Introducing Samurai Trading for Forex - backtesting forex trading strategies

Introducing Samurai Trading for Forex ~ backtesting forex trading strategies

Welcome Forex Traders!

Hello and welcome to the official site for Samurai Trading and the home of the Elite Range Bar System. Over the coming weeks and months I will introduce you to an extremely powerful way of trading the forex markets. My goal is to give you not only systems, but also insight from my years of experience trading the markets in order to help take your trading to the next level.  First, let me tell you a little bit about myself and why Ive created Samurai Trading.

My Trading Journey

To start with, Im a trader.  I dont spend all my time writing blog posts and sending out marketing materials - I trade instead.  Ive been trading for ten years now almost exclusively in the Forex markets.  I started as a long term trader working off H4 and Daily charts but I always wanted to get into more active day trading. It took a number of months, but eventually I was trading M1, M5 and M15 with various methods I had developed in order to make my daily pips. After a while I started to see even greater potential in Forex and I began looking for new tools that could to take my trading to the next level. It was in my search that I began looking at things such as heiken-ashi, renko bars, and eventually range bars.  More...

Everything I had found and developed over the years had added something to my trading in some way (even if it was just knowing what didnt work), but nothing changed my trading as much as the discovery of range bars did.  By eliminating the time factor and allowing me to focus entirely on price and its movement, I was able to approach the market in ways I had never even considered in the past. I had some lofty goals for my new range bar approach but the most important was that it would allow me to pull in big pips on a consistent daily basis.  This meant something that would not only be easy to follow with clearly defined setups, but also something flexible enough that it would provide trades whether the market was ranging, trending, or just putting in some big swings back and forth.  In time I put together the Elite Range Bar System that fulfilled those goals and Ive never looked back.

The Creation of Samurai Trading

So why open the Samurai Trading website?  Well, over the past few years while developing and trading the Elite Range Bar System, Ive seen some great successes.  Most of these people were involved in the development process in one way or another but all found various aspects of the system to be hugely beneficial to their own trading.  That was great for our small group but it was only in the past couple years or so that Ive really started to share and teach some of my tricks of the Forex trade.  Im a private person in general (as most traders are), and so it wasnt until someone I knew personally asked me to teach them how I trade that I first shared some of what I use in the markets.  Not only did they find a lot of success, but it also caused a couple more people to ask me about the same thing.  After a couple rounds of this I decided it was best to put together some materials to improve the learning process which turned into the beginnings of the Elite Range Bar System.

The Samurai Trader - ©ArtGerm

After thinking about it long and hard, I finally came to the conclusion that I should offer up the same learning opportunity to strangers as well.  After all, I was a beginner once and so I know how hard it can be to find quality learning materials when it comes to trading Forex.  Some people say that you shouldnt share what you know as it will hurt your "edge".  I dont believe that for a second.  The Forex market moves trillions of dollars.  It hardly cares what the small in comparison retail trader does.  Good trading in Forex means being a little fish and just following the signs of the big players to join on the waves they create.  Adding some more smart little fish who are making money certainly isnt going to hurt me when theres a whole ocean out there to play in.  So thats why I made this site - to share, to teach, and even to learn from my fellow traders.

In the end Im still the same person though - The Samurai Trader - who is a trader first and everything else second.  So if you want to learn about actual trading and how its done day after day rather than just sifting through the nonsense on forums or taking courses that cover the exact same material over and over, then I hope Samurai Trading and the Elite Range Bar System is for you.  Thanks and enjoy the site!

More info for Introducing Samurai Trading for Forex ~ backtesting forex trading strategies:

Read more

Forex Trading Basics with Range Bars - forex trading inside bar strategy

Forex Trading Basics with Range Bars ~ forex trading inside bar strategy

Forex Trading Basics To Be Aware Of

Almost every day I get emails from people asking about a very specific situation in the market.  They want to know how it should be handled if this exact pattern comes up again in the future.  While its important to go back and analyze these opportunities, I often see that the trader is asking the wrong questions.

Usually they are looking at a small pattern in the market composed of only a handful of range bars but they arent looking at the greater market picture and considering the context in which the potential opportunity occurs.  They are forgetting some of the forex trading basics.  The same thing happens with time-based traders and its often to an even greater degree.  All you have to do is look at many of the "price action" traders out there who become incredibly focused on single bars on the M5 or M15 to make decisions.  This rarely ends up well in the long term.  Single bars can be excellent (like hammers and shooting stars) but only if the context for the trade is right.  If you are pulling the trigger based on a single bar without considering the overall structure and momentum of the market you are going to run into trouble.  While using range bars does help us with the short-term momentum part of the equation we still need to take a step back at times and consider the market as a whole.

The Market Structure

If the market is in a very clear and tight range, should we be taking trades near the edge of it?  Even if we can get a trade near the middle, is there a way we can minimize our risk?  These are the sort of questions traders should be asking themselves throughout the day.

Reading the overall context of the market throughout the day and making plans for possible future scenarios based on it will be a huge advantage in your trading strategy.  One of the greatest shifts in trading development that I often see is when traders stop focusing on ENTRIES and start focusing on SETUPS.

Read the market, plan out likely scenarios, then trade your plan when quality entries present themselves.  If you can do this you will learn how the market moves and what the likely outcomes will be far before they happen.  Its in this way that a trader begins to develop his "gut instinct" for trades.  Those who focus on only the last few minutes rarely develop that feeling.

Gauging Market Momentum

If the market has been trending very strongly in one direction most of the day, is it a good idea to fight that momentum?  While in retrospect the answer is almost always an obvious "no", in live trading this is often much more difficult.  While trading it always seems extremely easy to convince ourselves that we are putting in a top or a bottom.  The human ego loves to look incredibly clever by trying to catch the very edge of the market.  It forgets how often it can be wrong and always looks for the next time to look good.  Dont listen and dont fall into the trap!

We say to ourselves that "price looks so extended", "it couldnt possibly keep running in this direction", or something similar.  Usually when we think this way we quickly find out how wrong we were.  The market is the master and you dont have control of what it will do.  As much as we want to believe the market will turn on a dime this is very rarely the case.  Usually turns occur over the course of multiple attempts and an extended battle between bulls and bears.

Dont try to outsmart the market.  Consider the greater forces in effect and let the market tell you when its most likely ready to turn.  It usually gives clear signs of the possibility if you dont become blinded by trying to force your bias on the market.  More importantly, if you guess wrong then be sure to minimize your risk as much as possible.  Fighting a trend is no time to keep your risk at the maximum.

Keeping Your Discipline

Sometimes when you are watching the market for hours at a time it becomes easy to lose your focus.  Novice and veteran traders alike struggle with this and maintaining focus is all about the discipline of the trader.  Like anything else its a skill that can be developed with time and practice but being aware of it as a newer trader will help improve the learning curve.  As traders we often feel a certain pressure to be active in the market.  After all, if were not trading, are we really traders at all?  This pressure can be the most difficult thing for a novice trader to overcome.  Once you begin to realize that real trading is all about patience you usually begin to turn the corner to the consistency you desire.

We need to understand that our skill as a trader is defined by our ability to choose high quality trading opportunities that will provide us with an excellent expectancy.  Doing this is all about patience and it is an often neglected part of the trading toolbox.  If you know the types of setups you want to take through a solid plan and some study, then finding your patience at the trading screen becomes easier.  When your patience pays off with a good trade (it doesnt have to be a winner to be a good trade) it reinforces your discipline and increases your ability to be patient in the future.

The real trap is when you lose that patience and start to take bad trades you know you shouldnt take.  Normally you know right away when youve made these decisions.  You feel uneasy being in the trade or even start to panic.  If a bad trade loses, it very often leads to another impatient decision and further losses.  This is a cycle that any novice trader must be aware of to have hopes of developing out of it.

This gives the trader some important questions to ask:

How do you make sure your focus remains on the big picture during the day and doesnt become too narrow?

What tools do you use to guage the momentum in the market and either trade with it or use it to minimize your trading risk?

In what ways can you develop your patience as a trader outside of just screen time?  Are there other activities you can do to develop this skill and make yourself a more effective trader?

More info for Forex Trading Basics with Range Bars ~ forex trading inside bar strategy:

Read more