Morning session again

A better than expected volatility on pre-London session.

Books for Easter (1)

We used to think of the 20th century as the era of the two devastating wars, or the time of communism and nazism and their massacres. But they were also writers, scientists, painters, philosophers, musicians in this century. These people also changed the world forever and gave the most important mind creations of the modern times. The Modern Mind  is a splendid narration of the best part of the 20th, the creative one. Very stimulating reading, if you can forget the awful cover...I skipped trading in the last days to read this, 850 refreshing pages..a shower for the mind..

pre-Easter

Relatively flat market and a boring session. Just one trade, as I hesitated to enter long after this.

Micro-trades

Micro trades today, with maxi lots. going for 1-3 pips each time, first priority is to stay above zero on each trade and then to earn some.

Just three

Just these three trades in a busy, heavy day.

Post-US news

Quite market and pace up after the 16:00 news. Some pips grabbed as the wave moves north.

A good shot and then ..consolidation

A nice first shot and then unnecessary trading while price consolidates new levels..

Anticipating, expecting, guessing

I came back one hour later. In the meantime price had retraced sharply to the 20 MA on the 15M chart, then resumed the down move. I entered late, close to previous low, a capital mistake, as i was sure of the strong bias, therefore a new leg down was almost due. I got an absolutely natural rebound in the face after my entry, I didn't close at -4 and price immediately approached the maximum loss i could support : 15 pips. The moment I was deciding to exit, euro made a red hook bar, started to go south again. Game saved with 14,5 pips gain!! I was very lucky this time. After 5 years in this market (enough time to get a PhD on other sciences..), I still commit newbie mistakes..

Morning

No time for a morning session recently but today I had a quick look at the 15M chart and entered without much thinking. A relatively easy session and pips, as the bias was strong. Just before the London opening. What happens after this is another story. Usually a move on the opposite side.

Around five

The usual volatility around 5:00 pm my time (10:00am EST winter time) or how to have a 10 minutes session.

Ma France

Jean Ferrat, the big French singer and poet, died yesterday. All the richness, the melody, the tenderness and emotion of the french language and spirit are in his magnificent songs. Pour tous ceux qui aiment la France plus que leur propre pays, pour mes parents qui aimaient ses chansons et qui prennent petit a petit, eux aussi a leur tour, la route la plus longue...Merci Jean pour la beaute relevee.. Link

Minimal

The absolutely minimal session, in a week of (almost) no trades.

Swings

Riding the tide and going for the swings, in a rather risky business.

Busy week

No much trading this week, as I am busy elswhere.

Carver

Spent my Sunday morning reading Raymond Carver, the biggest American writer (for me at least), who served a "minor" genre, the short story. Minimalism is the art of the clever. A superb collection of his stories  this one!..

Post-NFP (2)

Post-NFP (1)

Suddenly

An endless stagnation and then, suddenly, go! A substantial gain, despite the late entry..Forex never stops to impress me..

Trendlines

And this

Breakout

..then a breakout was there and I could follow the flow.

Range

Painful walk inside the meanders of range. I could stay out of this.

Exhausted

No trades today, to avoid the last minute non-sense, as I feel very tired, almost exhausted. Need to protect the gains of an exceptional month for me. February is above +115%, my first account doubling using low leverage on a rapidly increasing equity.

Epilogue

And then the last trades of the session, on a sharp, long waited, movement. Closing a very good day with some overtrading.

Pain in the range

..followed by a flat period, but I kept trading like a mad..

Breakout

Texbook line breakout gave a smooth movement.

Followed by this

Time to leave screens, a consolidation starts there.

Bernanke is speaking..

Bernanke started speaking on 17:00 my time and the volatility followed him. Price found quickly a direction and gave the pips.

Nice afternoon

A smooth move down with a few collected pips.

Skye

Ex- Morcheeba vocalist, in her solo career. Nice voice and a nice video clip.

Time to get out

Time to get out and leave for the weekend, as the move gets thinner and consolidation can wipe out the gains.

..Free fall

Trend profiling

A slowly profiling trend with some pips and, immediately after,the...

Breakout

Waited an eternity for the breakout to happen on the first trade(and risked some), then i was reluctant to follow the move till the end. Stopping here with only 7 trades for the day and substantial gains.

Quiet morning

Not much this morning, as I traded ultra-safely. Happy to align four little gains, just the opposite of previous post.

The art of giving (back)

Five mini losers in a row, after a looong time. Why? Because I insisted to anticipate a new leg down. Result ; I gave back a considerable part of the previous gains. Stopping now till Tuesday, to cure my overtrading syndrom...

Noon

Traded out of my time slot but wasn't bad this new one..

Correcting the sell-off

Unnecessary (early) close on the first trade and immediate re-entry.

Morning session

After the storm

A few pips in a rather dull session.

Recovery-6

Ending with these. Total: +130 pips for the day. 89 trades, which means I gave back 54 pips as commissions. +12,2% daily and 91,9% weekly, despite a moderate leverage (20-25). My best week ever, but it is mostly due to the exceptional conditions of the markets.

Recovery-5

Stopped after this for 2 hours, to recover ..myself.

Recovery-4

Recovery-3

Recovery-2

..some pain inside the range..

Recovery-1

The mouse and the cat (mistake of the month)

You are just a little mouse in this job and the market is the big hungry cat. The cat lets you have your daily food but If you are distracted for one single moment, you are lost, he will catch you for sure.

Post-NFP and I let the two elements of a common trap to be present: an unmotivated entry and a moment of distraction. So I entered against the fast trend, I was distracted ,I hesitated for a moment, no stoploss and then it was too late..! Closed finally at -92, at 123.33, which was the absolute high of the session!..

I had a moment of dilemma after this. To stop there, with a -13% daily, in order to protect a 52% gain for the week. Or to try to recover the day, using the extreme volatility of the recent days in my favor, with no more stupidities. I opted for the second and had a looong session with a lot of trades. Most of these, in the next posts.

What a day -5

And these are the last ones. 279 pips in total today, 67% on account. This is the gift that markets offer to us, once every other month. And the daily bread for the common days..

What a day -4