EUR/USD | 5M

[Chad Seven]

Hi,

I may start trading EUR/USD on five minute charts. I may also post the trades up in this journal, however they are unlikely to be posted live, for the moment at least.

My background is trading sports markets. I don't know how well this will translate to forex, let's find out.

Chad7.

 

[Chad Seven]

On the subject of brokers, IG, Spreadex and CMC have minimum stakes of between 0.50 and 1.00 per tick. Oanda apparently has no minimum stake but has a spread of 1.2, double that of the other three.

For the moment I am going with Oanda due to small account size and shall review at a later stage as spread is the biggest factor to consider.

 

[Chad Seven]

Long @ 1.1074

 

[Chad Seven]

Long @ 1.1074

Closed @1.10749

 

[Chad Seven]

Closed @1.10749

Some post trade analysis.

That was a disaster. Firstly, I had set default order to what I thought was two GBP, the GBP appears to be irrelevant as a trade for 2 units was opened instead. Not a big deal at this stage, just an unwelcome surprise.

Secondly, my trade @ 1.1074 was actually opened @ 1.10747 due to spread, fine. I had set the default take profit to take me out at 4.6 ticks meaning a price of 1.10799 (1.10747 + 0.00046 + .00006) which was hit but my order not triggered.

I then watched the price retrace and closed manually close to my entry point.

I shall spend some time re-familiarising myself with Oanda's platform before placing any more trades, it seemed self explanatory.

Additionally, 1.2 tick spread is a killer. I emailed my relationship manager at Oanda who said they try stay competitive with other providers but this is cannot always be the case .

So good, trade moved in predicted direction. Bad, everything else.

 

[Chad Seven]

Short @ 11060.2

 

[Chad Seven]

Short @ 11060.2

Stopped out at 11062.5

 

[Chad Seven]

Stopped out at 11062.5

Moved in my direction then reversed and hit stop. I was looking for a continuation of a move which with hindsight had exhausted itself.

Decided last night to move my operations to IG. Far more intuitive platform, minimum stake and margin requirements resulted in me funding account with £300 bank.

Currently at £298.85.

 

[rossored]

Their platform is much better than Oanda imo, so probably a good move. These days their SB / CFD operations are excellent, a far cry from some years ago. Personally I can't stand the choppiness and unpredictability of FX. Good on you for posting your trades.

 

[Chad Seven]

Long @ 11064.3

 

[Chad Seven]

Long @ 11064.3

Target @ 11068.6 hit for +4.3 ticks.

 

[Chad Seven]

Target @ 11068.6 hit for +4.3 ticks.

I had accidentally entered another order which I closed for -3 ticks, I'll put that down to getting used to the platform.

Bank stands at £299.50.

 

[Chad Seven]

Long @ 11060.2

 

[Chad Seven]

Long @ 11060.2

Target hit @ 11064.2 for +4 ticks

Bank = £301.50

 

[Chad Seven]

Long @ 11076.1

 

[Chad Seven]

Long @ 11076.1

Stop hit @ 11074.1 for -2 ticks

Bank = £300.50

 

[Chad Seven]

Long @ 11073.1

 

[Chad Seven]

Long @ 11073.1

Stop hit @ 11071.1 for -2 ticks

Bank = £299.50

 

[Chad Seven]

That's it for the day. Not satisfied with that considering the trades at 09:53 and 09:54 should never have happened.

 

[Chad Seven]

I have reviewed my trades for the day and there was an order filled which I had not expected to be.

Excuse the newbie question. If my charts are showing the mid price then to adjust a buy order for a 0.6 point spread I need to add 0.3 to the desired buy level? Then my stop and limit distances (fixed number of ticks) will likewise have 0.3 added?