I passed on this trade because some of the bars leading up to it were very…well…non-directional. It would have been good for 8 ticks plus a decent runner with a few opportunities to exit rather profitably.
15 March 2012 - 6E (EURUSD Futures) 450 Tick Chart
I have been using a 6E futures 450 tick chart to scalp the EURUSD FOREX currency pair. I had a short signal on the 6E at 0628 EST this morning at 1.3049, I got in a little late at 1.3047 so I tightened my profit target to 6 pips (not 8.) Seconds later the 6 pips was reached and I was trailing with 1 contract.
Price pulled back to the top of the trade channel, so I shorted again at 1.3055 and I grabbed another 6 pips.
15 March 2012 - 6E (EURUSD Futures) 450 Tick Chart
A similar trade setup at 0821 EST where I shorted at 1.3054, taking 8 ticks rather quickly on 5 contracts and then trailing with 1. Price pulled back to the top of the trade channel and I should have shorted again, and price would have given me another 8 ticks.
I was stopped out on the last contract at plus 1 @ 1.5053.
15 March 2012 - EURUSD 1 Range Chart
Well, a bit of news pushed the CABLE up and hit our stop at 1.5781. 59 pips to the good.
15 March 2012 - GBPUSD 4 Hour Chart
Well the GBPUSD currency pair moved back down on the 4 hour chart but as you can see the Bollinger Band indicator is contracting. When the Bollinger Band contracts, this typically signifies lower volatility.
15 March 2012 - GBPUSD 4 Hour Chart
Anyway, I would be tightening my stop to 1.5781 (59 pips of profit) and my target is changed to 1.5633 (91 pips of profit.)
Let’s see what these final 2 days of this trading week decide to give us…
Look at the 2 charts below. You can probably see why I like trading the GBPUSD over the EURUSD on the 3 minute chart.
14 March 2012 - GBPUSD 3 Minute
The Pound likes to pay credence to the 4 hour pivots much more than the Euro does, as you can see when you compare the two charts.
I like the EURO better for scalping a few ticks here and there, but I like the British Pound better for intraday swing trades.
Well so far so good on the directional call of the GBPUSD based on the 4 hour chart. Price has moved nicely down from the high of the bar that touched both the upper Bollinger Band and the Weekly Pivot at the 1.5740 area, down to as low as 1.5648 so far, just about 100 pips.
14 March 2012 - GBPUSD 4 Hour Chart
The actual target is around 1.5600 which is the lower Bollinger Band and the Weekly S1 support area. Let’s see if it gets there…
I usually don’t make direction calls in a currency pair based on one chart alone, and I certainly won’t be entering blindly to the short side on what I am about to show you.
The 4 hour (240 minute) chart of the GBPUSD pair just reached two resistance points, both the top of the Bollinger Band channel and the weekly pivot point level.
13 March 2012 - GBPUSD 4 Hour Chart
These should both act as strong resistance points and help the market retrace down to the bottom of the Bollinger Band channel, which also happens to be neatly aligned with the S1 support level on the weekly pivots.
I will keep these in mind for tomorrow morning when I look for confirmation of this direction on both the 15 minute and 3 minute charts and then make some actual trading decisions. Until then….
