Done for the Month +155 pips

It is doable but not without careful planning. Here is the official result for the month of January, giving me two consecutive winnning months and the biggest monthly gain so far.

Pips: +155.0
Profit: +$1,432.14
Trades: 21
Averag pips/trade: 7.4
Winning trades: 14 (66.7%)
Average trade time: 1.0 hours
Largest profit trade: +77 pips on 18 Jan
Largest loss trade: -72 pips on 22 Jan

A Quick Scalp +8 pips

Closed short USD/JPY at 106.65 for + 8 pips

I did a quick scalp in the morning before turning up for work. I am slightly cautious about my positions these days as I am determined to beat last month's performance.

Done for the day +11 pips

Closed long EUR/USD at 1.4742 for +17 pips
Closed short USD/CHF at 1.0917 for- 6 pips

Missing some good pips today as there was further downside movement on the US dollar after US open due to the poor home sales report.

News Tading Calendar 01.28.08 - 02..01.08

A big week for the USD dollar with interest rate decision announcement on Wednesday and non-farm payroll report on Friday. Let's see whether we can stay ahead of the market movement.

Monday - 28 Jan (quoted in UK time)
3.00 pm USD New Home Sales

Tuesday - 29 Jan
1.30 pm USD Durable Goods
3.00 pm USD Consumer Confidence

Wednesday - 30 Jan
1.15 pm USD ADP Nonfarm Employment Change
1.30 pm USD GDP
7.15 pm USD Interest Rate Statement

Thursday - 31 Jan
1.30 pm USD Core PCE
1.30 pm CAD GDP

Friday - 1 Feb
9.30 am GBP PMI Manufacturing
1.30 pm USD Nonfarm Employment Change
3.00 pm USD ISM Manufacturing Index
12.00 pm CAD CPI

Done for the week -45 pips

The results weren't as bad as initially feared, given the current volatile global market conditions. And it was OK to take hit occasionally. The Euro continued to move against the initial short position by a massive 300+ pips soon after the exit. A right call after all.

Remember - safe trading comes first. We shall be rewarded in the end by staying in the game.

1-25 Friday No Trade
1-24 Thursday +33 pips
1-23 Wednesday No Trade
1-22 Tuesday -89 pips
1-21 Monday +11 pips

4 trades (2 Winners, 2 Losers)
Largest profit trade +33 pips
Largest loss trade -72 pips

Related posts:
Done for the week +102 pips
A Flat Week -3 pips

Fast Pips

Close short USD/JPY at 106.04 for +33 pips

I liked the fast-tick action at the London open and the market moved 30 + pips in our favour. Cashed out immediately.

Observation Mode

Missed trading in the morning.

And there were three good signal opportunities at 12 pm noon time.
Long USD/CAD
Short GBP/USD
Short USD/JPY

They all yielded fast pips in the region 40 - 60 pips. Strength begets strength trading scenario appeared to be back in play.

Bad Timing

-72 pips

A Heavy Blow

Closed long USD/CAD at 1.0333 for -17 pips
Closed short EUR/USD at 1.4443 for -72 pips

Only took 2 out of 3 signals on H1 time frame. All three signals were false and results could be worse. The signal software was totally out done by the volatile markets. I forgot to put in the usual 40-pip stop loss. I've seen this price action before. Hence, exit and forget. And it's the right decision so far.

See also:
An Unproductive Day

Monday Conservative Start

Closed long USD/CAD at 1.0302 for +11 pips

This conservative trade in the morning has moved our system up three places, occupying the 7th spot of Zulutrade performance leaderboard (accurate as of 11am). I wrote more about the system ranking here.

News Tading Calendar 01.21.08 - 01.25.08

No major influential news events scheduled on the US side. We have to rely on others for clues. Technical trading should be in focus and I will continue to take signals as planned.

Monday - 21 Jan (quoted in UK time)
8.15 am CHF PPI

Tuesday - 22 Jan
8.15 am CHF Retail Sales
1.30 pm CAD Retail Sales
2.00 pm CAD Interest Rate Statement

Wednesday - 23 Jan
9.30 am GBP GDP & MPC Meeting Minutes

Thursday - 24 Jan
3.00 pm USD Existing Home Sales
3.30 pm CAD Monetary Policy Report

Friday - 25 Jan
12.00 pm CAD CPI

Weekly Progress Report

Done for the week +102 pips

1-18 Friday +77 pips
1-17 Thursday No Trade
1-16 Wednesday No Trade
1-15 Tuesday +35 pips
1-14 Monday -10 pips

5 trades (3 Winners, 2 Losers)
Largest profit trade +77 pips
Largest loss trade -34 pips

Sorry for the absence of blog entries on previous two days. My normal work has been busy again. This can sometimes interrupt my fixed trading routine. And I won't want to force myself into trading if outside my normal trading hour.

This week, I am glad that I'm still able to progress with some positive results. It also surprised earlier when my trading results being entered into the top 10 performing system under the Zulutrade ranking system - a system which promotes feasible trading strategies in reality.


(Accurate as of 11am, 18th Jan 2008)

At least there's something to cheer about after pouring time and efforts into maintaining this blog plus researching new trading ideas. I hope I can keep this up.

Related posts:
A Flat Week -3 pips
Done for the week +82 pips

Trade the News Entry on GBP Retail Sales

9.30 am GBP Worse than expected retail sales

Trade entry:
Time: 8.00 am
Direction: short
Technical Triggers: on both short- and long-term signal algorithms
Price: 1.9694
Target: 70 pips below
Stop: 40 pips above
Exit: 1.9617 (+77 pips)

I picked the setup this morning and it turned out to be a decent winner after the news event.

Done for the day +35 pips

Closed long GBP/USD at 1.9706 for +63 pips
Closed short USD/CAD at 1.0167 for -28 pips

USD/CAD was out-of-sync with the rest of the majors and hardly influenced by today's poor US retail sales. The outcome is not quite worked out as planned.

Trade the News Entry on USD Retail Sales

1.30 pm USD Worse than expected retail sales

Trade entry:
Time: 12.00 pm
Direction: long
Technical Triggers: on both short- and long-term signal algorithms
Price: 1.9643
Target: 60 pips above
Stop: 40 pips below
Exit: 1.9643 (+63 pis)

Trade entry:
Time: 12.00 pm
Direction: Short
Technical Triggers: on both short- and long-term signal algorithms
Price: 1.0139
Target: 60 pips below
Stop: 40 pips above
Exit: still open

Finally, a long-waited price action. The USD dollar fell sharply on very weak retail sales report, which was basically in line with the market bearish sentiment. The long GBP/USD position did very well, hitting above the set price target. This push the monthly gain to +132 pips so far.

European Session -10 pips

Closed long EUR/USD at 1.4898 for +24 pips
Closed long GBP/USD at 1.9611 for -34 pips

Mixed results this morning.

News Tading Calendar 01.14.08 - 01.18.08

It could be interesting day Monday. My current stance on the US dollar is neutral. Let's see what's the software prediction going to be and I'll take it from there.

Monday - 14 Jan (quoted in UK time)
9.30 am GBP PPI

Tuesday - 15 Jan
9.30 am GBP CPI
1.30 pm USD Retail Sales

Wednesday - 16 Jan
1.30 pm USD CPI
1.30 pm USD TIC Net Long-Term Transactions

Thursday - 17 Jan
1.30 pm USD Housing Start
3.00 pm USD Fed Chairman Bernanke Speaks

Friday - 18 Jan
9.30 am GBP Retail Sales
3.00 pm USD Consumer Sentiment

A Flat Week -3 pips

1-11 Friday +30 pips
1-10 Thursday No Trade
1-9 Wednesday -40 pips
1-8 Tuesday +7 pips
1-7 Monday No Trade

5 trades (3 Winners, 2 Losers)
Largest profit trade +18 pips
Largest loss trade -40 pips

In my opinion, this week price action was extremely choppy. I've seen the US dollar market sentiment swung back and forth. Major currency pairs were basically out-of-sync and luckily I was prepared. This strategy of mine allowed me to see the market better on a whole. Hence, I refused to take trades when the conditions remained unclear.

I would say I survived the week and hope you did well.

Related posts:
Done for the week +82 pips
Done for the week +107 pips

European Session +30 pips

Closed long GBP/USD for at 1.9537 for +18 pips
Closed short USD/CAD for at 1.0098 for +12 pips

Extremely cautious this morning due to the uncertain outlook of the US dollar. I am trying not to let the winners lose.

Done for the day +0 pip

No trades today. I was meant to be bullish on the US dollar but chose to remain on the sideline. There was no clear price correlation among the major currency pairs . Their daily trends are still mixed.

Fed chairman Bernanke didn't help either. The dollar fell as he signaled more rate cuts ahead.

Done for the day -40 pips

Closed long EUR/USD at 1.4684 for -40 pips

The first major losses of the week as the US dollar continued to receive support today. Also missed out on a big GBP/USD winner this morning.

Still Better Than Nothing

News-Dollar edges up vs euro as market reassesses poor US data

I shorted GBP/USD market twice today after receiving confirmations from the signal software and also sticking to a USD bullish stance . And after more than 3 hours of holding, I made a gain of +7 pips overall.

Sometimes, the market made no sense at all. Even after a lower than expected home sales report, the US dollar picture was still mixed. Fortunately, this mixed reaction favoured my short GBP/USD position and I was lucky to escape with a profit.

Closed short GBP/USD at 1.9746 for -4 pips
Closed short GBP/USD at 1.9733 for +11 pips

Buy USD for Now

News-Dollar rises as Fed rate cuts seen less aggressive

No signals taken today as the markets were generally mixed in the morning session. The dollar bearish sentiment seemed to diminish as the dollar was being supported throughout the day. I was proved right at the end of the trading day as my daily trend table has just signalled a shift in the USD dollar sentiment, i.e. from bearish to bullish, albeit very slightly (52%).

I will be extra cautious tomorrow, only considering a small position and looking to buy the US dollar when the signal is present.

News Tading Calendar 01.07.08 - 01.011.08

The USD dollar bearish sentiment managed to improve on Thursday and Friday last week, albeit slowly. In my opinion, the scheduled major economic events, such as the interest rate decisions and hints by the central bankers later this week, will basically decide the fate of the USD direction for the rest of this month.

Tuesday - 8 Jan (quoted in UK time)
3.00 pm USD Pending Home Sales

Wednesday - 9 Jan
1.15 pm CAD Housing Start

Thursday - 10 Jan
12.00 pm GBP Interest Rate Statement
12.45 pm EUR Interest Rate Statement
1.30 pm EUR ECB President Trichet Speaks
6.00 pm USD Fed Chairman Bernanke Speaks

Friday - 11 Jan
9.30 am GBP Industrial Production
12.00 pm CAD Employment Change
1.30 pm USD Trad Balance

Done fore the week +82 pips

1-4 Friday No Trade
1-3 Thursday +54 pips
1-2 Wednesday +28 pips

4 trades (4 Winners, 0 Losers)
Largest profit trade +50 pips

Related posts:
Done for the week +107 pips
Done for the week +215 pips

Trade the News Entry on USD Non-Farm Payrolls

1.30 pm USD Lower than expected job report

No trade entry today as I didn't want to open positions which trade against the bearish USD sentiment this whole week. The poor job report just confirmed my bearish view as the dollar lost more ground after the news.

Easy-to-Follow Trading Session

This morning European session trading was EASY. The simple plan has paid off once again. Same story here: bearish USD outlook, aimed for moderate profits, liked my profits, still exited too soon, sigh...

Closed short USD/JPY at 109.09 for +50 pips
Closed short USD/CHF at 1.1176 for +1 pip
Reentered and closed short USD/CHF at 1.1171 for 3 pips

Done for the session: +54 pis

Still not too bad for 2 hours of work...

A Slow-Start, Trading on the 2nd Day of New Year

I didn't trade in the morning but planned to take some signals in the afternoon session, only aiming for a moderate profit target of 30 pips.

I was done with 28 pips before the release of US ISM manufacturing index at 3 pm.

Here is my exit:
Closed short USD/JPY at 111.15 for +28 pips.
(unfortunately, the market dropped another 150 pips without me!)

In summary, today was a straight-forward trending, SELL USD day. The bearish sentiment seems to continue after the news. I will recompile the USD dollar sentiment table at the end of trading day.