The EURUSD day trading strategies provided a profit potential of +6R this past week (“R” is described below). The strategies used, and their statistics for the week, are outlined below.

I wasn’t sure how this week was going to play out, and it still felt a little “holiday-ish”. The UK and Canada had a holiday on Jan. 3, but that day turned out ok (for US session). It was more toward the end of the week that I didn’t see much. Spreads got back to normal toward the end of the week; they were a little higher than usual at the start of the week.

The difference between “potential” and our actual profit is the dollar amount of Trading Mistakes made (factor in any alterations made to the strategy, such as trailing stop losses, etc.)…This week I underperformed the potential by a wide margin.

The strategies have rules and are part of a complete trading plan, but trades are discretionary and subject to interpretation. The goal is to reach the profit potential (or possibly exceed it), but actual results will typically be lower especially when learning.

The profit potential is based on trading a 2-hour window between approximately 8 and 10 AM EST. Quite often I only trade for 1.5 hours.

It can help with consistency to have a daily trading routine, and then I also recommend having a quick pre-trade routine to get yourself in the right headspace for profitable trading.

I trade on a 1-minute chart and use the strategies discussed in this review. The week’s charts, with the trades, are below.

Totals for this week:

• Profit potential was +6.19R the five days, although there were no trades on a couple of days. This is if all the valid trades were taken, and no invalid trades were taken.
  • “R” in trading is a standardized risk amount. It could be 1% of the account, 0.5% of the account, or any amount you choose based on your position sizing method.
  • In other words, if risking 1% of the account per trade, the potential profit from these strategies this week was 6% (less commissions), trading about 1.5 to 2 hours per day.
  • 6R is a conservatve estimate. I stopped trading really early on Jan 3, and another 2.5R came right after, during the normal trading window. January 6 was a tricky day, but 2.5R+ was reasonable. That brings the total for the week up to 11R.
• Average trading time per day: 1 hour 45 minutes.
  

• 50% win rate if the strategy rules were followed.
  • win 4 / 8 trades.
• Reward to Risk (based on all potential trades):
  • 2.61 : 1
  • Wins average: 2.49, 2.52, 2.5, 2.53 = 10.04 / 4 = 2.51
  • Loss average: 0.6, 1.1, 1, 1.15 = 3.85 / 4 = 0.96
    R:R: 2.51 / 0.96 = 2.61
• Typical leverage is about 30:1. Ranging from 20:1 to 50:1, depending on the stop loss distance in pips.

You can track a lot of these stats in the free and downloadable forex day trading log (Excel spreadsheet).

EURUSD Day Trading Strategy Totals

These are optimal results for the strategies, including trades I missed and excluding trades I shouldn’t have been in. This is so I can ascertain over time which strategies are working the best and producing the most profit potential.

• Rounded Tops and Bottoms strategy profit: +4.3R
  (Daily totals: 0, 4.3, 0, 0, 0)
  
  
• Snap Back strategy profit: 0R
  (0, 0, 0, 0, 0)
  
  
• Double Pump strategy profit: -0.6R
  (0, -0.6, 0, 0, 0)
  
  
• Double Pump Variation strategy profit: +2.49R
  (2.49, 0, 0, 0, 0)

Daily Charts and Trades

Charting provided by TradingView.

My Focus For the Next Week

Usually, around the new year, I spend the days off thinking about my approach for the next year, and any adjustments I want to make to the trading plan.

So far, that hasn’t happened yet, but I am chipping away at a few ideas.

• I have been implementing some earnings plays in stocks. I still have more work to do fine-tuning the strategy and fitting it into the trading plan, but at least there has been some progress in this area.
  
  
• I want to implement forex swing trading again. I still need to go through old strategies, or possibly create some new ones, to fit my current life. I am aiming for setting orders at a certain time of day and then just set-and-forget. These trades would like last a couple days at most (likely based on hourly or 4-hour chart). I haven’t start my work on this.
  
  
• I also want to come up with another cheat sheet for the EURUSD Day Trading Course that includes the variations and small details of the patterns. There is lots to remember so I think that would be helpful. Also, some new content has been added to the course since the original cheat sheet was published with the course. That new information will be included as well. I want to get this done within the next wee or two. So watch for that!

Here are the prior totals (monthly). Actual charts are in the weekly articles listed within the monthly-total articles:

• January: +63R potential
• February: +78R potential
• March: +76R potential
• April: +76R potential
• May: +94R potential
• June: +91R potential
• July: +67R potential
• August: +38R potential (we can see the drop in volatility affecting the number of trades and thus the profit potential)
• September: +51R potential.
• October: +46R potential.
• November: +48R potential.
• December: +53R potential

Want to learn how to trade like this? Check out the EURUSD Day Trading Course. It covers strategies for crushing the EURUSD in two hours or less, as well as mental game work and exercises to get in the profit-making zone and stay there. 

By Cory Mitchell, CMT

Disclaimer: Nothing in this article is personal investment advice, or advice to buy or sell anything. Trading is risky and can result in substantial losses, even more than deposited if using leverage.