Welcome to NexusFi: the best trading community on the planet, with over 150,000 members Sign Up Now for Free
Genuine reviews from real traders, not fake reviews from stealth vendors
Quality education from leading professional traders
We are a friendly, helpful, and positive community
We do not tolerate rude behavior, trolling, or vendors advertising in posts
We are here to help, just let us know what you need
You'll need to register in order to view the content of the threads and start contributing to our community. It's free for basic access, or support us by becoming an Elite Member -- see if you qualify for a discount below.
-- Big Mike, Site Administrator
(If you already have an account, login at the top of the page)
a little background, i've been trading for a few years, I originally learnt trading via a friend who was a senior prop-trader at various banks pre-2008. Since then i've developed my own strategy and risk management. I trade of momentum and each trade usually lasts a few hours/2 days max, I will probably place 3-5 trades a week.
I track ccy pairs, indices and energy markets, and prefer particular setups. I have around 15 of my own filters before I place a trade. Was quite bored trading on my own, so thought i'd join a forum and share my thoughts before I place a trade.
Welcome to the forum. Are u trading indices and energy outright or spreads? How has it been the journey? Might help some newbies and have more experienced traders comment and share
a few trades I took this week (next week I will write the trade details before I take them). I only took 2 trades this week as I was busy with something important.
I'm based in the UK and trade according to my sleep cycle. I sleep quite late around 4am lately. I sleep many times after I place a trade.
I trade of the 5min chart, however, I have around 1000 bars per chart ( zoomed out a lot) , I also look at the 15min chart , and 1hr chart. And may look even higher timeframes for potential obstructions of my tp path, but usually my tp and sl are based off 5min chart. Most successful pro traders, rarely look at individual bars.
Before I take a trade it is put in a category I call "awaiting" , which means I await for a confirmation within a certain timescale. If the level is not broken within a certain timeframe I take it off my awaiting list and move on.
ASX 200 (australia 200) : 6th/7th April. My break level was 5331, I went short at 5326 (7th April 2.55 am) (uk time), and set my SL: 5421, TP at: 5241 , 4.35am the trade closed itself at the profit level.
AUDCHF: 7th/8th april, my break level was 5985, SL: 6013, TP: 5957, however, this break would only be active after 11pm 7th April, (as there was an obstruction, obstruction = current or higher timeframe speed line/trendline, blocking potential profit targets). I went short at 00.35am 8th of april (at a price of 5982), ( i wouldnt have taken this trade if the pair did not PULL back to atleast close to 1:1 TP SL). The profit was reached 30 mins later.
Each trade must reach a high criteria for me to trade, you would think trading of a 5min chart I would get a load of potential trades in the day, wrong. Out of analyzing 15-20 different potentials in a day, Id only probably only take 1.
As I await for breaks, my individual trades are not always 1:1 as you can see above, but close enough. My overall successful trades are around 80%. Even half of my successful trades which you will see double profit of my potential loss, but I always cap my gains and losses as managing those trades are stressful for me. Certain trades that are in the 20% loss bracket, I will also close at break-even if I see sideway action for too long.
Rarely do the markets move in a way, where you will get a high % success ratio in your multiple trades, and also a high risk/reward ratio. I stay somewhere in the middle. A lot of my trading is based of years of feeling, and discretion.
I sometimes make mistakes, and over look one of my criteria's, that is why I have a checklist each potential trade I take. I fill out a form 15-20 times a day quickly, only 1 i will actually trade. the rest I will throw away.
Also after each new trade I take I delete the current drawings on that chart, which may have around 20 lines on them. And will draw them again for each potential trade. It is a lot of work to be consistent. The reason I do this is because previous trades ive taken on that chart will confuse the new position. Each price position in the market cycle is constantly developing fast in the 5min chart. However, as im looking at the 5min chart from a 1000 bar perspective it changes your perspective, it isn't as short-term position taking as you'd think.
Once all my criteria's are met, I do not have any worries. the 20% loss I am referring to are usually the random moves that are unexpected. (not really random, but its an influx of large position selling/buying).
My trading strategy can also be used on higher timeframes, 1hr/4hr/daily etc. my stoploss and TP will all be relative. Trading on the highertime frame is actually easier as i have more time to make less mistakes. 5min chart I have to be quicker to do my analysis. But i get more trade opportunities. When I was trading of the 1hr timeframe, to average 1 trade a day I would have to increase the markets I analyse, so at that point I was trading individual UK and japanese stocks, my success ratio was the same.
I also take trades on discretion, looking at bid/ask prices, if I see an imbalance (example, an influx of short-term sudden NZD buying) by looking at all the nzd pairs, I may quickly sell a pair ive drawn charts on, usually it will always bounce of a level i have in place. however, there is a fine line between a sustained move, or a 1-time moment move.
Im not used to typing out my ideas, as ive been used to trading alone for years, so I apologize in advance for any incoherence's.
In the UK we have spread-betting, basically a tax-free way of trading. I trade DFB's. The advantage being I can just jump in and out of thousands of different stocks/markets all in the same platform. Of course, risk management is key, hence my sizes of £ are always consistent. I don't take weekend positions (unless im trading the higher timeframes). And will use guaranteed stops that the spread betting brokers allow.
I have friends who are ex bank prop traders, who also trade via spread betting.
The above doesn't really matter, what matters is the overall strategy, you can use options or spreads to trade using my strategy. Im just simply doing directional bets.
. A thing to note though, certain markets night time (or anytime) in the UK, have a really wide bid/ask spread to utilize in the 5min chart (your sl and tp wont be equal), those markets id usually trade of the 15min or 1hr chart. I always look at spreads to make sure my ratio is consistent. and use guaranteed stops.
Hey would you be opposed to sharing what some of your filters might be? I know that one covets their own strategies, with good reason, so please don't feel obligated!
Thanks for joining us! We look forward to seeing more as your journey progresses!
thanks for the welcoming msg. the filters are mainly things i've added myself based on experience. Some v.basic things that one can overlook when the trade needs to be taken quickly, position sizing, "do not put on a 2nd trade that is correlated", some stop-loss identification criteria. etc. I don't mind losing the trade when all my criteria's were hit, as it's impossible anybody is always right. But if it was due to my own negligence/laziness/impatience, then it really affects me.
P.S. just figured out multi-quote, so putting all these replies in one.
I also opened a spread betting account with IG, yet to fund it as I am first looking to learn a method to make money (have blown up my Oanda accounts multiple time). I mostly traded Crude oil and few forext pairs.
any guidance on how to get started would be awesome.