Caseynotes

Look at that margin requirement compared to my pic and what we have to put up as a result of the regulator intervention 😳

Draghi is talking up a rates cut, see Dax, but what's going on with Dow?

Instructional video on how to fake trading account screen shots for posting on your social media pages 😉

@Mark8787, yes but no 🙂, you don't use the last 2 zeros, not sure which platform you are on but if it's the spread bet and the price is 194.1400 and you want a price stop 2.0000 away at 192.1400 then you need to put 200 points in the stop loss box, see pic below.

Yes, looking at the dailies it's a pretty bleak row of insignificant candles stretching back over a week, the Ger econ senti at 10am may get a reaction but everyone seems to be waiting for the FOMC mon pol statement tomorrow. Flat and balanced markets are difficult and not trading is often the better plan until they become directional again, otherwise it's a case of drilling down and finding short sharp targets playing the range.

Interesting resource info graphics on China's tech companies. https://www.abacusnews.com/china-tech-city

Hi @Mark8787, the stop distance should be in points which in IG speak is the same as a pip (FX) or a tick (Indices). See this info page on the deal/order ticket. https://www.dailyfx.com/forex/education/trading_tips/daily_trading_lesson/2019/01/21/how-to-read-currency-pairs.html?QPID=30472&CHID=9

Both Dax ad Dow have fallen away from the pivot towards S1 and both have something of a triangle pattern going on in the M30 charts. Looking to see if the European open shows direction. Currently the Bears hold the pivot so looking to target S1 but that may change especially after the London open at 8am.

Dow continues to lurk just below resistance at 26250 in a bull flag just waiting for a reason to break. Dax looks like retesting support at 12047, Ger and EU econ sentiment data coming in at 10am. Nikkei is testing support at 20919 while Ftse is sitting mid range at 7362.

Tuesday's econ cal;

Euro & Gold up. USD & Oil down. Indices flat, Cryptos down. Chart of the day is Facebook.

Hi, there are different calculations for different asset types, FX is worked out for you and can be seen from the 'Positions' tab once that option is selected from the menu, see this page for more info on this and details and examples on how overnight funding is calculated for different asset types. (this is the UK version, there will probably be an Aust. equivalent page on IG.com/au https://www.ig.com/uk/help-and-support/spread-betting-and-cfds/fees-and-charges/why-is-overnight-funding-charged-and-how-is-it-calculated-

But this @nit2wynit is how you bring it full circle. You can't know the outcome of any single trade when you enter, you know that every trade won't be profitable but because you have tested your strategy and know that over 50 trades the strategy is profitable, the fear factor disappears. The only problem left then is making sure you always stick to the rules.

Though the need for a trading plan and a trading strategy coupled with good basic money management has been repeated in near every trading book ever written since the dawn of time few actually seem to follow this advice. The probable reason is likely because few seem to really understand what they are and so just repeat the mantra without actually doing it. The strategy is the simple set of rules that govern every trade. The set up, the entry, managing the trade and then the exit. The same set of rules applied to every trade. You know what's going to happen before you even pull the trigger (you are going to follow the strategy's rules). You might have one, two or perhaps three different strategies but that should be your limit as a new trader. You know the strategy works because you have tested it, that's why you stick to the rules. The plan seeks to highlight before hand when and where one of your strategies might start setting up so it will consider chart structure, trends, levels, news events, when you need to be ready or resting, etc. Without the construction and appliance of a tested scientific model you will just be shooting from the hip at shadows.

It's not the charts or IG, it's your browser that keeps resetting Flash. This is probably a safety precaution because it has been identified that Flash has security issues that can be exploited by unscrupulous web sites to be used to ship in malware onto your computer. This is why Flash is being discontinued by Adobe and why IG need to upgrade the shares platform to HTML5 (as is the spread bet and cfd platforms) before they do.

Dow completed it's drift lower to the pivot around 26100 while Dax ranging between 12125 and 12079. Fairly flat market so far.

BTC nearing yesterday's high, bonds, Gold and commods red, indices and FX fairly flat.

Latest Brexit probability scenario offering from ING Economics;

Tight race for Tory leadership lol. (from betdata)

And volume see chart below; Also, https://www.ft.com/content/f40730be-90c6-11e9-aea1-2b1d33ac3271

Interesting, are you going to review this for us then @elle ?

This is a good article, 20 questions you need to be able to answer; 20 Questions For Help Building a Trading Plan System What type of trader will I be? Swing, trend trader, trend follower, day trader, Elliot Wave, Fibonacci, CAN SLIM, option trader, another, or a combination? What time frame will I be trading on? What are my trading rules? What signals my entry? What will signal my exit? Do I use a trailing stop or a price target to lock in profits? What will I be trading? Will I trade long or short or both? What is the probability of my trade working out based on historical data? What has to happen to invalidate my trading system and make me look for flaws in my thinking? Psychology How big of a position size can I mentally and emotionally handle trading? Does my chosen trading method fit my personality for activity and risk tolerance? Do I truly believe that my method will work and be profitable? Do I enjoy trading? Do I have the mental strength to persevere until successful in trading? Risk How much of my trading capital will I risk per trade? How many losses in a row with this level of risk will lead to blowing up my trading account? How much will I lose at one time if all my open positions go against me at the same time? How correlated with each other are all your open positions and your potential trading vehicles that are on your watch list? Do you fully understand the potential risk in what you are trading? http://www.newtraderu.com/2014/01/07/6072/

@mykig, you are right that things are a bit congested at the mo but even within zones of consolidation price will continue to test boundaries so I'll be looking at the intraday pivots. Dax is sitting the the pivot point trying to decide whether to test R1 or S1 while Ftse looks to be heading down to retest the pivot point, will wait for the London open for a clearer indication of the aim of the morning session and once direction is clear look for a pullback on the smaller time frame to join, but because of the consolidation the targets are not big.

On the zoomed out Dow H1 we can see the previous double top level 26250 (red) is within reach and price looks willing to test it in the near future, will look for that to be broken this week to signal a move higher for all the indices.

Yes, something of a trial last week with a weekly chart doji all round though volume remained high but a big week coming up with rate decisions and mon pol statements for Japan, US and GB (see Econ Calendar thread).