A squeeze box trade opened up yesterday and I just closed the last of it.
Short 1 (200 units) GBPJPY @ 5726
Stop @ 5849 (-123 pips)
Target @ 5603 (+123 pips)
Confidence level: 6/10
As soon as I put the trade on, price moved swiftly away from the box, then stalled. I was up about 100 pips at one point, so I decided to move the stop loss to 5721 or +5 pips. The trade then became risk free.
Click above for larger image
Price started to move again, so I took profit on 50 units at 5672 for a +54 pip profit. Price continued in my favor so I closed out 100 units at 5595 for a +131 pip profit.
Click above for larger image
At that point, I still had 50 units on. I wanted to let it run for a bit to possibly capure more proft. It was a risk free trade anyway, so I had nothing to lose.
Price finally showed this twin tower formation so I figured there was a good chance of reversal and closed the final 50 pips at 5565 for +161 pips. Mission accomplished, I captured 30 more pips with that last lot.
Click above for larger image
This was a good trade. I followed my plan and bagged a good number of pips. Final count was +120 pips when you average out all the exits.
Squeeze Box Trade
First Position:
Long 1 (100) GBPJPY @ 4910
Stop @ 4748 (-162)
Target @ 5140 (+230)
Second Postion added looking for a bounce off the 4800 level:
Long 1 (100) GBPJPY @ 4813
Stop @ 4760 (-53)
Target @ 5140 (+327)
Click above for larger image
Stopped out on both positions for a loss of -54 pips and -162 pips for a total loss of -216 pips.
One thing I learned on this trade was that I should use the original stop for the second position unless price move significantly in my favor (100+ pips). Total account exposure was small, so there wasn’t too much harm done.
Just one trade this week so this is my weekly review/trade review. Trading still not going so well so I’m taking it easy.
Short 1 (200) CADJPY @ 7164
Stop @ 7243 (-79)
Target @ 7005 (+159)
This was a squeeze box entry.
Some notes on the trade:
- Looks like a good downward triangle on 1 H, reward:risk is 2:1
- JPY isn’t moving across the board so it looks like the CAD will have to carry the move
- No big news in either pair
- Skeptical about the trade, confidence 6/10
Click above for larger image
I closed the trade early at 7189 (-25 pips) because price action didn’t look good on the 1 hour chart.
This was not a good trade at all because none of the candles acutally closed convincingly outside of the box.
Short 1 (200) EURCHF @ 4905
Stop @ 5015 (-110)
Target @ 4780 (+125)
Squeeze box trade. Nice bounce off the bottom of the box, what I like to see!
Click above for larger image
Approximately 1:1 risk reward so not a huge trade but worth taking. I really like the fact that Oanda allows me to take these fractional lots.
Sold it on the breakdown and placed limit at the target which was a previous support point on the 1 hour chart. I have been finding that playing the squeeze box to the next support/resistance level is usually the best way to go. I was tempted to close the position at the first retracement, but I stuck with it and it paid off +125 pips on this trade.
This was another squeeze box trade. It took a little while for this trade to come to fruition but it was worth the wait.
Short 1 (200) @8300
Stop @ 8427 (-127)
Target @ 8150 (+150)
Click above for larger image
What gave me confidence to stay in this trade was the fact that price was hugging the bottom of the box. When it does that and the highs are sloping down, there is a high probability that stored orders are being cleared at that level and once they are cleared, the market is free to break the dealing range.
I exited this trade on Friday because I was going to sleep and it was the end of the week so I didn’t want to hold it over the weekend. It was closed at 8194 for a nice +106 pip profit. Price proceeded to drop another 100 pips and would have hit the target. I’m OK with this though because I think it is better to bag pippage than to go to sleep and have the market turn or have the market open higher on Sunday and wipe out that profit.
I tried something a little different this time. A squeeze box formed as the 200 EMA and the 62 EMA started to come together. This time, I dropped down to the 5 minute chart and drew another squeeze box. I then took the breakout of that box as my entry signal.
Short 1 (500) @ 5033
Stop @ 5066 (-33)
Target @ 4850 (+183)
Click above for larger image
As soon as price hit the previous support, I moved the stop to +5 pips to lock in profit. I wasn’t comfortable with the price action. Usually if price breaks that 5 minute squeeze box, it will fly through the 1 hour box. This time it didn’t do that, so I got stopped out. I’m fine with this trade for the time being, but I have to backtest this trade more to get more comfortable with it.
I had to sit on this one for awhile but it just goes to show that it pays off to wait for the market to do it’s thing. As long as the stop isn’t hit, or something fundamental doesn’t change dramatically, then you just have to stay in.
Long 1 (200 units) AUDUSD @ 6943
Stop @ 6840 (-103)
Limit @7044 (+1001)
Squeeze box breakout. Similar to the EURUSD break I just took.
Click above for larger image
I actually made a mistake on this trade. I set the limit at +100 pips, NOT +1,000 like I intended. Imagine my surprise when I was taken out of the market! What I learned from this is to use my spreadsheet calculator to generate the numbers for me and not calculate levels one by one.
It was just as well though, my risk/reward was 1:1 and as you can see, the market rejected the previous reistance pretty violently. I’m not going to sweat this trade too much. I’m OK with making 100 pips! Next…
Long 1 (100 units) EURUSD @ 4244
Stop @ 3997 (-247)
Limit @ 5266 (+1022)
Squeeze Box Breakout. As you can see,
Click here to continue reading 12/29/08 EURUSD Trade >>
Long AUDUSD @ 6943
Stop @ 6840
Limit @ 7044
Click above for larger image
A small 100 unit lot of EURUSD @ 4244, Stop @3997, Limit @ 5266 to take profit if the market makes a large move in my favor. The setup was a squeeze box.
Click above to see larger image
Squeeze box trade.
Short 1 (100) GBPJPY @ 3390
Stop @ 3670 (-273)
Target @ 3290 (+1000)
Click above for larger image
Closed trade near previous support @ 3290, +100 pips. It was a pretty good exit, price kept bouncing off that level.
Squeeze box trade.
Long 1 (200) CADJPY @ 7483
Stop @ 7383 (-100)
Target @ 8483 (+1000)
Click above about larger image
Got stopped out, that’s how the trade goes.
Arrrgh! No it’s not International Talk Like a Pirate Day yet but it’s the only thing I can say after exiting this trade.
Don’t get me wrong, I made money so I’m not complaining, but I could have made more, much more.
Click here to continue reading 12/17/08 GBPCHF Trade >>
Squeeze box breakout.
Long 1 USDCAD @ 2625
Stop @ 2575 (-50)
Target @ 2872 (+247)
Click above for larger image
The stop was hit. It was set too tight, I am going to start experimenting with putting the stop in the middle of the box.
Not a bad little trade.
Long 1 AUDUSD @ 6894
Stop @ 6865 (-29)
Target @ 7267 (+373)
Took profit at 6969 (+75)
Breakout box is on the left. I have to thank the Rob Booker webinar folks for alerting me to this trade.
click for larger image
