02-28-2012. Missed the short when trading box was broken to the down side. Had to wait for price to come to support area to try long. It's difficult to see price come down $1.40 in front of your eyes while waiting for price to come down to support but RULES are important to follow. Net on the day $1.24.
This is in response to a question as to how did i decide to go long at 106.34 into 02-28-2012 close. RULE: I take clues from better Volume indicator only at Swing highs and Swing lows. It's just a tool like an other. For example, there were no clues from this tool to take short position around 108.60 but i took several trades in that area. One area where it did help some was to try long at days swing low around 106.30 area. If this spike had showed up at 107.40, I will ignore it as I only look at it around new daily swing lows and highs. Very important to keep that in mind.
mf, is there a way to scan for 52wk highs on the tos platform? Their scanning options are very limited..
02-28-2012. Post analysis of missed opportunities even though i had a plan per my pre open chart notes and other notes from yesterdays price action.
a harmonic pattern called butterfly was in play. it took a lot of patience but the wait was worth it. http://blogs.fxstreet.com/forexology/files/2009/01/butterfly-pattern1.gif (same pattern was in play today, 2/28, altho it was a bit harder to detect after the morning chop) in add'n, USO had opening range breakdown. two for the price of one. great deal.
02-29-2012 Pre Open. Lots of news till 10.30 am. Hoping for good VOLUME spikes at key Resistance/Support to take trades. FOLLOWING IS IN RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS WHICH IS LONG OVERDUE: I do not trade Elliott waves, Gartley patterns etc to take set ups. Some of my friends trade those methods successfully. They place a stop loss of 50 ticks or more to avoid NOISE and wait for target to get hit. It require tremendous PATIENCE as several days can pass without set ups lining up. Without Volume at key reference points , I am lost. I am not implying that trading those patterns require wide stop loss. They typically are wider then what I use. NOTE: I DO NOT WANT TO START A DISCUSSION ON THAT. My trading method calls for to identify 2-3 MIPOD ( MOST IMPORTANT PRICE OF THE DAY) and trade in reference to them. Without VOLUME to show intentions of KEY PLAYERS, it is difficult to identify MIPOD per my method.
02-29-2012 Set ups, I would have taken if I was around during Globex session. CORRECTION: chart should show time of 8 pm for long set up instead of 8 am.
1st trade +45 ticks. MIPOD ( most important Price of the day) per 8.30 am news and OR. OR is set at 107.13-106.44.