Technical Templates

[kyle morgan]

I got linked here from a poster (DoubleEcho) on Babypips who encouraged me to take a look at this thread. Obviously he's familiar with the guys posting on the Technical Templates thread over there, who also occasionally contribute in this place, & having read the contributions have decided to join up & get involved.

As with those TT threads over there, the major plus is the fact the material is focused, based around a solid framework of logical fundamental & technical information & more importantly presented in a mature, professional manner.

Nice to see one or two already familiar faces (jjay, Carll, Jimmy) & a few who I hope I'll become familiar with going forward!

[Joe Whitehorse]

It looks like the holiday period has started early this year judging by the noticeably shrinking ranges across all the pairs during the past 2 weeks.
I read where liquidity has been reduced by as much as 40% over like-for-like comparisons of 12 months ago.

A lot of firms in the institutional sector have squared up earlier than usual kipper.
The main influence is obviously all the uncertainty over the European debt concerns impacting the short wave price action. Larger capped trading vehicles can't get a decent run on anything at the moment & are constantly covering & re-engaging, attempting to string a line out.

They execute far larger trade sizes than even the more adequately capitalized retail players, & therefore aren't nearly as flexible or nimble when looking to pare out & change direction. As soon as that sector begins cashing out the intraday liquidy dries up noticeably.

Do you guys reduce your exposure in lock step with this reducing volume or use alternative strategies until things return to normal?
was wondering if you more experienced traders have noticed an obvious difference in the price action this year compared to others.

Jimmy, jjay (& Carll by sub a/c) & the Technical Templates crew over on Babypips are in a slightly different boat to the rest posting on this thread, in that they trade for a large Investment Fund so some of their operations will differ slightly to the retail sector.
Their objectives, time horizons & trading vehicles might not match yours or the other guys posting here, but the general theme & principles are very much the same.

If you're failing to obtain a clear read of the technical map due to reduced liquidity or extremely volatile behavior, then don't trade again until circumstances return to the conditions that you've identified as acceptable to execute your model. And when you begin trading again, perhaps reduce your bet sizing slightly until you're completely satisfied those conditions have returned to something resembling normality.

I wouldn't say the price action is much different to previous years, only the market influences & drivers.
That will of course have a direct impact on risk attitude, which will directly impact & influence range & trend coverage, average daily range completion, pattern behavior & trade execution reliability (fills).

Thanks for all the great advice, tuition & commentary. I very much look forward to getting more involved during 2012 as I've changed jobs & will now be working from home.

Glad you've enjoyed it & found the material to be of benefit.
I, as I'm sure do the other regulars, look forward to your continued & hopefully increased participation in 2012 & hope next year exceeds your expectations!

[goldtop]

Do you guys reduce your exposure in lock step with this reducing volume or use alternative strategies until things return to normal?

I'm certainly a lot more choosy about entries & opportunities leading up to the middle of December kipper as most of the more established posters on here are.
As you say, the diminishing liquidity makes life a lot trickier to plan & execute trades. To be honest, for the short period of time between Thanksgiving & mid January that the markets become increasingly more volatilie & twitchy, it's not worth risking your money.

The erratic, rangey price action will play havoc with your set ups & discipline. May as well wind it down as Joe suggests & take time to recharge those batteries for the commencement of a new year.
I also echo his comments about welcoming more of your participation on the thread next year.
Although it's not a busy place the quality of the contributors & content is very high compared to most forums. It's nice not to have to wade through page after page of waffle & hot air.

Hope you have a great Xmas & catch you in 2012.

[whipcrack]

I got linked here from a poster (DoubleEcho) on Babypips who encouraged me to take a look at this thread. Obviously he's familiar with the guys posting on the Technical Templates thread over there, who also occasionally contribute in this place, & having read the contributions have decided to join up & get involved.

Nice to see one or two already familiar faces (jjay, Carll, Jimmy) & a few who I hope I'll become familiar with going forward!

Hey kyle,
Welcome aboard!
I've read your recent posts across there & it's good to have another member familiar with that style of technical trading contributing to this material.
Very much look forward to interacting with you (& you too kipper) more regularly next year.

See if you Tech Template regulars can gang up & persuade Tess & Jos to switch camps!

[Se7en]

Long time follower, have enjoyed watching this thread evolve & grow with some absolutely superb content that I have been gradually incorporating into my regular trading plan.

Thanks to you all for keeping the info alive & updating the material as the markets have changed during this very volatile year & special appreciation to Carll for introducing a simple, easy to operate entry setup that I now trade almost exclusively. Even though the price action has been all over the place lately this simple little setup has ensured I'm nearly always able to scratch my entries with very minimal pain when things don't go exactly to plan (& I actually manage to enter at the optimum level of course, lol).

But when they do go as planned, man do they get me in at some excellent risk-to-reward odds.
I'm going to start giving something back to the thread now that my confidence has steadily increased. I'm still only at the early stages of my trading endeavors, but my results have really turned around since finding this stuff earlier in the year & gradually introducing little bits of the content to my plan.

I've spent the past 5 months tinkering with my strategy & practicing via demo then a small live account, getting used to the structure & honing my style whilst adopting Carll's setup triggers, & have been keeping detailed records to help pinpoint areas of weakness as well as strength.

I think I now need to step up to another level & have my work critiqued to ensure I'm growing & progressing correctly to maintain my progress & I can't think of a better place to obtain that feedback.
Thanks everyone & all the best for 2012.

[Se7en]

May as well jump in feet first & get myself wet

This pair has been covered on here a time or two & I've been marking up the support & resistance levels as I see them from the 4 hour chart & superimposing them down onto the lower 5 & 15 minute timeframes as advised. This pair appears from my testing & research to adhere to the technical levels quite well & I've been holding fire until I receive a definite & clear stochastic hook on the smaller timeframes in the direction of the higher timeframe directional bias.

Your basic structure says to pay attention to the cycle waves of price, for example; higher highs & higher lows moving up & lower lows & lower highs moving down, paying particular attention when this wave cycle meets up with identified support & resistance zones.

This pair has developed a good see-saw wave of support-becomes-resistance-becomes-support again as price broke through the 5520 level on 30 November before getting rejected at that level once last week & twice this week prior to pushing through & re-trsting earlier today.

Here's my 4 hour chart showing this price activity.


From the generic higher chart price action structure it's then simply a case of drilling down into one of the trigger timeframes such as 5 or 15 minutes to wait for price to signal a potential entry via the stochastic hook providing it complies with the s&r zone & any available average daily range percentage.

The hook is right there on the support level & there is plenty of range potential available to ensure adequate risk/reward justification.
Here's my 15 minute chart highlighting the trigger zone & long entry potential trading with the higher timeframe bias.


I would appreciate one of you more experienced guys to run the rule over this one to ensure I haven't overlooked any obvious details & whether I'm not overly complicating the process.

Cheers guys.

[jjay]

I would appreciate one of you more experienced guys to run the rule over this one to ensure I haven't overlooked any obvious details & whether I'm not overly complicating the process.

Hi Se7en (& kyle),

Good to see more new activity on the thread & if this first post of yours Se7en is anything to go by then the quality will continue to mushroom.
That's a great read on the background structure, current bias & specific trigger entry.
Very impressive first post & look forward to seeing more contributions!

kyle: welcome to the thread. DoubleEcho mentioned the other day you were looking for a fresh place to interact.
Take a deeeeep breath & fill those lungs with fresh air man!

[Carll]

Thanks to you all for keeping the info alive & updating the material as the markets have changed during this very volatile year & special appreciation to Carll for introducing a simple, easy to operate entry setup that I now trade almost exclusively.

Even though the price action has been all over the place lately this simple little setup has ensured I'm nearly always able to scratch my entries with very minimal pain when things don't go exactly to plan, but when they do go as planned, man do they get me in at some excellent risk-to-reward odds.

Hey Se7en,
Glad you're filling your boots with the info & experiencing positive vibes with that cute little entry trigger.
You're right, it will keep you the correct side of the flows when you link it up with the higher timeframe bias & get you out of trouble quickly when events conspire against you, mainly due to the fact your risk stops are generally very low because you're swinging into the high liquid trading sessions via pullback entries!

I would appreciate one of you more experienced guys to run the rule over this one to ensure I haven't overlooked any obvious details & whether I'm not overly complicating the process.

As Jay commented, excellent analysis.
You got nothing to worry about if most of your prep & execution work follows that formula.

I got linked here from a poster (DoubleEcho) on Babypips who encouraged me to take a look at this thread.
Nice to see one or two already familiar faces (jjay, Carll, Jimmy) & a few who I hope I'll become familiar with going forward!

You owe him a nice commission for that nudge!
Good to hear things are progressing nicely for you.

[Se7en]

Thanks guys, appreciate the comments & welcome!
I'm really looking forward to getting involved on here next year & seeking to hone the skills already learnt from you all.

I'm back in this morning taking another nibble on this gbpaud trade. It's back pressuring the support/resistance level & I've managed to pick it up right on the 5520 entry, giving me a real tight stop just below the round number to check see if the bids are still in evidence.

I'm not looking for a massive deal on this long, just perhaps another knock up towards yesterdays highs if it has the stamina.
Worth a punt considering the small amount of risk I'm taking in order to find out how strong this level really is.

[zilly]

Thanks guys, appreciate the comments & welcome!
I'm really looking forward to getting involved on here next year & seeking to hone the skills already learnt from you all.

Add mine to the list.
I've learnt more reading, following & using the generics of this stuff than I have anywhere else on my travels during the past 2-3 years.
It's a really simple, no nonsense collection of solid information minus all the rambling, waffling rubbish you have to plough through on the other forums.

Sensible & logical structure.
Common sense set ups & triggers
Excellent risk/reward entries & trade management
Very flexible time horizons & combination timeframe options to suit individual preferences

I'm back in this morning taking another nibble on this gbpaud trade.
I'm not looking for a massive deal on this long, just perhaps another knock up towards yesterdays highs if it has the stamina.
Worth a punt considering the small amount of risk I'm taking in order to find out how strong this level really is.

Good for you & nice entry!
Hope it kicks on for you

I think the experienced guys have more or less wrapped up their trading for this year judging by their prior comments, & I'm sure you're aware of the reducing liquidity issues if you've been following their material the past couple of years. But I totally agree with you that this framework & structure prevents any real damage to the account providing the bias, triggers & avaialable ADR are all present at entry.

I too am getting more involved next year & look forward to interacting with you, kyle & the regulars on here.