There were several nice trade setups during the UK session and the GBP caught our eye for a refreshingly quick trade.  After failing to stay above the Asian session high, the pair quickly dropped allowing us a better than 3:1 Reward to Risk ratio trade setup to our Target 2.  Price dropped quickly through the Asian session low to our Target 1 and began to reverse.  We are in and out within an hour and done for the week.

The US traders began their day by immediately reversing the downside momentum. A nice long set up presented itself but we don't generally like stop losses of greater than 25 pips in the current market range, so we pass on the trade.

The UK and Europe move their clocks forward this weekend.  Next week the trading times will be back to normal.

Enjoy the holiday weekend and good luck with your trading!

Tomorrow is a holiday for us. so we will return on Tuesday.

Michael  www.privateforexcoaching.com

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The EUR was fairly active in Asian session.  The European traders pushed the EUR down hard as they began, and the UK traders brought it right back up, to set up their move to the downside.  We always look at a Daily chart first for perspective in advance of trading on a 15 minute chart.  There were 2 very clear signals for us that the EUR would most likely move down... and it did!

I tend not to trade in front of major economic news releases, but the Italian 10 year bond auction is not one that I am particularly concerned about these days when trading the EUR...nor the Spanish 10 year bond auction.

This trade moved very nicely down and took us to our Target 2 just as the US traders were beginning their day.

We could not find any trades yesterday, so it was nice to find one that met our 3:1 Reward to Risk ratio to our Target 2 today - on what will be a short trading week with Friday being a holiday for us.

Back tomorrow.

Good luck with your trading!

Michael  www.privateforexcoaching.com

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The majors have been moving well once US markets open. The CHF offered a better setup than the EUR during the session.  As the UK session got underway, price gyrated up and down testing breakout shorts, before it finally broke to the downside convincingly - setting up a 3:1 Reward to Risk ratio trade for us.  Price came back one more time to almost test the Asian session low before moving lower.

As the US session approached, we removed the risk from the trade by placing our stop loss to +3 in the event of a reversal.  Price retraced briefly, but did not stop us out.  As the US stock markets began to move up, the US dollar began to weaken, and the pair dropped to our Target 2 and beyond.  We closed the trade as price moved back up off the low-of-the-day toward our Target 2.

It is a little unsettling to see Germany miss some economic forecasts this past week.  We are intraday traders not position traders, but if Germany's economy shows some cracks, this will not bode well for the EUR.  It has been very encouraging to see the US economy show some signs of strength this year, and we hope Germany will show strength going forward.

It's been another good week to trade and we look forward to next week.

Good luck with your trading!

Back Tuesday.

Michael  www.privateforexcoaching.com

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It's nice to see some positive economic news come out of Britain.  Lots of news throughout the session creating some big moves.  After the GBP ran up without us being able to find an acceptable entry, we chose to short it when it showed signs of rolling over near our upside targets.

The setup met our Reward to Risk minimum nicely with a 4:1 ratio.  In general we don't like to place stops  over 25 pips and this setup fit with a stop (forgot to show it on the chart) at 1.5211 - just above the session high.  The GBP moved down and having been up 50 pips at one point, we closed the trade for 40 pips as it began to retrace.

I don't usually show upside and downside targets, but I did today - so there you have it.

So far the week has been good to us.  Let's hope for a profitable setup tomorrow to end the week.

Good luck with your trades!

Back tomorrow.

Michael  www.privateforexcoaching.com

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CHF produces a tiny risk setup in advance of the ZEW release.  With an 9 pip stop loss, what's the worst that will happen?  The Asian session with very moderate with Japan on holiday.

The UK traders began their session  first testing the Asian session low to lure in breakout sellers then reversed upward.  The CHF found sellers just below the top of the Asian range and we entered short.  The stop was so small that I didn't mind taking this in front of the news.  The CHF tends not to be a particularly volatile pair.  The pair moved down and we moved our stop loss down to plus one just before the news.  We manage to gain a few more pips before closing for 20.

We will see what tomorrow brings.

Good luck with your trading!

Michael  www.privateforexcoaching.com

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There is lots of talk about the EUR, but we found a GBP trade just after the US economic releases.  It seemed like last week, the US traders were the dominant movers of the majors and today was no different.  The GBP formed a very wicky candle in advance of the US news, then began to decline right after it.  It almost reached its session low, but reversed and began a run toward its session high.  We closed the trade to protect our 40 pips.

If you are familiar with the game baseball, this analogy may make sense to you.  If not, my apologies.  I consider 10 pips getting to first base, 20 pips second base, 30 pips third base and 40 pips, a home run.  I further consider 50 pips as hitting a home run bringing in one base runner, 60 pips a home run bringing in 2 base runners, 70 pips as a grand slam - which is hitting a home run with the bases loaded.  Anything above 70 is just fantastic, but not common per trade, in intraday trading.  In baseball when you make it to base, the fans cheer, if you hit a home run, the fans rise to their feet cheering and your team mates will high five you.

When I get 20 or more pips, I tend to protect them in increments of 10 pips, but sometimes the midpoint, 5 comes in handy too.  There is no substitute for being able to reading price action, but protecting profits at acceptable levels or hiding stop losses above/below structure is very important in trading.  Never get greedy, get the risk out of your trade as soon as is prudent to do so, and protect your profits, until the market takes you out or your targets have been hit.

Good luck with your trading!

Back tomorrow.

Michael  www.privateforexcoaching.com

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An awesome week for trading continued today.  It has been a little unusual that the big moves have been in the US session this week, but that is has been when most of the major news releases have occurred.  The UK traders have moved the market much less than their usual range.  The key has been to read the direction of the market, and not get stopped out for a loss, when the US news releases occur, or to enter the market after the releases, reading the direction the market will move for the balance of the session.

I had a conversation with a student yesterday about our Targets 1 & 2.  These are critical to our style of trading.  When I see an entry, I measure the distance to Target 2 and the distance to where I would put the initial stop loss.  If the distance allows me 3 pips of gain or more  for 1 pip of risk,  I'm willing to further consider the trade.  Most of our stop losses are set between 15 and 25 pips initially.  In other words, if the stop loss is 15 pips, than I am aiming to get 45 pips or more out of the trade - to our Target 2.  During the US session, for a reversal trade, if found, I'm willing to take fewer pips because there is less trading time until the London Close.

The targets that I use have very high probability!  Some weeks the market may not cooperate as well as other weeks, but statistically the targets are significant and I have used them for years.  They work!!! These targets are very powerful because many institutional traders are taking profits in the same areas...enough said.

Enjoy your weekend!

Good luck with your trading!

Back Tuesday.

Michael  www.privateforexcoaching.com

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A similar trade to yesterday with the EURGBP showing lower highs and fading to the downside. This pair is a slow mover making it easier to trade than many pairs.  It is crossed with the GBP, so the pip value is approximately 1.5 times that of a USD cross.

This trade set up with lower highs, and once we entered, our first hurdle was to get through the Asian session low.  Once price did, we removed the risk from the trade by placing our stop a little above the Asian session low to allow for a re-test.  Price moved down from there and we were closed out on the hammer-like candle protecting 20 pips.  Had we not protected the 20 pips, we would have been stopped out on the retracement caused by the US News.  It's always better to lock in some pips, remove risk from a trade when prudent to do so, than to give your pips back to the market.

We subsequently saw a beautiful setup on the CHF after the US News.  ( Not shown here)   The entry was on the open of the third red candle after the long wicky candle which formed the high of the day.  Our Target 2 was .9480 and price plummeted right through it allowing for some additional bonus pips.  The EUR & GBP also had big moves, but the CHF to my eyes had the best setup.

If you can find a nice trade setup in the UK session and another setup or a reversal trade in the US session, it makes trading a lot easier.  Typically the US session trades will not provide as many pips, but this certainly wasn't the case today.

This has been a great week to trade!  What a difference a week makes - on the heels of last week's tricky and dismal trading.  It all averages out and we are only mid way into March.

Good luck with your trading!

Back tomorrow.

Michael  www.privateforexcoaching.com

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With little news until the US session, the majors started moving as soon as the UK traders began their day.  The EUR and GBP required larger stop losses than my comfort zone, but the EURGBP allowed for a stop loss that just met our criterion of 3:1 Reward to Risk to our Target 2.

The first hurdle for this trade was to make it through the Asian session low, once it did, the risk was taken out of the trade by moving the stop loss down, while allowing for a re-test of the Asian session low.  The stop loss, now "take profit" was incrementally moved down to lock in profits in the event of a reversal.  As price re-tested our Target 1, the trade is closed.  Price then continued down to our Target 2 and beyond. When price is not moving down with momentum at our Target 1 level, it is better to close the trade or put the "take profit" at Target 1, than to get greedy.

Good luck with your trading!

Back tomorrow.

Michael  www.privateforexcoaching.com

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A beautiful session to trade!  In North America we have moved to Daylight Savings Time which means the UK session starts one hour later for us, until the end of the month, when the UK and Europe switch over too.

Last week, all the news releases throughout the trading sessions, made for a very difficult and volatile trading week.  This was capped off with NFP on Friday - a day we do not trade.

There were many nice setups during the UK session today however, but the EUR had a favourite setup of mine.  This trade set up with breakout traders being lured in short twice, allowed for a 3:1 Reward to Risk ratio setup to our Target 2.  When price began to fade just below Target 1, we closed to protect our profits.  A familiar 1,2,3 rollover setup gave us a short entry as the US traders reversed the overnight up trend.  Price came down completing a familiar formation that I teach.

I love intraday trading!  One typically gets a move in the UK session which is very often reversed  when the US traders come to work.  For those that successfully trade the UK move, why would you want to give it back and not lock in your profits?  We use small stop losses and have defined targets.  We read price, trade familiar high probability setups, and exit when price indicates to us that a move may be reversing.  I learned trading from the largest currency trader in the world, a man with over 42 years of trading experience, whose peers consider to be the best trader out there, and he taught us how being able to read price is paramount to trading success!  Regardless of your preferred trading intervals, or preference for price bars or candles, you must learn how to interpret from price what the market is telling you.

Let's hope for a continued awesome week.

Good luck with your trades!

Michael  www.privateforexcoaching.com

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With so much news all session long, the volatility made for a near impossible scenario to make a profit.  The best approach would have been to take the day off.  I saw a nice entry which required a small initial stop loss.  The trade went positive, but retraced to a slightly negative position just after an hour, before going positive one more time.  After moving the stop loss to plus one pip in advance of the major US news, the position is subsequently closed out.  Price then goes vertically down to our Targets 1 and 2 without us.

Due to our habit of not trading NFP Fridays, I was looking for a final trade for the week and it wasn't there.

My mentor who trades in the tens of billions of dollars per trade, when I asked him about trading NFP and other major economic news events said to me, "you wouldn't stand if front of an oncoming locomotive, would you?"  He went on to say that  he takes his traders out for something to eat and comes back when the market has settled down.  If he sees something he likes then, he trades it, if not, he doesn't trade.  Very wise words...what was I thinking?

The UK session last night seemed to be one of those sessions when locomotives were coming full steam ahead every hour.

Back Tuesday.

Be very careful if you trade tomorrow.

Michael  www.privateforexcoaching.com

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There were several nice trade setups during the UK session to choose from.  I liked the EUR best because it had a greater than 5:1 Reward to Risk.  The stop loss on this trade was about 11 pips for a potential 62 pips to our Target 2.  We closed the trade just above our Target 1 to lock in 45 pips.

I always move my "take profit" level down as a trade progresses.  Once the risk is out of the trade and you have locked in some profit - there is no stress.  When you have an acceptable number of pips and price retraces, it's best to lock in your profits, as opposed to giving them back and hoping price will come back in your direction, without retracing too much.  The old expression..."you will never go broke taking a profit" comes to mind.  Any day that you can get 40 pips is a great day.  Some days, you will get 50, 60, 70+ pips in a trade.  When those day's happen - rejoice!

Good luck with your trading!

Back tomorrow.

Michael  www.privateforexcoaching.com

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This is potentially a very volatile week with so many significant economic news releases each day.  We will not trade Non-Farm Employment / NFP Friday.

I was hoping for some nice trade setups during the UK session, but couldn't find any.  As the US session got underway, the higher lows on the EURGBP caught my attention.  This pair had dropped rapidly with the UK economic release earlier in the session and now was beginning to retrace as is very common when the US traders get going.  The trade met our Reward to Risk ratio of 3:1 to our Target 2, but there was not a lot of time left in the trading day for us.  We exit the trade as the UK session ends.

We will be very vigilant in selecting our trades this week, and moving our stop losses to take profit levels, as there is considerable potential for volatility all week.  Overall the market was fairly subdued, we will see what tomorrow brings us.

Good luck with your trading!  Keep your stops tight and don't give back your profits!

Back tomorrow.

Michael  www.privateforexcoaching.com

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The first day of March concludes one of the most difficult to trade and volatile trading weeks that I have seen in awhile. With very little significant European economic news, the market used the British Manufacturing PMI as the catalyst for some very large moves to end the trading week.

The GBP exploded to the downside in advance of the release...hmmm... and more than doubled that move after the release.

The EUR being quite tame by comparison offered a very tempting entry short, but it did not meet our minimum Reward to Risk ratio of 3:1 to our Target 2.  Price subsequently moved to our Target 2 without us.  The cheap stop loss was about 25 pips above the entry candle and a better stop was about 35 pips above the same entry.  With our preferred target being only 51 pips away and risking 25-35 pips to get it, experience has taught us to walk away from such trades.  If you are not disciplined in your trading methodology, you won't last long in this marketplace.

The current theme seems to be US dollar strength and we are seeing increasingly better economic numbers coming out of the US.

Let's see where we go from here.

Good luck with your trades!

Enjoy your weekend!

Back Tuesday.

Michael  www.privateforexcoaching.com

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