The SAS Trader : Thursday Review.

Hello and welcome to today’s adventures in the Forex Jungle. This is the penultimate virtual trial blog.

The virtual account is being dragged, kicking and screaming to the £1000.00 mark. I had arrived at my desk just prior to 07:00 this morning, and I noticed that once again, there had been significant movement in the £/$ pair overnight.

I entered a long trade @ 1.6110, which was already considerably above the Daily Pivot of 1.6043. Had I been a little less woolly headed, not to mention greedy, or stupid, I would have successfully completed a 30+ pip scalp. As it was, I set my sights too high yet again! Was that desperation taking hold, wanting to reach a target? I would like to say no, but if I’m honest, I have to say yes it was. I went into this trade with one eye on the target.

I was looking for 50 pips and I only needed to see the price hit 1.6160. However, the price couldn’t break 1.6150, and began to turn around. I decided to get out of the trade @ 1.6120 with 10 pips of profit. So we closed today with the account at £955.00.

The thing which annoyed me the most, once I had time to sit and think about it, was the fact that to reach the £1000 milestone, all I needed was 36 pips! I somehow forgot that I was trading at £1.50 per pip.

Not to worry though, it’s only virtual and will become irrelevant after this week. However, I have learned one thing from this, and it’s something I’m thinking of adding to my list of golden rules.

 Don’t set yourself a target in a timeframe! It’s all very well having a goal to achieve, but you can really do without putting yourself under pressure to reach that goal by a particular time. Work towards hitting your goal, but let it happen when it happens, and then set a new goal.

Thanks for reading this far, don’t forget to look in tomorrow to see if I hit the target!!!

The SAS Trader : Wednesday Review.

Hello and welcome to today’s adventures in the Forex Jungle.

Another short and sweet entry today. I picked up on a good move this morning, picking up 40 pips in the process. I could have finished on an even higher note had I been a little more patient. But I have a lot to do this week, and sitting in front of a screen watching charts is only holding me back from updating the manual I’m writing, which is amongst other tasks I need to focus on before I go to live testing with my system.

I was happy with the 40 pips, I claimed back the 10 pips I lost yesterday and added 30 to the overall figure. I’m within touching distance of my £1000.00 target, with the account now at £945.00.

Sure I could leave the trade on autopilot whilst I’m working, but at the moment the account is only virtual so it doesn’t really mean that much. I would still like to nurse that account to the £1000.00 mark, but it isn’t a priority any more. Winding myself up for the live test next week, with real money on the line is occupying my thought process, and I need to get up to date with other matters before I start.

My intention is to prove that the average Joe can make a success of trading forex without having to remortgage the house to get the funds together. If you can put aside £100 to start, follow a good system without going maverick, it can be done, and that is what I’m hoping to prove.

With the virtual test, I targeted £1000.00 by the end of March, which was started around 9 weeks ago, and even if it doesn’t get any higher, it’s done good.  In the real world a £1000.00 target will take a little longer to attain, so whilst I don’t really want to put myself under any pressure, I feel that I could achieve a figure in that region by week 12. So keep watching this space. Until then, good hunting, and stay happy.

The SAS Trader : Tuesday Review.

Hello and welcome to today’s adventures in the Forex Jungle.

Just another simple, quick commentary today. I got to my desk at 06:45 this morning, and on logging in to my platform found the indicators pointing to a buy trade. I set up an order to open, entering @ 1.6025 looking to make a quick 30 pips. The profit limit was set to 1.6055.

The trade was triggered just after 07:15, and it initially looked like it was going to be a solid SAS type quick 30 pips in the bag. However, from around 07:30 it seemed to have reached its zenith, and the pair became like The Grand Old Duke of York, it couldn’t make up its mind whether it was going up or down.

That continued for a while, and when the economic data was released, that didn’t have any effect at first. By rights, it should have seen the £ gain. I looked back in on the charts at around 10:30 and decided that if I could, I would close the trade out at my entry point, but gravity took over. The indicators were beginning to turn, and I cut my losses @ 1.6015, minus 10 pips.

The indicators had picked up the earlier move to the upside, the problem there for me was the fact that it was at 04:00 and way too early for me. By the time I logged in the scalping opportunity was past. You just have to take these things on the chin. The positive from it was I got out before my 30 pip stop had been reached, so it could well have been worse. We end today with the virtual account back on £889.00.

Don’t forget folks, I’ll be back at square one from next week, Mon 4^th April. This time though, the system is being put through its paces for real. Until next time, have a good day on the platform, and stay safe.

The SAS Trader : Monday Review.

Hello and welcome to today’s adventures in the Forex Jungle.

A pretty good start to the week for the SAS Trader System. The 15 minute chart remained fairly flat overnight. The Daily Pivot came in at 1.6007, with the price action largely hovering just above that point overnight. The 1 hr, 4 hr & daily charts were showing a continuation of the recent downturn.

By 07:15 I decided to follow what the longer time frame charts were showing. I set a short order to open @ 1.5995, and the trade was triggered between 07:30-45. After my near miss on Friday, I set the profit limit 35 pips away @ 1.5960, and the pair obliged approximately 45 min’s later.

As I have a lot of other work I need to concentrate on this week, I was happy to leave the trading for the day, with the virtual account approaching the £1000.00 mark, sitting on £904.00. Hopefully that target will be reached by the end of this week. I will not be too disappointed if it doesn’t quite make it though.

I’m both excited and nervous at the moment though. As the virtual testing period draws to a close, it brings the actual live test D-Day nearer. I’m not expecting the figures on the live test to be anything like the virtual test results, but I will hope that they can achieve in the region of 75% of them in a similar 2 month period. That of course is down to the markets though.

Thank you for reading thus far, and may your week on the platform be profitable.

The SAS Forex Trader: Friday Roundup

Hello and welcome to today’s adventures in the Forex Jungle.

No news data to affect £/$ pair this morning, and on logging in to the platform and checking out the 15 minute chart, no inspiration. From around 17:00 yesterday to logging in at 06:45 this morning, my 15 min chart 

indicators were flat lining.

A quick look at the 1 hour chart was indicating a continuation in the trend downwards. At which point I felt that going short would be my strategy for the day. I set an order to open on 1.6095 and put a stop loss in at 1.6130. I calculated a potential fall in the pair to around 1.6040, but set the profit take to 1.6055.

I was hoping that once the trade was triggered, it would move reasonably quickly toward my target. I sat watching it for around an hour and half or so before the trade got triggered prior to 08:30. It fell to within 5 pips of the target before turning around; it actually got back up to 2 pips away from my stop loss. I then set a time limit on it, and decided that come what may, I would get out of the trade at around 11:00/11:30.

There’s more to life than trading forex, I want to be a dad and have fun with my daughter. My weekends begin at lunch hour. I finally gave up the game when I got back to near where I had entered the trade, losing just 1 pip and the spread in the process.

Did I set my sights too high in looking for 40 pips, possibly? After all, this system is all about scalping, and 30 pips is a good scalp in anybody’s book. Had I targeted 30 pips, the trade would have been successful. Had I not made up my mind to quit when I did for the day, I could have eventually made the target and more, but at the time of writing (11:45), the price was still around my entry level. Sure, I could have left the trade to play out, but sometimes I get a little autistic. I like to have loose ends tied up, and leaving the trade open at the start of the weekend would have been a loose end.

I have a busy week ahead of me next week. There’s a lot of number crunching to be done so the Taxman knows how much to leave me with! Trading could be a little sparse next week then, but I would very much like to hit my 4 figure target by the end of it, and it will also be the last week of virtual testing for the system. The account balance after today sits on £856.00.

As of Monday 4^th April, I will be going back to square 1 with a trading account of £100.00. This time though, I will be trading with coin of the realm, not imaginary figures on a piece of paper. The system works well in the virtual world. Now it needs a run out in the real world, where emotions come into the decision making process!

I am confident in the system though, and confident that it will make enough for me to forget about being a wage slave. Now, doesn’t that sound like a nice thing? Until next time, have a fun weekend, but keep our less fortunate brothers and sisters out there in your mind – Stay Happy.

The SAS Forex Trader System: Trial Going Well.

Hello and welcome to today’s adventures in the Forex Jungle.

There was no major news data due out today that would really affect the £/$ pair. Yesterday’s budget was a non event, offering nothing to anybody. Wow!!! A whole 1p per litre off fuel, think I’ll go fill the tank up, an amazing opportunity to save myself a whopping 50p.

I said recently that Osborne was going to talk the economy up, so to hear him state the bleeding obvious about recovery being slower than expected, really does not paint a pretty picture does it!

How many more people are going to have to lose their jobs, and how many more essential services will be slashed, before these fools realise that they are driving this county back into the teeth of a recession of their making. We can no longer wholly blame the banking industry for this mess. Yet all our wonderful MPs' do is sit around playing party politics, pointing fingers at each other and pulling faces! I’ve seen and heard better debate at my daughter’s kindergarten.

As far as jobs go, I’ve honestly given up the attempt to find a reasonably well paid one. Any that do get advertised are well and truly oversubscribed. No, I think I’m going to concentrate my thoughts on making a living from trading the forex markets from now on. Speaking of which, had I continued yesterday I would have seen a 100 pip gain as the £ continued its descent after I had closed my trade out.

On to today’s action though, and this morning I was in a hurry as I had an important appointment to attend early today. I was thinking that I may not get a trade in. However, the indicators on the 15 min & 1 hour charts were straight into a sell signal. I entered at 1.6225, setting a profit limit of 50 pips @ 1.6175. Thankfully the target was hit, but I had gone astray from my usual strategy of looking to 25/30 pips if I’m unable to monitor the trade. I obviously wasn’t thinking straight whilst rushing to get ready. Fortunately, it worked out ok. The kitty is now progressing nicely at £862.00.

There is just over one more week of trialling the system virtually, and then it is time to put my money where my mouth is and get trading the system for real. I will be looking to make a start doing that on Monday 4^th April. Once again I am going to be starting with just £100.00, back to square 1. I now have faith in my system, and I will prove its effectiveness with real money from that date. I hope to show that you can get involved with trading forex without having a small fortune to begin with.

Until tomorrow, have a good day on the platform.

The SAS Trader: Wednesday Digest

Hello and welcome to today’s adventures in the Forex Jungle.

I was a little wary of entering a trade early this morning. Yesterday we seen the £/$ pair hit new highs, and I didn’t trade as I could not be convinced that we would see those high points touch. It meant that I missed out on a very good trade, but I was sticking to my mantra yesterday, which is. “If in doubt, leave it out.” I wasn’t sore at missing out; I was pleased that I had protected the trading account.

I was feeling pretty much the same early on this morning. The pair was trading above the daily pivot point, but was only moving in a 20/25 pip range on my 15 min chart. The indicators were looking pretty confused too. They did seem to start favouring a sell signal around 08:30, so I decided that if they opened below the 1.6350 pivot point, I would look to a small scalp of around 25/30 pips. I calculated a support line at 1.6309 and entered the trade @ 1.6345, with a 50 pip profit limit, but looking to around the support area to get out if the profit limit could not be reached. Happily, that trade worked out well and the profit limit was hit just after 09:30.

What did make the trade even better was the fact that I had increased the size of my stake from £1 per pip, up to £1.50. That has put an extra £70.50 into the kitty, which now stands at £791.50, and well on the way to reaching my target of being 4 figures by the end of this month.

There was no change in MPC’s stance on interest rate change today, but it is going to be interesting to see the results of the budget. Be in no doubt that Osborne is going to be talking things up, when we all actually know that the situation is really dire out there just now. Like I’ve commented on previously though, nobody can massage a figure like a politician, especially a Tory politician.

As ever, stay happy and don’t forget to tune in tomorrow. Thank you for reading thus far.

The SAS Forex Trader: Tuesday Digest

Hello and welcome to today’s adventures in the Forex Jungle.

Arriving at my desk and logging on this morning, the indicators on the 15 min chart were giving absolutely nothing away. They were practically flat lining. A look at the 1 & 4 hour charts was showing that prices were still going up.

Once Frankfurt opened for business at 07:00, I started seeing a bit of movement on the 15 min chart, with the indicators now also heading north. However, I could not be convinced to enter into a trade, even with all 4 time frame charts pointing to a climb.

The reason being that the highest GBP/USD has reached in the past year has been mid 1.6300’s, and the price was approaching that mark. Regular readers will know that my thoughts are towards a downturn in the pair, and nothing was going to change my mind on that. Not yet anyway! So to go long on this occasion would have been a leap of faith too far for me.

How wrong could I have been! I’m not sorry I missed out on the move though, I am pleased that I have been retaining my discipline and not trading for the sake of it lately, and I had set my stall out early. I will have a look tomorrow as usual, but with no guarantee of placing a trade. It could be worth sitting it out again and waiting to see what the reaction to Osbornes’ budget is going to be.

So no gain in the kitty today, but more importantly, no loss. Stay happy all.

The SAS Forex Trader: Monday Digest & no rant!

Hello and welcome to today’s adventures in the Forex Jungle. I hope your weekend went well.

Taking a quick look at the news this morning, the Asian Markets did appear to be buoyant with climbs overnight, despite the military action in Libya. Positive news from Tokyo concerning the nuclear reactor situation also seemed to help push them up. However, if the situation in Libya escalates, we can expect things to become rocky, everywhere again.

On to the business of Forex now though. GBP/USD was quiet overnight, with prices fluctuating in a 25 pip channel between midnight & 07:00 GMT on the 15 min chart. The indicators began pointing to an upturn in the pair from around 06:45. From the Daily Pivot of 1.6223, I calculated a resistance line @ 1.6264.

As I needed to go out on other business for the day, I set an order to open @ 1.6225, looking to achieve a gain of 30 pips, with a stop @ 1.6195 and profit limit @ 1.6255. Returning in mid afternoon, I found that the trade had played out successfully and closed out between 10:15 – 10:30. And yes, I could have made 50 pips had I been available to monitor the trade, but 30 pips on autopilot is good enough for me.

Another happy day for the SAS Trader then. We started the day with the Trading Account at £694.00 following a successful Friday, today’s trade brings that total up to £721.00*.

News to look out for tomorrow, concerning GBP/USD. At 09:30 GMT, Consumer Price Index Year on Year data, along with Public Sector Net Borrowing is released. CPI is forecast at 4.2%, which is .2% up on previous figure. PSNB has been forecast at 6.8B. With Osborne & Co busily massaging figures, I wouldn’t know what to expect here.

That’s it from me for now, I’m back tomorrow with an update on The SAS Trader System, as ever – stay happy.

*figures have been rounded to nearest whole numbers

The SAS Forex Trader: Friday Digest

Hello and welcome to today’s adventures in the Forex Jungle.

Yesterday I had a decent scalp early in the day, with possibilities of looking back in once New York opened. When I eventually did look in around 14:00, I wasn’t inspired to look for a trade. This was backed up around the time London was closing; when I Tweeted that it would have been more interesting watching grass grow than to sit staring at that chart!

Logging in this morning, the £ had made gains against the $ on the Asian session overnight, but the signals on my 15 min chart were pretty mixed. The pair had been trading above the Daily Pivot of 1.6099 overnight, and a quick look at the 1 & 4 hour charts prompted me to set an order to open long @ 1.6190. That order never got triggered, and am I pleased it didn’t, had it done so I would have been stopped out.

Around 08:00 the signals appeared to be changing direction, so a short order to open was set @ 1.6135. I set a profit limit of 50 pips, but would have been quite happy to take the money if the pair fell back to around the Daily Pivot. Happily the pair obliged with a full profit take of 50 pips (47 net) before 09:00.

The signals on my daily chart are still favouring a downturn, and I still feel that over the next week or two, we can expect to at least see the pair reach the 1.5850 area. But for now I’m going to continue to be a scalper. If it’s played right, it’s profitable.

News wise today; it looks like slobbering British bankers are keeping the purse strings tight, as Prelim Mortgage Approvals came in lower than the forecast 47K at 43K. They obviously needed the money for bonuses! Budget time soon in the UK. I can see Osbourne now, hunched over his books by candlelight, wondering what else he can plunder from the National Assets and the pockets of the British public. Get these maggots out!

That’s all from me today, hope you all had a good week, and have a great weekend.

The SAS Forex Trader: Thursday Digest

Hello and welcome to today’s adventures in the Forex Jungle.

A happier start to the day, today. I’ve seemingly got over yesterday’s dislike and deep mistrust of Tory Politicians, for now!

But back to the market though, and there has been a lot of sideways movement in GBP/USD recently. However, that hasn’t stopped it presenting us with some good scalping opportunities, and that is what The SAS Trader is all about.

Taking a look at the Daily chart, we can see that between early November last year, up to today, the pair has been topping out at around 1.6300-1.6350. From early in November to end of December, the general trend was down, reaching a low of around 1.5350, before turning around and beginning its recent climb. This climb was confirmed by the indicators by 12^th January, and it was pretty much solid for the remainder of that month.

The pair has been range bound now since early February, but as I said earlier, it has still been presenting plenty of scalping opportunities, and I have taken full advantage of that. Just lately though, the indicators are beginning to favour a weakness in the £, and the MA’s have crossed over. My feeling is that Cameron and his lickspittles are going to force the value of the £ down for a while.

So if you’re in the game for the longer term, you could well be looking at a 250-300 pip gain from this pair over the coming couple of weeks. My own thought is for an initial fall back to around the 1.5850 level, where it could well pause for breath.

As the day started on a happier note for me, my smile grew a little wider with a classic SAS trade bagging 32 pips of profit in the space of half hour. Had I sat tight, that could easily have been doubled, but I set my stall out and stuck to the strategy.

The trading account, at time of writing, is now £647.00. I may well look back in on the market after news from the US is released at 12:30, but for the time being, I have some “real” work to do. Thanks for looking in, good luck with your trades, and remember – stay happy.

The SAS Trader: Wednesday Digest

Hello and welcome to today’s adventures in the Forex Jungle.

A bit of uncertainty in the early period of the day for me.  My 15 & 5 min charts were giving out long signals, while the 1 & 4 hour charts were giving out short signals. The Daily chart was backing the 1 & 4 hour charts, so with that in mind, I entered a short trade @ 1.6095. Initially it went well, but on getting to the mid 1.6070’s, it turned & began to climb. On this occasion, because of earlier uncertainty, I decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and jumped ship with a 9 pip loss.

This turned out to be a good move, as my 1.6130 stop loss was hit around 08:25. Knowing that the claimant count change news was due at 09:30 I waited. When the figures were released, I could not believe what I was seeing! But I’m an old cynic, and I feel that nobody else can massage a figure like a Tory can.

I still feel that the £ is going to come under pressure, so with that thought in mind, I set an order to open short @ 1.6080 and I would be looking for 30-40 pips. The trade was triggered just after 09:30, but by 11:15, I had had enough and decided to bail out for the day, closing @ 1.6064, a 16 pip gain. However, take off the spread plus the 9 pips lost earlier, and I was left with a paltry 4 pip gain. No real complaints in that dept. though, as I always say, a profit is a profit, no matter how small. The account is now resting at £615.00

I would like to go back to the earlier rant on the claimant count change before I finish off. There has definitely got to be some serious manipulating of figures back at Tory H.Q. How the hell do you correlate the numbers of people in work falling by 27k, to a fall in the numbers of people claiming benefit by over 10k? Sorry but that does not compute! These thick, chinless pricks are going to drag my country into the abyss I fear.

And on that cheerful note, stay happy!

The SAS Forex Trader: Tuesday Digest

Hello and welcome to today’s adventures in the Forex Jungle.

No direct news concerning the GBP/USD pairing again today, but that didn’t stop the pound from sinking earlier today. Took a look on some of the forums, and again I didn’t see anything to corroborate what I was actually 

seeing on my chart.

Not that I was complaining – I took full advantage of the signals thrown out, and went full on to enter a short trade which bagged me 75 pips of profit, thank you very much. All done and dusted before breakfast had time to settle.

Talking of settling, the drop in the pound stalled mid morning, and even staged a slow rally leading up to end of business in London. My own feeling is that the decline will continue, as there has been a crossover in my indicators on the daily chart.

Need to keep an eye on the inflation and jobless figures to come, those figures are due out tomorrow and Thursday for UK and USA, and I expect a rough ride for the pound.

The system is coming along nicely, despite the setback yesterday. After this morning’s triumph, the account is now sitting at £611.00, and I’m well on target to hit 4 figures in the next 2-3 weeks. Let’s see what the news brings tomorrow.

The SAS Forex Trader: Monday Digest

Hello and welcome to today’s adventures in the Forex Jungle.

Other than the disaster that has befallen Japan at the end of last week, there didn’t appear to be any direct news due out to seemingly affect the GBPUSD pair.

Looking at the charts this morning, the indicators were giving me a sell signal, so I set up an order to open @ 1.6050 with a stop in place at 1.6085. I was looking for a scalp of 35 pips, which looked achievable, so a profit limit was set @ 1.6015. The trade was triggered around 08:00 quite soon after being set and was initially looking good. Unfortunately, I looked back into the platform just over an hour or so later, only to find that the price had reversed and hit my stop loss. As I was wondering whether I should have put a higher stop in, the climb continued to reach what would have been my 50 pip stop point, so I was thankful I hadn’t done so.

One thing I have picked up on – the Daily Pivot on Monday is quite ambiguous. This morning it came out as being @ 1.6076, and for the most part overnight, the pair traded below that line, barely breaking above it. It was that fact that helped me form my decision to go short.

However, given that the trading period it is based on is so short (21:00 Sunday – Midnight), I decided to revisit Friday’s Daily Pivot which was 1.6047, and the pair where trading above that line overnight. I may still have decided to enter a short trade, but set at a lower figure and possibly not have the trade trigger, or to at least enable me to get out of the trade for a smaller loss once the other signals started to turn. That has given me food for thought, and next Monday, as well as looking for Monday’s daily pivot, I’ll call up Friday’s too and look at that before I make a decision.

That’s all there is for today, ending on a sour note with a 35 pip loss, but you can’t win them all. The trading account now stands at £536.00, so it’s still a good way above its late January start point of £100.00. Stay happy, and remember to keep a little thought for those less fortunate than us.