What Does FOCUS Mean

Focus mean different things for intraday traders trading the M1 or m5 charts compared to the Swing traders of H1 or H4.

What does it mean for Intraday Traders on Faster Time Frames

Most intraday traders will trade the M1 or M5 time frames. Whether its Forex, Indices or Individual Stocks. It depends on your style and strategy but generally M1 is most intense time frame. For trading the M1 chart, it literally means watching every bar.

No matter, you're in a trade or out of it. You WATCH. Which means you will , naturally experience breaks of concentration that might result in missed trades. Often it's a matter of seconds between missing or getting-in, on the best trade of the day. So better come up with good techniques and solutions to stay on top of this. STAY FOCUSED AT ALL TIMES

You have to work on your ability to "Hold your Concentration". ADHD Issues? Well, you gotta fix it.

To remedy that, enforce deliberate breaks every 30 min. 2-5 min. Look away from screen, possibly out of the window if you are near one. Focus on distant things. Empty your mind.

When to take breaks?
You can take breaks when you know exactly what is happening and look away for a bit. It could be time based or situation based. As long as the GAME is on, you stick to your chart.

What does Focus Mean for Swing and HTF Traders?

For the Swing traders its a bit different. It's about keeping an overall trading focus for the week and the day. Reminding yourself of your months and weekly targets, (for beginners remind again and again what is your trading plan and strategy rules). And then getting out of the minute focus.

You start your day by reviewing your last nights notes and analysis. You pursue that, build on it or scratch some parts of it and you move into the open and set your orders etc. Then you take your focus away from the chart to other things but promptly come back to it when it's time, such as top of the hour top of the sessions.

If you are "in trades" you obviously want to check every bar/period. If not in trade, and you are waiting /expecting something is setting up then you want to keep a soft focus and set alerts. If Nothing seems to be happening for that day, you focus on journals, longer term analysis and update your stats etc.

So FOCUS means different things for different type of trading methodologies and personalities. The most intense obviously is M1. But it also has the MOST potential for Fastest Growth and Instant Results.

Not everyone is cut out for either type of trading. Most traders do well on higher time frames. Which type of trader are you? 

Take Profits on Friday - Swing Trading

I trade the EU GU UJ and Gold on the Hourly Time Frame.

That is my bit of Swing trading.

DAX was supposedly going into a Wave 5 but ...
[Click to Enlarge]

I'm busy trading the DAX on the M1 chart but from time to time, I check these H1 charts. H1 chart does not really need checking every hour. You check them the night before and in the morning pre London Open. Usually if it's going to set-up for something, You will see it before London Open.

I usually only go for trend breakouts (THE SETUP1 and APPLE Method) for FX charts. I like the Hourly Time Frame for FX (currencies.)

Below is an Example of an #AIMS Apple Initial Entry following by BOX Breakout Add on. on #EURUSD

Clearly a Downtrend. A lovely Apple within a Sideways Wave 4. 

Took first Apple and added below box.

Mistake: should have exited on fruit high before end of the week since it was Friday. It was my intention but literally forgot. I remember going "oops" while sitting with wife in the bedroom past 10 pm uk on Friday.

I said, "I might have left the EU trades running". But I had the SL set at the Entry level of the box breakout add on which was hit on Monday.

Mistakes like these could some times cost some money.

On this occasion I lost profit but luckily no huge gaps over the weekend

How Do You Trade Reversals? [Fruit Method]

I will continue to trade the DAX on M1 time frame using The Fruit Method 

I will also trade DOW M1 during the NEO Session 

1. Play The Market Open Drive (Catch the open breakouts etc)
2. Play the rest of the period post Open (after the first 20min) using Fruit method rules etc


However, I'd like to remind ourselves this. 

What is the Fruit Reversal Entry For?
The Fruit Reversal Mechanism is for, like the name suggests, Possible Reversals.

The message is plain and simple. 

But when we start to trade, we start trading every time we see the Fruit Bar Entry Signal. 

*That ain't it Chief*

Always 

The Fruit Entry Signal is ONLY valid when the RUBBER BAND principle Apply. 

You always have to ask, yes, lets do reversal but *Reversal of WHAT* 
> has the market "Pulled away from the gator too far too fast?" 
> has price broken all the levels and gone so far up so quick that it cannot sustain it?

For me I trade the OPEN Drive, as the name suggests, at the Open. 

and I may utilise Box, momentum, fruit or box entry to catch the first move. 

add on as much as possible keeping risk under control. 

then soon after when price consolidates. Now I'll only trade the Setup breakouts, may use apple to get into next wave up. (I won't call it wave 5.)

so there it is. And I will post here one or two times, how the session went.

How do I Trade in AIMS Live Trading Room

#raklian asked a question. He wanted me to further clarify a concept.

I thought to myself, well that's the reason I presented you with AIMS The Fruit 180 Pages eBook with explanation of that concept and plenty of pictures.

I was waiting for that ideal pattern to happen just after the Fed's Powell was about to speak. Meanwhile Fed Bullard was also chirping.

The Dow, such a mighty beast it is, very volatile these days, was sideways on the M1 chart. It created a Box, It needed that breakout. And finally it happened.

So the following Screenshots shows how the ANSWER to The Question was presented in THE FORM OF LIVE TRADES. It was fun.

Story of the Campaign on DOW

At News Price broke. up, met with resistance and created an angle after dashing up nearly a 100 points.

Creates angle and Fruit signal becomes the last piece of the puzzle. I get to test the waters with .1% entry at fruit. FE

Immediately it drops 2 bars, and starts to pull up. i'm thinking, is it just a pullback, will it go up instead I'm waiting. (trying not to get out, telling myself, you will be proven wrong when and only when it goes above the high of the fruit bar)

That helps. I'm saying to myself, its Stage 2 now. hold on.
Look for FAO. (Add on signal)
at the bar 20.00 I realise, oh shoot, i have missed FAO, but had my FB entry. so FB (box add on) kicked in below box.

Price pulled back up, to where my FAO would have been, i took market order.

FAO was 0.5% and FB was 0.4%. now fully loaded.

Price still in stage 2. I could now lose 0.5% of account if it goes up since Box high created above the bar of 19.59.

at 20.06 price breaks, immediately I say to myself, shoot, I could have added one more below the box, it would have been .3%.

in two bars 20.06-.07 it dropped by 72 points. now x 3 = running profit shot up by 216 points. NICE
then it pulled up a little I hiteh exit for the add ons banking the profits.
and started trailing the last entry FE .. which I exited now as  Iwrite.

Trailed the last (position) one until it lost angle. then decided to close on green line close.

There is pleasure when you are able to follow your trade plan correctly.

Screenshot of AIMS Live Trading Room

He asked what do you mean by Looking at the Overall Pattern. Because I said, don't look for an entry signal alone. We don't do that. We look for the overall pattern. Which means, "Look at the full 100-140 bars analysis". Which means, look for the Question 1. Where was price before?
 Question 2. Where is Price Now?
 Question 3: Where is it going? 

The Signal was there , so I pointed to the 19.51 Bar. Look at it RIGHT NOW

How to Catch Early Entry into a Crash 1600 Pips

Well if you were trading the daily time frame you'd have seen a nice setup during december.

We discussed it a few times in our chatroom.

The spike happened in 2019 but the entries were 2 weeks ahead of it in 2018. You did not have to panic, because you were correctly positioned.

When I work with new traders they often try to cover their mistakes when showing me their trades. As if they are trying to impress me or something. For some reason everything thinks they should know how to trade from Day 1. This is what I said to one of our AIMS new friend.

"Hey, we don't learn to walk straight out of mothers womb. Life is a continual process of Growth. We attempt to do something fist time. to find out how much we need to learn. Now you know how much you need to learn. Will you take the challenge and become the BEST OF YOU? The TRADER that you aspire to be is at the end of the journey that you have started. The way to get there is tough but the rewards are highly lucrative and fun.!!! "