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How's working 1 hour per day for you? USDJPY (30 Mar 09)

Trading for this 20 pips move took a grand total of 1hour. Cool?
USDJPY was creating a ascending wedge with some form of volatility squeeze. Sellers are defending their positions at higher prices. Good for a long breakout. It's interesting to note various MAs on higher timeframes at 96.80

Prelude:
Long USDJPY at 96.80, SL 15 pips and TP at 97.00; a round number.


The Trade:
The breakout occured but the move was disappointing, <10pips. I exited with 6 pips when the price started pulling back; possible false breakout (Trade 1). I reentered at 97.90 with SL and TP both 10 pips (Trade 2). 2 reasons; one, it was near a round number, two, price did not fall back to previous levels despite the breakout.
Be careful readers if you do re-enter a previous trade; especially failed trade. Never fall in love with your trade!
In slightly more than 5 minutes, I bagged the 10 pips.


On Hindsight:
I observed a top-ish stochastics at 97.00 hence confirming that an exit there is safe even though price moved another 10 pips before collapsing.
The exit for Trade 1 might have been a bit anxious, but in this kind of market safe is better than sorry. Holding on probably means an extra 4 pips. One reason why the price lingered there slightly might be the MAs on higer timeframe mentioned at the start.

150pips move in EURUSD (25 Mar 09)

Whatever happened on 25 Mar 09? EURUSD moved 150 pips in 10 minutes (2 candles)

Anyone care to comment about this?
PS: Nope its not news announcement; Crude Oil Inventories for US was at 10:30pm.

Very Volatile USDJPY (24 Mar 09)

The closing wedge in the above USDJPY means sellers are defending their positions at higher prices and buyers are gathering at the resistance for the breakout. The time is ripe for a long trade.


Prelude:
Notice the number of candle wicks coming from the previous candle sticks. Its never unusual to see candle wicks but in this situation, most of the wicks length are 1/2 or more of the body size. Fishy or what?


The Trade:
I was spiked in on point 3 where I lost 10+ pips. But I decided to stay on for the breakout. Entered for a long breakout for 10 pips profit with a similar stop loss.
I was prepared to see blood in this trade. With the amount of volatility coming form previous candles, the upmove should not be any different. I closed out with 3 pips win. Psychologically prepared or not, this is no way to fight a battle.


On Hindsight:
This wasn't pretty. Its wrong to even say its a win; technically I chose the worse time to enter the breakout. Too volatile. Maybe it was the response to losing 10+ pips previously. Revenge is never sweet.
Trading should always be about reason and logic.


This trade is a negative example of how you should do an Intraday Trade :P

20 pips in 10 minutes. EURUSD (23 Mar 09).

Dear Readers how has your trading been recently?

This trade on 23 Mar 09 was a quick 20 pips within 10 minutes. This is the kind of trade you are looking for in Intraday Trading. Quick, low downside and little volatility.


Prelude:
EURUSD was trending downwards for the trading day. Here it is now taking a breather and a consolidation pattern is formed. (Reason: Banks/Institutions are probably clearing routine orders) Notice how the SMAs are trending down smoothly as well.


The Trade:
A short trade with a profit take of 20 pips and a stop loss of 10 pips. Textbook trade of risk-reward ratio 2:1. The thing to take note here is the entry is damn near to the consolidation zone meaning I was confident that any move downwards is unlikely to be a spike.


On Hindsight:
The SMA (10) is acting as a resistance giving the odds of a downwards breakout a higher probability.

False Spikes. GBPUSD (20 Mar 09).

GBPUSD was happily trading in a range for 10 5min Candlesticks. We can see the consolidation pattern in the second picture above.


Prelude:
Base on 30min trend, Stochastics and MACD an entry is setup to short just below the consolidation for 20 pips. Stop loss is 10 pips.


The Trade:
The 1st 5 minute was wonderful as the formation of the candle confirmed my strategy.
The next 5 minute was terrible with pip gains for the previous 5 mins being wipeout.
Seemingly this was a false spike and I exited the trade with approx 6 pips loss.


On Hindsight:
Mkt continued to consolidate for 3 more candles being making the move.
Bang! And this was the real deal, 100 pips for the next 10 candles. The move was clean and clear.
My analysis was correct but the follow-through lacking.

Dear readers,
what is your lesson for this trade?

Trade Patterns Recognition (3 Mar 09), a quick 10-20 pips

Notice the 3 blocks before the move upwards.
1) The 1st candle had a long wick meaning plenty of orders above 98.10
2) Identical size of 2nd and 3rd candle. Even the wick was the same. That means there was little sell orders below 98.00

A strong signal for a trend continuation upwards. Long above 98.10 for a quick 10-20 pips in 5 mins from USDJPY on 3 Mar 09.

I did not take this trade but my mentor was there to point this out to me.