Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Riding the AUDUSD Upswing

I've been riding the recent AUDUSD increase.

Now, I have some competing issues on my mind. As the AUDUSD hits new highs I have to worry about corrections. However, if this instrument is going to continue rising, I'd hate to not maximize my participation. See my previous post about having to play to win.

Anyway, while a more experienced Forex trader might not have to "figure this out", I've finally stumbled on a strategy that I like.

As a current position moves into some level of profits I'll slap a trailing stop on that position. This locks in some quantity of profits, at my choice, that I can relax about no matter what happens in the market.

With that profit locked in, I can enter a new position and immediately set a (trailing) stop on that as well. This new position can have a total risk less than the locked in profit above though it doesn't have to. In any case, this lets me choose the risk level I'm taking.

If the new position gains enough, I can adjust the initial trailing stop, if desired, to lock in more profits, and then open up another position. This way I can ride an up trend with increasing participation while having any losses limited to a precise value on a single open position.

Of course, this can be modified, if I feel like being riskier, but since we are near recent highs I don't feel like taking larger bets.

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