First Trade 1 PIP Profit!
OK. I closed out the GBP/USD position with a 1 pip profit for 2 reasons:
- European session is over
- All major currency pairs are consolidating in expectation of US economic reports this morning.
I couldn't set the limit to close out the pair at break-even so I performed it manually. That is why I profited 1 pip.
Good thing I did. The pair moved upwards 20 pips right after I closed it.
I'll regroup and see if any setups emerge during the next couple of hours.
First Post Booker Trade
I opened my first "post booker" trade this morning at 4:15 a.m. in the GBP/USD following a break of the lower channel at 1.7849. Since then is has worked itself against me a bit barely stopping my position out. As of 4:42 a.m., my position is still open. Of course it would be nice to come out on top in my first trade since starting 1 on 1 training but we'll have to wait and see.
There are some economic reports coming out of Eurozone and Germany during the current session along with U.S. Consumer Confidence and Existing home sales at 10:00 a.m. EST. I'm off to the gym at 5 a.m. and will try to pick up the US session at 7 a.m. this morning (My routine sounds like Raghee Horner's.) She has stated that she sometimes looks at European session action before going to the gym and then concentrates on the US session. I was going to the gym before all of this so I don't want everyone to think I'm trying to fanatically emulate her behavior though if this is what it took to consistently be profitable, I would do it.
Rob Booker Week 2
I'm counting this as a new week even though I didn't sign on with Rob Booker 1 on 1 training until late last week.
I got up early this morning (4 a.m. EST) to look for setups specifically in the GBP/USD. The real move happened earlier than this between 2:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. so I kind of missed it. I really don't know what to do if there is a large move like this before I wake up. It kind of makes me feel like there's no way I can just jump in and feel at flow with the market. There may be a way of trading after this or this may be one of those times when you just sit on the sidelines. There was a time when I jumped right in the market just to be in it but I didn't feel any urge to do so this morning.
I haven't heard much from Rob in the past couple of days. I saw him online this morning but he was off before 11 a.m. He has previously stated that he tries to stay out of the market on Monday and just concentrates on trading the rest of the week.
It's tough for us full-timers to find enough time to trade during the more volatile times the market has to offer. I will continue to try to get up early for the European session but I almost think that 4 a.m. may be a bit too late. If I find out that this is the case, I'll try to do what I have to trade the US session at 7 a.m. I have to be at work by 9 a.m. so I don't know if it is a viable alternative to trading the European session. I can always look for setups between 7 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. and if I enter a trade, set the appropriate stop loss and limits before going to work. I can then manage the trade if my position is still open from my Treo. I can either do this or get a job working 2nd or 3rd shift. This isn't something I would ever do but it may be an option for you.
Rob Booker Posting from Week 1
The traffic to the site has increased quite a bit since I announced that I will be training with Rob Booker. Therefore, to make it easier for those of you interested in keeping up with my training, I've added a link to the left menu titled, Rob Booker Posts. You can also visit http://www.forexproject.com/Rob_Booker_Training/
The posts are neatly categorized by Week so if you click now you will see only the category, Week 1. You can always go to the above link when you want to just view anything related to my training.
Studying in Advance for Next Week
Booker has me a lot more attentive to upcoming Economic Releases and the trade opportunities that can arise. Therefore, taking 1 day at a time, I took a look at the Global Economic calendar for Monday, April 24th to see if any pairs may exhibit volatility due to any releases. It generally looks like a light day with NO economic releases out of the United States. The UK does have a couple of releases at 4:30 a.m. EST including Retail Sales (month over month), Public Finances, and Money Supply (month over month.) Last month during the retail sales announcement, the GBP/USD moved about 30-35 pips following.
Therefore, I will plan on getting up at 4:00 a.m. Monday morning to look for a trade opportunity in the GBP/USD using short-term charts (15 minute?)
I'll be going through more of Rob's lessons this weekend and will keep everyone updated on my progress.
I hope everyone had a great trading week. Have a relaxing weekend.
Rob Booker 1 on 1 Day 2
I was pretty busy at work yesterday so I only had a little bit of time to go through the MACD training lesson. Not much to report with this lesson.
I have made a decision to start waking up at 3:50 a.m. EST 3-4 days a week to see what this does for my trading. Rob has told me to apply New York Session rules during this time frame which requires boxing in the price action. Instead of using the NY time period, the box in will occur between 00:00 GMT and 07:00 GMT which is 8:00 p.m. EST – 3:00 a.m. EST.
Rob has said that it is important to do the audio/video stuff daily. At the end of the NY trading session, Rob posts multiple videos for multiple pairs with his trading commentary which I find very beneficial. He calls this Charting School. Since he will be back at his home base next week, I believe he posts charting school before the session also which may give me some ideas on setups.
During the first few days of 1 on 1 trading, I am already very satisfied with the direction. Though Rob has some generic trading strategies and rules that he wants you to learn, he is responsive to your emails and tries to work his strategies around your interests and style. He even told me that as soon as next week, he will start to post some Euro review session like he does for the New York session. Now I don't know if this is just for me or if others have requested this but since I will be trading the Euro session in the upcoming weeks, this can only help my trading.
Rob was away this week writing his book which I think we will be getting a pre-release preview of.
I will try to post as much as possible regarding my 1 on 1 trading going forward. My posts in the upcoming weeks will give you a pretty good idea of what I've been learning so keep tuned.
Most Volatile Pairs during Asian Session
Before I dive into this post, let me tell you that from everything I've read and watched from Rob Booker (and from everything he has directly told me) it doesn't seem like the Asian session exists to him. Now he hasn't told me this exactly but he seems to concentrate his effort on the NY Session from 7 am EST – 11 am EST. I told you earlier today that when he was working full-time, he was trading the European session and he did tell me yesterday that you will get a lot of trade opportunities from 4 am EST. So from the information I've gathered, I'd have to say he recommends trading during the hours of 2 am and 11 am EST.
What about the Asian session? For those of you that work in the United States or Canada or anywhere close to the Eastern Time Zone, the Asian session gives us a chance to actually trade when we get home from work without having to get up in the early morning hours with 1/2 a nights sleep to trade the European session.
I will ask Rob if he recommends trading the Asian session or if any of his student have success doing so.
What I wanted to do in this post was to mention the most historically volatile pairs during the Asian Session thanks to Kathy Lien from FXCM. Kathy did a good amount of research on this subject and I thank her for the information though I have asked for absolutely no permission to use it. These PIP ranges are for the time period between 7 p.m. – 4 a.m. EST
| Currency Pairs | PIP Range |
| GBP/JPY | 112 |
| GBP/CHF | 96 |
| USD/JPY | 78 |
| USD/CHF | 68 |
| GBP/USD | 65 |
| AUD/JPY | 55 |
| EUR/CHF | 53 |
| EUR/USD | 51 |
| USD/CAD | 47 |
| NZD/USD | 42 |
| AUD/USD | 38 |
| EUR/GBP | 25 |
As you can see from the chart above, the best options for risk-tolerant traders during this time period are the GBP/JPY, GBP/CHF, and USD/JPY.
For risk-averse traders, AUD/JPY, GBP/USD, and USD/CHF provide more moderate volatility.
The only problem I see with the risk-tolerant pairs, at least 2 of them is the spread. The GBP/JPY spread at FXCM is 9 pips, the GBP/CHF 15 pips! The USD/JPY offers the lowest spread on FXCM at 4 pips.
The risk-averse pairs are a bit better spread wise with AUD/JPY at 8 pips, GBP/USD at 5 pips, and the USD/CHF also at 5 pips.
Rob Booker Day 1
My first day of 1 on 1 training was consumed by just getting acclimated to the program. I received a couple of generic welcome messages from Rob just to get me on track and then later, we were able to exchange some real messages back and forth. Rob is on a trip in Washington D.C. writing his book so for him to respond quickly away from his home base is positive.
I went through the first 3 days of the course work which includes PDF and video tutorials. At the end of each day, you have some real world exercises to perform that are submitted to Rob for review. Day 1 consisted of the Course Introduction which included some of Rob's trading techniques, information on trading multiple time frames, when to trade, and trading the NY session. Rob seems to be stressing the fact that if you are a short term trader, trading the NY session is your best option (and maybe only option.) He has provided steps to trading the NY session.
I skipped Day 2 coursework because it was really for beginners like definitions of pips, currency pairs, etc.
Day 3 was an overview of moving averages. I don't think I'm giving anything away if I told you that Rob really likes the 5, 30, 62 EMA's. This has been well documented on the web. Just from my own experimentation on 15-minute and hourly charts, I can see why he likes them.
Rob stressed to go directly to the Support/Resistance training which I have started but not yet completed.
I'm guessing that initially I'll be going over a lot of the videos and PDF lessons keeping an open mind on the content that is presented.
An exciting feature of the 1 on 1 training is group trading. Rob will partner me up with a group of 4-5 other traders in the world and together, you will determine setup opportunities. Together we will trade a demo account. He just asked me what hours I could trade so he can partner me up with a group that can cover the entire 24 hours of trading action. I can share more with you when I know more.
1 question I asked Rob was how he found the time to trade while he was working full-time. His answer? It was brutal because he was waking up at 2am to 3am every day for a long time to trade. (No pain, no gain) I'm trying to figure out when I'm going to dedicate time to trading during the 2am-11am EST time frame. Rob states that getting up to trade at 4am EST will give me many trading opportunities.
Rob is currently working to help me develop a trading strategy and I've made it known to him what I'm interested in (technical indicators.) He should have some concrete rules that I can tune in a couple of days.
I've received a lot of responses from you with praises of good luck and curiousity. Thanks for the thoughts. I feel that this training will not only be beneficial for me but also for all of you. It has already single handedly increased my motivation and confidence and if I can be successful after training, some of you may decide to go that route also. I will try hard to give daily updates on my progress.
I Signed Up For Forex 1 on 1 Training
I have felt totally lost over the last couple of months. I have books, charting software, a blog where I receive numerous helpful comments from all of you and yet I don't really have a trading strategy. I've dedicated a lot of my time to this and though I'm in the early stages, I feel like I need to head off any of the "giving up" feeling that may be entering my mind. I know that going forward if I don't do something to stimulate my learning process, my blog will be yet another sitting around with stale content because I'm off working for the man again with no thoughts of being free.
So what did I do? I signed up for 1 on 1 training with Rob Booker. The training will officially last 5 weeks. I trust Rob Booker and have been exposed to his recommendations and articles in the past. Here is a quick course overview. I will keep everyone updated on the training.
Anyone interested in reading more about it can visit: https://www.robbooker.com/training.html
Course Overview:
1 on 1 training is exactly what
it sounds like: it's where you and I work every day, by
instant message, phone, videoconference, and email, and
we turn you into the kind of trader that your mother (or
spouse) would be proud of. We work together officially
for 5 weeks — following the course outline below — but
I will work with you for as long as it takes for you to
be a consistently profitable trader. I
guarantee it.
This is not some ridiculous
course that you buy and read and then find impossible
to profit from. It makes me sick to my stomach when
I hear that someone has spent $2,000 or $3,000 for a book-based
system. You don't need a book. You need a mentor.
During the training, I become your
mentor and your coach with one mission: to dramatically
improve your trading results.
Training officially lasts 5 weeks.
But we will not stop working until you are successful,
or we're both dead. Note: no one has ever died. Every
one I've trained has been successful.
You will have my phone number.
This is about getting personal advice from someone who
has been in the market. I can help you correct your mistakes
and speed up your path to trading success.
You will receive course materials,
30-40 assignments, and at least 80 hours of total instruction.
I worked with 41 traders in 2003.
All of them are still going strong.
You will always be able to contact
me, even after the training is complete. You will be part
of a growing network of people I've trained, all across
the world.
I have training references. You
can request them from me if you are thinking of signing
up.
