ForexSpirit

11 November saw Veterans Day being celebrated in the United States, while other parts of the world observed Armistice Day or Remembrance Day. All US banks and government agencies were closed which normally leads to thin trading if the markets remain open.

It looks at if the US dollar bulls took advantage of the situation with euro and sterling both losing around 200 pips in afternoon trading.

It’s normally a good idea to steer clear of the markets on such days as the moves can be erratic and unpredictable.

I ended up having a completely different reason for not focusing on the markets. On Monday night I threw out my back and was in no fit state to contemplate making rationale trading decisions the next day when I could hardly even stand.

Thankfully things seem to be mending okay. By Tuesday afternoon I could walk again, albeit slowly and gingerly. It’s probably going to take another few days at least before I’m completely pain free and regain full flexibility.

This is a critical reminder that my health is a very important part of being able to trade. I’m going to have to incorporate some lower back stretching and strengthening exercises into my workouts and daily routine so that this doesn’t happen again.

Even though I’ve done a fair amount of heavy lifting as part of the recent house move I think the biggest contributor to what happened is probably just being sat down on a chair all day long at my day job.

One of my work colleagues decided to switch to standing at his desk while working a few months back. He said it was tough on his feet for the first few weeks but he really seems to like it now. The main benefits of doing this are that you keep better posture, you burn more calories while standing and most people seem to notice increased periods of concentration. I guess it’s something I should seriously consider now.

What this resulted in was just two trades that took place in the overnight markets due to some resting limit orders I had in place.

Trade 1
Short GBP/USD
Entry: 1.5672
Exit: 1.5662
Pips: +10

Trade 2
Short EUR/USD
Entry: 1.2778
Exit: 1.2768
Pips: +10

Total daily pips: +20