06/01/10 – GBPUSD Non-triggered short play

Easing myself back into trading after the winter break.  This morning was an early start looking for opportunities from 0540.

When price formed a low point at point 1 I placed an order to go short below that level.  I placed my order to go short at 1.5947 ( 5 points below the low) with a target down at 1.5872.

I had to attend a meeting at 0830 in Victoria so I knew that I had to place my orders and ensure my stops and limits were placed correctly.  I expected that if my order was triggered it would happen quickly or not at all.

As was the case by 7am it still had not triggered.  You can see from the line of support I’ve drawn at point 1 that price did penetrate but did not close convincingly and my order was not triggered.  Good job too as that was the low of the early morning session before price rallied hard north!

As my time to depart was nearing I was left with the task of briefing both FXTraderSandy and my partner on what to do should my trade trigger.  They were also instructed take off my trade should it not be triggered by 0900.

At point 2 we can see that by 0900 price had moved strongly away from my entry price and so the order was pulled.  Actually the area about point 2 would have been lovely place to go short.  There was certainly plenty of signals telling you to do so.  However I was in my meeting  having battled through the weather and railways.

So not a glorious start to 2010 but there’s still learning points for me to take-away:

1.  If I am going to leave other people to manage a trade then I should have a written copy of the Strategies rules to hand.

2. Furthermore I should have a written plan for this particular trade that could be read and understood by a small child.

3. Whilst I think trading from a mobile phone is just a status driven fad, there is value in being able to monitor positions from a mobile device. (Good enough reason to purchase an iphone? I think so!)

It’s been a very gentle start to 2010 and most of my efforts have been placed on forming my Trading plan, ideas and objectives for 2010.  I’ll write more on that process over the next few days.