Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Entries, Stops, Rules

re: twitter question of entries, stops & rules.

My trades generally fall into two categories...

1)  1hr/4hr first time back/S&R bounces.  these levels may not be so clear on the daily but are obvious on the 1hr/4hr charts, usually with an fta not far off.  I'll trade these with a single entry as close to the zone as possible with a reasonably tight stop (generally a good distance past the S&R) and take full profit at the fta or at the failure to push through the fta. 

Example below from today, NU long.  We couldn't bust through the fta and I ended up closing for peanuts.



2) daily/weekly first time back/S&R bounces.  these levels are the big, no brainer levels.  I tend to scale in, entering just before, at and perhaps a little past the level with stops a good ways past the S&R.  I put quite a bit of faith in these levels and like to give the trade room to breathe.  While the larger stops ultimately hurts my risk/reward level, my confidence in these levels means 1:1 risk/reward is plenty acceptable.

Example below from mid September, eur/cad, major daily level I shorted.  Can't provide fxtrade screenshots on this one (too far back) but scaled in for about 2.5lots and averaged 80pts by the time I was out.



Managing trades is still a work in progress for me, especially with the smaller 1hr/4hr setups.  I have a hard time closing out at fta only to see it run...but find often times, fta is about the end of the line for these smaller setups.  I don't know...I need more time to figure out how to handle them.  I tend to try and stick to the bigger setups though, thus not getting as much live trade time on these smaller ones.  This morning's NU long was a nice, clean setup though.

As for the larger trades, my trade management is sufficient.

Hope this helps.