Doug Rosen, a full-time trader, has recently set up the Forex Trade Plans. He provides traders with intraday calls according to his Fibonacci levels starting with just the EURUSD. DailyForex.com sat down with Doug and discussed his journey into trading, his live room and how he views the markets.
Q. Doug, thank you for taking the time to speak with DailyForex.What was your professional background prior to trading?
I was in electronics – satellite communications, satellite internet, home & business networks, video surveillance, home theatre systems – all that type of stuff. I built equipment and carried out modifications; as my business expanded I became more of a retailer & dealer and I sent other technicians out on jobs.
Q. How did your journey into trading begin?
Back in 2005 I went to a client's house for a satellite TV related service call; it was a client I knew really well and I knew he wasn't very tech savvy or into computers. However, on this visit he had an array of monitors so I asked him what he was doing. He told me he was trading "?forex" – a term I had never heard before. I was already considering learning about the stock market, so trading was something at the back of my mind. I then started seeing infomercials advertising trading seminars. I initially went to the free ones before I started doing my own research. That's how it all began. A year after that client visit in 2005, I had my first live account with FXCM.
Q. The heart of your trading is Fibonacci. How do you trade Fibonacci principles differently from other traders?
A lot of traders don't trade Fibs, but the ones that do usually use what I call a "?swing Fib" . I'll trade a standard Fib line in the direction of the trend, but I'll also draw something I call a "?Range-Fib"; this alerts me when there might be contention in a trade. I calculate Fibs of multiple timeframes and multiple candles. I like to trade Fib levels that are derived from the ranges of previous candles from higher timeframes and I'll overlap them with Pivot Points to find my trades.
Q. What is a subscriber getting with Forex Trade Plans
No hype bare-bones trading. I want the room to be one that just gets people into winning trades. I'm not trying to educate them so much as I am trying to get them into profitable trades with minimal drawdown. I've found that becoming a proficient trader can be 2-3 years. People need a lot knowledge and chart-time. A lot of people who get into trading don't have a couple of years to give before making money and they want to make money immediately. I want to provide a systematic no-brainer approach telling them when to pull the trigger. They will see my analysis live as I carry out the trades and they will learn along the way, but the education aspect is secondary. Most forex services lose their clients' money through either losing trade calls or education that doesn't work. I want to put my clients into positive territory from the beginning.
Q. How does news & fundamentals affect your trading?
I can't make any trades based on news announcements; but I use it to know when not to get into a trade if a key announcement is round the corner or when to exit early, for example. Outside of that, I'm purely technical.
Q. What trading hours do you keep? How many trades do you capture every week on average?
I try to capture at least 3-4 moves a night in the London open session – typically from 1:30 AM ET to 5 AM ET, sometimes 6 AM. If I can get back into the market at 10am ET the following morning, I may trade for a couple more hours.
Q. What timeframes do you most often trade?
I based my analysis from the daily charts down to the 15-minute charts, but I pull the trigger based on the 1-minute chart.
Q. Do you aim for a weekly pip count as a goal?
On one pair, EURUSD, about 250 to 300 pips a week. Right now, I am calling trades on just one pair as the room is new and I am developing my service. Eventually 3-4 pairs will become available. The EURUSD pair presents adequate opportunities in the London session to find at least 40 pips if not more.
Q. What mistakes do you still make today as a trader?
Not taking profit when I should. I love my bigger 100 pips moves and often I should be taking some profits earlier in the move. The majority of my trades find themselves at least 20 pips in the money and just booking partial profits regularly on those is healthy.
Q. Any final thoughts?
Always be patient; wait for the move to develop and don't anticipate the trade; there's not always a trade just because the market is moving. So you have to always trade off a solid surface. Don't chase price or chase candles: wait for it to reach a logical area to make a move.