Reading Charts in Real Time

[thalestrader 14]

Hi Folks,

 

A little late on the post, and I entered this with a market order as I was writing the above posts and not paying attention. A little long on the GU.

 

The opening bell just rang and I need to get busy.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

[thalestrader 14]

Slightly off topic do you trade through Gain as well as FXCM? Do you need a funded account to try Ninja with them? (guess a visit to there website would reveal the answer to that )

 

I trade only through FXCM.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

[Cory2679 11]

Slightly off topic do you trade through Gain as well as FXCM? Do you need a funded account to try Ninja with them? (guess a visit to there website would reveal the answer to that )

 

BF,

 

I opened an account a little while back with forex.com (specifically the ninjatrader account...requires a different application). They only require $200 I think to open a live account...and they give you the gain data feed for ninja. Since then, I've withdrawn my money from that account (never actually made a trade), and have a balance of $0, but I still get the gain data.

 

-Cory

[BlowFish 10]

Thanks. I notice Amp are doing futures and spot, I have a ticket with them asking if I can use one (ninja) platform for both. My hunch is that they are under separate umberellas.

[thalestrader 14]

Hi Folks,

 

A little late on the post, and I entered this with a market order as I was writing the above posts and not paying attention. A little long on the GU.

 

The opening bell just rang and I need to get busy.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

 

I forgot I was supposed to post a losing trade for Don. My occult powers took over and when price failed to rally to a higher high, I moved my stop to break even for, you guessed it, a break even effort.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

[Cory2679 11]

Thanks. I notice Amp are doing futures and spot, I have a ticket with them asking if I can use one (ninja) platform for both. My hunch is that they are under separate umberellas.

 

They are. (I use AMP)...AMPFX is actually Gain/forex.com... They might be able to work something out, though...I haven't tried that. I opened an AMPFX account, withdrew my money, then later opened the AMP futures account.

 

EDIT: I just thought more about this...you would definitely be able to use ninja for both...even now, I can connect to my gain data feed and my zen-fire data feed at the same time on ninja, so when I pull up futures it uses the zen-fire and when I pull up spot fx it uses the gain feed.

 

They may have you do separate accounts...one fx, one futures...so when you put in your order, you'll have to select the account on your DOM...

 

You've probably already figured it out by now, though.

Edited December 1, 2009 by Cory2679

[Cory2679 11]

My occult powers took over

 

So you admit it!!

[thalestrader 14]

This is the ES. I post these two charts not because I traded either of these situations, but to illustrate a few points that I have made here in the thread.

 

A follow-up.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

[thalestrader 14]

current look at the 6J

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

[forrestang 10]

Hi Folks,

 

This is the ES. I post these two charts not because I traded either of these situations, but to illustrate a few points that I have made here in the thread.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

 

I was slow on this one, but the chart looked beautiful on the ES. I think these are clear and obvious trades.

 

How often would you say the ES presents opportunities like this on a weekly basis. I have been slacking off on looking for early morning opportunities.

[thalestrader 14]

I have a question regarding post 2044 (maybe this was covered on the posts I skipped earlier). When do you actually decide to move your stops to BE and not use the original "natural stop"?

 

I always have a point at which if price moves favorably to that point, my stop goes to break even. It is based upon the size of the swing off of which I am trading, the size of the pullback prior to the entry trigger, and near term, near by S/R. All of which sounds very complicated. In the mean time, you should use near-term near-by S/R, and then see how that matches up to say a 110-127% fib extension as a short cut. After a while, your eye will just pick up on where price may react and reverse against your position.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

Edited December 1, 2009 by thalestrader
typo

[thalestrader 14]

USDCAD is at a point, as seen here on the four hour chart, where an opportunity may present itself one way or the other.

 

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

[hunnybunny 10]

It was just a matter of time before folks started to get in gear with the plus side of the equity curve.

 

Next stop ... consistency.

 

When are we going to see some hunnybunny trades?

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

 

Working on it ... practising recognising your set up as it occurs real time but haven't been disciplined enough to do it consistently. mea culpa. also, i'm nowhere near being able to recognise S/R zones as astutely as others here. your BO set up works a treat in an S/R confluence, from the chart reading that i've done (although my chart reading is by no means extensive).

 

i did attempt 2 trades - one EG, one EJ - and got stopped out before both went my way big-time :crap:ouch! i shoulda posted but was too sheepish to do so, as i figure it was probably because i mucked up the S/R zones ... and i was lax with the SL! :doh: i'm working on my entry and SL placement.

 

thanks very much for sharing your approach with us so freely. it is very good of you - after all, you have nothing to gain from it. sure, there'll be losing trades, but from the little i've observed, your approach should leave one net up if one follows it in a disciplined fashion (even sans occult ability ) and if one needs empirical evidence, then your joint account with your daughter furnishes more than proof, not that you need to provide any.

[Gabe2004 10]

2nd potential long EJ.

Still not an ideal situation.

 

Gabe

[thalestrader 14]

current look at the 6J

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

 

A follow up.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

[thalestrader 14]

2nd potential long EJ.

Still not an ideal situation.

 

Gabe

 

I agree with you, Gabe, that its not ideal. I had a buy stop at 130.95 and canceled the order. It may have the makings of the sequence, but its doing it from within a choppy range. Probably a 50/50 shot if it triggers. Why take 50/50 when the next 80/20 trade is never far away? Good eye you are developing there.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

[Cory2679 11]

Potential GU short...

 

My one trade today...break even (I took one tick of profit to cover commission).

 

I took a long off of the breakout of the range that formed after I had posted the GU short possibility.

 

This trade was SO FRUSTRATING...look at the two times it teased me...

 

BTW, I got in late...10 ticks late, actually...wasn't paying proper attention...so I guess where I got out could have potentially been 10 ticks of profit...oh well...

[thalestrader 14]

This trade was SO FRUSTRATING...look at the two times it teased me...

 

Hi Cory,

 

Not to worry as you're not alone. The GU played me like a fiddle today as well. I was up 30 ticks at one point and thought I had moved my stop loss higher.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

[thalestrader 14]

Hi Folks,

 

I thought it would be interesting if we had a thread where we could all post charts of potential price moves in real time. ...I'll start off with the GBPUSD here soon after the markets have reopened for trading this Sunday evening.

 

That is from the first post of this thread. I just realized that in my initial posts I was using range charts on the currencies as I thought they would clean up the noise for my daughter and help her spot the important levels more easily. It was soon after I started the thread that I moved her to 15 minute charts.

 

For what its worth, some of you might find range charts a useful companion initially. Fewer trades, usually (unless you are using a small range setting), but once you get a trigger, there is usually nothing to stop price before it gets to the next S/R level.

 

Also, you have to adjust the range to the pairs you are trading and the current (and ever changing) volatilty. Overtime, I have looked at anything from a 10R to a 50R. You will have to play with the ranges to se which suit your eye as well as which captures the important levels on the pairs you are trading.

 

Also, and again for what its worth, I checked back through my trading records. I really started to trade currecy futures in earnest back in 2004. I tried lots of things for a couple of years. In January of 2006 I seem to have settled on the 15 minute as my preferred trading chart for currencies, and it remains so today, almost four years to the day later. So do not feel you have to go to range charts. I will not be posting range charts myself. But I figure I would put it out there as something that some may find helpful.

 

I still advocate focusing on the 15 minute chart of one market as the best way to learn to learn this appraoch on currency markets (futures or spot).

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

[traderbrazil 10]

Hi Thales,

 

Thank your for your feedback!

 

I have attached a chart on 2 possible trades.

Please confirm if the short would have been a valid setup.

 

Back to the previous BE question... Is this a case where you would have moved your stop to BE on the long setup?

 

Many thanks!!!!

 

 

[Gabe2004 10]

2nd potential long EJ.

Still not an ideal situation.

 

Gabe

 

 

Haven't notice but it looks like my entry would have been hit and if so this trade would be a loser because the STP was hit also.

The chart that you see is called a Min/Max chart and it shows the levels where actual trades were executed.

Candle charts show the mid point between the bid and the ask.

Atleast on the Oanda platform.

Nevertheless, I would restart the potential trade setup.

 

Gabe

[Cory2679 11]

A follow-up.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

 

Just reserved the William O'Neil book at B&N...How to Make Money in Stocks...going to pick it up later this evening...just for some nighttime/weekend reading...

[thalestrader 14]

Just reserved the William O'Neil book at B&N...How to Make Money in Stocks...going to pick it up later this evening...just for some nighttime/weekend reading...

 

Make sure it is the latest edition, with about 100 stock charts at the beginning of the book.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

[Cory2679 11]

Make sure it is the latest edition, with about 100 stock charts at the beginning of the book.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

 

Thanks. It's the 4th edition, which I think is the latest, but I'll check it for the charts in the beginning when I get there.

 

-Cory

[thalestrader 14]

I have attached a chart on 2 possible trades.

Please confirm if the short would have been a valid setup.

 

Back to the previous BE question... Is this a case where you would have moved your stop to BE on the long setup?

 

Many thanks!!!!

 

 

 

Hi TraderB,

 

In the future it would be helpful if you identify the individual trades. I see what I think must have been a long opportunity, so I will respond in that way.

 

Here is how I would have approached the AU as a long. The BE move point is based upon the 11/26 high struck around 1:45 AM EST (not shown).

 

As per my convention, blue line is the entry, red line is an initial stop loss, green line are profit targets, and the dotted magenta line is the point at which I'd move my stop to BE.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales