Friday, October 28, 2011

All Hallows "AUDUSD and EURUSD" Eve

What-up $AUDUSD?

What is up with the $AUDUSD?
London markets opened, US just opened. $AUDUSD is just sitting there and resting on that EMA62 fence. Kinda like Humpty Dumpty before the great fall?


Thursday, October 27, 2011

Where's $AUDUSD going today?

Hey you  $AUDUSD, where are you going? Can I follow you down?

 Hi, it's just after London open. Here's the picture.
  1. Boss reading at 866
  2. Since the morning Asian Session, it has traded up about 170 pips (more as we speak)
  3. I've put in my trendlines - so it's a question of whether they will break?
  4. And will stochastics stay overbought for the SELL down.

Monday, October 24, 2011

All eyes on the $AUDUSD...again


Bossilator on iPhone
I am still not trading today but I can be watching.

I just love the new Bossilator radar screen on my iPhone.

Look at that $AUDUSD 15M Bossilator. That's 1180 candles away from the SMA800. That is what I call a WOW! reading.

Forex Trading Lessons Learned ...the hard way


I am not trading today. And hey, what the bleep.... I didn't trade yesterday either.
Well, it's not because I didn't want to.

Ever since I started the Bossilator Course, I have become more aware of when I am in a trade, that I probably should not have placed in the first place. And that, is a good thing.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

"I am always wandering around in enigmas" ...MC Escher"

Oh what a day! 

Have you ever had one of those days like the guy on the escalator? 

I sometimes wonder if maybe M.C. Escher was a forex trader before he found his specialization in mathematical art. How else could you explain how this statement, "I am always wandering around in enigmas" would fit so well in a a day of a forex trader.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Anatomy of a Murder Forex Trade

Do you remember this one? A great 1959 courtroom adult drama set in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (yes, it is called that and yes, the Great Lakes are amazing).

Anatomy of a Murder was filmed in the quaint little port-side town/city of Marquette, which (would you believe) is the largest city in the Upper Peninsula. Population 21,300 - no, I am not kidding.

A few years back, my "extra special friend" (yes, he is..."the one") Richard introduced me to this extra remote part of the US. Having lived in cities all my life, it was a totally new experience for me. Every year, when we go back and visit, my mind comes back cleared because it is filled with this restorative calmness that you can only get when you really "get away from it all". I often wish I could order it "To Go".

Friday, October 14, 2011

"You have to be different?.... ...I'm not!"

Life of Brian (Monty Python, 1979)


Brian: You have to be different! 

The Crowd: Yes, we are all different! 

Small lonely voice: I'm not! 



Thursday, October 13, 2011

Zen and a No-nonsense Trading Philosophy




" I know it’s easier to take 30 pips out of an available range of 100 pips than to take 30 pips out of an available range of 30 pips."....Jennifer.bz


How much more zen-like and no-nonsense can you get in a trading philosophy? I used to always get angry with myself when I took only a small part of a large move.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Aaaarrgggh....Painful Emotional Trading

I really am in pain!

Today I am sitting out on a few trades. Actually I am putting myself on a strict regime of 1 trade per day. Yup, too much trading will make your trading account blow up!

Monday, October 10, 2011

C'mon Aussie, come on....$AUDUSD Setup

Come on Aussie, Come on!    Good Morning Asian Session Traders!

Man Carrying Beer to Cricket Match

Do you know that song? It's a great Australian Cricket song. I used to hear it every summer, all the time in my misspent youth...all the way Down Under in the Land of Oz!

Hey, hey, hey. Starting a great new course on planning trades better.

Hey, hey, hey...it's a brand new day....

Monday is my no-trading day! So I use it to make notes on what I have to get done for the rest of the week. Which is probably why you have seen so many "thought-provoking" posts in one day?

I had to put this out before I head to the land of Nod - it's midnight here while the rest of the world is starting to stir.  I am really excited that I get to start learning how to trade longer term charts. Jennifer (yes, the calm one within the eye of the trading storm) just launched her new course.

"Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't."


Sometimes when I am trading, I feel like I am trapped in a Spock mind-meld. I can't do what I am supposed to be doing and yet...I can't get away.

Usually when I go through a losing streak, it makes me question my choices with a vengeance.

And then I trawl the internet looking for answers, fervently typing in google searches for things like "How to handle losing trades", "trading psychology",...the list goes on.

Not too long ago, after bouncing around the net for awhile I found a great forex trading blog by a person named Jennifer (no last name.. at the time) who was just putting up trade setups for free on the internet. The setups were simple and what was evident was that she was a very consistent trader. She also had a great following at the time. I did like what I read but since I am an ADHD type of trader, I decided it wasn't for me because she traded off longer timeframe charts e.g. 1-hour, 4-hour and daily charts.

Recently, I was drawn back to the blog because I was wondering if I should change my trading style to look at longer timeframe charts. Well, Jennifer's blog has recently evolved into a joint blog with Rob Booker (yes... the irreverent one of the BossilatorWallabot and Adventures of a Currency Traderfame) to become piptoring.com

Just so you know, I have been taking the Bossilator course since August, so you will find me hanging out daily on piptoring.com and the Bossilator forum. You see, I am trying to navigate through this part of my trading life without having to endure too many painful drawdowns in my account (yeah..those ouchy ones like last week's trades). So I am constantly on the lookout for wise words and directions from the usual Trading Gods...oops...Gurus.

2 weeks ago, in late September,  I discovered this wonderful gem titled "You already know" written very simply and aptly by  Jennifer (just Jennifer...still no last name...a mere Trading Mortal) on her blog. I liked it so much I put it into the iBooks app on my iPhone.

I really like this phrase from Shakespeare:
Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't. 
(Hamlet, Act II, Scene 2)

When I find myself trudging through trading madness, Jennifer's article "You already know" is where you will find me...trying to find my way back on track.




Sunday, October 09, 2011

Hhmph....Breakfast and a morning $EURUSD setup

What is hhmph?!!!

I woke up this morning just before 6am(!) to make breakfast for JD (10 years old) who has to be in school by 7am. So after making a nutritious breakfast of; two perfect soft-boiled eggs (7 minutes soak in a large cup of boiling water... and they really are perfect), some toasted and buttered home made bread and an ice-cold chocolate for drinks, I asked: "How was that Buddy?"

"Hhmph..."

Friday, October 07, 2011

Whoa there! It's Non-Farm Payroll today.

This is not your usual Maths equation....

2 rambunctious but generally well-behaved 10 year old boys cooped up in a 600 square foot apartment on a rainy day for 4 hours + 1 30-minute car ride = 1 slightly frazzled, wanna-be forex trader mom

It's days like this that Something's Got To Give...

Thursday, October 06, 2011

Insanity...how I lost control of the trading day.


I think insanity runs in my family. It's my only explanation for choosing to trade forex and continue to do it for these last couple of years without a nett positive year! (I am quite embarrassed to put down how long I have been doing this)

After 2 weeks of very good and disciplined trading; and following all the rules and identifying setups (Gosh! Horrors - I actually planned a trade - many trades in fact). I killed it all.

Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Gadgets...



......Powerbook G4, iMAC 24", iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, Macbook Pro 2.4Ghz, Airport Extreme, Magic Mouse......


Thank you Steve Jobs for making my life a wonderful, fun, -filled world.
JellyMuffin.com - The place for profile layouts, flash generators, glitter graphics, backgrounds and codes
You Rock!!



Tuesday, October 04, 2011

All eyes on the $AUDUSD today

Good Morning World....


Yup, I missed a nice trade while I was asleep...it happens...and I am learning to tell my brain that ....it happens...


Note to Self: Missing on a trade just before you shut-down for the say doesn't mean that you have go crazy and force an impulse trade the next day. It might seem logical, but sometimes my brain doesn't work that way.  

Back to business and something I have never done before: I am waiting for 3 setups on 3 different timeframes - all going the in the same direction on the same currency pair $AUDUSD. G'day $AUDUSD!


Actually waiting for setups is something I have never done before - at least up until the mind-blowing Bossilator course.


Setup 1: 1M $AUDUSD - Trifecta - Trend - Buy
Bossilator is at 291 so it looks good for entry.
Looking to buy when $AUDUSD closes above Fib levels 23 ($AUDUSD @ 0.9550) and 33 (9531). The target is Fib 0 (9596). I might also wait for the EMAs to sort themselves out. I like it when they are in a nice order - at least when price is above EMA13 for a buy.


$AUDUSD 1M 5OCT11
As I write, $AUDUSD was testing the 9500 at Fib50, it didn't touch the SMA800, so I'm still good to wait for the setup. If it touches the SMA800, I'll take this off my watch-list.




Setup 2: 5M $AUDUSD - Stochastics - Counter-trend - Buy
Bossilator at 999 as I write - good enough for counter-trend.
Looking for a buy when the Stochastics get to 20 and above.
I'm just waiting to see a place where I can get a significant low that will provide a nice enough risk/reward. 2:1 according to the rules.
$AUDUSD 5M 5OCT11


Setup 3: 15M $AUDUSD - Stochastics - Counter-trend - Buy
This is my favourite because the Bossilator is so hugely extended (1700 and above now). This was also the trade I missed last night. It may or may not setup again because the trade is already in play. I am also aware that $AUDUSD may be twitchy so if I do get into this trade; I may just take out the planned 30pips or close to it since I may not be able to sit in the trade for that long (I have "ants in my pants" syndrome when I am more than 20pips in profit - I really am trying to work on this.)

$AUDUSD 15M 5OCT11


If you can't tell from the tone of my voice, I am taking it slow today since I did well yesterday. I am too cognizant of my ability to think I can rule the world after a couple of quick wins. I took another trade last night but had to make a quick exit to run some must-do errands - that added 9 pips to the pool for a total of 29 for yesterday. Not a bad way to start the week...even if I say so myself.


That's it for the morning. Sorry for the long post. I really need to have my morning cuppa Joe now....


Happy Trading!



30 pips per day

I've decided that I will try to do 30pips per trading day.  At least that's the plan - there will be days in the week where I will not any trades. I've learnt from many hard knocks that sometimes the best trade is to not trade at all.

This morning I took a counter-trend on $AUDUSD. $AUDUSD has been on the watch-list since it has been in a long "down-trend" (1400 15Min bars away from the SMA800 as of Monday this week).

I set it up for a 2:1 risk/reward - Buy entry was at 9499, target at 9541, stop loss at 9477. Break-even was at 9521. Around the 20pips profit mark (Close to 1:1 risk/reward), I was starting to get jumpy so I took it out and closed with +20pips. Point to note, when it hit the half-way point to the target, I changed change the stop loss to break-even. This is another new step, recently included into the New and Improved Trader Mom's Set of Rules to Trade By.
AUDUSD 5Min/15Min














Here's a funny point about this newly added "set to break-even" step of setting the trade:


Every trading book worth it's weight will have a chapter titled "money management". And I have read these chapters in all the books that I own. Well, it took me all of 2 years to understand what it  actually means and how to implement this in trading!
Happy Trading!

I'm Baaaack!

I'm back and trading with a vengeance.


No not really, but I am back and trading. It has been a long break. June and July in the US. Back home to Singapore and then a quick day surgery in early August. I won't bore anybody with the gore and guts but it was gory - at least for the next 2 weeks after surgery.


Last weekend - a quick trip to Saigon. My first time in Vietnam, interesting city!


On the trading front, I just attended a week of forex trading webinar's FX-AllStars set up by Boris Schlossberg and team. My brain is still digesting some of the materials.


But my best present to myself has been attending Rob Booker's Bossilator  course which started in late-August. What an eye-opener! What amazing fun! I have always loved all his books and free e-stuff available on the web. But this course just tops it all.


Not only has he put up the how-tos for trade entry and exits and stop losses. He also has trading strategies for counter-trend and trend-trading. So you can pick and choose depending on which type of trader you are. Webinar's are once every 2 weeks but help is available on live chat and the built-in forum.


I just received an email to say that it was still open to registration so if you are still looking to tremendously increase your trading performance then head on down to http://bossilator.com.


All my posts from this point on will have references to the Bossilator which is plain speak for the distance a financial instrument spends away from the 800 SMA.


And so she wrote....