GBP/USD- 08:35ET

There wasn't a particularly strong higher timeframe on this one but adequate enough to take the trade. If entry at highs (or lows when going long) can be executed with a certain degree of accuracy then your potential return on risk increases drastically, even more so when the pattern is visble on a larger timeframe. This was the case today hence a healthy 45 tick gain...

Patience and the willingness to let setups go unless the support/resistance is "stretched" is what I was missing last month and what was very much present in the months beforehand....

Can't remember where I heard it, but I once read a trader's metaphor for support and resistance that has stuck with me ever since. He/she described S/R as "a fence in a field" with bulls on one side and bears on the other. He/she mentions that, although the fence is stuck in the ground, there's a certain amount of "give" in the fence which allows the bulls to invade the space of the bears without breaking the fence and vice versa. If a bull/bear were to run into the fence there would be more give than if it were to walk into the fence....sometimes, the fence is broken down and one animal runs riot in the other's side of the field.

Waiting until the fence is stretched to breaking point, rather than just touched, will always give a better risk/reward ratio- you'll know that your edge isn't working much sooner (and at a lower cost) and, in the case of the market moving in your favour, there's a higher probability that you'll be able to lock in profits/exit the trade in a way that'll make you profitable over time. In short: better entry=more choice.