Technical Templates

[shona123]

First & foremost you don’t need anything on your chart apart from the price bars or candles.

My primary reference is the Daily chart. I use that to gauge the potential momentum strength & directional bias of the pairs & instruments I’m interested in watching & building positions in.

I want to see either a continuation bust of prior momentum highs in an up trend (as evidenced via the Daily chart timeframe), or a bust of momentum lows in a downtrend.

I’d definitely want the previous swing low (in an up trend) or swing high (in a down trend) to hold with confidence in order to encourage me to continue buying dips or selling rallies.

You posted this over a month ago, & I got to say that since I deleted everything off my charts & began plotting & adopting the principles of that information, my discipline, along with my positive results have noticeably improved.

I no longer rely on upper or lower targets as much as I did. I now use trailing stops more or less exclusively once a trade begins going my way & allow the natural movements of the market to stop me out as opposed to exiting a trade purely based on a support/resistance level or Fib line etc.

Also only triggering my trades at momentum highs & lows in the direction of the daily flows has stopped me from entering into previously flaky counter trend trades that would account for the majority of my silly losing percentages.

My win/loss percentage has improved, but most noticeably, my percentage account balance has shot up dramatically!!

[Joe Whitehorse]

While things are quiet thru the holiday period, I thought it might be opportune to revisit old ground & remind ourselves of the uncomplicated simplicity of the model being traded here.

Combination timeframes remain constant.
Daily to check the bias & directional flows – lower timeframe of choice to reference the momentum highs & lows (in the direction of the Daily flows) as they break out to new ground.

Set your maximum risk & compute your position size accordingly.

Trail your profit stops up/down according to your personal percentage scale, or use prior momentum levels as initial protective stop levels & drill down to a smaller timeframe & track the price action via that charts peak trough activity as your trailing mechanism.

Recent Aussie$ bullish activity from Xmas Eve, accompanied by the lower timeframe momentum upside break lines.



Another combination snag plotting the prior day’s open & high levels.
Quite often the prior day/week high-low levels will coincide with key momentum levels, adding confidence to the decision making process.

[Joe Whitehorse]

I got to say that since I deleted everything off my charts & began plotting & adopting the principles of that information, my discipline, along with my positive results have noticeably improved

That's great to hear Shona.
Sometimes it's a case of not being able to see the wood for the tree's

I no longer rely on upper or lower targets as much as I did. I now use trailing stops more or less exclusively....& allow the market to stop me out as opposed to exiting a trade purely based on a support/resistance level or Fib line etc.

The negatives of adopting & plotting "targets" as such, is that they handcuff you unecessarily & quite often smother any forward profit potential.

I've found it far more beneficial & profitable over the years to simply lock in your profit along the way & allow the natural rhythm of the momentum (market pulse) to take you out of your positions.

If a trade is going to motor, then let it go. If it moves & pops back against you then your stops will protect you from a catastrophe. The object of the exercise is to capitalize on the few times that the price action really guns thru the gears - they're few & far between sometimes, so it's essential you jump on those opportunities, & restricting your trades by imposing "pre-defined targets" on them won't realize that potential.

The market doesn't recognize targets - only traders place those barriers in front of themselves!

My win/loss percentage has improved, but most noticeably, my percentage account balance has shot up dramatically

That's not a surprising net result to be honest. In fact I'd have been more surprised if you'd said the opposite!
Keep it going, it gets a whole lot easier as your account balance increases exponentially.

[shona123]

That's great to hear Shona.
Sometimes it's a case of not being able to see the wood for the tree's

That was exactly the reason I dumped all that stuff. It got to the stage where I wasn’t totally sure why I was initiating trades. Plus of course, there would often be conflicting information from more than one indicator, which occasionally negatively impacted on my decisions to take a trade on.

The negatives of adopting & plotting "targets" as such, is that they handcuff you unecessarily & quite often smother any forward profit potential.
I've found it far more beneficial & profitable over the years to simply lock in your profit along the way & allow the natural rhythm of the momentum (market pulse) to take you out of your positions.

It looks promising so far anyway, so I’ll continue to adopt that track. Moreso, it also makes perfect sense to let the market tell you when to get in & out as opposed to imparting my own opinion on events.

The market doesn't recognize targets - only traders place those barriers in front of themselves!

How very true! I guess it takes a little time to remove & delete these long held beliefs from one’s memory bank.

The information & chart examples in this thread has been terrific & I'm so glad I found it last year!
I look forward to it's continuation into 2010 & wish all the contributors a very happy New Year!

[goldtop]

That was exactly the reason I dumped all that stuff...
Plus of course, there would often be conflicting information from more than one indicator, which occasionally negatively impacted on my decisions to take a trade on.

You took the words right out of my mouth Shona.
The trouble is, most of the trading bulletin boards are full of threads advocating systems & strategies that revolve around compiling a barrow full of indicators, or some crappy E.A that works for 5 minutes then gradually drains all your account funds.

Quality posters who actually have something worth listening to are as scarse as hens teeth out there. That's why this thread is such a rare jewel. Long may it live!!

The information & chart examples in this thread has been terrific & I'm so glad I found it last year!
I look forward to it's continuation into 2010 & wish all the contributors a very happy New Year!

Hear hear!!
I for one am very much looking forward to trading the 2010 markets armed with my new outlook & attitude!!

I set up my favorite pairs charts during the beginning of December with a simple Daily & lower timeframe combination to more easily spot opportunities as they set up into the London trading session.

A couple of horizontal lines for a little guidance
Vertical lines to easily identify the daily opening ticks
& it also acts as a simple identification measure for previous days high-low levels & the intra-day/week momentum high-low trigger levels.

Sorted!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE TOO...

[spotfx]

Nice chart layout goldtop

Hope you guys have been making hay in December.
The momentum peaks have thrown up some pretty cool trades across the more heavily traded crosses.

Hopefully I'll get more involved with this thread in the new year. I still look in whenever a fresh post appears, some great content as usual - good luck to everyone in 2010 & lets grab our fair share of the pips from these markets next year peeps!

[JimmyMac]

Hey guys,
Been observing the progress of this work since November….some really great content here. Keep it going & stay focused on the main theme of what Joe has been pushing – you won’t be disappointed!

Simple & straightforward always trumps complex & in-depth, especially where money is concerned
Locate a pair that's trending handsomely, or behaving itself, establishing clearly visible footprints & you got potential to make some decent cash.

Linking intra-day trades with Daily directional bias as London gears up for business, can offer excellent low risk opportunities on a very consistent basis.

How goes it Joseph, long time no see
Arty & Morrie say Hi…

Anna-Maria was talking about you over the Xmas holidays, apparently Tommy P retired last month at Bank of America & you were mentioned in “dispatches” at his farewell speech presentation…..

[Joe Whitehorse]

How goes it Joseph, long time no see
Arty & Morrie say Hi…
Anna-Maria was talking about you over the Xmas holidays, apparently Tommy P retired last month at Bank of America & you were mentioned in “dispatches” at his farewell speech presentation…..

I’m good Jimmy!

yeah I heard about Tommy (& the speech) from Katy Preston. She keeps tabs on one or two of the old gang. I’ll be seeing him towards the end of this month as it happens.

You still trading out of the Gistane girls offices in the UK? Katy also tells me you got Scott & Sean working accounts over there – that true?

Good to see you over here man. This a fleeting visit, or are you looking to post up some content?!
Be cool if you could add bits & pieces now & again – would benefit these guys a whole lot.

All the best for 2010 Jim.

[carl]

Hi folks,
Just getting back into the swing after the Xmas break.
One or two half decent momentum follow thru opportunities up & down the ladder across a few of the more active pairs this week by the looks.

I got my feet wet on a Cable trade Wednesday that I scratched for a few pips less than breakeven, & picked up the flows on a semi decent EURUSD trade yesterday - nothing too exciting, but it shook the cobwebs away!

It still feels rather light on volumes & lacking any depth out there this week. One or two post Xmas hangovers shadowing the markets I shouldn’t wonder!

Hey guys,
Been observing the progress of this work since November….some really great content here. Keep it going & stay focused on the main theme of what Joe has been pushing – you won’t be disappointed!

JimmyMac, formally of Babypips fame by any chance?

[JimmyMac]

One or two half decent momentum follow thru opportunities up & down the ladder across a few of the more active pairs this week by the looks.

It still feels rather light on volumes & lacking any depth out there this week. One or two post Xmas hangovers shadowing the markets I shouldn’t wonder!

Yes participation is still on the light side carl. Things don’t generally get back to normal volume ratios usually until mid-end month. Order books are still getting organized at present.

Yen pairs have been quite frisky (on this strategy model) this week, especially gbp/jpy on Tuesday & Wednesday.

Front stepping the weekly flows, whilst remaining the right side of the Daily directional bias is a very good risk play. I wouldn’t read too much into the 1st couple weeks action to be honest, the major players are still finding their sea legs.

JimmyMac, formally of Babypips fame by any chance?

One & the same I’m afraid.
We heard Joseph was hanging out in here so I thought I’d creep up behind him & pinch a couple of is hair feathers while he was snoozing!