Quote from NoDoji:
Today's top reversal was off the 11:05am bar and the first lower high short was off 12:00 noon bar, which I traded to the short side.
My exit on that one was 78.03.
For those interested in strategies when trading 1 lot, I offer how I entered and exited this trade.
Price left a lower high by way of the 12:00 noon 5-min bar. However, it also left a higher low off a rising 20-bar MA by way of the 11:30am bar. We have conflicting signals, so I prefer to be a confirmed short rather than an early short that enters a bear trap.
So I wait for confirmation via a failure to break through the noon lower high. I would like to enter short if price fails there AND breaks down the 12:05pm bar's pivot low of 78.28. Because the bars surrounding this zone are fairly narrow range, I decide to prepare a short entry in advance by way of a sell stop placed @ 78.27.
Sure enough price fails to thrive, leaving another lower high, and as soon as my entry order is triggered the trade is immediately $70 in my favor. That's the benefit of entering by way of stop orders placed at key levels. I now move my stop to b/e because a retrace back through that pivot low likely means previous trend continuation.
I have an initial mental target of 78.03, which is the next previous support level to be tested. The lower high means price should make a lower low.
I will do nothing until price either reaches that zone or retraces and stops me out break even.
Price rapidly approaches my target zone, so I then put in a real target order @ 77.77, which is 4 ticks above the low of the 10:25am breakout bar (and which is also a really nifty number).
Price breaks down my initial mental target of 78.03 and I immediately move my stop to 78.03. (If I was trading more than one, I might take partial off there and let the rest ride.)
Now I am guaranteed my initial target on the trade and if the breakdown is for real, my next target level will likely come into play (CL is technically beautiful, have I said that before???)
Buyers come back in and I'm stopped out at initial target of 78.03.