As an example, I have spent an hour or so analyzing the markets so far this week. On Sunday I usually do this, before the market opens on Monday. I do my homework by checking my charts, catching up with any financial news over the weekend and I make my trade plan for the week ahead.  Once I have my plan in place, I then set orders for any currency pairs that I wish to trade at the market open. We need to wait for the market to open before orders can be set, since orders cannot be placed on the platform over the weekend while the market is closed. Once my order is set, with a predetermined stop loss and take profit (target), I can then walk away from my trading platform and let the market take it’s course.

These are the current orders that I placed at the market open this week and why:

GBPUSD
Long
Daily Chart
Entry:  1.6540
Stop Loss:  1.6502
Target:  1.6822
Risk / Reward Ratio:  1:7

We are still in a channel with price looking like it will once again bounce off the lower trendline. I have my order set to buy at 1.6540 as this is also the area of 61.8% fib and 55 ema. My stop loss is set for below the 78.6% fib and the trendline. My target is set at the previous high. As you can see, this has an excellent risk to reward ratio of 1:7. So a “must set” order in my view.

You may also be able to see my trade I placed from last week. I bought after the previous touch of the trendline and have now closed half the trade with an 80 pip profit, leaving the balance to run to my ultimate target, with potentially an overall 317 pip profit. Stop is now moved to entry, meaning this is now a risk free trade

USDCHF

Short
Weekly Chart
Entry:  0.8980
Stop Loss:  0.9085
Target:  0.8700
Risk / Reward Ratio:  1:2

As you can see from this weekly chart, there is a trendline in place since the middle of last year. This trendline is also intersecting with a support / resistance line (which also happens to be a whole number) at 0.9000. Another reason to take this trade around the 0.9000 price is that it is also 61.8% fib retracement. Therefore, multiple reasons to set an order for this trade. Set and then forget.

USDJPY

Long
Weekly & Daily Chart
Entry:  102.80
Stop Loss:  101.85
Target:  105.23
Risk / Reward Ratio:  1:2.5

With a confirmed triangle break on the daily chart, I am hoping to catch the move on the pullback. In anticipation of this pullback, I have placed an order to buy at 102.80, which is just above the 200 monthly ema, & 55 daily ema. I have placed my stop loss just below the bottom line of the triangle with my target at the recent highs.

EURGBP

Short
Weekly Chart
Entry:  0.8337
Stop Loss:  0.8410
Target:  0.8090
Risk / Reward Ratio:  1:3

The EURGBP on the weekly is also in a channel. I have my order set to sell this pair at the area where the trendline, 200 ema & 55 ema intersect – ie. multiple reasons. My stop loss is placed above the trendline & above the most recent highs. My target is set for the lower trendline of the channel, which also happens to be a previous area of support & resistance.

Let’s see what price has in-store for us on these currency pairs over the next week. If any of these areas fail, I will be able to initiate my back-up plan, however, the charts shown here are my 1^st choice trade options.

Happy trading during your 4-Hour work week!

Jackie

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This patience can certainly pay off, as was evidenced recently with the USDJPY triangle break. You may recall my blog post on 21st October in which I was patiently waiting for a potential 980 pip move after a break of the triangle on the weekly chart. I sat on my hands and patiently waited for the break to happen. The break was confirmed the week of 3 November and I entered the trade long. Currently that trade is up some 350 pips and is still rallying. See how patience can pay off I am still in this trade and have taken some profits off the table and am leaving the remainder of the trade to run. My target is set to take the remaining profits at 103.70. Let’s see how the trade progresses…

Bring on the pips!
Jackie

The post Patience is a Virtue appeared first on View from the Forex Office.....

As I begin my week reflecting on my trades for the past weeks, I also reflect on what turned out to be a very peaceful view from my office this week.  I must commend Cairo on their exceptionally calm and peaceful protests the past two Fridays!  What I was anticipating to be a large and potentially violent demonstration, actually turned out to be a few thousand protesters voicing their views, in what resulted in a relatively peaceful gathering (photo below taken from the balcony of our building).  According to The Egyptian Gazette, only 8 people were killed in clashes Friday week, across the whole of Egypt.  This is a huge improvement from the 1,000+ who have sadly lost their lives over the past few weeks, and many of these have unfortunately been in our “front yard”

Regrettably over the past week, the emphasis appears to have bypassed protests and moved on to disruptions through bombings.  The Egyptian Interior Minister was very lucky to survive an assassination bid last week after a bomb was detonated near his house in Nasr City, Cairo.  Although I never heard, nor personally saw the devastation after this blast, Nasr City is our neighbourhood – this is all just a little bit too close for comfort!  Sadly, reports were that 2 people died and 24 were injured in this attack.

I hope to be able to report on some brighter news from my neighbourhood next week

Enough of what’s been happening around “my office”, let’s get down to business and discuss the results from within my trading office…

The two trades I had my eye on in my previous post were the AUDJPY and EURUSD.  I took both the trades (based on the reasoning discussed in my post).  This was the outcome…

AUDJPY

I set the order to short this pair at 88.71, just prior to going to bed.  This is the perfect time to set an order for an “end of day” trade, since the daily candle had just closed in London.  My technical analysis was telling me sell the AUDJPY, with the indications being that this was a high probability set up.  My order was triggered the next day, and my predetermined target was subsequently hit on day 2.  121 pips profit (over a week’s worth of profit) achieved in 2 days from one order that I set and left.  This little gem of a strategy is perfect for those of you who are too busy to be checking computer screens all day and/or who work full time.  About 15 mins work analysing and setting the order for this pair, which resulted in a week’s worth of profit!  Brings new meaning to the “4 Hour Work Week”

EURUSD

The second trade I took that week was the EURUSD, for the aforementioned reasons in my previous post.  This was a trade which didn’t go according to my plan.  Oh well, you can’t win them all, and especially when it comes to Forex!  Losing is part and parcel of trading and should always be factored into your strategy.  The idea is to try and ensure that your winning trades reward you with at least double what your losing trades take away from you.

Thank God I had my stop loss in place! If not, I could have been in a much worse position (as indicated by the last candle).  A stop loss is mandatory in every single one of my trades and this has ended up saving my butt many a time. It’s there to save your butt also – make sure you utilise it!!

The up arrow indicates where I entered the trade (at the green dashed line) – after the pullback to the break of the triangle.  The down arrow is where my stop loss safely got me out of the trade (red dashed line), before I potentially could have ended up losing my shirt on the next candle.  The gold dashed line was my predetermined target.  I entered Long at 1.3391 and was stopped out at 1.3350 = 41 pips loss

Overall, at the end of the 30 August trading week, my total profit was 80 pips.  Not bad, considering this was realised only from two trades.

With the threat of a strategic strike on Syria, Non Farm Payroll, interest rate news and numerous other “red flag” news announcements, I chose to take a voluntary week off last week.  Sometimes the best trade is no trade at all.  It is a good idea to be well aware of when these important news announcements occur and to sit on your hands if need be during these times.  A great website which details all economic news and exactly when these news announcements are due out is:  http://www.forexfactory.com/  Checking this website should form a part of your daily trade planning strategy.  It’s an excellent resource – use it!

Bring on the 4 Hour (or less) Work Week this week…

Happy trading!

Jackie

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