Surprise!

I didn't mean to be gone so long....I got the chance to take a break, and took it. (Or, to use Mark Twain's line, "The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated".)Didn't get much chance to take a break from trading though. When good trades keep appearing, it would be irrational not to take them.Just when I thought it couldn't be much better than the action in September, October, and

What goes Up...,

Up, up, up, down, down, down....I am impressed with all the movement in the forex markets. And pretty tired. But happy.I've had some good trading this week, and some difficulties. When markets ratchet up and down so quickly and you need to put on large positions, you place your trade and within 15 seconds are thousands richer or poorer. Usually poorer when you're trading breakouts like I do.

Wow #2! Up 17.7% this week alone! - Readers respond-- IFCN Wk 54 –Wed- Equity: $2,269.50

I believe that I get some of the more interesting emails any trader could receive.The people who read this blog are not average. Most have serious intent to trade with a definable edge and go to great lengths to understand it and monetize it.Most of you know that I use a private money management algorithm for trading ONS and FirstStrikePlus. I have no complaints about it, but many have

---Wow!--- Up 10.9% in One Day! – IFCN Wk 54 –Tue- Equity: $2,185.61

Wow!That's all one can say after a day like today. After the Fed news came out this afternoon, markets bolted higher, from currencies to bonds, and commodities like natural gas and silver.We finally got filled on our last FirstStrikePlus trade of the week, short the Usd/Jpy @ 89.21.The Federal Reserve cut its target interest rate to a range from zero to 0.25 percent, making the U.S. dollar the

Is the Dollar the New Yen? -- IFCN Wk 54 –Mon- Equity: $1,970.53

The euro traded near 9 week highs against the dollar on the belief that the Federal Reserve will cut the target rate for overnight lending to a record lows. If the Fed keeps lowering interest it will make virtually every other currency a carry trade against the dollar, similar to the situation that existed with the Japanese Yen for so many years.If this indeed starts turning the other currencies

Dollar Weakness Forces Higher Profits! - IFCN Wk 54 –Mon- Equity: $1,928.48

The dollar is beginning to lose the steam of “fear” buying. Last week's FirstStrikePlus and OneNightStand trades were profitable because outside interests can finally see that buying dollars as a temporary stopgap doesn't solve the problem of how to monetize value from current market imbalances.When you are trading brutally robust methods and the rest of the world is unsure of what positions to

Dollar Slips Further! -- IFCN Wk 53 –Fri- Equity: $1,843.90.

Friday was an interesting day. The major interest was the action in the Japanese yen.Late Thursday I got a short FirstStrikePlus Gpb/Jpy trade. I wasn't particularly thrilled with that trade, then or now. The trade was a valid one, but it showed little followthrough after entry.I wasn't terribly keen about getting any additional OneNightStand sells in either the Gpb/Jpy or Usd/Jpy, and I

Character Counts! -- IFCN Wk 53 –Thu- Equity: $1,851.14.

-A Favorite Quote-J.P. Morgan: "Lending is not based primarily on money or property. No sir, the first thing is character."Too bad the world eschewed that principle after J.P. passed on. They'll go back to his type of thinking in the future.Character counts. In lending, in finding someone to marry, making a deal – and the trust in the capital markets by traders.I completely believe that

Dollar Weakens FSP Responds! -- IFCN Wk 53 –Wed- Equity: $1,767.89.

New equity watermark today! $1.767.89. That is a 253.5% increase in the last 53 weeks. At the very least-- better than T-Bills.Any idea how many trades we took in the last year, both FirstStrike and OneNightStand-- ending this Monday morning? Definitely more than enough to be statistically viable. -----The euro strengthened in the last two trading days, trading near two week highs vs. the

Transition Week Returns Profits! -- IFCN Wk 53 –Mon- Equity: $1,623.81.

After the “terrible” employment news on Friday, currencies started gaining on the dollar, along with XAG and XAU (silver and gold). That helped out the Challenge account this morning with the XAG giving us additional profits, almost creating a wash after all the action we experienced last week.When the dollar starts weakening, we could easily start making large gains from FirstStrike AND the XAG

Traders Respond #2-- IFCN Wk 52 –Fri- Equity: $1,597.81

I'm posting some more of your emails-- readers and successful traders who were willing to share your experiences.Your responses are valuable to others because trading is a very mental process. As a mechanical process, almost anyone can physically enter a specific forex trade consistently. Nevertheless, personal attitudes about value and conviction are involved, making consistent execution of a

Traders Respond #1-- IFCN Wk 52 –Thu- Equity: $1,600.25

I got a plethora of emails from intelligent and brave traders who were willing to share their experiences.I will share a few in this post and share some more later. These responses are incredibly valuable to others as they delineate the process successful traders must traverse._______---- +182.36% ----Hi Joel,In your Blog, you asked about other people's results.I started following your methods (

FirstStrike Plus Is on a Roll! -- IFCN Wk 52 –Wed- Equity: $1,568.34

As the currencies have little strength this week, the short Sterling, and Sterling/Yen trades are doing quite well. Amazingly the short Usd/Jpy and short Usd/Chf are doing ok too. As this group of specific trades rarely profit at the same time, it will be interesting to see which, if any, remain profitable by the beginning of next week.While the FirstStrike trades increased in value, the XAG

The Trend..., Is! -- IFCN Wk 52 –Tue- Equity: $1,549.88.

After Monday's opening and the taking of a couple of profits from Sterling dominated trades – the Pound promptly started falling decisively, triggering the FirstStrike Plus sales of gbp/usd and the gbp/jpy. At the same time, we received a new sale in usd/jpy seen below.While these profitable trades were stacking up, the XAG position took a lot of heat, silver dropping $1.00/oz from Friday's

Challenge Account- 226.3 % Gain after 1 Year! -- IFCN Wk 52 –Mon- Equity: $1,631.75

Some would be beating their chests after a great return like I experienced with the Infiniteyield Forex Challenge account this past year. I'm not. At least not very much. I've had great returns before, and less wonderful returns too.I happen to know that this year we've had some very significant events contributing to the gains, major financial shifts that don't get repeated that often. Also,