Week of October 3rd – October 9th, 2021
Results: Profit Goal Accomplished. Pip goal missed (259 + pips from this weeks trades, however -499.3 pips lost from gains due to not closing out loosing EUR/CHF trades).
Lesson(s): We still wait for the most profitable times to trade, during the London open (hella early for us, but it works.) We noticed that the dollar (DXY) is regaining buying momentum, after a 3 day dump. That signals two main concepts:
- Go Short on GBP/USD and EUR/USD and go Long on select USD/Quote pairs: We’ve currently entered two trades, Short GBP/USD and EUR/USD, however, tomorrow (Tuesday 10/5 or possibly Wed 10/6, looks like it will offer a better Short entry.)
Trade Results: We closed out of long positions of EUR/CHF. We typically don’t trade, however we entered long 9/15/21, which yielded 100+ pips by 9/17/21. Thinking it was going to continue long, despite sell signals, we remained long. Exited 10/6/21 for 100 pip loss. (Lesson learned: Sell when your rules tell you to exit… don’t voluntarily turn off your brain.)
Despite this “loss” we gained significantly with our short positions on GBP/USD and EUR/USD in the beginning of the week. As the U.S. Dollar gained buying momentum, it pushed these two pairs down a bit more, into areas of liquidity. Using our trading rules, we noticed that once we’d gained 100+ pips shorting these pairs it was time to exit and consider long positions. Which is what we did.
We also noticed that the U.S. Dollar was primed to sell off a bit more, confirming our long positions with G/U and E/U.
The aim for the week was to focus on swing trades. To hold positions over 24 hours. We exited our short positions right around the 24 hr mark. Ideally we’d hold for the better part of the week.
Due to market conditions, Monday and Tuesday led to the greatest momentum and offered the biggest bang for our time. It was a solid trading week.
Over 25 trades were taken for the week, 30 if you include the EUR/CHF trades we exited from September. While it’s not horrible, we’d like to reduce the amount of trades taken to increase efficiency.
This summer we’ve shown you our results from our day trading methods. Now as we enter into the Fall season, it’s time to flex our swing trading muscle. The main reason is that Zane, our chief trader, is now the Assistant VP of Private Client banking and has less time to monitor day trades.
If this is the first post you’ve read, we suggest you take a look at our last entry for the summer, back in June. That will show you what you’re able to accomplish each week, when you have a plan.
If you’re busy, like us, you don’t want to sit in front of your screen waiting for or checking your setup.
What we’re doing now is waiting for a certain group of criteria to be met, we enter, set our stop loss and take profit points and walk away for 24 hours.
Top trades this week:
67.1 pips gained – Shorting GBP/USD: 1.36218 to 1.35547
59.5 pips gained – Shorting GBP/USD: 1.36101 to 1.35506
If we avoid counting the E/C trades we closed, the net gain in pips for this weeks’ trades is 259.2.
However, because everything counts in trading, the net pips gained for all opened and closed trades was: -499.3 pips.
The net dollar value for the week was positive, due to using small lot sizes for the E/C trades, fortunately! Otherwise, it would have been a dismal week profit-wise.
Next Steps: Because we’re in the Swing Trading stage, we’ll continue to use the Monthly/Weekly/Daily timeframes to engage the marketplace. The goal is to obtain 400 pips each month from 2 to 3 pairs: GBP/USD, EUR/USD and a USD/Quote pair. GBP/USD and EUR/USD are poised for continued long positions. Will monitor these pairs closely for ideal entries/exits. Would love to hear from you, too. What are you watching this week?