Forecasting is key

Forecasting, backtesting and having a trading plan are the three pillars of successful in the FX market.

Do you have a forecasting routine? If so, keep it up! (let me know what it is)

If you want to become a full-time FX trader, you will have to develop a trading plan, backtest it, and forecast potential moves.

That’s (more or less) everything you need.

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What is forecasting?

Figured I probably should do a quick explanation of what I mean by forecasting…

It’s basically “guessing” where the market will go next and how…

Sounds rather easy right? It doesn’t even take that much time

This is my forecast for EUR/CAD, I just drew on trading-view the potential scenarios that could happen, I know there are many other potential ways the market could evolve during the day, but in my view, this is the most likely.

You could use different drawing colors based on “I’m willing to take this scenario” & “Not willing to take this scenario” (that’s actually a good idea, I should do that)

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If it’s this easy what’s the benefit

Let me start this section with: I go a lot more in depth with my forecasting process, just scroll down if you already know the benefits

There’s five key benefits for a trader, but I was lazy while building this infographic so here’s 3 key points...

1- It will increase your confidence, you are able to track whenever or not your forecast actually took place, which in turn will increase your confidence in your ability to be a few steps ahead of the market (which is key to be profitable)

2- You’ll be prepared, doing your forecasting is basically drawing out all the possible/probably scenarios – you’ll be able to decide ahead of time what price action you’ll want to see before taking a trade – all you need to do is execute your plan

3- It’s easier to profit, having done your forecast in the morning you are a less likely going to miss a trade during the day since you are able to place your alerts at all the key areas. Plus, it also increases the likelihood of you sticking to your trading plan

And the bonus two…

4- It will decrease your emotional attachment to potential trades, and trades you are currently holding: by drawing out several possibility you know that there is no guarantee that the price will do exactly what you want it to, it doesn’t care, instead it makes you realize, we are only playing an edge

5- It allows you to switch from analyst to a trader.

It’s really important to be an analyst when it’s the weekend and when doing your forecasting, however, when the markets are live, and there’s a potential trade set-up in the making you need to become a trader, not an analyst. Having done the analysis that morning will help you execute.

Here’s a video explaining it if you don’t like reading…

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My forecasting process

Now let’s dig into my process, that’s probably why you’re here (sorry for making you wait)

I recently did a tweak so here’s a breakdown of what I used to do and what I do now, not a huge difference, but really happy so far

I used to draw at least three possible scenarios:

• Two potential entries, so how the price gets there and where I’d be interest
• One scenario where I wouldn’t be able to take the trade, either the market goes in the opposite direction or just impulses through everything I was eyeing up

That was done first thing in the morning and last thing before going to bed, because that way I would force myself to think about the possible, the probable and admit, the price isn’t necessarily going to go where I want it to

In the morning it was to plan the day ahead, at night it was to have my subconscious think about the market while I was sleeping, and once again, forecast where the price would go over the next seven/eight hours

It was a really cool exercise, but I wasn’t getting the most out of it…

Now I do my forecasting somewhat differently

I use my trading journal to track those morning forecasts (I keep everything in my excel file, from reason to trade, to monthly asr, to journal, to forecasting etc, I like having everything in one place)

So to quickly explain, I track the day of the forecast, the pairs I’m interested in, the direction, then three potential scenarios that could play out (out of many), a screenshot of the potential moves + drawings.

Then here’s the addition, I then come back the next morning and figure out which one happened, sometimes it was a fourth option, that happens.

But here, you can see I had forecasted the move 12 times out of 15 – not picture perfect but pretty darn close.

How do you think that makes me feel? How would that make you feel?

More confident in your skill? Yes

Happy because you get to collect more data? Yes

More likely to execute the next time you see a trade set-up? Yes

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I highly recommend you to do the same

It takes less than thirty minutes in the morning, yet you have the entire day planned ahead

You know what you want to see before taking a trade – that’s key, it reduces your hesitation to trigger a trade, and avoids you from taking low quality trades

You are also able to be “free” and that’s one of the main reasons people start trading, they want to have free time. If you don’t know what you want to see in order to take a trade you’ll just stay in front of your computer, and basically be a slave to the market.

Don’t be a slave to the FX market: Forecast in the morning

Anyway,

I hope you enjoyed this blog post! If you did, please leave a like or share it? ❤ Would mean the world to me!

Onwards,