Trade Review

The final result was a -0.47% loss on the account. I would have been OK if I didn’t trade those stupid breakout trades. I don’t do well on breakouts, especially with that much of a move already in place.

Review

Trade #1: EURUSD (Breakout)
Result: -0.55%
Review: Not a good trade.  Breakouts are probably not the best strategy in this slow moving pair.

Trade #2: EURUSD (Level Bounce)
Result: +0.00%
Review: Closed the trade too soon.  It was actually a good entry but was not looking at the larger picture.

Trade #3: EURUSD (Breakout)
Result: -0.26%
Review: Chasing a breakout again.

Entered on a break of the small consolidation pattern that usually signals a continuation of the trend.

Once price started moving, I moved the stop to 9254, the middle of the consolidation.

Stop moved to 9159 (+5 pips).

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I got stopped out for +5 pips.

As you can see, the trade would have worked pretty well if had kept the stop where it was!  Don’t move stops, don’t move stops.  I could have made 220 pips all the way down to the low.  The great thing was that the market respected the consolidation area and proceeded down after testing it from below.  This gives me a little confidence that I’m trading a more ‘normal’ market.

Support level break of 6726, nice bear candle.

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Stop moved to 6611 (+5)
Stop moved to 6222 (+394)

I moved the stop in really tight to protect profit because I was going to sleep.  In hindsight I should have given it a little more room to breathe but I don’t mind taking the profit off the table.  I could always re-enter.  It ended up hitting my inital target after I exited.  I’ll take 394 pips any day of the week.

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Short 1 (100) EURCAD @ 6616
Stop @ 6885 (-269)
Target @ 6075 (+541)

Sold on a break of the support level at about 6726.  It looks like it wants to drop more, so we’ll see how it goes.

I have looked at the screens night after night and wondered if scalping the EURUSD would really work.  It couldn’t be too hard with a 0.9 pip (on Oanda) spread right?  If the market moves 1 pip, I make money!

So I decided to try it.  Just target 2 pips and get out.  Luckily it worked but I realized that I need to have a better strategy if I’m going to be doing this on a more regular basis.

I see scalping as a good way to

make a few small trades here and there to supplement my longer term strategies.  Anyway, here is how it went:

Long 1 (10,000 units) @ 4294
Stop @ 4289 (-5 pips, mental stop)
Target @ 4296 (+2)

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This one was fun and I look forward to figuring out a good scalping strategy.

Trade 1: Short 1 @ 1186, Stop @ 1221
Result: Stopped out

Trade 2: Short 1 @ 1147, Stop @ 1182
Result: Stopped out

Total: -70 pips

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Short 1 @ 548
Stop @ 573 (-25 pips)

-25 pips, -$2.37

Here’s the video: