Browse Symbol Stacks: XAUUSD: Blanks of the trader

One of the faulty perceptions about the brokers within the traders discussion groups online is that they are after the traders with stop hunting practices etc. The fact that some of them do some activities that are not so transparent to traders should not put all of them under the same line, in fact the less ethical minority gets far too much publicity is very unfortunate while so many positive points are very often left out due to the lack of relevant knowledge. One thing from my experience so far that separates better ones is that they let their clients know about any changes to trading conditions in advance. Without giving specific names, recently the minimum number of traded contracts in my portfolio watchlist increased for some instruments. As a consequence i had to review whether those instruments are still valid to trade in line with risk management rules set. It turned out that DJIA (Dow Jones) index does not meet those criterias anymore and therefore had to be removed immediately from watch list due to unfavorable trading conditions under current risk management rules. Lots of traders are missing out on those kind of details tend to blame brokers for all possible sins, prior to doing their homework by researching the instruments they are about to trade. In many cases traders account (normally smaller ones with hugely inflated leverage for entry above 1:200) is just not able to handle volatility that market ranges provides and catching the stop almost every single time. We are virtually trading the same markets however the trading conditions may differ from broker to broker on the same instrument, they key being denominator that will make the huge difference to how trader need to proceed in order to trade successfully. Broker MUST be ally but never the enemy of the trader, however for that to happen traders always have to do their homework first.

Enough on the brokers lets quickly recap on my portfolio watchlist that shrinked recently. Actually last week brought breakthrough on virtually all the markets i was engaged. French CAC40 index broke to the upside hitting target 1 with about +80 pips of profit. Got my long fill on EUR/USD pair at 1.328 as well, last week there was significant move north out of the sideways range netting +130 pips on target 1. Finally much dwelled about recently XAUUSD (Gold) finally moved to the south from 1695's area hitting adjusted target 1 and getting very close to target 2 at the end of last week. While all of those trades are clearly in the money there is quite some work to be done managing those open positions.

In terms of potential setups for the next week, it looks very much counter-trendish. Two setups on CAC40 and ALSI 40 may present some interest to countertrend traders. AB=CD pattern completing around 3795's on CAC40 is much more mature setup, not for everyone though, as a rule of the thumb is good idea not to give away too much of risk capital just in order to get involved with the market.

South African Alsi 40 index has very clear divergence on 4 hrs chart if will get to 36150's area next week again. The problem with this setup is that this market is making consonantly new highs and hunting the tops and bottoms is not always very good way to stay consistently profitable.

Have a profitable week traders!