The forexbird

Post-NFP

2012-01-06T21:50:00.000+02:00

Almost a lucky trade in post-NFP session. Price had compassion for my large stoploss and resumed down to give some gains.

Crude oil

2012-01-05T21:42:00.000+02:00

Too late (entry) for the second trade, on already extended price move. Better wait for the necessary little correction.

The Artist (2011)

2012-01-02T22:29:00.001+02:00

What a film! A splendid, nostalgic metaphor of the silent Hollywood movies era, with superb story, actors, art directing, photography, music!! A French director made this big achievement, a genious rendition of an all-american theme and I bet my account that no American could do the same! Despite that, American critics are not blind : please read the enthusiastic review of the best of them, Roger Ebert.

An absolut must-see film, it made my first of the year evening.

Happy new year!

2012-01-01T21:55:00.000+02:00

Happy new year to all!

Back from a busy December with very little trading. I was then in the mountains, whithout connection, for the last 8 days.

My best wish for you all and me : be wiser and less greedy, be less dependent of money and enjoy life. Life is so short.

I had the time to enjoy several books, cds, moovies recently. Please allow me to write about these.

Upozenie

2011-12-11T21:17:00.001+02:00

Had a great hour today with the sublime Anna Maria Jopek. A beautiful lady from Poland, a splendid voice, here with the great Pat Metheny. Jazz with aethereal guitar and polish eloqution-a warm female voice, plus the best mucisians from this big country. An other big album from Anna Maria is the super Bosa.

Last minute disaster

2011-12-08T23:30:00.000+02:00

I had some gains while e-mini got a steady pace just before the closing, when a news wire from European summit (Britain out of treaty) destroyed everything. It was late and I was tired and I had a lousy stop : -14 ticks.

End of a move

2011-12-07T23:30:00.000+02:00

A few ticks

2011-12-06T20:44:00.001+02:00

A few ticks gain from a single trade, based on price action and trendlines only. Life is simple.

..not so quiet

2011-12-05T23:00:00.000+02:00

..Just an hour later and after a S&P anouncement, a big, big move. I wasn't there anymore..

Quiet Monday

2011-12-05T20:36:00.001+02:00

Not much, on a quiet, boring Monday(till now). Even the crude oil is quiet today!..

Post-NFP

2011-12-02T16:05:00.001+02:00

3 little soldiers in 10 minutes and done (?) for the day.

Waves

2011-12-01T23:15:00.001+02:00

Same session as on the previous post, but on a wave form. I think oil looks better on a wave.

Thrills

2011-12-01T23:03:00.001+02:00

Back to trading, after a long time. During my "vacation", I studied the behavior of several instruments on futures. Among them I liked crude oil the most. Lots of movements, very fast and brutal, and very fast reaction needed from the trader. My way to fight boredom.. Here are my first live trades on crude oil, with just 2 contracts. A roller coaster indeed, extreme emotions guaranteed every second! What I should precisely avoid !,, lol.

Bad timing on an easy market

2011-11-09T23:59:00.000+02:00

The trend was strong and gave easy pips on the bwginning. Then, on the last two trades, a considerable risk was taken as I refused to close on the correctice moves, precisely because (I felt that) the trade was strong. This is the perfect way to get a -30 on the face, on a very fast retracement...

Post-NFP

2011-11-04T20:10:00.000+02:00

The first trade could be closed earlier. An earlier exit could also give an earlier entry short. So the first short entry came late and, as a consequence, had some risk.

I am back

2011-11-01T13:56:00.001+02:00

I have the "privilege" to get up every morning to see how the crooked (or silly?) politicians of my country destroy this beautiful country, Greece, every single day. I have the "privilege" to live with my health problems and depression while viewing how ugly are destroyed other people's lives. Life here becomes more chaotic, more difficult and dangerous every day. I have a big pain seeing this country in this situation, although I always felt completely stranger to the local mentalities.

As i was in a very bad mood and exhausted, I gave up trading three weeks ago to preserve my health and, more than this, because I simply lost motivation and felt very vulnerable to trade in that condition. I spent 20 days reading, thinking, listening to music and occupied with the remains of my day job. I am back today.

Today it was an easy day. Our prime minister (again!) had a cunning plan to destroy the European Union, and naturally, the euro collapsed.. THIS is the privilege to live in Greece, you know better here the daily fate of the single currency...lol.

A better entry

2011-10-11T22:35:00.000+03:00

As I wrote in the previous post, entering at the resistance and going for the breakout is dangerous for my approach. Today I entered at the local temporary roof, as price was doing little HHs and HLs and could move up. Price moved back, just 1 pip above my stop... (and the doctor told me : no stress!..). Then price reversed and I had some gains. A better entry is pointed by the arrow, on the MA.

Preparing for the break

2011-10-09T20:04:00.000+03:00

I have stopped trading in the last days because of a health problem. I had only these trades a couple of days ago. As price was going to break the resistance (previous high), an intense movement forward and backward took place and my stop was hit. It was too risky to widen the stop, waiting for the almost sure (?) breakout. I have done this in the past and payed a lot.. A tight stop method like mine is vulnerable when applied on breakouts. That's why I apply it mostly when price is in a mid-range.

Bye bye Steve

2011-10-06T19:41:00.000+03:00

"Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Last hour

2011-09-22T23:30:00.000+03:00

Last hour of the US session. I had the last ticks of the extreme sell off, then I felt that the market was going to correct a little before the bell. But anticipations are theory, I wait to see that on the chart.

Anatomy of a loss

2011-09-17T17:27:00.000+03:00

Late session again, just before the Friday's close. First trade entered late and gave a predictable loss. Second one was even worse, a revenge trade. I had to close it at my max acceptable loss, -9 ticks and then price reversed (as always happens). The two winners who followed were correct. Total -2,5 ticks. I was tired and despite that I spent my time and some money in front of the monitors and missed also a night at the movies..

Bits

2011-09-15T23:10:00.000+03:00

Not much on this late session (busy week for me) when market is calm, preparing for the last move before the bell. Not expect more this hour, although I could initiate the last trade much earlier.

Swing

2011-09-12T23:00:00.000+03:00

Opus

2011-09-11T18:20:00.000+03:00

Reading Price Charts Bar by Bar: The Technical Analysis of Price Action for the Serious Trader (Wiley Trading)
"This is not a book one can read. It is for study. One who studies this book is immediately faced with a challenge, visualize every phrase with what you have seen on a chart".

I was reading this in my hotel nights. Not suitable for the newbie, not a easy piece of trading study but it is the best book on price action I have read so far. There are many faults and repetitions and the writing is dry at best. Al Brooks is a serious man and he makes your effort to grasp his opus as big as possible, in order to increase your own effort!.. He is clever but also scholastic. He lucks one quality only : intuition. Trading is also intuition.

Back to trading

2011-09-09T21:40:00.002+03:00

Back to charts, after a week of business traveling. I missed all the sound and the fury of previous days but I kept my rule to not trade in hotel rooms.

So today I followed the ES decline and had some ticks of gain. On the same time I was examining the collapse of the euro on an other monitor. It was tempting to follow this, as the gains could be much higher there, but I feel more secure on ES future now. More "stable" market, no slippage or price hunting, as I wrote before. I may trade again the euro in the next days, when it calms down. No casino feelings for me anymore..

Straight opening

2011-08-29T19:56:00.000+03:00

No tricks at this NY opening : a straight, easy to catch, move up and then, boredom.

End of week

2011-08-26T19:48:00.000+03:00

Quick gains and the priviledge to close for Friday and week early.

Risk

2011-08-25T19:37:00.001+03:00

Risk taken at the last trade. But risk is considerably lower on E-mini trading (compared to highly volatile eur/usd). So this instrument "begs" for higher stakes with lower targets.

Day 3

2011-08-24T20:36:00.005+03:00

One more day with S&P future and I am more than delighted! Razor-sharp precise moves and executions, no instant pull-backs (just to hit my 6-8 pips stop), (almost) no spread or slippage, the lowest commission and the profound sentiment that THIS is the scalper's instrument par excellence. A scalper can here enter trades with 10-20 contracts (or more) whithout fear of slippage or stop hunting due to lack of liquidity, and go for 2-5 ticks easily and with minimal risk.

I entered a short at NY opening (16:30 my time) -tricky time- and got a loser. The rest was quite simple. 22 pips (I should say ticks! lol) today.

ES again

2011-08-23T23:25:00.001+03:00

A few ticks here and there, on ES again.

New toy

2011-08-22T21:39:00.003+03:00

I am a Gemini by sign and conviction : I cannot stay in one place, occupied with just one thing. Although profitable on the eur/usd market, I started, during my vacation, to study (off-line) the S&P future's charts. What I liked most was its smoothness : rarely violent events, but quiet, peaceful moves up or down. Much less stop hunting, due to the HUGE liquidity (10-times the eur/usd liquidity), which makes the false moves more difficult to produce. A perfect micro-climate for the scalper. I realy admired how perfectly (technically) the market is moved by the big guys : I only need to follow them.

So today I had my first live trades with the new toy. I traded just 2 contracts in a lazy, post-holidays session, while euro was completely flat. The first trade was wrongly entered far away from the median and it was inevitable to close it with a loss. Last trade could go further.

August

2011-08-21T23:44:00.000+03:00

Eur/usd was in an almost perfect stuttering mode during my absence. Obviously the stakes are elsewhere for now : on eur/chf (spectacular drop on Aug.9th and rebound), on S&P future, not mentioning Gold of course. It is again the "casino fever" feeling in the markets (which I profoundly dislike), due to new fears about world economy.. This mentality is dangerous for a scalper, it can keep him trading endlessly and greed is the best way to lose money and your mind.. I will try to trade less and selectively in the next days..

Back from heaven

2011-08-20T00:42:00.000+03:00

All good things come to an end, so did my vacation on the mountains and lakes...I was running around this lake every morning in the past weeks..I am back now.

Vacations time

2011-07-26T20:33:00.004+03:00

I am on the mountains with family now and i intend to stay here till Aug. 15! My happiest period of the year, I am delighted to spend all my time with the kids, in a splendid location. No internet connection, but the ipad works full time (off-line), with pre-loaded books and the daugthers' games.. Euro can move up or down, i can hardly notice that.. Enjoy your summer you all!..

Going with a pace

2011-07-13T21:12:00.001+03:00

Late entry - early exit

2011-07-12T23:09:00.000+03:00

Post-NFP

2011-07-08T21:14:00.002+03:00

Despite my false direction at the start, I took fastly (10 minutes) my 20 pips for the day and closed charts.

You must be fast

2011-07-07T22:02:00.005+03:00

First trade was an easy one : last move up propulsed by the previous steam and sharp move (see the slope of the band). I knew it was probably a little move and because of that I closed at +5, almost at the peak, not waiting for more. Second trade is the best of these three : closed at -1, as soon as I felt the price immoblity (=reversal). Third was to cut the flower at the peak again and get out fast.

Strong bias = dangerous trap

2011-07-06T23:17:00.034+03:00

The strongly biased market of the last two days (sharp decline of the euro) made me trade whithout a safety net. Price went to -13 on the second trade (as the max. -10 stop was unefficient yesterday) and I was ready to close with a big loss, as the correction could drive much deeper. Suddenly the price scetched a local lower high and dropped like a stone! I closed at +5 and I couldn't believe I was on the positive side!
Not very professional trading, really...Like a newbie, again..

Going down (obviously)

2011-07-05T23:06:00.002+03:00

Free fall after Portugal downgrade, everybody was sure the euro was going down sharply, except me. This hesitation produced mediocre entries-exits. Average execution generates also bad luck : price reversed in my favor exactly after I was exited with a 10 pips loss (7th trade), the maximum loss I could accept.

Funny (phony?) stories

2011-07-04T19:21:00.004+03:00

The latest and shortest joke has just 3 words : American judiciary system!!!

I knew for the very beginning that all this stuff was a bad b-movie, pure (and poor) creation of a mediocre screenwriter. That's why I was mad (and I wrote here) about the treatment and the public demolition ("perp walk" etc) of the man who would be the next president of France.

At the beginning of this cheap story, the maid was a "honest and hard working woman". Now she is a liar, a "hooker" or simply a manipulated person or an agent. It took 2 months to the NY police and attorney to know who the maid really was. Enough time for Strauss-Kahn to step back from the head of IMF....

""The justice system is already screwed up - too many innocent people wrongly convicted and no way out. DSK's money saved him, never forget that."' (a comment from a "deep America" reader, in the NY Post tabloid).

Money is not that important

2011-06-30T22:07:00.000+03:00

All the money of the word cannot bring you the joy of life of this young lady, the hapiness to sing in the streets with friends...

Day off

2011-06-30T21:56:00.001+03:00

Day off today, as the June target was met and cannot jeopardize this on the sometimes sharp month's fixing (last day of month).

Enjoy the day

2011-06-29T15:24:00.001+03:00

Target met in 50 minutes. Closed charts and pc after this. Euro may reach 1.44, 1.45, who cares.. Time for reading, swimming or music now.

Tuesday-2

2011-06-28T22:26:00.001+03:00

The daily target of 20 pips was reached with these, but at a price! Huge risk taken twice, big anxiety..

Tuesday-1

2011-06-28T22:21:00.000+03:00

I insisted too much on the -8 trade, despite the fact that price was fighiting against a previous high on the hourly. Last trade closed in time, because of this.

3 trades a day

2011-06-27T21:41:00.002+03:00

My fear with trading is always the same : to be trapped in the spiral of endless overtrading. Today I had a day which I consider as the perfect one : reaching (almost) my target (20 pips) in just 3 trades, in less than an hour. I can't stand the continuous stress, all day long, in front of the monitors anymore, I must care about my health and I have to make my pips with high stakes in the shortest time possible. Life is elsewhere..

Going up and reversal

2011-06-22T23:23:00.001+03:00

2011-06-17T23:26:00.001+03:00

Last trade closed at the middle of the move because, at this point, I totalled my 20 pips/day target and I wanted to secure this and stop trading for the day!

Last chance

2011-06-17T23:17:00.001+03:00

Got the last train to go south, after missing the previous (and safer) opportunity to do the same.

Up and down

2011-06-16T23:13:00.003+03:00

I insisted too much on the wrong direction on the first trade and got a -8 in no time. The gains came after this, in a natural way, just by following price.

Extension

2011-06-13T23:05:00.001+03:00

On the second trade of this, 1/4 of position was closed as soon at it got positive, at +1. I had the fear that price had overextended north, so a correction was very probable. Despite that I left the rest of position to run with stop at breakeven and closed 1/4 at +10 and the resting 1/2 at +10 also but a few moments later.

And this

2011-06-09T23:59:00.001+03:00

Price following

2011-06-09T23:58:00.005+03:00

A few moments later, it was easier to follow the price and make some gains, keeping always a tight stop.

Casino thrills

2011-06-09T23:56:00.002+03:00

I was lucky enough to close trade a few seconds before the madness episode. It was 5 minutes after the news and with no particular reason, price dropped 70 pips and raised 80, all in 19 seconds!!! How can anyone trade under these conditions and stay alive? Forex becomes a casino little by little, with all the thrills and the suckers hooks of a casino. I feel a growing deregulation of the currencies market and a wise man should stay aside for a while.

At the very same time of this episode, the ES future (S&P index) was calm like a zen garden. I monitor this instrument also in the last weeks and I now understand the thousands of traders who trade this for an income. No big thrills, quite, steady moves and more safe to gain a few ticks here and there. More soon..

Post NFP with futures

2011-06-03T21:10:00.000+03:00

Tight stop (6pips) saved me on the first case and putted me out of the trend on the second. Total 21 pips.

Move up, twice

2011-06-01T21:06:00.001+03:00

No trades -enjoy music!

2011-05-30T21:30:00.003+03:00

Bank holiday today, no trades, a day devoted to music, listened at least 25 lps since morning. Among the new albums, the latest of my favorite jazzman of the new generation, the sublime Marcin Wasilewski from Poland, the fantastic "Faithful". Lyrical and genius.

The secret garden

2011-05-29T21:56:00.001+03:00

Trading room moves outdoors

2011-05-29T15:08:00.016+03:00

For those who asked about my (very simple) configuration : here is the outdoor trading room in my garden (from May to Νovember). An ordinary Vaio (i5 proc with 4gb ram, Win7/64-bit, main and backup connections) connected to a 23'' monitor (with 3 NT charts, DOMs, spreadsheets) and a ipad for news and browsing, plus a pair of good loudspeakers for listening to music (all the time). And Rocky, the pupil.

I am well protected against the rain and the sun. My only worries are a few ants who fell off the pine tree above and try to find warmth inside my laptop...

I love outdoor life and I am a better trader outside. A lot of ideas come to my mind, here, under my pine tree..

End of trend

2011-05-27T23:27:00.003+03:00

Trends are like old stories : they have a beginning, a middle and the end. You can't catch a story or a trend at the end. Here I got some lousy pips at the start of the move and then I missed the main part of it. Because of this, I insisted to continue long, while the steam was getting less strong. Result : two consecutive losses.

Three parts

2011-05-23T23:14:00.001+03:00

Entering late in the trend and scaling out trades in three parts, in order to avoid a reversal. Besides that, some risk was taken on the 3.66 trade.

Going down

2011-05-20T18:48:00.000+03:00

Going up

2011-05-19T21:38:00.003+03:00

Going up with lousy trades and serious risk taken at the end.

Moscow trials

2011-05-18T23:49:00.005+03:00

In a civilized country like the US, a few NY cops and a low-rank judge named Melissa can easily destroy a man like DSK, on the simple accusation of an other person. I know, I know, the presumption of innocence is a vice of the "old Europe", where the human rights (of the criminals too) are respected.

I am still under the choc of seeing a man I admire, presented in a show, as a trapped beast (an old lion in a circus), as the new Al Capone,as a serial killer. This could never happen in Western Europe.

Second attempt

2011-05-18T22:59:00.000+03:00

A few more trades below the 1,4270 resistance. I didn't believe that the breakout was imminent, so I closed every time the price approached the "roof" and on the slightest pull back. Obviously the strong move was the other way round (down) but I had already stopped for the day when that happened.

Attempting a break out

2011-05-18T22:53:00.001+03:00

I came late to this, while price was trying to break 1.4270. Only two trades, as a range below the roof was profiling.

Going down slowly

2011-05-17T22:46:00.001+03:00

DSK

2011-05-15T22:15:00.002+03:00

How can a (very) clever man be trapped in such a pathetic and cheap american b-movie plot?

Again

2011-05-13T22:06:00.000+03:00

Scaling out

2011-05-12T22:00:00.002+03:00

Futures are perfect for precise application of scaling out positions strategy. On most of these trades, I closed 1/3 of position at +4-5 pips and waited more for the 2/3. That's why the decimals here, they express average win/loss.

Afternoon

2011-05-11T21:15:00.000+03:00

Only two

2011-05-11T18:11:00.001+03:00

Back to morning sessions with two trades only. Clean futures market and fills, entries with stop limit orders, 0 spread.

Splitting, again

2011-05-09T22:57:00.003+03:00

Unnecessary fragmentation of a move into several trades, due to the tight stops, moved to breakeven once in profit.

Self-confident (?)

2011-05-07T17:51:00.005+03:00

On the -5 pips trade I took an enormous risk, as the result of a strongly bearish market, which makes you deadly confident . It could be a disaster..

Post-NFP with futures

2011-05-06T23:45:00.001+03:00

The amazing thing with this is that I was able to enter a trade a few seconds only after NFP announcement, as the spread was already at 1 pip and that was quite impossible on the spot market, where a large spread is present for a minute at least after announcement.

Microsurgery

2011-05-02T23:05:00.000+03:00

One important gain at the beginning and then super conservative treatment of the uptrend, as price was at 4H cart resistance. All but one entries/ exits were filled at 0 spread and whithout slippage. 20 pips with less expenses than usual and precise, pain-free trades.

Scalping + futures = Microsurgery.

A major step forward.

2011-04-30T17:14:00.010+03:00

Finally I did it : I traded yesterday, for the first time, the euro fx future (6E) instead of the eur/usd cash market. What a difference! A really professional instrument which makes scalping tremendously powerful. Here are the benefits of the migration:

1. Almost all entries/exits were filled with 0 spread, especially on limit orders, instead of the usual 0,5-1 pip on IB cash!
2. Absolutely precise control of the trade on a price ladder.
3. Lower commissions by 35%, 0,4 pips per trade round trip, instead of 0,6 pips.

All that putted together, it means at least 1 whole pip economy per trade. With 1M lot (8 contracts) that means $100 savings per trade!! Multiplying by 10 or 20 trades per day, the savings are in the thousands, every single day..

You may understand how impressed I am. I must be really naive for staying five years in the cash market. Futures are an absolute must for scalpers. I always wanted to make the migration but always postponed it for some reason. A comment of Thomas from Denmark in a previous post made me think about this again. A BIG thank, Thomas. I owe you a big favor!

Commissions

2011-04-28T12:58:00.000+03:00

15 pips on this but a lot of trades and risk taken once. 7 pips given back as commissions. Too much. Trade less!

Barca

2011-04-27T23:57:00.003+03:00

3 little trades between the two half times of the classico (Real -Barcelona). Actually the match made me miss the move up..

Bad morning

2011-04-27T22:59:00.001+03:00

Fourth trade was a pure compulsive (revenge) re-entry which compromised the whole session. -10 pips.

Cautious

2011-04-26T23:55:00.000+03:00

Cautious comeback to the charts, so much that I closed the third trade without reason and lost the move up.

Spring in Creta

2011-04-25T23:35:00.005+03:00

Back home after a splendid week in Creta. Most tourists visit the island on summer BUT Creta is superb during the spring. Optimal temperatures (20-25 C), myriads of colors and smells and the luxury to play with snow on the White Mountains and less than an hour later, to swim in the sea..

The photo is from our "family workshop", teaching my little daughters to photograph wild flowers with a pocket camera..

Easter bunny

2011-04-21T11:10:00.001+03:00

No trades since last Friday, I took a week off for Easter, to move around with family. I never trade via the hotel room connection, so I can only contemplate, in my hotel, the spectacular eurusd price drop of last Monday and today's recovery. More waves to come. Happy Easter!

Friday-2

2011-04-15T23:08:00.000+03:00

Friday-1

2011-04-15T23:06:00.001+03:00

Let it go!

2011-04-14T13:02:00.000+03:00

Let the price move up instead of fragmenting it to several micro-trades, minimizing gains.

Coming late

2011-04-13T23:59:00.001+03:00

Coming late in the trend minimizes the gains and increases the risk of a reversal.

Contra and straight

2011-04-12T23:56:00.001+03:00

One silly contra trade to start the day, closed in extremis. Some pips after this, as the move up unfolded quietly. Just five trades. Christian, are you listening ?

One-trade day

2011-04-11T23:46:00.001+03:00

Came late to the chart and I had just one trade, with late (risky) entry. I had to leave after this.

2011-04-08T23:44:00.001+03:00

Still going up

2011-04-06T23:43:00.000+03:00

Waves

2011-04-05T23:39:00.000+03:00

Post-NFP (2)

2011-04-01T21:03:00.001+03:00

Post-NFP (1)

2011-04-01T16:59:00.002+03:00

Immediately after NFP news and I got serious (6 pips) slippage, for the first time in the last years. Risky times..

Afternoon

2011-03-30T21:47:00.001+03:00

Morning

2011-03-30T16:45:00.000+03:00

Third trade was bad, the rest ok.

Waves up

2011-03-29T16:12:00.001+03:00

Slow market

2011-03-28T20:02:00.000+03:00

Slow market and somnolent reactions on a morose Monday...

Afternoon

2011-03-25T23:42:00.000+02:00

Second trade was a forced one, therefore a loser.