Shy trades

Several shy trades in a row, then a trusted local breakout. I call shy the trades with very conservative exits, when the effort to avoid to have a loss comes first. I experiment this recently, with highest lots. The bars are perfect to control such trades.

20 years

The night the Wall fell down -9/11/89- i was there, a young photographer covering the event for greek media. I will never forget some images, the East Berliners walking in the West with the eyes of children in a toy store. The happiness of freedom on the faces. The gazes of some in KaDeWe store, admiring the 1200 ham varieties. The chilled people in the night of the next day, after 12 hours walking in West Berlin with temperature around zero, with a Red Cross pot of soup in the hand..

I finished recently reading this excellent book by F.Taylor on Wall's history. You learn a lot about post-war Germany, the Cold War and the fall of communism, all in 500 pages. Fascinating.

Le Pas Du Chat Noir

SUBLIME recording! From the great ECM label, the biggest oud player today, Tunisian Anouar Brahem, together with French pianist Francois Couturier and accordeonist Jean-Luis Matinier. Like oriental reminiscenes coming out from a smokey Parisian bal-musette, hand in hand with Erik Satie.. Unforgettable.. A sample here, just to make your Sunday!...

Post -NFP trades

Many trades after NFP, totalling 67 pips.

Mistake of the month

The price on this topped with two red bars on same level, then started to drop. I was distracted and super-confident, so i didn't close, even when price gave a second chance to do this. The important loss was the natural consequence.

Post-FOMC

Riding the tide, with manually trailing (tight) stop.

London

A few pips on the London opening, going with the stream (up). New York session is more volatile than London recenlty, so i don't trade in the morning anymore. Today was an exception.

2 years Forexbird

The sparrow is 2 years old! This blog was started on October 31, 2007. The very first trade analysis i did is here. The purpose was to keep a record while scalping the euro pairs, inspired from M. Weinstein's conception (see the motto on the left). Two years and 570 posts later, a lot of things have changed, my style and tools, my attitude towards the market. Back in 2007, although I had allready 2 and half years of forex trading experience on my back, I was still hooked on indicators, "systems" and methodologies found on technical books and the internet. It took me another two years to emancipate myself from all this stuff and to evolve towards simplicity : all I need now is to feel the price movement. Nothing more, nothing less. No indicators, no systems, no trading teachers or gurus. I still have indicators on my charts but I don't pay much attention to them anymore. Trading, scalping especially, is pure geometry. You need time to get your master degree on trading geometry. You only have to study the price movement on (thousands of) charts, for some (long or shorter) time.

Purity

It is written somewhere (in Bhagavat-Gita I suppose), that only flowers and children are pure on earth. A humble price movement can also be pure and beautiful, like the one of my last trade. So evident and simple, like an euclidean theorem, or a perfect circle. 75 pips for today.

Good news

Smooth moves and trades after good news from U.S. economy (pending home sales).

Opposite way

Same mistake as on the previous post : not trusting the trend, closing the trades and missing most of the pips.

A clear trend

Missed the first move down on this, then i managed to follow the price and get some pips. Two problems here : First, I don't trust the trend much, so I close early and re-enter, missing a substancial part of the move. Second, I try to anticipate the reversal point and that is very risky on a strong trend like this one of today.

I am back

Back to my base and trading. Starting with these 3 trades, the third one should be closed earlier.

On the road

No trades for the next 10 days. Travelling around Europe whithout pc (I hope).

Post-CPI

Trades after CPI announcement for today.

Eurusd

Mini scalps on eur/usd today, as I monitor this pair also since last week. It takes some time to be accustomed to scan two pairs on scalping level simultaneously, but this way i can pick the best opportunity every time, the appropriate setup and volatility. 10 charts in total open in front of me, on two 23'' screens. I will not be bored!...

Take the "A " train

First trade was easy : taking the third ot fourth lower high down, after the first red bar.

Flat hour

Second day in a row with very tight range inside my time slot (10:00 EST). A lot of pain to get 1-2 pips. At the same time the eur/usd pair was clearly more vivid! Eur/usd is more interesting recently than the cross pairs. Should I change instrument or time slot? I decided to keep open charts of both pairs and trade the more volatile of the two.

Afternoon session

Breakout

A textbook breakout here, after a long range. Entry was positioned just outside the range using a limit order and a tight stop, because the range could continue ad aeternam. Exit below the first red bar.

Post NFP trades

First trade was easy, next ones were less obvious, due to tight stop i use on similar situations.

Duty paid

I paid my duty inside the range and then got the pips on the local breakout and sweet reversal. Relatively precise entries/exits.

The twin red bars on the chart are a sign of stagnation and eventual swing point. One of many that bars can give.

Month's end

Grabbed a few pips and stopped before the month's end fixing in London.

Risk, risk...

Ending the session with unnecessary risk..

Morning session

And this

A step forward

No much trading recently, I was experimenting with my new tool, the chart bars. After two years with candlesticks and two more years with short WMAs (following the thin red lines), I was looking for something more visual, more informative about price move. I tried the bars and after some weeks viewing charts, i can say that bars are what i was looking for, they are terrific, especially with the range charts i use. Here is my first trade using the information-rich bars. More to come.

Pre-FOMC

Just 3 pips in a quiet afternoon. Waiting for the news.

Busy days

These little two only for today.

Risk

A far from perfect day, although profitable. The reason : risk taken twice. I still have a difficulty to close trades opened at breakout points..

And this

Stopped after this, to avoid the consolidation phase.

Risked again

Risked some on the first trade.

Herbert von Karajan

An excellent documentary on Karajan's life and work is now free on YouTube in 10 parts. Here is part 1.

The final part 10 is particulary moving : the giant as an old man, the landing of the eagle.

All parts and many other videos and audios from Karajan's work are in an a fine YouTube page, made by a devoted admirer.

Too many trades...

Today's session. I close a trade prematurely and open a new in the same direction. Result : too much on commissions and increased risk. 39 pips on this.

Going down

Price continued down after the correction (see previous post) and gave me the opportunity to cover the loss. A thrilling winning day today.

Mistake of the month

I entered long on this, while price was making a round top. Several signs were there to show that price was reversing : lower highs, moving averages sloping down, descending triangle formation, CCI, you name it. I refused to close. When the strong support was finally broken, I was looking at the chart helpless, petrified from my stupidity.. Price went to -30, then I was lucky to close the drama at -11, at the 50% correction of the move down...

When I started forex 4 years ago, I used to commit such a crime once a day. Now, it's once a month. That means evolution of the human kind...

Afternoon session

Busy days, had to drop the morning session for some trades in the afternoon.

And this

Stopped after these, with a 8% daily gain, due partly to my luck (see previous post). Price does not forgive always..

Post -NFP trades : lucky you!..

Post NFP announcement. The third trade was a complete non-sense: I closed early the previous one, so price should return in my favor... It went to -26 and then I was lucky to close with a minimal loss. Playing with fire.. This was precisely how not to trade..

In the range

Unnessary trades inside the range. Whipsaws, losses and some frustration.

ISM announcement

My trades before and after ISM news. Stopped after the break of the winning sequence. I feel tired after the fifth or sixth trade in a row and volatility can wipe out my profits, so i have to stop there.

Trades again

Back to the charts after a short trip. Traded this quiet move up this morning, stopped trading after the little double top.

Trend line trading

A good session with smooth moves and decent volatility. The last trade was taken at the trend line and price resistance there.

I am back

A shy come back, after 25 days of (trading) inactivity, vacations and good time, fires and anxiety. Passed 20 days on a small place by the sea, whithout internet connection or trading, otherwise my dear wife would have killed me. I feel a little rusty now..

Saved

The fire is over, the damage is there : 30.000 hectares of pine forest are lost. The oxygen pump of Athens is heavily touched. The clima will change for ever. Our family was saved, others have lost their house. My thanks to all friends who expressed their sympathy.

Hard times

Back from holidays, just to be immersed in the hard reality : Attica is in fire, a huge region turned into ashes in the last two days. I am with family in our summer house near Marathon right now, the fire is just 3-4 kilometres away..

Books for the summer (2)

2. Kazuo Ishiguro, Nocturnes. Fine short stories from a Japanese-English master.

3. William Gibson, Pattern recognition. That's all about! (but nothing to do with trading). By the Neuromancer's author.

4. Thomas Bulkowski, Trading classic chart patterns. A visual library to keep you in shape.

Books for the summer (1)

After the If this is a Man (one of the 10-15 best books I was lucky to read in my life) and the Periodic system, the third major work by the biggest Italian. Astonishing reading.

Flights of love

for Christian

Superb short stories by Bernhard Schlink, to read one every day. Among them, The circumcision, a little jewel, the best short story I have read in the last years. A young German studying in New York falls in love with a young Jewish woman living there. The deepest and most accurate portrait of newer generations in today's Germany.

The hangover (Risk managment again)

for Nico,

This is a summer film, nothing more, but very well done, a superb comedy with perfect gags. Four male friends travel to Las Vegas for a mad bachelors' party. They wake up next morning in their suite with a terrible hangover, they can't remember anything from the previous night, a tiger is in the bathroom, a baby in the closet and one of the friends is missing... The fun(?) just starts..

There is a three-words proverb in ancient greek : Ανήρ αεί παίς - the male is always a child. The male (not the female) can do stupid things, he loves to do stupidities. For one simple reason : he is not absolutely necessary in the reproduction conspiracy. He can take his life lightly, he can risk, he can waste or lose his life for nothing : just think about the men/women ratio among fast drivers, extreme sports gamers, war photographers, drug addicts, gamblers, traders, religion fanatics and so on. More than 8 to 1... Taking the life lightly is a meditation on futility..Only the male has the luxury of futility... That's why he is funny..

Don't miss the film..