I did my analysis on Monday and this is one of the pairs that looked like it would be good to trade this week. Looking this morning at all of the pairs I was considering, this pair was the only one heading in the direction I wanted to trade. When I looked at the daily chart, it was certainly down, and was on it’s second down-day after pushing through the lows of a week-long base on Monday. Things certainly looked weak overall.
Entry – 1.166
I looked at the 5 min. chart, and waited until a pattern I liked arose. Price had pushed down strong, and was looking certainly weak but wasn’t giving me opportunity right away (a stop area to determine my risk, a pattern to suggest continuation). Eventually, the selling slowed, there was a break-even candle, then another up candle that hit a small resistance area, and that looked like a solid rally to short in to. Wanting a better entry price/smaller risk/greater reward, I looked at the Minute chart. On the minute chart, I saw the same signs of a bear rally, with better entry/stop, so I set the order.
Entry – 1.166
Target – 1.164
Stop – 1.167
R:R – 2:1
Exit – 1.16623
Price pushed in my favor for the most part after triggering into the trade, reaching nearly 1R. It didn’t take too long, though, for price to start to rally again, eventually hitting my trailing stop for a small loss.
Price would, almost immediately after hitting my trailing stop, push down again pushing through my target. If I was actively managing this trade — adjusting my stop manually instead of relying on the trailing stop, I would’ve caught all of this and then some, probably (depending on if I left my take-profit, or if I removed it and got out as I trailed the stop manually).
Overall, I’ve felt like using a trailing stop has been beneficial, but that’s largely due to me not losing a full position, rather than locking in profits (though that has happened, it’s more the former). Maybe I should be more active with trade management and getting in and out manually. If I did that, I could also, potentially, get out manually when it appears a trend is slowing. I’ll try tomorrow, I need to ensure I’m paying close attention and following my 1R SAR rules.