My Take on Trading the Futures and FOREX Markets

http://www.clinicaltrader.com/blogimages/TF30112009.gif

Here’s a blow by blow account of my some of my trades on the TF today.  Remember that the TF is $10 per tick and that there are 10 ticks in 1 Point. (For a clearer picture, “right-click over the images and select either “view image” or “view image in another tab/window”):-

I went short (sold) at 566.70 (actual fill) with a profit target of 565.70 (10 ticks or 1 Point).   Price began to move in my direction, but then retraced sharply as seen below:-

After taking some heat, price action again moved in my favour:-

Then price went against me again, after almost reaching my profit target.  Against my own rules, I exited for a 0.7 tick loss.   Almost immediately, our CT Trend Indicators fired off a Buy (Long) signal.  So I bought in at 569.00 (actual fill) with a profit target of 570 even:-

After a few minutes our target was filled at 570, for 1 Point of profit or $100 per contract traded.

Soon after our profit target was filled, the CT Trend Indicators fired off a second Buy signal.  So I went Long again at 571.70 with a profit target of 572.70.

Price action was fast and it did not take long for our profit target of 572.70 to be filled.

So to end the day my results were as follows:-

20 ticks profit – 0.7 ticks loss = 13 ticks profit

13 ticks x $10 = $130 per contract traded.  If you were trading 10 contracts, then today’s profit would be $1300.00 less $42.00 commission and exchange charges.

Happy Trading!

Fuad.

Hi Traders!

Some updates.  I accidently upgraded Wordpress (the software that powers this Blog) without backing up my old files.  Hence, all my pictures were erased!!!:(

So this is what I have decided to do.  I will start this Blog afresh.  That means new pictures, new posts and new strategies and information.

Happy Trading!

Hi Traders!

Below is the link to the EUR/USD chart for the 10th July 2008.

http://clinicaltrader.com/TraderTalk/BlogImage/20080710EURUSD.gif

Another decent day trading the Frankfurt/London Paradigm. This example is taken from one of the most popular FX pairs: the EUR/USD.

It often wonder about why this time period always produces a reversal of some sort. According to Kathy Lien of FXCM, it is because the Frankfurt Traders are Stop Hunting the overnight positions held over from the US session.

I really don’t know if this is true. What I can say is that the overlap with the Asian session gives me enough confidence to put on a trade, especially if I know that there’s enough volume to create a tradeable trend.

Well, I’m not trading today…my Friday Night activities beckon me so have Great Weekend and as always,

Happy Trading!

Fuad.

Hi Trader’s!

Many trader’s I’ve spoken to are scared of trading the ER2. This is strange since it does almost as much volume as the YM (Mini Dow) and puts in a very healthy daily range of between 10 – 20 Points.

The ER2 moves in increments (ticks) of 0.10. So 1 Point is made up of 10 ticks, thus for example, a move from 671.00 to 672.10 would represent 11 ticks of price action.

1 tick on the ER2 is worth $10, therefore a 1 point move = $100 – pretty healthy!

I guess folks are scared of the ER2 because of its erratic nature. It moves fast in both directions and can retrace deeply within a trend. It’s not uncommon for these deep retracements to take out Stop Orders that are placed by conservative or scared money. You can’t have tight stops on the ER2.

Anyway, here are the trades for today using our CT Trend +CT Star + CT Bubble set-up (see http://clinicaltrader.com/TraderTalk/?p=40 for details). This is an example of our software using the MultiCharts Platform (www.tssupport.com) – The CT Bubble is plotted as a “B” for Buy and S for “Sell”. CT Star is, well a Star.

Anyway, as you can see, our CT Indicator tools and Set-Ups can handle even choppy and erratic markets like the ER2.

Happy Trading!

Fuad.

www.clinicaltrader.com

Hi Traders!

Below are the links to the YM Trades for the 8th and 9th of July 2008.

http://clinicaltrader.com/TraderTalk/BlogImage/20080708YM.gif

http://clinicaltrader.com/TraderTalk/BlogImage/20080709YM.gif

I’m showing you a variation on the CT Trend/CT Star Set-Up.

Here we’re using CT Trend + CT Bubble + CT Star. CT Star in TradeStation appears as a “Hollow Dot”.

The Set-Up is as follows:-

Long Trades:-

If:-
Green CT Star + Green CT Bubble + Green CT Trend Bar,
then:-
Buy at Market on the Close of 1st Bearish Bar.

Short Trades:-

Reverse the above for Short Trades and substitute Green CT Trend for Red and Green CT Star/Bubble for Magenta.

Money Management:-

Stop Loss is 20 Points or 2 ticks above most recent Green.Red Bar High.

1st Target is 10 Points and 2nd Target is 20 Points.

Once 1st Target is filled, bring Stop to either Break Even or Break Even -10 Points.

This set up is interesting to apply as it combines quick scalps with trend trading/following.

I hope that this was useful .

Happy Trading!

Fuad.
www.clinicaltrader.com/TraderTalk

Hi Traders!

Wow! A Choppy but profitable day.  8 Wins and 1 Loss today using our new CT Star and CT Trend Indicator tools.

Monday is always a strange day, and Monday after the 4th of July is really messy.  But our new set up really worked well today.  I’m excited about trying it out on big trend days.  Anyway, here’s the chart:-

Happy Trading!

Fuad.

www.clinicaltrader.com

Hi Traders!

I want to share with you our trades on the ER2 (e-Mini Russell 2000) using CT Trend and our new CT Star indicators.

The rule is take 1/2 our position off at 1 point of profit and our remaining half at 2 points of profit.  Our initial stop loss is 2 points.  After our 1st target id reached, bring the stop loss order down to Break Even +1 tick.

The set-up is: Short Trades:-

CT Star is Magenta + CT Trend is RED.  Sell Short at Market on Close of 1st Bullish Bar.

Long Trades: CT Star is Green + CT Trend is Blue.  Buy at Market on Close of 1st Bearish Bar.

Below are today’s trade results up until around 11:30AM EST.

Hope that this interests some of you…:)

Happy Trading!

Fuad.

www.clinicaltrader.com

Hi Trader’s!

I’m back from my Vac.!

Before I left, I had a chat with my good friends’ father about the behavior of Crude Oil. I mentioned to him that every time Crude Oil makes a new High, it retraces significantly, thus taking out all who went Long (bought) at the new highs.

To prove a point, here’s Crude Oil from the 6th June 2008. The new High was at $139 a barrel. After the new High, we had a big sell off down to $131 a barrel.

Then on the 15th June we had another all time high, this time at $140 a barrel. Predictably, the Sell Off occurred just after on the 17th and continued through until the 19th June – all the way down to $132.

Finally, on the 3rd of July we had Crude Oil trade at $145. Almost immediately on the open of trading on the 7th, we had a sell off all the way down to $140 a barrel.

Well, that’s it for Crude Oil. As you can see, we can catch these nice down moves using both a little historical analysis and CT Trend.

Happy Trading!

Fuad.

www.clinicaltrader.com

Hi Trader’s!

I’m spending the 4th of July weekend in Langkawi However, before I get hit over the head for looking at charts when I supposed to be vacationing, I though that I’d quickly post the USD/JPY FX Pair from the 3rd of July.

I usually won’t trade on such days as there was major news + a US holiday looming and we’re in the middle of Summer. But here it is anyway and it really wasn’t a bad day to trade the Frankfurt-London Paradigm:-

http://clinicaltrader.com/TraderTalk/BlogImage/20080703USDJPY.gif

The same can’t be said about the EURUSD pair. That seems to be a favorite among NFP break-out traders so it was no surprise that the pair was flat until the US session. I really don’t trade announcements, but don’t doubt that some have made an art of it.

In case you’re wondering, the Magenta and Green Bubbles (CT Bubble) are an indicator tool we developed in addition to CT Trend. I’ll discuss the Trade Set-up using the CT Trend Color Bars + CT Bubble as an additional tool you can use to advance your trading plan in future posts.

Cheers and Happy Trading!

Fuad.
www.clinicaltrader.com/TraderTalk