Genosse Baruch! How are you going old friend? This just cracked me up man, I just thought I'd drop into ET to see what's going on these days, saw "Baruch's Forex System" on the top of page, read it with great interest (I'm currently trading this full-time), flipped to the last page, and what must I see? 6E and 6B, you have exactly the same 2 positions on that I have right now? I entered this morning (my morning, anyway) the EUR at 192 (50% retracement & rejection on the most recent 15m highs & lows, after a higher high), sipping an Oolong tea. I just covered 3/4 of that position here at 242 (+50) and keeping the rest for the sake of it. Yet I do expect a bit of a retrace here, since we've long hit the uppermost channel lines, which makes it a good place to go short, rather than long. That said though, it's way too strong a trend for me to go short, so I'll just wait for a decent re-entry point, maybe around the 216-218 level. Baruch, you moved your stop to 45? How the heck? That's the very HOD, it sure must be a typo? I've been trading the DAX very actively and very high-performance till last week (also calling all my trades live in a chatroom which we've had up for over a month), until my edge kind of faded, the DAX changed a bit and went kind of sour. My best friend and I (both DAX scalpers) looked for better shores and found the EUR FX and the ER2. They're both excellent for scalping, yet I prefer trading the EUR for longer swings rather than scalping, something I haven't done for a while. It simply isn't worth it with the massive R:R's you can get in this issue if you place good entries and just sit & hold. The ER2 does it for short-term scalping needs, it's surely a big (relaxing) change from the deadly DAX. I currently trade EUR, JPY, GBP, some CAD, CHF and the rare AUD dabble (more longer term, like position trades), ER2 and a little bit of ES. Comms on all of these are much higher than Eurex, but I guess you always have to adapt... By the way, I don't use any indicators whatsoever, threw them away quite some time ago, it gives me a much better view. Yet, I think they're good as "support wheels" for learning traders. As long as you feel you need them and they work for you, no reason not to use them. Just never forget that all they are is "illusion". They can help give you something to orient to for entries, but it's the exits that count. Best Regards, Scientist
Just noticed the DAX is looking incredibly sour. Key reversal 15m bar closing on low, next one diving without retrace, rather unsually scary behaviour (I can't remember seeing often / ever) on DAX. It's all rather bearish, and that on volume. Let's not hope the markets will crash today. The last days' patterns on the US daily charts somewhat resemble the patterns just a few days before the 1929 and 87 "corrections". May the force be with you.
Genosse Scientist, Nice to hear from you. So you are also trading Forex now? Great. And no more scalping?. Great, I suppose? So you don't use indicators anymore? Maybe I should also throw them out - I am only using RSI 50, but I suppose I would make the same trades without it. Do you use a system, or just looking at the charts? And do you trade the news? PS. Yes, I moved my stop on CHF (Swiss) future to 45. What's wrong with that?
First 45, then 55? Again, 55 only became HOD just then... Baruch, are you sure you're not trading the March contract or something like that? It's 6E M4 currently trading. Better not dabble in the expiring one, unless you really know what you're doing, i.e. interested in arbing them, or taking / making delivery.
All this stops-moving takes too much space in my thread, I suppose? So I will stop writing about it. But I am using a trailing stop, while looking at the chart and RSI. I will let the markets decide when it's time to take profits and go flat.
Hey Baruch, I'm trading Forex futures mainly now intraday, and longer-term plays in forex. The reasons were several; - I like the implications, liquidity, opportunity, lower risk of a 23.5 hour market. - I like not having to stay up till 6am in the morning (lol) - I like the ease of trading these things and the associated profits. Just to name few. Yes, I still do scalping, it's the most profitable style out there, but requires a lot more homework, concentration, focus, screenwatching etc etc. I've come to the conclusion that you can either double or triple your profits by putting in 10X more work, or make half or a quarter of the profits but doing just 10% of the work. With EUR, that is the case. This morning, I put on a EUR long, went out for shopping and a cappuccino with friends down the strip, came back home, took 50 pips per contract, which is equivalent to exactly 20pts on DAX. Sure, I had quite a few days where I made more on DAX, but certainly not with such ease, and a lot more work (and risk) involved. Well, you get the idea. Bottom line is that I'm coming to the realization that making $X or X% a year isn't everything. Yeah, it's great to be a high-performance trader, but you can really burn out doing it, too. What's the point in having money if you have no time? I was working 12+ hours a day just to maintain what I was doing, to the detriment of relationships, friends, family, love, you name it. That's not life. Looking at the rest of my EUR position, which went up +90 pips just then - THAT IS LIFE! I do some occassional scalping though, I have a pretty effective EUR scalping system (it's almost identical to the one I used on DAX), the same for JPY and GBP at times, and I'll do scalping on the ER2 as well. ES is rather rare, for it's not really suitable for scalping, but I like to use it for conviction plays, and / or longer term / swings, since I can literally do as much size as I like, without slippage. Indicators? I've thrown them away mid-last year, remember? I might have shown an indicator chart on the DAX thread once, to illustrate something, but I think I've stressed I don't use them. I've never used them on DAX at all. But I may have pivots on my charts, particularly ES. If you like RSI, keep using it. Don't listen to me or others, this is your game, and you need to do what works for YOU! This is absolutely paramount. System? Well, I have backtested all my approaches by hand on charts to the very last tick for weeks and months, so I exactly know my entry & exit parameters, criteria and rules, but apart from that, I still only look at naked charts. I occassionally use a fib tool to measure things or draw a line or two (like trendlines, channels), but that's it. And no, I don't actively trade the news. I don't know if (how) I could, so I don't try. If the position looks good, I'll stay in, if not I'll exit before news and enter the reaction at a nice low-risk spot. Regarding stop: I wasn't referring to CHF, but never mind. Best, S