Hi folks! Congratulations on April Fools’ Day! Let’s have a look at a serious trading report for March 2016. This month, trading was carried out on three accounts and the profit totaled $653. You wonder if I’m pleased with the result. On the one hand, I coped well in March that makes me satisfied in psychological and financial terms. On the other hand, the result could have been much better if the price wouldn’t have reversed at my strategic stop orders on oil and the pound sterling. However, we are in no hurry. Let’s consider each of the accounts separately.
Account #1
Traditionally, I traded currency pairs. Fluctuations of a yield curve mirrored turbulence that set the tone for financial markets in March 2016. US Fed Chair Janet Yellen put pressure on the US dollar twice through verbal interventions. Therefore, technical bearish impulse structures were swallowed by big bullish trading volumes triggered by news. The chart indicated a possible breakthrough of the lower edge of the EUR/USD triangle, but expectations failed. So we should leave the scenario of the euro’s parity with the US dollar in the short run. Several breakthroughs on GBP/USD led to breakeven trades and small stop losses. Because of frequent entries in one-hour time frame and higher, I made a record number of trades. This time, I generated a modest profit of $37.
Account #2
I traded light sweet crude, natural gas, and gold. In early March, the oil chart formed two wedge patterns signaling a trend reversal. If the oil price had followed these indicators, we would have expected 400-500 pip correction. Unfortunately, the first wedge was broken. As for the second wedge, the price reached only the second level of profit taking. The southern alert indicated that the oil price is likely to extend losses. So I opened two short positions, placing stop loss at 41.00. The greedy market maker first approached my stop loss before reaching target levels. Consequent moves from extreme values brought a profit. As a result, I closed the month with a profit of $232.
This account is used for mid- and long-term trading strategies. I was tempted to close the order taking 50-70 pip profit. Despite this urge, I tried to keep the position open until counter-trend signals appeared in higher time frames (H1-W1). I opened such orders on GBP/USD and GBP/CAD. They were kept open for several days and were closed applying this principle. As for the Canadian dollar, it showed remarkable resilience. Despite pullbacks of oil prices and divergence, the loonie hit new lows. Nevertheless, in higher time frames the trend remains bullish. Long positions on USD/CAD are justified technically. So I’m going to resume buying USD/CAD in April. I paid the least attention to trading on this account, but it turned out to be the most successful and yielded a profit of $383.
I hope the market will cool off in April and high volatility won’t dominate trading.
