Use 15 minute and 4hr charts. The shorter one helps you find the better entry price against the longer one which will tell you whether or not it is with the trend or countertrend, which is where many of the fakeouts will materialize. Also, determine a stop based on the max drawdown you are willing to lose per trade. If it is 3%, that would equate to $7.50 of your 250 account balance, or ruffly 7.5 pips based on your trade size of 10k. Maybe you should lower that size to 1k. Can you do that on FXCM? If not, you are better off finding a broker that will aloow sizes that small (or smaller)
After getting home and reviewing a 4 hour chart, the stupidity of my original entry is now blatantly obvious. The good news is that short does, in fact, look like the position to be in right now. Had I been seeing this chart for the first time, I would have entered short at the peak of the last candle. This has me considering whether I should double down at this point. We are a good bit off the peak though, so I think I'll simply ride this single lot out. The larger time frame chart does make all the difference in the world though. forex.com does not allow for trade sizes under 10k. I am planning on switching brokers. Any suggestions aside from Oanda? I'm doing my best to research on my own, but everyone seems to think every broker is a scam, which makes it hard to find reliable information. Is FXOpen any good?
cstfx made a good suggestion about finding a broker that lets you reduce size while learning forex, as I am. First, find a broker that offers MetaTrader 4. This platform lets you specify trade size as a percentage of a standard lot, giving you the option of trading as low as 10 cents per pip. For example, my default size is 0.01, which equates to $0.10 per pip. When I'm ready, I can easily scale up to larger lots. I don't make or lose much but it's a great way to learn trading forex live w/o a simulator or practice account. Good Luck. Edit: I just noticed that you are with forex.com. I am as well but in order to use MT4, I had to move my account to the UK. The only downside is that it'll cost me $25 to get my money out. They only wire transfer funds out of UK accounts.
But what is all this talk I hear (even around here) that Metatrader is a scam? For reference: http://elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=118174
Thanks for the heads up. I didn't know and I've had some strange incidents that have yet to be explained, but then again I've been around long enough to realize no platform is perfect and I tend to ignore the small incidents. Maybe I should pay more attention. I'm new to forex world and have learned I can't scalp the beast. I'm sure others can but going for 5-10 pips is a loser's game for me. Now I'm looking for long term plays, which may minimize the effect of counter trades
^Glad I could help. From all the reading I've done, retail forex is a mine field. Best of luck to you. 4 hours bar outlook held true. Take profit stopped out around 2:20am. Covered - GBP/USD 1.64836 45 pips Wish I had seen the 4 hour chart before taking my terrible position. That was an easy 150+ pip move. Also wish I had trusted the chart and set a much less (extremely) conservative profit target before bed. We're currently down over 60 from my stop point. Woulda, coulda, shoulda, but all-in-all I can't complain. Another trade that was massive against me turned to reasonable profit. Including that as part of yesterday: Total after day 2: +32.2 pips
Didn't play out quite how I wanted or expected, so I happily took my low profit target before it changed its mind. Needless to say, the second I covered it blew through my target price on it's way to the center of the earth, more than likely to my original target (stated above). Must... trust... the... chart!!! Covered - USD/JPY 93.850 15 pips
Just to reiterate this profit taking too soon problem that I have. I was long WPTE at 0.98. Again, it moved against me quite a bit. I stuck with my setup and today it paid off. My original target was 1.08. I was very glad to see it up today and cashed for a small gain at 1.01. Current price... 1.09... par. I just cost myself a 10% gain on a multi-day trade. How do you guys deal with this? The times I have made a point of sticking with the trade, I end up turning a winner into a loser. Then whenever I do take profit quickly, the trade rockets in my direction like no tomorrow.
Perhaps a trailing stop might benefit you here. Once the trade has moved enough that you risk giving back gains, throw a trailing stop on there. This will avoid you turning a winner into a loser (to a certain degree at least), and will also let the trade run if price continues to go with you.