Grants Journal [Awarded Title: Guru of the Gurus]

[forexgirl]

HI Everyone,

A member of the skype chat has asked me to write down some of the things I look for when exiting a trade that is going well…. Please remember that exits are IMHO the hardest part of any strategy and there is NEVER a bad exit as long as there is a reason to exit the market. Just closing a trade because of fear is not a good exit.

As you know I am fairly aggressive in the very early stages of a trade, employing a SL move at +5 pips up to -4. After I have that move in place then I will either exit the market using a trailing exit or a target based exit.

The trailing exits I use are:

1. 5 consecutive colour price candles in the direction of my trade (+/- 3 pips)
2. AIMS high/low levels +/- 3 pips

With regard to targets there are a few levels I like to watch for price reaction. These include:

1. H1/H4/Daily AIMS levels. Depending on the number of times they have been tested will depend on my getting out of trades, ie the 1st touch of a daily level will 9 times out of 10 bounce.

2. Fib Expansion levels, 3rd waves will more often than not finish between the 161 FE and the 261 FE levels. 5th waves will more often than not finish between the 62 FE and the 100 FE. These make good zones so when coupled with higher TF AIMS levels give good targets

3. I have 20 pip lines marked on my chart. From trading the EU exclusively for so long I know now that it likes to move in 20 pip blocks. So if my entry is say halfway in between 2 of these lines then there is a fair chance it will move to next line at 30 pips away. If it does move to +30 without a decent retrace creating an AIMS level then I know that that retrace is due so exiting for +30 may be a good idea.

4. Pivots, I use GMT pivots and again if they line up with any of the above lines then there is a chance that price will bounce at that level.

5. I also plot the opening prices of the week, Tokyo, London and NY sessions using a horizontal line, you will be surprised how many times price will bounce off of those prices, ie if we are in the NY session and heading to the Tokyo open price then price may bounce.

6. I also plot the 5 day ADR which when reached will usually provide a bounce.

Like I said earlier exits are the hardest part, but remember the power of compounding an account through consistent pips (base hits) rather than trying to knock it out of the park on every trade (home run).

Whether it is good or bad exit in hindsight always have a reason for getting out of trades.

I hope this helps

Grant

Hello Grant,

I´ve been read your Journal. It´s great. When you´ve said:
"The trailing exits I use are:
1. 5 consecutive colour price candles in the direction of my trade (+/- 3 pips)"...

Can I use the same method for any Time Frame? I use TF 15 min.
I´m sorry about the english. I´m brazilian.

Thank for your support.

[Grant]

HI Everyone,

A member of the skype chat has asked me to write down some of the things I look for when exiting a trade that is going well…. Please remember that exits are IMHO the hardest part of any strategy and there is NEVER a bad exit as long as there is a reason to exit the market. Just closing a trade because of fear is not a good exit.

As you know I am fairly aggressive in the very early stages of a trade, employing a SL move at +5 pips up to -4. After I have that move in place then I will either exit the market using a trailing exit or a target based exit.

The trailing exits I use are:

1. 5 consecutive colour price candles in the direction of my trade (+/- 3 pips)
2. AIMS high/low levels +/- 3 pips

With regard to targets there are a few levels I like to watch for price reaction. These include:

1. H1/H4/Daily AIMS levels. Depending on the number of times they have been tested will depend on my getting out of trades, ie the 1st touch of a daily level will 9 times out of 10 bounce.

2. Fib Expansion levels, 3rd waves will more often than not finish between the 161 FE and the 261 FE levels. 5th waves will more often than not finish between the 62 FE and the 100 FE. These make good zones so when coupled with higher TF AIMS levels give good targets

3. I have 20 pip lines marked on my chart. From trading the EU exclusively for so long I know now that it likes to move in 20 pip blocks. So if my entry is say halfway in between 2 of these lines then there is a fair chance it will move to next line at 30 pips away. If it does move to +30 without a decent retrace creating an AIMS level then I know that that retrace is due so exiting for +30 may be a good idea.

4. Pivots, I use GMT pivots and again if they line up with any of the above lines then there is a chance that price will bounce at that level.

5. I also plot the opening prices of the week, Tokyo, London and NY sessions using a horizontal line, you will be surprised how many times price will bounce off of those prices, ie if we are in the NY session and heading to the Tokyo open price then price may bounce.

6. I also plot the 5 day ADR which when reached will usually provide a bounce.

Like I said earlier exits are the hardest part, but remember the power of compounding an account through consistent pips (base hits) rather than trying to knock it out of the park on every trade (home run).

Whether it is good or bad exit in hindsight always have a reason for getting out of trades.

I hope this helps

Grant

Hello Grant,

I´ve been read your Journal. It´s great. When you´ve said:
"The trailing exits I use are:
1. 5 consecutive colour price candles in the direction of my trade (+/- 3 pips)"...

Can I use the same method for any Time Frame? I use TF 15 min.
I´m sorry about the english. I´m brazilian.

Thank for your support.

HI,

Your english is just fine.

As with the entry rules the exits that i spoke about can be used on any TF you trade, so yes 5 candles can be used on the 15 min chart just as much as on a daily or 1 min chart..

cheers

Grant

[forexgirl]

HI,

Your english is just fine.

As with the entry rules the exits that i spoke about can be used on any TF you trade, so yes 5 candles can be used on the 15 min chart just as much as on a daily or 1 min chart..

cheers

Grant

Thank you so much. Have a nice day!

[Grant]

Hi everyone,

Tough trading conditions today, summed up by price being only 20 pips lower at London close form London open. Well done to anyone that walked away in + pips.

Caught a couple of trades at LO and then sat through the NY session and basically just watched as price didn’t do all that much..

Todays effort was

1. -6
2. 2
3. -4
4. -4

Total -12 (-0.92%)

Not great but not disastrous either. Tommorrow is another day....

Trade records and pics below.

Cheers
Grant

[Grant]

Hi everyone,

Better trading today, despite the lovely trend after the news at lunchtime UK being a bit too spikey and volatilefor my conservative taste.

Todays trades were:

1. -8
2. -7
3. -5
4. 14
5. 15
6. 15

Total +24 (1.84%)

Trade records and pics below.

Cheers
Grant

[Grant]

Hi everyone,

Better trading today again around the NFP circus…

Todays trades were:

1. 10
2. 9.6
3. 3.1
4. -6
5. -6
6. 10
7. 16

Total +36.7 (2.82%)

Trade records and pics below.

So for the week my totals are : +76.7 pips (5.9%)

Another frustrating week with little chart time but the results are still good.

Have a great weekend!!

Cheers

Grant

[firstquant]

wow, Grant, this is some seriously good trading you do!
question on your table that accompanies the charts you post: what do you mean by "How far was exit point? "
is this your initial stoploss , if not what do you use as an intial stoploss?
many thanks and sincere congratulations for keeping your trade journal so honest and transparent, hence "real";
keep up the excellent work !

[Grant]

wow, Grant, this is some seriously good trading you do!
question on your table that accompanies the charts you post: what do you mean by "How far was exit point? "
is this your initial stoploss , if not what do you use as an intial stoploss?
many thanks and sincere congratulations for keeping your trade journal so honest and transparent, hence "real";
keep up the excellent work !

HI First,

Glad you find the journal helpful...

As for the initial stop loss level, it really has 2 uses:

1. its there for any real knee jerk reactions, ie central bank interventions as ideally i like to move to the high/low of the trigger candle only when its closed.

2. as you will know from reading my journal IMHO EU likes to move in 20 pip beats so i like to enter on fresh beats/waves (ideally wave 3s). So i look for fresh AIMS (high for shorts or low for longs) or the red line being within 15 pips, so then there is a higher probability that once triggered the trade will go to at least +5 where i can the majority of my risk out. If price has moved 15 or more pips without a fresh AIMS or the red line is already at a steep angle then there is a lower chance of the trade working out...

I hope i explained that well enough, if i didnt then i'll post a couple of charts to my when i get back to my trading pc..

cheers

Grant

[Jerzy]

Hi Grant,
Thanks for explanation. However to make sure I understand it 100% correctly could you please post a couple of charts.
Cheers,
Jerzy

[Grant]

Hi Jerzy,

here is a scenario form Friday pm where at the time of setting the PO the AISM low and red line were too far away. IN hindsight it looks like a win missed but in real time it was no trade...

any questions let me know

cheers

Grant