How to Use the Forex Trend & Trade Tracker Tool

I recently launched our new tool, the Forex Trend & Trade Tracker. Going forward I’ll generally just refer to this as the Trade Tracker or just the Tracker, but understand that the trend aspect is just as important as the trade indicating portion.

In this post I’m going to run through a few things: 1) Why I developed this tool; 2) How it works; 3) How you should be using it in your trading every day.

Let’s get started!

Why I developed the Trade Tracker

I can’t quite recall when it was exactly, but it was a year or two ago when I developed the Trade Tracker. The idea was two-fold:

  • To better flesh out some rules-based trading practices
  • To have a quick, visual depiction of what was going on in the pairs I trade

Rules-based trading

It’s important to start developing rules to help govern your trading. I’m not one of those people that believes you must have a set of rules that 100% governs your trading. Trading is largely a practice in creativity and binding it with a strict set of rules would, in my opinion, be counter productive.

Take writing for example. Most people do their best writing when they think through what they want to communicate, outline their ideas, get something written, and then pick through it for flow and logic.

The ‘get something written’ part is the creative mind at work while everything else can be viewed as part of your “rules” or process. In fact, you may have rules within these other aspects to help guide each part of your writing process.

You want to develop the same sort of thing in your trading. And that’s why I created the Trade Tracker.

A quick, visual of the markets

But the Trade Tracker was also designed to save me time. I could update it once a day and still clearly see where my opportunities were. There was no need to look at the same pair throughout the day because I forgot what the trend was. Instead, I could focus on the opportunities the Tracker was signaling and make those my priority.

It takes me about 5-minutes to update the Trade Tracker and it’s designed visually to show me where I should be looking for trades at a glance. Its just as much about efficiency and saving time as it is a compass for my trading process.

Why I’ve decided to make the Trade Tracker available to you

You might be wondering why I’ve decided to make the Trade Tracker available to you. Although the Tracker is simple on the surface, it actually took me quite a bit of time and iterations to develop something I felt properly reflected my swing trading style.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking on how I can still be present in our growing community on a daily basis without actually being present. 

That bothered me; I still wanted to be part of your daily trading life. And so it hit me… make the Trade Tracker public!

This gives me an easy way to disseminate my current views on the market trends in very little time. All I have to do is update the Tracker once a day and you’ll have immediate access to what I’m thinking and seeing as long as you understand how to use the tool.

That’s a win-win if I ever saw one!

How the Trade Tracker Actually Works

The Trade Tracker is divided into two sections: Trends (inputs) and Trade Opportunities (outputs). This means the only thing I actually input into the trade tracker are the overarching trends I’m seeing on each currency pair for each timeframe.

Once done, the tracker spits out the trade recommendations in the Trade Opportunities section based on some simple rules. Let’s go through them separately.

Trend Inputs

The primary drivers of the Trade Tracker are the trend inputs. These are what I have to do manually. I actually look at each currency per timeframe, determine the trend, and enter either ‘up’, ‘down’, or ‘sideways’.

Now, as you can imagine, this can get a bit tricky. Why? Well, because to identify a trend we need a set of rules to help us govern that what an uptrend, downtrend, and sideways trend (no trend) really is.

This is something I’ve done over the years and will make sure to create a separate post on this topic, but for now understand that I manually do this process and input my findings into the top table like this:

forex trend tracker

I’ve put some conditional formatting into my Google Sheet so the colors auto-generate. They may not be for everyone, but it helps me quickly see the different trend types and associate them with specific colors.

Now, this process sounds a bit tedious and it can feel that way. If you’re new to forex and struggle with identifying the underlying trend, it may take you a bit of time to complete an exercise like this.

But you will definitely get better and faster at it with practice. I’ve never timed myself, but I’d guess that I do this table in under 5-minutes.

Trade Opportunity Outputs

As I input the underlying trends for each timeframe, the Trade Opportunity table begins to update. This table is governed by one simple rule:

“A trade recommendation is given when two separate timeframes confirm the same underlying trend.”

So, for example if we look back at the trend table in the above screenshot we see AUD/USD is showing an uptrend on all timeframes except the weekly. That means we would expect the trade opportunity table to show buy signals on the 15-minute, 1-hour, and 4-hour timeframes.

That’s exactly what we see:

forex trade tracker

Sticking with AUD/USD here for a bit, notice the daily trade opportunity says ‘none’. The reason for this is because even though the daily trend is ‘up’, the weekly trend was designated as ‘down’ in the trend table. Since these two timeframes are conflicting, there is no trade recommendation for the daily trend.

As you can see, this tool is a great way to stay disciplined in your trading. I’m a big believer in trading with the trend, and I developed this tool to balance discipline while still providing plenty of trade opportunities. In fact, my first iteration of this tool required three time frames to align with the same trend, but I found this to be overly restrictive and moved it to just two.

How to use the Trade Tracker in Your Trading

Each day I will be updating the Trade Tracker at the closing of the New York trading session. When I do, the Trade Tracker page will automatically publish my updates!

If you’re not sure whether I’ve updated the Tracker, simply check the asterisk below the table. I’ll always change the date when I update the table, so you’ll know it’s current.

I highly suggest checking the Trade Tracker on a daily basis. Bake it into your trading ritual and see if you come up with the same trends that I do. See if you can start drilling down and finding solid trades based on what the Tracker is telling us.

But most importantly, remember that at the end of the day this is a tool. Trading is a practice in creativity and while the Tracker may be signaling a trade, it might be best to stay out of the market all together.

In fact, that’s exactly what happened this week. If you read my weekly outlook for this trading week you’ll notice that USD/CAD is signaling shorts on our Trade Tracker, but I am not planning to take this trade. I highly suggest you read the weekly outlook to start understanding how I leverage the Tracker in my daily trading.

Geppy

I've been involved in the forex markets for over a decade, initially starting as an FX trader at Allston Trading in Chicago. Eventually I went on and founded my own (non trading related) company. I spend my days working from home and trading forex, equity, and crypto markets.

16 thoughts on “How to Use the Forex Trend & Trade Tracker Tool

  1. It appears that you have NO idea how to trade. You have a FF forum called ForexMillionaire and yet you have a job and trade mini lots. LOL. Your trade recommendations for this week went IMMEDIATELY to stop loss and yet you want people to pay you for such pitiful advise? I am laughing my ass off. Is this you Muteki? Seems to me like one of your same old same old scams. I have just reported you to FF to have you placed in the commercial zone. Winners never cheat and cheaters never win. LOL

    1. Yes, I do have a job and FX trading is a hobby for me. That’s pretty clear here, on FF, and anywhere else I have a presence. If you read more than just my last weekly update you’d know that I do very much know how to trade. I don’t know what your perception of trading is, but here’s a news flash: Not all trades work out. On average, I have a 65% win rate. I do quite well.

      I have no clue who Muteki is and not sure why you’d think I am him/her. I’ve been on FF since 2007.

      1. Hey, Geppy man;

        I just saw that comment, and had to make a quick note to you and to Kent.
        To you, don’t even waste your time responding to idiots. There are way too many, especially on FF.
        To Kent, I found Geppy’s thread only four weeks ago, and was active in it for the first three weeks. The reason I stopped is same as Geppy’s.
        In those three weeks, following Geppy’s advice and direction of trades, I bagged 2500 Pips!!!
        I have never done that before. The markets are crazy right now, even Pros are saying that, and if you know anyone who never loses a trade… GO TRADE WITH THEM!

        Thanks;
        Golfingchef

        1. Golfingchef, thanks for the comment. I appreciate it.

          I approved Kent’s post because I don’t want to be simply deleting the comments that rub me the wrong way. Maybe I should… I don’t think trolls are good for much of anything really. I don’t know what the guy’s problem is. Maybe he stumbled on the blog just this week, followed my trades and lost. And now he’s mad at me. That’s my best guess.

          But you’re right, I shouldn’t respond. Glad you have been making some killer pips though!

          1. I think it speaks more that you’re willing to openly display such criticism and tactfully shoot it down. And as Golfingchef proved, we have your back. 🙂

          2. Yeah, well, I’ve only been trading for a year and a half. Getting it now, slow and steady.
            Going to be joining your patronage asap, but in the meantime get this.
            In my short time trading, I’ve seen it time and time again.
            Traders that are good at trading, sending out trades, and not always, just what they think are thier best trades for the time.
            Everytime, there is a wrong call, there is ALWAYS someone complaining about getting stopped out, the person sending the trade doesn’t know how to trade and so on and so on.
            I find, whenever I come across someone like you, there should be no complaining because it’s enough work just to trade, let alone doing analysis for everyone else, spending the time to write it all out.
            Tell you the truth, I’m a bit surprised you are still at it, not sure I would be.
            Anyway, I could ramble on and on about all I’ve seen in just a year an a half. I’m sure you already know what I’m talking about anyway.
            When I switch to trading full time, I’m coming (with my family) to meet you!
            PS, I have two children, two and a half; and eleven months… You are in for the best time of your life!

            Most respect:
            Dave (Golfingchef)

          3. Dave, thanks again for your awesome comment.

            And yes, I’ve been on and off FF since 2007. I’ve seen it all. And the reason I’ve been on and off is exactly the reason you mention. I’m really trying to separate myself from the trolls and the haters and build a community that’s a unified front. That’s part of the reason the Patreon campaign exists. But I am already starting to feel tired, especially after taking a couple losses this week. I get trolls like Kent all the time both publicly and privately via email or PM. So this is just the tip of the iceberg what you’re seeing here. It’s taxing, but like I said… trying to remove myself from it.

  2. {quote} If you read my weekly outlook for this trading week you’ll notice that USD/CAD is signaling shorts on our Trade Tracker, but I am not planning to take this trade.

    For sure. I’ve been watching for UCad to bounce off the top of my channel, but it broke right through the channel and H1 MAs so it is indeed sidelines to me. The short right now just looks like retracement during a brief uptrend. Staying away.

  3. I would agree with you golfingchef. Geppy I have seen you about FF for years and have seen you offer up good advice before, get hassle and vanish. I saw you had started the new thread and finally after about 7 years became a member in order to follow your analysis as swing trading is what I want to do rather than scalping and the thread seemed to attract a fair few decent traders. I do not follow all the trades just pick out some which I broadly agree with, place orders and wait, no stress. Of course not all trades work out and maybe that is why people have a whinge but with a relevant stop loss in place we can afford to lose several with one big swing making all the pips back plus many more. Anyway lets keep it going and keep it going Geppy you are doing a good job here!

    1. Thanks for the kind words and comment, Chewy. And great point about one trade making up for all losses (and then some!). Seems Kent is either unaware or conveniently didn’t point out the multiple trades we’ve had that go for 300-600+ pips a pop! 🙂

    1. Lynden, the tracker is FREE. Sorry if that wasn’t clear. But it’s located in the top navigation of the website and I update it daily.

  4. Hi Geppy, you are by far one of the best traders in ff ive seen. Just ignore the first comment that had slammed you unjustly. I had been a full time trader for 11yrs now and i know many noobies think that forex is all about winning. But in fact forex is more about hw you manage losing trades wisely and not to overleverage. There are many strategies out there that yeilds a win rate of more than 60%. But still most people still blow their account as they overlook on risk management and blame it on the gurus they are following. Nonetheless keep up the good work geppy

    Your loyal fan,
    Megamanfx.

  5. Hi Geppy,
    I read this thread. Honestly, your profile pic is throwing me off lol.. I have this impression taht you are just trolling us, but honestly image is not everything but substance is 🙂 The substance of this article is great. I honestly just thought of this idea couple of days ago, but you already have this tool.

    I think your tool works best, if the person using it has a fair amount of knowledge where to put their support/resistance level e.i. even your tool says buy if 1hr timeframe is already at the resistance level, then they are screwed up. I think you need to mention that on this article. 😛

    1. Thanks for the feedback, BubbleTea. Yes, the tool isn’t a fool proof way of trading (e.g. “It says ‘buy’ so I better just blindly buy!”). Maybe I should mention that, but I do think that becomes clear as you read more of my posts and analysis.

      Oh, and maybe I’ll rethink the profile pic 😉

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