Pre-FOMC
The big item on today’s agenda is FOMC at 1:00 (CDT). That sometimes leads to a bit of a lull in advance of the news. We’ll see.
I took a long trade on the GBPUSD on the USD news. GBPUSD was up pretty clearly in London trading, although there was something of a pull back, so I was looking for a way to get into it. I decided in advance that if the news was negative for USD, then I would take a long on the GBPUSD, since it was already in a CDM, and I wouldn’t have to worrying about exiting if it didn’t clear the range.
A funny thing happened – I went to adjust the take profit limit, and the mouse slipped, and I hit “Close Order” instead. So I exited with +3.5. But then I looked at it a minute and jumped back in – at a price lower than my exit price. I had to leave the charts for a bit, and set a trail stop that would bring it to BE when price passed the next level, intending to remove the trail stop as soon as it did so. Price did break the next level, and continued up several pips, but I was away from the charts. It pulled back and hit my (now) protective stop for +4. (If I had removed the trail stop, it would have survived and continued upward for another 15 or so pips. Of course, there’s no guarantee I would have captured that, since it reversed at that point and pulled back down well below my entry.
After that, I took a pullback trade on the AUDJPY. It has pulled back further, and threatened the stop, but is currently (9:30 CDT) right about BE.
I had pullback trades hit on GBPUSD (for the the 3rd time), and the GBPJPY. Both stopped out for <10.5> and <12.0> respectively.
I had range breakouts on USDCAD (long), and EURUSD (short). I punched out of both of those for healthy gains (+15.3 and +14.7, respectively), when they appeared to be pulling back.
And I’m currently in a range break on USDJPY. The USDJPY closed the 9:15 candle inside the range, and I punched out for <5.0>. That puts me up currently +10, and still holding AUDJPY.
Oil news was a dud, as we have pretty much come to expect.
There were chances to re-enter the EURUSD and EURJPY down trends that I missed due to focusing on other things and neglecting my scanning.
Triggered a pending order for a re-entry on USDJPY long at the 110.00 level.
Took a second trade in USDCAD (long) on a pullback.
I’m looking for 30 pips today. Currently up 10, so I need another 20 pips across 3 trades (AUDJPY, USDJPY, and USDCAD).
Well, USDCAD didn’t work. Stopped out or <10.0>. So I’m now at BE, still holding AUDJPY and USDJPY.
Entered EURUSD short on a pullback trade.
The re-entry on USDJPY just stopped out for <10.1>. And the USDCAD is plummeting. It looks like the USD strength is drying up for the moment. The EURUSD trade is also pulling back.
The AUDJPY is moving up, and closing in on the TP of 82.50. Right now I’m down about <10>, so I don’t want to see that AUDJPY profit slip away. I’ve pulled the stop on it up to BE. Fear of loss again. See if that was prudent, or it ends up biting me in the butt.
The EURUSD stopped out for <8.1>. So I’m now down <18.2>, and holding AUDJPY long.
AUDJPY pulled back after coming with 1 pip of my TP and hit my protective trailing stop for +1.8. So I did let the profit get away from after all. Now flat and down <16.8>. I’m going to watch the action for a bit, but I’ll probably standaside until FOMC.
Now coming up on FOMC (1:00 PM CDT).
Took the EURUSD long on the news. It was a civil move up through about 1.2000, then it turned kind of ugly. I pulled my stop up to lock in a 2:1 return, and that got hit for +16.1 pips. I could have taken other pairs as well, but I’m still gun-shy on news events.
Ended the day 12 trades, 6 wins, 6 losses for a net of <0.3> (virtually break-even).