday:

cable trade got stopped out at 1.5540. reasoning: technicals, stops being taken out, and good economic data from the UK.
lesson learn't: follow the trend!! do not act too quickly!!  i wasn't very convinced with the trade but i still did it. so i'm going to make sure i dont make the same mistake again.

my order on usdjpy also got done at 87.70. for now my plan is to hold on to this level. and leaving an order to take profit at 87.20.

Now lets take a look at what to look out for today:

we had the Aussie CPI figures that came out earlier in the morning which weren't as good as forecasted, which is why we have the Aussie running lower at the moment.

in the UK we have BOE governor Mervyn King's speech before the treasury committee in london at 8.45am GMT.

in Europe, we have the July German CPI data to look out for.

The U.S has the durable goods report at 12.30am GMT and the Fed's Beige Book at 6pm GMT.

quick thought: markets still look bullish on all fronts. So i will look at hitting some bid orders today for another move up. hopefully i can recover the loss i made yesterday!

Order time - short dollar yen

ok so i've placed an order to sell USD/JPY at 87.70.

reasoning:
on the 4 hour chart it's the 50% fibonacci level that wasn't broken last night.
and it's also near yesterday's high.

lets see if this order gets triggered.

trade for today - GBP/USD

Ok just found a trade.

I sold GBP/USD at 1.5447.

reasoning:
5 EMA crossed 10 EMA on the 1 hour chart.
broke passed the pivot point at 1.5471
stochastics and MACD are looking bearish

Stoploss: 1.5540 - which is above yesterday's high.

Take profit: 1.5300 - which is just above the resistance turned support level (1.5291) on the 1 hour chart.

lets see how this trade goes!

trading gets difficult

It's at times like this when trading gets super difficult.

this is why...

you're tempted to trade because your gut tells you that the levels are so high that its a good level to sell.

But at the same time you are just not sure whether markets will feel that way too, as when you look at your charts you still see quite a bullish long-term view.

So what do you do at times like this?

tie-up your hands from temptations, and be patient until you see a trade that you are super convinced about.

Euro - daily chart fibonacci levels

here's something i've noticed on the EUR/USD daily chart.
You can see the 61.8 fibonacci level has just been broken. Here's what i'm thinking.
things can go two ways.
either market is over bought at the moment, which we do sort of see on the stochastics and from here we'll see a correction downwards.

or

we will see the fib level being broken and market going all the way up to the previous high of 1.3665.

i'm going to keep a close watch on the Euro today especially when Europe opens up and see whether things are little more clearer.

Euro trade - based against a call option

So market's been fairly quiet during Asian session. Europe just opened up so we are seeing a little movement downwards in the Euro and Cable.

I'm still unsure about entering into a proper trade so for now i've left an order to buy EUR/USD at 1.2885.
my reasoning: Euro still looks very bullish, and i have an option coming up next month which is in slight danger.

So here's what i figure i'm gonna do with this position if it gets triggered.

i'll forward it to the delivery date of my call option which i sold at 1.2700.
If between then and now, i feel that sentiments for Euro has changed towards bearishness.
i shall come out of this position.

losing touch after travelling.

So i'm back from my long trip to Hong Kong and quite out of touch of the happenings of the FX market.
So i guess today i'm going to have to spend quite a bit of time catching up on my readings of what's been happening. I'm most likely not going to hit any real trades today until i see a serious trend of some sort and i'm super confident about it.

So here's some news readings i've gathered for today:

So we had the Euro stress tests pushing the Eur up on Friday. Looks like the Eur is pushing towards 1.3000.
key levels to watch out for in EUR would be if it pushes past 1.3025/1.3030.

Yen is pushing up as we see alot of demand on the AUD and EUR crosses against the yen. But Yen still looks quite range bound. so i'm going to keep a watch on it.

Cable has pushed up considering all the strong economic data that was out last week. I'm looking at quite a bit of volatility on the cable. so perhaps buying on dips would be a good tactic.

Aussie looks like its heading towards a key resistance level of 0.8970. This may be a good place to look at a trade.

the only economic data worth mentioning for today is the
U.S home sales report at 2.00pm GMT. sales are expected to increase to 317,000 after 300,000 May's sales.

What trades would i be looking for today?
since there isn't any form of economic data for the Aussie, cable and euro.
I will be looking at these charts closely today to see if i can form a trade on these pairs.

Demo Friday - trade plan - EURUSD

I took up a demo trade this morning on the EURUSD. But i'm not very happy though with how i entered, even though my trade was profitable.

trade plan:
I decided to leave an order to long EURUSD at 1.2895 as it's aligned with the 23.6 fibonacci level.
I left a stoploss order at 1.2810 which is near the 61.8 fibonacci level and is also a strong support.
I left a take profit order at 1.2950 which is yesterday daily high.

My order got triggered at 1.2895 and my take profit order got hit too. so theoretically i just made 55pips in profit.

I'm not happy with the trade because i feel i entered quite early. If i was to do this trade again, i would actually leave an entry order much lower at between the pivot point and the 38.2 fibonacci level. this would have been a less riskier and safer play i think.

Anyways, Tokyo is about to close now, and I usually stay out of Europe session on fridays.
So i shall be closing the orders for the cable and aussie trades.

Lets see what the market has for us next week, and i will be travelling for a week so i will be fairly quiet with my trade plays next week. But i will be back in action on the 26th of July for more forex trades

Demo Friday - trade plan - AUDUSD

As i mentioned in my previous post. I would be looking into shorting AUDUSD, due to the trend.

Trade Plan:
I would short Aussie near the 61.8 fibonacci level which is also where the daily chart 61.8 fibonacci level is as well.
 I would place a stoploss order above the resistance level of 0.8844, as if it breaks, i would see it as a possible trend reversal.
I would leave a take profit order at the daily low.

Short AUDUSD at 0.8800. Stoploss 0.8880. Take Profit 0.8726.

Demo Friday - trade plan - GBPUSD

Here are the economic data that we should be looking out for today:
Eurozone trade balance report - 9am GMT
U.S CPI figures - 12.30pm GMT
University of Michigan consumer confidence report - 1.55pm GMT

Quick economic overview of yesterday's session:
USD was the main loser yesterday due to the weaker US data.
EUR pushed up high due to real money demand in the range of 1.27 and 1.28 and short coverings on the bank of good spanish bond auction.
GBP rallied up on the news of BP latest attempt to halt the oil leak into the Gulf of Mexico
AUD "beared" it out due to citings of China's economic slowdown in H2 would be sharper than expected.

Trade Plan:
Looking to Long GBPUSD and Short AUDUSD. I will play EURUSD after the trade balance report. As there is no news coming out of the U.K or Australia, and i am looking at more negative data out of the U.S, i'm expecting these pairs to continue on their trends.

GBPUSD
I would like to open a new long position at 1.5350 which is just above the 23.6 fibonacci level and also appears to be a fairly strong support as well since the move up. I would leave my stoploss order at the 38.2 fibonacci level which is quite near to the daily low and i would place my take profit order near the daily high which also appears to be a resistance.

Buy GBP/USD at 1.5350. Stoploss at 1.5270. Take Profit at 1.5460

Its Demo Friday!

Hi there,

So i have a personal law where i avoid opening new trades on fridays.
my reasons for this are:
1. Its Friday and almost the weekend, so i like to take a break.
2. Many traders close their positions on fridays including me, so markets go a little haywire.
3. It's just too stressful to be watching the markets on a friday night (ps. i live in Asia, so i generally trade during the asian and europe sessions).

But I do practice my forex trading skills, by opening demo trades.
so what i usually do is setup trade plans, and play demo trades with no money and see how they turn out.

First Post

Hi there,

So i've been learning the ropes of forex trading, and there is one think i've learn't. It's a crazy market of bulls and bears!

So I decided to start blogging about my experiences and trade set-up's that i come up with daily not only to help myself learn the ropes and the mistakes i make. But to also share these mistakes, and learning with other forex newbies.

I hope you enjoy this blog and keep reading on.