All clogged up...

An apt description for my sinuses at the moment and with a sore throat to top it off. Yes I am officially a walking biohazard. After spreading germs to my workmates yesterday, I thought it better to keep the disease to myself today.

So in between answering emails and preparing documentation (my day job), I had a chance to take a look at the charts around midday. Unexpectedly came across a setup on the GBP/AUD 4 hour chart. Had a few pin bars forming off the moving averages.

Manually triggered the order @ 1.66626 with a stop @ 1.6725.

With the trade now in play and limits set, it was back to work.

Checking on the trade in the evening, I was into a healthy 134 pip profit, a couple of pips out from the target. So with this, I closed the trade for a healthy gain.

Will be keeping an eye out tonight for more setups (as well as the Labour leadership challenge). May the best man/woman win. For the rest of us, good luck trading tonight.

Daily update - 25/06/2013

Good evening all. Quick update on the trade order I set up yesterday. Order did trigger and had a nice 150 pip run. Moved my stop and that was where the good news ends.

The next few sessions saw price action whipsaw back and forth between entry price and yesterday's daily low. Naturally my annoyed and impatient self got the better of me and I exited the trade with a meager 40 pip profit. So far it has yielded a lost opportunity of an additional 50 pips profit ... Doh!

Follow the plan, or be prepared to feel this sort of pain often!

Bad habits dies hard; remember, once a trade is in motion, let it play out. Follow your plan! Don't fiddle whilst you're in the trade where emotions tend to become involved.

Looking forward to the rest of the week. Good luck out there people.

Neutral Day

Hello traders and welcome to the beginning of the trading week. A relatively quiet day with no major headlines.

In focus for the week:
- US GDP
- UK GDP
- EUR CPI and employment, and
- JP CPI

Missed out on EUR/JPY setup, but placing an order now on the double pin price signal.
Short @ 128.75 with an initial target of 125. Stop above previous day high of 129.75.

Waiting for a long entry opportunity on AUD/NZD back at 1.18452 level.

Pairs for the week:

Pair	Level to watch	Description
EUR/USD	1.32	Short entry on retracement into this area. Close above to change bias to bullish.
EUR/JPY	1.30183	Short entry price action signal confirmed (double pin). Short order placed.
EUR/GBP	0.85894	Strong resistance area. Watch for short. Close above to flip bias to bullish.
EUR/AUD	1.42362	Keep an eye on price action at pivot level. H4 indicators starting to turn.
AUD/USD	0.93864	Multi year lows. Break of triangle targetting 0.8. Watch for retracement opportunity to short
AUD/JPY	92.4	Short entry on retracement into this area. Close above to change bias to long with next target at 96.8
NZD/USD	0.77596	Short entry on retracement into this area. Daily close above to target 0.785, then 0.79.
AUD/NZD	1.18256	Close above key level confirmed. Retest confirmation before targetting 1.196.
AUD/CAD	0.961	Close above key level confirmed. Awaiting retest confirmation before targetting 0.98.
USD/CHF	0.93822	Testing resistance. Watching for bearish price signal. Close above flips bias to bullish.
USD/JPY	97.856	Watching for short term long entry at 98 level, targeting retest of 100.
XAU/USD	1321.59	Short entry on retracement into this area. Close above to change bias to bullish.
USD/CAD	1.042	Watch for opportunities for long entry at this level.
GBP/USD	1.541	Close below level suggests continuing bear trend. Next target 1.52673.

So here we are ... June 2013

Hey Everyone,

A long time between posts. I have to say I haven't devoted as much time as I should have to the fundamentals of trading. These are:

1. Plan your trades
2. Keep a trading diary

As you can imagine, my trading record for financial year 2012/13 has been a seesaw. I have been as low as 50% down and as high up as 20% on my trading account as at financial year end 2011/2012.

Looking back, I don't believe there has been a single trading rule I haven't broken. Planning trades is the most important discipline. For me, this is the following list of my crimes against trading:

1. Placing random trades in the absence of price action signals
2. Not spending time on technical patterns - this is a job, not a hobby
3. Not planning out any stops or limits
4. Forgetting to remove stale orders - I am just lucky that when the last one of these gremlins triggered, it triggered in the right direction.

For the year, I am down roughly 25%, which in absolute terms is not much on a micro account.

So, it is time to get back to basics. More frequent updates, planning, and keeping a trading diary.

If anyone cares to follow, I will also be keeping my play by play over on Pinterest.

To conclude this post: wishing myself and all you traders out there good trading into the last week and a half of the Australian financial year. Including one of my favourite memes to sum up my trading attitude lately.

First report for the New Year

Hi all and welcome to my first post in 2013. Was a quiet one leading into end of year holidays for me hence the absence in any posts. However, back this week, more optimistic than ever. Good luck all for 2013.

Key levels to watch for in the coming week (14/01/2013) Pair Price Bias Comments AUD/CAD 1.027, 1.03254, 1.04278 Bear False break of 1.04278 and the downward trend line since Feb 2012 AUD/JPY 88.741, 91.211 Bull Watch for retracement for long entry. Confluent level at 38.2% Fib retracement of the current leg up. AUD/NZD 1.25186, 1.269 Bear Consolidation moves at the moment. AUD/USD 1.03664, 1.04103, 1.04779, 1.05825 Bull False break of 1.05825 at the end of the week. NZD/USD 0.82654, 0.83395, 0.84596 Bull Topside failure at 0.84596. EUR/USD 1.31256, 1.328, 1.34768 Bull Clean break of 1.328 level. EUR/AUD 1.25368,1.2801 Bull Break back above 1.23568 pivot. EUR/GBP 0.81484, 0.82195, 0.82828 Bull Previous resistance high breached. GBP/AUD 1.51987, 1.5277, 1.54658, 1.5634 Bear   GBP/USD 1.58287, 1.60125, 1.614, 1.63047 Range   USD/CHF 0.92414, 0.94301 Range Approaching top of the range @ 0.94301. GBP/USD 1.59134, 1.59774, 1.60814 Bear Break back below downtrend line. Key supports @ 1.59771, then 1.59134

General Commentary

Euro resurgent after ECB meeting. Commodity currencies looking healthy after strong Chinese economic prints.

Weekly Forecast 19/11/2012

Key levels to watch for in the coming week (19/11/2012)

Pair	Price levels	Bias	Comments
AUD/CAD	1.027, 1.0386	Neutral	Break back below 1.0386. Consolidation bias.
AUD/JPY	83.563	Bull	Clear break and hold of 83.563.
AUD/NZD	1.269, 1.28090	Bull	Watch for rotation back into resistance turned support @ 1.269
AUD/USD	1.03238, 1.04091	Neutral	Consolidation between 1.03238 and 1.04091
NZD/USD	0.81019, 0.83551	Neutral	Bullish pin at the bottom of the range.
EUR/USD	1.25907, 1.2696, 1.2803	Bear	Break of double top pattern. Test of support turned resistance last week @ 1.2803. Short term consolidation.
EUR/GBP	0.79527, 0.80038, 0.80578, 0.81136	Neutral	Consolidating in range.
EUR/CAD	1.26, 1.28	Bear	Test and rejection at 1.28037.
EUR/JPY	102.2719, 103.849	Neutral	Test of resistance at the top of the trading range.
EUR/AUD	1.217, 1.2374	Bear	Tested previous support turned resistance @ 1.2374
GBP/USD	1.5757, 1.59134, 1.59774	Bear	Slight bounce last week. First resistance @ 1.59134, then 1.59774.
GBP/AUD	1.5277, 1.54658, 1.5634	Bear	Small bounce in the previous week. May consolidate between 1.5277 and 1.54658.
GBP/JPY	125.66, 127.011, 128.177, 129.458	Bull	Break of resistance at 128.177 in the previous week. Targeting 129.458.
GBP/CAD	1.57797, 1.59528	Bull	Currently consolidating between 1.57797 and 1.5972.
USD/CHF	0.94176, 0.95116	Neutral	Successful test or resistance support @ 0.94176.
USD/JPY	79.273, 80, 80.541, 81.683	Bull	Huge run targeting next resistance @ 81.683.
XAU/USD	1672.5, 1698.3, 1736.05	Bull	Consolidating in range between 1698.3 and 1736.06.

My setups to start off the week

Pair	Setup	Trend Direction	Comments
AUD/USD	Pin Bar	With	1.03185 LE 1.02804 Stop 1.0410 Limit Risk to Reward: 1/2
EUR/CAD	Pin Bar	With	1.2793 SE 1.28371 Stop 1.26 Limit Risk to Reward: 1/6

Weekly Forecast 12/11/2012

General Commentary
SPX 500 in decline. Clean break of 1400 level off the previous week’s pin.
USDOLLAR index still at the top of the current range after a test of the range bottom. Pair Price Bias Comments AUD/CAD 1.027, 1.0386 Bull Break and hold of 1.0386. Inside day closing out the week. EUR/AUD 1.22259, 1.2374 Bear Inside day. Watch for rotation back into 1.2374. GBP/AUD 1.53109, 1.54658, 1.5634 Bear AUD/JPY 81.969, 82.959, 83.563 Range Pin bar at Friday close. AUD/NZD 1.269 Bull Watch for rotation back into resistance turned support @ 1.269 EUR/USD 1.25907, 1.2803 Bear Break of double top pattern, targeting 1.25907. NZD/USD 0.81019, 0.83551 Range Ranging market. AUD/USD 1.03238, 1.04091 Range Price action closing back into the range. USD/CHF 0.93915, 0.94301, 0.94704 Bull Tentative break of previous resistance at 0.94704 GBP/USD 1.5757, 1.59134, 1.59774 Bear Accelerated losses below 1.59774. Looking to target 1.5757. USD/JPY 79.273, 79.65 Bear Friday pin bar close off key support level. EUR/GBP 0.79527, 0.80038 Bear Watch for retest of 0.80 level. GBP/CAD 1.57797, 1.59528 Bear Engulfing bearish candle on Friday. EUR/CAD 1.26, 1.28 Range Price action consolidating between 23.6% and 38.2% Fib. EUR/JPY - Bear XAU/USD 1713 Bull False break of 1698.3. Price action pushing back through 1725.