Hello & Welcome (Please: NO Religion, No Politics,....just price dynamics)

This blog will follows a wide and eclectic range of trades/price observations in the futures and forex/markets by a solitary trader.

The only personal information pertinent to this blog is that from 1980 until 1994 i was employed by several companies (EF Hutton, ContiCommodity/Refco, Merrill Lynch and Credit Lyonnais) in the City of London. I left the markets behind in 1993/4 when (recently married and + child) i started to pursue a 'vocational' business in horticulture and away from London.

 I should remind readers that in the early 80's and as a very junior assistant it was my job it was to update the many charts that adorned the trading room walls manually with a pencil. Some of the lower time frame charts stretched around the trading room walls for up to 20ft plus and due to them always being removed from the walls daily/hourly for manual updates resembled The Dead Sea Scrolls!

By the time i was leaving the business charting software was in its infancy and compared to what is available today was abysmal and (in my opinion) almost worse than the hand drawn charts. Weekly or bi weekly CRB printed charts were then the name of the game and arrived with a hefty subscription to be studied by many or most in the front office. For historical amusement i will reprint some scanned mid 80's charts in the coming weeks/months.

I hope you will find something of interest as my approach developed over the years since 2005/6 and of the many hard lessons which I learned along the way. There is no short cut for screen time and the more i know the less i know..

However here is a FINAL word of warning. I recently spoke to an old colleague of mine who works in retail futures and Forex and was told that retail traders are no more profitable now in 2010 with all the charting & technical software now available than they were with pencil and ruler and paper drawn charts back in the days when i started in the early 1980's. It is certainly true that over 90% of so called private traders loose money so just to preserve capital should be your first priority along with managing your risk.




DISCLAIMER

Lastly,the chart images and text i publish are in no way to be interpreted as trading recommendations and i accept no risk or liability for any individuals actions as a result of material published and read on this blog.
Trading foreign exchange and futures on margin carries a high level of risk, and may not be suitable for all investors. The high degree of leverage can work against you as well as for you. Before deciding to invest in foreign exchange or futures you should carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite. The possibility exists that you could sustain a loss of some or all of your initial investment and therefore you should not invest money that you cannot afford to lose. You should be aware of all the risks associated with foreign exchange and futures trading, and seek advice from an independent financial advisor if you have any doubts.