That's where we are at the moment on the long trade. To be honest, I can see price going a little longer so I'm not going to put this down as a swing, rather a decent scalp which is now protected and managed. I have that region above at the 4390-5 level which is a hurdle in my opinion.

TP1 30pips
TP2 50pips Majority taken protected or managed
TP3 100pips That's a good week
BONUS - Then the bonus if it comes it comes that's your gravy trade

We need to understand the moves we're getting here, don't look at the distance, look at the pips. This is more than enough

Evening Thought:
 
The world’s economies may not be in the best shape right now.  There’s uncertainty everywhere, and when uncertainty rises, the headlines get louder.  Gold is a perfect example.

Everywhere you look, people are saying “Gold is going to $6,000.”
And you know what? At some point, they may well be right.  But here’s the problem…When it eventually gets there, those same people will say, “See? I told you so.” And that always happens!
But being right about the destination doesn't necessarily mean you understood the journey. 

As traders, our job isn't to predict the future based on someone else's opinion. Our job is to understand what the market is actually telling us.  That's where technical analysis comes in.  The story is in the candles, it’s in the structure.  The story is in the price action, momentum, levels, reactions and behaviour of the market.

If the charts didn't tell us anything, then how would we know where price could potentially go?  How would we identify opportunities?  How would we define risk?  How would we know when an idea is invalid?  You don't need to understand every headline in the financial press to become a better trader.  You need to understand price.

News can explain why something happened.  But the chart shows you what is actually happening.  And that distinction is incredibly important.

Knowledge changes everything.

You can't expect to become consistently profitable simply by watching someone else's trades, copying signals, following predictions or jumping into the market because everyone else is doing it. You have to learn.  You have to understand what you're looking at. You have to put in the chart time.  Study the markets.  Study your setups, study my set ups.  Study your mistakes, study my mistakes!!

Go back through historical price action.  Learn how structure develops. learn how price behaves around key levels, learn how to manage risk, learn when not to trade and when to trade!  And most importantly, learn how to manage yourself.

Because trading isn't just a technical game, it's a mindset game, a game of chess. Discipline will keep you out of trades you shouldn't take.  Patience will stop you from forcing opportunities that aren't there, confidence will allow you to execute when your setup appears.  Emotional control will stop one losing trade from becoming five.

There will always be someone predicting the next big move. There will always be someone shouting that gold is going to $6,000, $7,000 or beyond. There will always be a crowd.  But the crowd isn't your trading strategy.  Your strategy is your knowledge, your analysis, your risk management, your discipline, your experience and your ability to sit in front of a chart and make your own decisions.

That's the difference between following a market and understanding a market.

I don't want traders who need someone else to tell them what to buy, where to enter or when to exit.  I want traders who can look at a chart, understand the story being told by price, formulate their own plan and execute it with discipline using my tools, my targets and my experience.

That's why we're creating traders who are standing on their own feet, not herding sheep.  Stop following the crowd, put the time in. 

Learn the charts, build the knowledge.  Develop the discipline and master your mindset.

Most importantly…Learn to think for yourself because the goal isn't to predict what the market should do. The goal is to understand what the market is telling you and have the discipline to act accordingly.

Today's BIAS AND HOT SPOTS

That was the defence box and hot spot I added yesterday and as you can see there has been a slight stretch downside with a breach. However, we're too low here to short this, so a powerful candle is needed to break above and begin a short -term retracement on the move. Support here is way down now at 4H level 4285 while resistance is aligned with the bias level above 4325.

That was the before. Bias level broke, the indicator activated long on the breach, the TP was given. All you have to do then is follow the hot spots and the TP levels step by step, level to level

That's us done for the day. Don't forget, NFP is around the corner, they'll start ranging and then chopping up and down. Take as much as you can when the market gives, give as little as you can when the market takes!!

There is an extension of the move here. Can't long here! The move starts on the break above

We've got another one!

CLICK HERE FOR 100% DEPOSIT BONUS

Evening Thought:

Pre-Event price action

I want you to think about something. Pre-event they usually settle and range after they have gone up and down many times between key levels. What they're doing is getting traders stuck in trades and then settling the price bang in the middle. So now they have most of the buyers above, and most of the sellers below.

Then they manufacture these events and we know they will swing one way, then the other taking liquidity with them, but which way does it go first? The novice trader is now biting their nails not having used a SL awaiting the event and praying it goes their way. It then starts the move, goes against them, they either blow or cut before there is no equity left, then the price goes in their direction and they wish they had held. Never mind, next time I will know better, next time, they do the same thing again. Pre-event PA is for scalping only with SLs in place, its hardly ever worth holding before a main economic release and the best practices are always to sit it out. Think of it as teacher training day at school....For NFP!!

Why do I say this? Because a lot of traders are going to be in positions before the NFP release. Unless you're lucky and in the right way, the above is very important.