Channel Trading in the Morning

Does anyone channel trade the US Session? I've been doing so here and there but have been keeping track of any and all channel breaks during the past 3 weeks in the following currency pairs:

• GBP/USD
• USD/CAD
• AUD/USD
• USD/JPY

I think that I can say that from my limited observations over 3 weeks, these pairs definately move more consistently in the morning US session than others.

Another observation I've made is that the AUD/USD seems to be a great pair to trade.  I never would have thought this was the case but I've found it to be very steady once the price breaks a channel line.  If anyone has traded the GBP, you know the wild swings that occur frequently but it doesn't happen in the AUD/USD.  Once the channel breaks, it takes its time to reach a bit of profit but it eventually does.  Over the last 3 weeks, this pair has 7 wins and 1 loss.  Run-ups have ranged from 30 pips to 90 pips with the average around 30-40 pips.  The drawdowns have been very good with a maximum of -18 pips.  This is assuming that your using a 20-30 pip stop.   This pair actually was good for 30 pips today for me and helped me bring my losses down to around -50 pips.

Let's assume that your risk/reward is 1:1 for simplicity.  If you have a 30 pip stop and a 30 pip limit, here was the performance of these 4 pairs over the last 3 weeks.  I should note that the runups on some of these trades were substantial so if you rode it out for longer, the risk/reward would have been much greater.

GBP/USD - 4 Wins, 3 Losses (+30 p)

USD/JPY -  6 Wins, 3 Losses (+90 p)

AUD/USD - 7 Wins, 1 Loss (+180 p)

USD/CAD - 8 Wins, 4 Losses (+120 p)

I pick and choose my channel break trades and therefore it is discretionary.  I find that I don't pick the right one though but if I was to take every channel trade over the last 3 weeks, I would be up 420 pips and this is with a 1:1 Risk to Reward. 

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