Forex Volume

I did this post some time ago, and while re-reading it I realised that I don't use volume on MT4.  Apart from it being inaccurate on the MT4 platform, it's not part of my strategy.  MT4 volume uses the aggregate volume from the broker you use.  So it tells you what retail traders are doing, not banks.  I use price action and Tipster Trendlines to place the trades at supply and demand.  Sam Seiden method of Trading Academy, I'm sure you've heard of him?

US OIL, CHF, and Russia

The 2014 Olympics closing ceremony was on February 23, 2014.

Ever since the end of the 2014 Winter Olympics when Russia made the move on Cremia, the big boys (world leaders) were not very happy.  

After a while Russia's economy took a hit because of steps the rest of the world was taking (I'm not going into detail here).  Trying to regulate money flow in/out of Russia, and other things.....

Then oil started to move.  Russia exports lots of oil, something like 68% is oil. "We can make Russia feel some pain, let's lower the price of crude!"

This is a monthly chart of US OIL, in my MT4 platform where I use Tipster Trendlines to chart trade.  You can see much of the same with the ETF UCO.

June 15 it started to decline, and Sept 28, 2014 it broke demand and went down hard to where we are today.  

I wonder how much Putin has in Swiss banks?  I wonder if the CHF currency jolt had anything to do with Russia or its leader?  I can't really see why there is any relation but once almost never know (until 50 years later).

Here's the RUB CHF chart

Compound your profits

Every year hundreds and thousands of new traders come into the forex arena looking for riches, trading 24 hours a day shooting for 50% a week and find their accounts blown within the month, most of which become too demoralised to ever even consider depositing more funds and pulling the trigger on another trade, their trading career is over before it had even begun.

Those that become successful long term traders understand the power of compounding gains for huge eventual profits, they start small, aim low and believe it will all pay off in the future, however most human beings are born with a natural greed, an emotion that runs so strong in most people's veins that the thought of 2 - 3% a week sends shivers down their spine and they become part of the above club, the 95% of unsuccessful traders.

As fun as it is to dream of doubling your money every fortnight it is important to be realistic of what to expect in terms of profit in both the short and the long term, the reality is a consistent weekly gain of 2 - 3% over the period of a year is no easy feat for even the best of traders however it is achievable for the few successful traders.

To most the idea of making a 2 - 3% weekly gain isn't all that exciting, especially when compared to claims of 20,30 and even 40% returns a week that are often thrown around on the internet but the moment we add compounding into the equation those small weekly figures can amass to some huge yet realistic sums of money.

For those that don't understand the concept of compounding gains or interest it is the exponential growth of a sum of money by continuously reinvesting all profits, so although the profit percentage remains the same the actual sum of money grows at a very rapid rate.

As a very basic example lets assume we have $1000 in our trading account.

If we were to make a 10% return every month for a year and not re-invest any of it we would have made a 120% return equating to $1200.

If however we compound our gains every month we will end up with a much larger sum which i'll demonstrate below.

month 1 - 1,000 + 10% = 1,100

month 2 - 1,100 + 10% = 1,210

month 3 - 1,210 + 10% = 1,331

month 4 - 1,331 + 10% = 1,464

month 5 - 1,464 + 10% = 1,610

month 6 - 1,610 + 10% = 1,771

month 7 - 1,771 + 10% = 1,948

month 8 - 1,948 + 10% = 2,143

month 9 - 2,143 + 10% = 2,357

month 10 - 2,357 + 10% = 2,593

month 11 - 2,593 + 10% = 2,853

month 12 - 2,853 + 10% = 3,138

Total gain in percentage - 213.8%

Total monetary gain - $2,138

Now lets take it one step further by using our yearly return and compounding over a 7 year period with a starting balance of $1000

Year 1 - 1,000 + 213.8% = 3,138

year 2 - 3,138 + 213.8% = 9,847

year 3 - 9,847 + 213.8% = 30,900

year 4 - 30,900 + 213.8% = 96,964

year 5 - 96,964 + 213.8% = 304,273

year 6 - 304,273 + 213.8% = 954,811

year 7 - 954,811 + 213.8% = 2,996,198

Total gain in percentage - 299519.8%

Total monetary gain - $2,995,198

How is that for a retirement plan?  7 year plan.

Now I think I can safely say that would be extremely impressive to anybody!

With the power of compounding gains figures like that eventually become realistic in the long term if you can remain consistently profitable at even 2 - 3% a week!

So if you really want to be successful aim for 2% a week instead of 20%, compound your gains and begin building your future!

You can use this concept for your expert advisors as well.  Set a weekly balance limit that will cut off the EA from trading until the next week.  Also, set a profit target for your EA so it will close all positions or at least set stops to protect that profit.  This is one way of controlling your EA's in MT4 so that they will achieve your goals..  It will also aid to get you out of the market when things start to change.

OIL as in UCO ETF

Demand level identified.  Who is ready to go long on OCO?  Risk is defined here with a stop under the recent low.

The demand level is shown with the top horizontal line on this hourly chart.

Tipster Trendlines Chart Trader - Properties

This video goes over the properties of Tipster Trendlines.  This is the experts properties menu that you see when your drag it onto the chart.  Hope it helps.