Immy's Corner [The Setup The Hunt - T20's and more]

[immy]

Hello!

I have decided to put an end to my How to trade Setup 1 journal and start a new chapter. The Year should end and the
new one begin with my strategy of trading The Seed and Cherries as per Grants rules and my "personalized" touch to
that approach. The concept of Seed being a condensed form of Setup 1 has changed everything for me and Grant and
the rest of the AIMSters specially those who are part of AIMS Scalping Heroes 2.1 Skype Trading Chatroom.

There will be not much explanation of how to trade the cherry as that is the same as how to trade the seed using the
Grant Flow Chart. Basically, to put it very simply, we have tuned our trading completely in sync with AIMS Wave, the
mighty AO or the 1 Second Elliott Wave indicator by the Coding Guru Snorm!


More on this later. I will update fragments of my new trading plan here.

The Skype Experiment: The AIMSters Den! The Scalping Heroes 2.1
The Skype experiment has been very successful. Those who engage and stay in touch on a regular basis have
reported changes in how they think and consequently how they trade.

The biggest factor being their ability to interpret the chart the way it is supposed to be interpreted. I can produced
dozens of pictures of Setups with arrows marked and annotations but the picture only shows the completed picture
where as the trader trading live has to deal with the picture that appears at the time of entry which is incomplete.


New traders often look for a picture they saw in the book. Not realising that those are the pictures at the end of a trade.
If you'd like to learn how to trade you have to join and trade alongside someone who knows how to trade.
This can be done via skype. We are loving it.

You have to learn to identify the Pattern that forms before the rest of the pattern appears. A bit like, you need to
identify a Paddle and know that its a part of a whole called a bicycle. The Entry Setup is that Paddle!

Therefore, It is essential now for those who join AIMS that they join Skype trading room because all the learning will
impart via Skype. The AIMSters Den! The Scalping Heroes 2.1

So, here I'll share pictures of the trades "We" take in the Skype room and any videos or recap we do. A fresh start a new
journal with fresh enthusiasm.





Strategy 1.
Market to Trade:
DAX30 M5 M1
Again, I'll say the same as we said about Setup 1 and 2.

We take entries on M1 time frame but in the direction of m5 or we could say
We trade the trend of m5 with entries on m1. Hold your left ear with your left hand or right hand you
still hold your left ear as my grandma used to say.


The Template and the Colour Scheme! It is important that we select a template and a colour scheme that suits our eyes.
This is one area where you are allowed to look for "comfort". Trading requires a trade to take calculated risks.

Its not a game of finding "comfort". The definition of comfort in trading is not the same. Its more like weight lifting
and other peak performance sport activity. A good trader is always trying to push their boundaries. And those boundaries
do not exist in your physical body but your MIND. Its the mental "muscle" the mental "stamina" that we need to work on
and consistently keep working on our mindset.


When you start to run, the most comfortable spot for you would be to "not run" and sit on that couch and watch some more
tv commercials (and you sit long enough, which most of us have no problem with you'll find that sometimes they play some
good programmes in between commercials as well).

Anyway, once you break the initial barrier and set off to run you will come across another set of problems such as stamina
energy and breathing problems. Then the recovery time etc. A few weeks later you will hit a plateau followed by the
diminishing urge to continue running. Traders face similar problems through their journey and talking about it here would just
not make sense to you if you are still a couch potato.

It is important to stick to one template and watch that chart regularly for such a long time that it becomes part of you. It might
not make sense to some of you but the reality is that trading is a pattern recognition game of probabilities and as such it is
important to use the same template so that your eyes get familiar with the "emerging patterns".


I am going to write down some golden nuggets that we have picked along this journey, some we created/discovers some we
learned from others,such as

"Keep working towards target zone 1"

"Trade what you see (the pattern) not what you think (the assumptions and predictions and not being in the now)"

"Trade in the now" (meaning look at the pattern towards the right side of the chart

"Remain focused in one time frame" Which means keep your eyes on the patterns of the current time frame with an occasional
glance at 5x Higher time frame for trend direction.

"Trading is a pattern recognition numbers game". Which means as technical traders we look for patterns that are repetitive
in nature and thus give as a certain degree of probability of success. This gives us an edge. An edge does not mean we have
comprehensive beaten the market, i.e. other traders no no. The edge we gain does not defeat other traders neither do we win.

"Consistently successful trading requires a probabilistic mind set"
All multi millionaire business entrepreneurs and successful people understand probabilities and hence research of millionaires
suggest that they never ever play lottery because they don't waste their time and money on these activities with odds equal
to almost zero such as winning lottery. Think about this the next time you buy lotto tickets!

"The harder we work the luckier we get" Trading is not gambling neither does a trader require luck to be successful.
A good trader with good strategy does not need luck however luck can sometimes favour some people some time.
E.g. you hit a 100 point winner by mistake. You are excited and start to think you need to perfect his skill. If this happens to a
new trader he/she might think they hit a pot of gold by luck but the reality is that those new traders are very unlucky because
now it will take them longer time to become really good traders.

"Failing is the most important thing in the life of most successful people".

"80% of Trading is in the mind"

"The Five Fundamental Truths of Trading" Mark Douglas (rip) and "The 7 principle of consistency".

Trading in the Zone by Mark Douglas is a MUST READ if you want to be successful in trading.

"Be in the now"

"Professional and most successful traders based their strategies on the concept of Asymmetric Risk Reward"

"Loyalty in trading is not a good trait" Successful traders don't care which commodity/currency or stock they
should trade because of their emotional connections and nationality. e.g. i see some people trade or prefer to
trade the Aussie dollar because they are Aussies or they love the aussies like me. hehe NO, we trade the one
that makes us good profit. The one that gives us the most Reward compared to the risk is our favourite and it
will remain our favourite until it gives higher rewards compared to the lowest possible risk.

"the trend is your friend"

"When in doubt always get out"

"Go with the flow"

"Being the Zone"

"The market has a structure"

"the structure of the market is Elliott wave"

"the structure of Elliott wave is the fractal (AIMS BOX)"

"purple is the King"

"The monarch pattern is the light in the darkest pits"
Monarch pattern shows hidden 1-2's that often get us in the next wave 3 or wave 5.

"Any trade taken without a trading plan is mistake"

"Trading without a trading plan is worse than gambling"

"in trading we tend to keep learning more and more about what is not going on and that keeps us from seeing what is really happening (now) "BW
"How we respond to our thoughts is more important than the thoughts"

"Your Thoughts are your life!" (BW says that what he's learned in his 50 years of trading is this)

"Mind Location is much more important than trade location"

The Zen of "Don't Know". Just let it be ok to "don't know". Look for the open spacious feeling of the don't know mind. The don't know mind has room for absolutetly anything and everything.

"Be in the Now" Virtually all of our thoughts are either based in the past or future,and absolutely all of our FEARS and DESIRES come from the past or anticipation of the future. (desires are remembrance of past pleasures that we plan and hope to recreate in the future. Fears are usually memories of the past pain that we plan and hope to avoid in the future.)

The "Attention" is all we are.

STOP! No amount of thinking can accomplish what a small amount of not thinking can.

Less is definitely more ... specially in trading

"Thoughts of the past are a waste, most thoughts of the future are the same"

"Remind yourself that you are in a big show and the centre ring is inside yourself. The market is YOU. Just be and you will see.




========================================

"Grant is always right"

"Steve's always 2 years ahead of Immy"

"Immy agrees with the above two lines" but still won't admit it.

[The above statements are designed to depress my ever expanding ego. Every time I read it I feel uncomfortable why I wrote them. I
conclude that the EGO is still there and quite powerful]

Important things about Grant's Flow Chart

Do not under-estimate the power of Question 1.

Is there a new peak.
Many traders in the skype room created "mental problems" out of this simple concept but all those issues have
been resolved now as they have been in touch with the guy who first thought about this concept. Its a simple visual thing.
If there is a new peak of eWave / AIMS Wave or AO towars the right edge of the chart you then look for dark tones
created as a result of pull-back/retracement of price bars on the chart. This concept is EPIC. Its a genius question.


Another thing, no matter how much yoru mind resists to believe, when there is divergence on AIMS Wave simply
do not take the seed. I know on some very strong trend days you will stay out of the action due to this rule but trust
me it will save you many many rents on normal days. I call it the "DAVID" paradox. Some of us, like myself, find it
hard to follow strict rules. But I have to admit and admit emphatically following a set of rules is a the holy grail of
consistently successul trading. Find a set of rules and follow them religiously and forget about all the garbage such as
"feel for the market" and "intuitive trading" and all that mumbo jumbo. Intuition has a part in trading but its something
that you have to earn by following the golden rule below


"Successful traders keep Flexible expectations and RIGID RULES". one more time "Successful traders keep Flexible expectations
and RIGID RULES".
and never ever compromise on risk management. Never risk more than 1% per trade and never lose more than 3% per session.
Stop when you have made more than 3% for the session. Yes, again reading this your mind will start to create "problems" but
just ignore the lefty programming for now with gratitude.


Profit taking must be methodical and objective.

2:1 profits will get you there. Never lose more than 1% per trade and always take 2% specifically with this Seed/Cherry
strategy on m1. Don't trust me? Sit down and do some back testing.


What are the factors that increase the probability of success of my setup?

The probability of success of a setup depends on two things
1. All Rules of Creating the setup must be ticked
2. All rules of filtering the setup must be ticked

So first job is to Identify the Entry Setup and then apply the second layer of protection. That is filtering the valid setups.
Yes, We only take Valid setups and within valid setups we filter certain setups because we have filter rules that allow us
to trade only higher probability setups.


How to avoid disaster days?
Nearly all traders experience disaster days where they wipe out the whole week or the months profits. Some experience
this more than often and don't know what to do about it. It happens mostly to those traders who don't yet have a trading
plan or their trading plan does not cover this aspect of trading.

It is extremely important to know when to stop trading. The massive loss days can only be avoided by applying this
rule. A Daily stop loss and profit target is exactly the same as we have a stop loss for every trade and profit target.


The Cure: Daily Stop Loss Limit:
If I hit 3 losing trades in a row. I will stop trading for that session/day.
The assumption here is that. no mistakes were made. If you made a mistake, broke discipline, then disciplinary procedures
will come in to play. such as, I will not trade the next day. Try saying that yourself. and if you hear your inner trader shout...
"wait no ,that's too much" then you've hit the cord rightly.

[Grant]

^:)^ ^:)^

[immy]

Is there sufficient volatility and momentum?

It is important that we trade only during periods of high momentum.
And periods of high momentum often start off a period of low momentum, and sideways congestion.
This is especially true for M1 Time frame where at times the trading volume may drop to unhealthy levels.

The Higher the Volatility the better it is to trade on M1 (Lower Time Frames) Trading on the lower time
frame without enough volatility will lead to problems.

Momentum on Higher Time Frame
Rule 1: M5 (5XHTF) is showing an open gator.
Rule 2. M5 is showing either a new 3 or going into 5.
Rule 3. M5 or HTF is not within tight range or wave 4

Momentum on Current Time Frame
Rule 4. M1 (CTF) is showing an open gator.
Rule 5. Price is within a current wave 3 or Wave 5.
Rule 6. M1 or CTF is not within a tight range or wave 4.

[immy]

Ok, so here are some trades from today. I promise I'll be posting more and I'll be keeping a detailed journal specially for the H1 account.

Seeds and Cherries on the The Hour!

Someone asked earlier if we could trade the same strategy exactly the same way on other time frames and markets. The answer is an Absolute YES. In fact its a great way to find out if a strategy is universal and will last a very long time. If a strategy is not trade-able on higher and lower time frames (with minor tweaks and adjustments) then I won't use it. The market is a great example of Chaos, fractal geometry. So it is ESSENTIAL for a system to work on all time frames otherwise it can be said that it may not be in tune with the structure of the market. And just like anything and everything else in the universe must have a structure the market does have a structure as well. All strategies must fit in there.

The Seed and Cherry Strategy works great on m1. Which means it should work even better on the hourly time frame.

"The Crème de la Crème"
It is a crème de la crème strategy because we have a set of rules that filters out all the lower probability setups. Therefore, one has to bear that in mind that We really are after Quality not Quantity.


Shiny Cherries, Potent seeds and fertile grounds
Yes, you can come up with a shotgun approach, take most entry signals and allow them to run as much as possible and that would give you a great equity curve but we have learned how to pick the Cherries, the most shiny cherries and the most potent seeds to sow within the most fertile grounds. The fertile grounds are Trending Markets, the wave 3's within 3's and the most potent seed are the smallest of Inside Bars within those strong impulse (motive waves) waves.

The Most Important Question
We will achieve picking the most high probability setups by applying Grants Flow Chart. There is a very powerful question in there. Is there a new higher/lower peak on eWave? Do not understimate the power of that. This question will show you The Monarch Setup as well as the ones that form after wards.

Throw away the bad apples
Moty and Kyle has come up with a flow chart for the most highly profitable Apple Trades. We can incorporate apple entries in to our hourly plan. These trades are counter trend on the current time frame but they are in line with the higher time frame trends. The rules of divergence and TZ1 can also help us spot and throw away the bad apples, cherries and seeds!

Follow the Pattern then Look for Signals
A lot of traders, specially the new ones, wait for entry signals and some just pull the trigger others are yet clever enough to "methodically" apply some predefined filters. However, we do things a little bit differently. We look for the pattern first, "is there a new peak" and together with that we analyse the chart using the Elliott Wave tool but not the Elliottician way rather using eWave. The 1 second elliott wave.

The Secret of the The Crème de la Crème and eWave
Trade the setups that form on your current time frame only when you see a wave 3 or wave 5 on the 5x HTF. Sounds like too much work? not really. Simply click on h4 and see what the eWave says ...

Markets to Trade:
EUR/USD
GBP/USD
USD/JPY
GOLD
AUD/USD
NZD/USD
USD/CAD
USD/CHF (Mostly used for Indication only)
EUR/JPY (Mostly used for Indication only)
EUR/GBP (Mostly used for Indication only)


Risk Management:

Risk Per Trade: As always 1% or MAX upto 3% for smaller accounts. [once you chose your risk per trader you cannot change it]

Stop Loss Placement: Using FTM or ATM we will simply use the opposite side of the bar for Stop Loss Placement.
Entry Method: Entries made using The Seed, The Cherries and The Apple Setup. The Seed and Cherry entries are picked and filtered using the Same Grant's Flow Chart whereas Moty/Kyle's modified Flow Chart will be used for the The Apple entries.

Money Management: (How to manage winners)

Trade Management:
Take two entries each 0.5% (or half of your total risk per trade) Once the entry has been made set TP of one entry at 1:1 (can be easily achieved using ATM or any other EA) or 1:2 (chose one) and either remove or move the Target Point for the next entry to at least 5:1 away.


more on this later... This is all a DRAFT

Another Draft. As you know we teach this strategy live in the skype room. We have turned more losing traders into winners this way by any other way before.... Trust me, I'm surprised myself.

The Three Months Challenge

How to Trade Seeds and Cherries - The 3 Months Challenge

Step 1: Wait for price to be in a tight range. Then
Step 2: Wait for price to break out then
Step 3: Wait for price to pullback then
Step 4: Wait for Seeds and Cherries signals.
Step 5: Validate the setup and apply the filters. take trades

Manage Trades Like So:
Max Risk per Trade: 1%

Entry above/below seed or cherry candle
Set SL at opposite end of entry candle.
(of course max is 10 pip candles so max SL is 13 )

When to Move SL
At 1:1 move to BE

When to Exit
1. SL is hit at -1%
2. SL is hit a 0%
3. TP is hit at 2%

Then
Wait for the 3 to finish (divergence and all) Let eWave come back to zero line.

Let it go into wave 4
Analyse the end of wave 4.
8 out of 10 times wave 4 would end between fib retracement levels of 38 and 50% (good rule for Apple Trades)

if you want, you can take an apple using Kyle's flow chart

After apple is done,
Wait for it to go out of 4, by repeating Step 1.

[immy]

Meanwhile today, I can only show my massive cockups in terms of Trade Management, rather miss-management.

First USD/JPY 18.00 Seed a lovely setup that allowed us to enter the market before the masses go in on it following the news today. It could have been a massive 10% winner and running. Actually if you look at the daily chart this has the potential to be allowed to run/ converted into Daily trend following trade. We could use aims trailing or green line trailing on the daily chart and possibly grab an "ACCOUNT DOUBLING" TRADE.

oh well!!!!

14-10-2015 20-37-15.png

Daily Chart

14-10-2015 20-48-55.png

and the EUR/USD cockup... oh well. same thing on the daily chart...

[immy]

Quick Update of this Weeks H1 Trades

PEERDC Analysis
P is for Pair Name
E is for Entry Signal Used
E is for Exit Mechanism Used
R is for result of the trade
D is for Satisfaction and Discipline Score.
C is for Comments


Pair: EUR/GBP
Entry: Cherry
Exit: AIMS Trail
Result: +2.5%
Satisfaction and Discipline Score
DS 1
Comments:
[I don't know where did this pair come in to play, it was supposed to be for Indication only.] [But it offered a great setup.
The euros were correcting a bit and the pound still holding up.


Picture:

16-10-2015 20-38-00.png

Pair: EUR/JPY
Entry: Apple
Exit: Candle Trail
Result: -0.5%
DS: 0
Comments:
I need to be more selective with my trades and I must not mess with trade management plans. First I should not have taken the apple as it required quite a bit SL and if I took it then I had to stick to that SL. Had I stuck to it, it could have been turned into a potential profit of +155 points which would also have helped filter the second entry. Discipline required buddy. Its a game that you must play with rules. and be better at following than rules than others. Its not about the attitude of "i can break rules and still make money" no no no its the game of "i'm a rule follower and I follow rules 100% of the time, that is what makes me a better trader".

16-10-2015 20-44-34.png

Pair: EUR/USD
Entry: Seed
Exit: Move to BE
Result: BE
Comments:
Entry based on Seed. The answer the question is there a new higher peak was not answered correctly however that was compensated with there is a clear 3, the daily trend is up, and there is a PC setup (meaning 1-2) which gave me confidence.
The trade was "right" brought to BE after it had gone more than 2% in my favour. sadly though that SL was hit to the pip and a potential 4% profit not banked.

16-10-2015 20-51-48.png

Pair: GBP/USD
Entry: The SEED
Exit. SL hit.
Result: -1%
DS: 1 , no mistake

Entry: Seed
There was a new peak, a cherry and two seeds and LO. nothing wrong with that apart from the fact that chart to the left looks like the spot where David trades on DAX after London close

16-10-2015 20-55-57.png

Pair: USD/CAD
Entry: Box (hmmm not really great but hey ho)
Exit: Partial exits.
Result: +90 + 78 = 1.68% [168 Pip (168/2 = 84 full pips / 1% risk at 50 pips(not really great) = 1.68%)]
DS: 1
Comments: This trade started in a very unusual fashion. I have forgotten now the actual additional reasons for taking this classic box trade apart from these that the daily chart had a 2 green candle pull-back, gator was open to down side and we are short using the fruit on the daily chart. The dollar was generally falling against other currencies. Initially the thought was to sell half and convert the rest into a daily trade but later change my mind.

16-10-2015 21-19-22.png

P: USD/CHF
Entry: Seed
Exit: Green Line
Result: +0.69%
DS: 0.5
Comments: on the chart

16-10-2015 21-21-32.png

Pair: AUD/USD
Entry: Apple
Exit: SL
Result: -1%
DS: 1
Comment: the trade was taken on good analysis. GFC ok , structure ok, D1 was trending up in short term, pullback to purple and back down. it appeared it would go up like the USDCAD that went down. similar D1 charts. Did not work. NEXT

16-10-2015 21-29-11.png

Pair: EUR/USD
Entry: Cherry
Exit: BE
Result: 0
Comments: a fantastic opportunity to Grab 2% based on TZ1 but I just did not plan it this way. Next time I gotta be more aware of things. But it was a good setup and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

16-10-2015 22-45-25.png

Two things Leanred this week:

1. I thought I'd take 2-3 trades per week but it seems that Seeds/cherries are keeping me a lot busier than I thought. I should be either more selective or reduce pairs or entry techniques. Something to ponder under the tree of life! (meditation)
2. I thought weekly update would be enough since trades will be only a few. But it appears there are two things that go wrong with it. a. I don't remember the original emotional, mental and technical analysis to record and b. takes long time to record the whole week. so must take action about this. I have to maintain 3 separate journals, read everybody's post (yes, there isn't a single post in this forum that I have not read) and yet I constantly type over the skype all day as well. not to mention the whatsapp FB viber messenger and other stuff that keeps going in the background... (literally feeling pain in the neck, eyes and wrists) Time to go to the Himalayas hut...

Some Pictures I posted for David but they will help me and you too!

Moty Grant Immy.png

[immy]

Please take an hour or so out of your time and watch this interview. One of the best

[youtube]oCcLEAtcgic[/youtube]

[kiravon]

Great video and great thread!

[bluediamond81]

Hey Immy,

What an awesome thread! Though I'm an AIMS member, I still couldn't follow AIMS way due to my confusion about which way to go. My other problem is I only can trade NY session due to my job and family stuff. So with my condition above, can I be profitable when joining Skype room and follow AIMS Scalping Heroes 2.1?
BTW, how can I have exact template (including indicators and EAs) as in your screenshot? (how much do I have to invest in EAs)

Tks,
Lam

[immy]

Hi Lam

All you need is an hour of trading no matter its London session or neo session! we have plenty of guys from US canada, australia and europe. All have different jobs and not many can make it to all the sessions at the same time save a few. e.g. Grant, is a part timer and his hrs could be very irregular. Yet he gets his "time in" every now and then.

Skype is the only way you will be able to learn how to trade like us. We learned this last year and now we don't really waste much time on other mechanism of teaching. Skype is like "bring your brain here, open it, here you go, we put a new processor in there"... its a surgery... live patients, live feed and live learning....

cheers