GBPUSD 2010-09-28 Analysis

(Technical analysis done by Eric Lye in our Forex Trading Blog.  The purpose is to share how we analyze the market and put ourselves on the side of higher probability of things happening.)

A quiet Monday as expected after strong breakout from last week.  Trend is still up, but I am expecting some retracement. 

 

EURUSD 2010-09-21 Post Analysis

(Technical analysis done by Eric Lye in our Forex Trading Blog.  The purpose is to share how we analyze the market and put ourselves on the side of higher probability of things happening.)

This is a post analysis of a trade I misread during the sluggish day and missed a good setup.  Post analysis is a very important activity regardless you have made a trade or not.  It always provide us with learning points and continues to shape our thought process so that we get better in identifying opportunities over time.

EURUSD 2010-09-21 Road Map

2010-09-20 GBPUSD Live Trade

(This is a live trade shared by Eric Lye in his Forex Trading Blog.  The purpose is to share how we trade and provide the learning points.  Note that there is no absolute right or wrong about a trade, it is all about managing it well)

As planned, there was opportunity to take the retracement leg.  Though there was a head and shoulder, it doesn't means it will reverse all the way.  i.e. we should never apply all these pattern blindly, you would need to reconcile to higher time frame to know possibly where the prices are going.

GBPUSD 2010-09-20

GBPUSD 2010-09-20 Live Analysis

(Technical analysis done by Eric Lye in our Forex Trading Blog.  The purpose is to share how we analyze the market and put ourselves on the side of higher probability of things happening.)

Looks like it might be a slow start for the week (but I can change my stance after 45 secs saying this... :-O).  Anyway, technical trading is about collecting information from the charts and decide course of actions.  As far as we could see, price might need some retracement but the flow is generally still up for the dollar pairs.

GBPUSD 2010-09-20

Is trading too good to be true?

There is a good article on Sunday Times on 19th Sep to warn people about Forex training courses.  There are too much hype about turning small capital into hundreds of thousand or millions.  It is not impossible, but it won't happen for most if not all people.

Trading is a good skill to pick up regardless you are planning a career change or for additional knowledge to help in your investments or looking for supplementary income. 

The most important fact is that you need to pick up the skills first.  And this requires a lot of learning and training.  It will take nothing less than 5000 hours of practices and trainings with clear objectives.

AUDJPY 2010-09-17 Analysis

(Technical analysis done by Eric Lye in our Forex Trading Blog.  The purpose is to share how we analyze the market and put ourselves on the side of higher probability of things happening.)

Certainly I won't look to short this pair as I do not know when more intervention will happen.  I will continue to buy on yen pairs until the higher time frame shows sign of exhaustion or turn.

2010-09-16 EURUSD Live Trade

(This is a live trade shared by Eric Lye in his Forex Trading Blog.  The purpose is to share how we trade and provide the learning points.  Note that there is no absolute right or wrong about a trade, it is all about managing it well)

This time round luck is on my side to pick the right pair that moved.  :-)
Need to thanks one of my students as well when she sent me her EURGBP trade plan for review and discussion.  And since I agree with her analysis, naturally I just pick EURUSD for a buy when the setup happens.  The entry window period for this was a bit short.
Was having a chat with a trader I just get to know and price shot up to hit first TP and hours later second TP

Forex Trading Tips and Tricks - Analyzing Waves in Multiple Time Frames

(This is a mini-series of Forex Trading tips and tricks by Eric Lye in his Forex Trading Blog.  Our objective is to help traders learn how to trade Forex properly, be educated and excel in their career)

Understanding Multiple Time Frames is the fundamental skill of a trader which most people aren't being taught with the correct concept.  It is a must have skill. 

2010-09-14 AUDUSD Post Analysis

(This is a live trade shared by Eric Lye in his Forex Trading Blog.  The purpose is to share how we trade and provide the learning points.  Note that there is no absolute right or wrong about a trade, it is all about managing it well)

I did not do this trade but with the analysis of this pair, I caught a quick 50pips move for AUDJPY.

AUDUSD 2010-09-14

2010-09-13 GBPUSD Live Trade

(This is a live trade shared by Eric Lye in his Forex Trading Blog.  The purpose is to share how we trade and provide the learning points.  Note that there is no absolute right or wrong about a trade, it is all about managing it well)

Didn't have much to post in time.  Hopfully, there is still learning value in this trade

GBPUSD 2010-09-13

2010-09-08 EURUSD Live Trade

(This is a live trade shared by Eric Lye in his Forex Trading Blog.  The purpose is to share how we trade and provide the learning points.  Note that there is no absolute right or wrong about a trade, it is all about managing it well)

During our today's online live analysis, we identified a possible buy on EURUSD and it came earlier than I have expected.

EURUSD 2010-09-08

Daily foreign-exchange turnover hits $4 trillion (Percentage share of the U.S. dollar has continued its slow decline)

FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- Daily turnover in the world's foreign-exchange markets has soared to $4 trillion, the Bank for International Settlements said Wednesday. 

In its survey, conducted every three years, the Basel, Switzerland-based BIS found that global turnover in April 2010 was up 20% from $3.3 trillion in April 2007.

Spot transactions led the rise, increasing to $1.5 trillion a day in 2010 from $1 trillion in 2007. Other forex instruments saw turnover rise 7%, for an average daily turnover of $2.5 trillion.
Britain retained its title as the top player in the forex market, with British-based banks accounting for 36.7% of daily turnover, up from 34.6% in 2007.

The United States followed with 18%, while Japan accounted for 6%. Rounding out the top players, Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong accounted for 5% each, while Australia-based banks accounted for 4%.

Source from MarketWatch.com
Full article http://www.marketwatch.com/story/daily-currency-trading-turnover-hits-4-trillion-2010-09-01?dist=beforebell

Trader's Checklist

(This is an mini article series to encourage traders to learn how to be a better trader written by Eric Lye in our Forex Trading Blog)

When you are not trading well, is it common that you would think that your knowledge is not enough and you need to seek out for more?  Are you searching for more methods and techniques? Or even systems or strategies?

I am not saying you should stop learning.  Instead of learning "new thing", they should be an add-on to your base.  Thus, building of your foundations is far more important than anything else.  So, what should be your checklist?


 
1.  Hard Skills

• Trading concepts - Understanding of market conditions
• Technical Analysis - SR, Chart Patterns (West), Candlesticks Patterns (East)
• Concepts of Waves - ABCD, Harmonic, Elliot Wave, etc
• Understanding of Multiple Time Frames (MTF)
• Tools - Fibonacci (R, Ext, Exp), Pivot Points, Trend Lines, Channels, etc

2.  Soft Skills

• Trade management - Know your options
• Recognizing your thought process and decision making process - how you want to trade, why such entries, why such exits, etc
• Position Sizing
• How to increase your R multiples
• Performance tracking - Trade log
• How to recognize and decide what are the losers and winners trade, so that we can cut the former and ride the latter

If I were to put a percentage to the efforts you should put into the hard and soft skills, I would say it is 20% and 80%.  For a beginner you would probably spend most of your time working on the hard skills.  For those that have gone past this stage, most of the effort should channel into the soft skills portion while continue to upgrade your hard skills level.