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Maximum drawdown.....that's something I've never taken any notice of - I just get in and trade and as long as my account is going steadily upward, I'm happy.


Winning percentage....roughly 50%, but that doesn't mean I lose 50% of my trades as well. Some of the non-winners are break even results due to moving my stop to break even, then getting stopped out.

Percentage of winning trades is not near as important as ensuring that your average winner is substantially larger than your average loser.


Not sure what you mean about the lack of obvious patterns on EOD charts...I see them all over the place. They're not there every single day like they are on intraday charts, but over the course of a year I'd suggest that EOD charts will offer you more trade setups that you can utilise.


I don't take much notice of support/resistance. I just like to see the emergence of a new trend. When that happens, it won't be long before you're presented with a suitable entry setup to put you into that trend.

Here are some recent examples from daily charts......


EURUSD 31/7/08 was a Shooting Star after a brief rally. At this stage the downtrend was new but nevertheless clearly established, so the Shooting Star was a legitimate signal to go short. The trade then proceeded to run more than 900 points in the next couple of weeks, and the downtrend is still intact, meaning that it has the potential to run further. (the word 'pips' always sounds silly to me...I prefer to use 'points' or 'ticks')


The mirror image of this pattern can be seen in USDJPY when it formed a Hammer on 1/8/08 after a brief pullback during an established uptrend. This was of course a legitimate long entry signal.


NZDUSD.....During an established downtrend, two consecutive small range Inside Days formed on July 25 & 28. All markets alternate from high volatility to low volatility and back to high volatility just like night follows day. The strong downtrend (high volatility) of this pair was followed by the pausing pattern (low volatility) of the dual Inside Days. This pattern, when formed during a strong trend, frequently precedes a return to high volatility, i.e. a strong resumption of the trend. This is exactly what happened in this case.

'High volatility' simply means strong price movement. It can be wildly choppy price action, or it can be consistently strong price action in one direction, such as during strong trends.

Trading this dual inside day pattern is pretty simple.....put your entry order just below the first of the two Inside Days, set your 'if done' stop loss order on the opposite side of the pattern, or a set number of points from entry if you prefer. If the trend resumes as you expect it to, you're in the trade and your stop loss is automatically placed, no matter if you're asleep in bed at the time, or on the golf course or out in your boat fishing or whatever.


USDCAD This strongly uptrending pair came to a temporary halt when price went sideways on July 29, 30, & 31. A few days of sideways action during a strong trend is usually followed by a strong resumption of the trend, which is exactly what happened in this case. By placing a buy stop order above the sideways pattern, and an 'if done' stop loss order 100 points or so from entry, you position yourself to catch the trend resumption if it occurs.


I've only mentioned two candle reversal patterns, Hammers and Shooting Stars. Note that I'm using them as trend continuation patterns, not trend reversal patterns. There are of course other candle reversal patterns such as Haramis and Engulfing patterns. They can be used in exactly the same way as the Hammer and Shooting Star examples I've given.


I'd disagree that the entry is not that important. In my view your entry is extemely important, as that's the starting point of your trade. A timely entry just as the trend is resuming strongly can make all the difference between a great trade and a mediocre result.


All the standard chart patterns also lend themselves well to Forex trading from daily charts......triangles, rectangles etc. They can give good entry signals when they occur during strong trends.

You'll note my continued reference to strong trends. In my view, you greatly improve your odds if you insist that a decent trend is established before you act on an entry signal.


 There's nothing complex or fancy about the trade setups I've mentioned.They're nice and simple.....just like a good trading system should be.


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