Spencer Li

Forex & Gold – Easy Profits in a BIG Swing Day

Forex & GoldForex & Gold 2

Forex & Gold 3

Forex & Gold 4

Looking at the “Trade Ideas” whiteboard at the centre of the trading arcade, I have updated the key directions for the day. The strongest currencies were AUD and JPY (missed out NZD), while the weakest was Gold. Note that this was updated at 2.30pm, before the major moves in these currencies actually occured later on.

I did a couple of swing trades using some of the trend plays and breakout plays, but my best trade for the day was gold. Looking at the chart above, I managed to catch the turning point just before the plunge.

Overall, today was a pretty good day, since I did not have any losing trades. I also came to a realisation that the stoploss and targets were only guides, and not an excuse to delay action. For example, the SL is only a last resort, the worst-case scenario, not an excuse not to admit you are wrong. “Take a loss when you want to, not when you have to.”

Notice that all the calls on the “trade ideas” whiteboard are spot-on. I have shared in the forum and we have placed our trades for tonight, let’s watch if the GBP/USD trades lower the next few days.

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Spencer Li

Understanding Trend vs. Range Market State Transitions

Understanding Trend vs Range Market State Transitions

This is an essential skill required by every aspiring trader. All professional traders definitely know this, for it forms the basis of many setups, and can mean the difference between breezing on the right side of the market, or clenching your fists in anger as the market goes against you.

I am referring to the ability to tell the state of the market.

Besides behavioral analysis, there are some simple price action guidelines that we can use to accurately determine the state of the market. This is important for obvious reasons.

There are 2 basic states of the market – trend or range. As the market shifts between these 2 states, it creates many trading opportunities in the form of setups.

Newbies who attempt to trade by memorising setups while ignoring the underlying structure of the market are heading for the proverbial iceberg. That said, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

This video should provide you an idea of how prices move, and if I have a chance to share more in upcoming seminars next year, I will show how these transitions give rise to the different trading setups that we teach during our training programs.

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Spencer Li

Forex Trading | EUR/JPY – Follow-up from Yesterday

Forex Trading | EUR/JPY

A quick follow-up from yesterday on the short trade I mentioned in my previous post. I shorted after the spike up once I saw weakness in the price behaviour. It was evident to me even without any indicators. Currently, it is 43 ticks in the money with 10 lots, which is roughly SGD 5,000+ in one night.

One good trade a day is more than sufficient for a good trader, the question is whether you have the skills required to find that one good trade a day by reading the charts. What is the point of having a scanner that spits out 10 “good picks” a day when you only have the time and resources to make one or two trades a day?

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Spencer Li

A Mixed Market – Turning the Risk On?

A Mixed Market

A Mixed Market 2

A Mixed Market 3

While most currencies exhibited a risk-on bullishness, the STI was experiencing intraday distribution (refer to top chart). This is in line with my forecast for the week, and I am expecting some profit-taking from the big players. My short call on Noble should be hitting its target soon, probably this week.

I started off the day with two big winners riding long on the EUR/USD and GBP/USD. I also wanted to short EUR/JPY and GBP/JPY, but a bullish spike when Spain requested for aid negated the setup. Instead, I shorted EUR/JPY after the spike. Let’s see how it turns out tomorrow.

Today, as I was looking through some of my previous trades, I realised that I could greatly improve my results by exiting trades once I knew they were wrong instead of waiting for them to hit my stoploss. Of course, this will require some judgment, but there are some simple guidelines which be easily applied. I will share more in my next seminar.

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Spencer Li

Commodities Trading | My First Venture into Gold – Timing with Price Action

My First Venture into Gold

Today, I tried out one of my setups on Gold, and it turned out pretty well too, catching a major move and shorting it just as the action was about to unfold. The funny thing, there was no news or obvious trigger, and I know this because I was keeping an eye on my Bloomberg terminal screen as I was watching the various charts on my other screens.

As you can see, no indicators were required, and you can actually tell a lot about how a stock or product is behaving by astute observation of its price behaviour.
My First Venture into Gold

Recently, I also had a losing trade on the EUR/USD, which was partly due to me taking a pre-mature entry. Even after trading for so many years, it is still tempting sometimes to take a sub-optimal trade. Well, I guess I am human afterall.

For the next month, I will strive to maintain my high hitrate by being more selective in my trades. After a string of so many winning trades, it will be tempting to take impulsive trades out of greed. This is one of the 9 mental blocks that new traders will face as they start out on their journey.

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