Scalping session review: 18th, 19th & 20th December 2013

I'm not sure if my scalping methodology has an edge. I'm using price action, primarily engulfing candles, as entry signals along support and resistance levels. 

18th December 2013

Only took a single trade that day because of work. 

Trade #1

Pips won = 1.1 - 0.5 = 0.6 pips

I went short after seeing a strong bearish engulfing candle. Price fell to only a few pips from my TP but then rebounded upwards. I decided to get out once price neared breakeven and only won 0.6 pips.

19th December 2013

Trade #1

Pips won = 0.6 - 0.5 = 0.1 pips

Looking back, this was a stupid trade. I saw two small bullish candles bounce off 103.900 and decided to go long here. I ignored the strong bearish action that had occurred in the last hour. My main mistake was going long way too early. When you want to trade against the trend, you want to see price move horizontally for awhile first. This means that the trend is dying, and thus increases the probability of success for a counter-trend trade. Fortunately I got out when I saw that price wasn't moving up as quick as I anticipated.

Trade #2

Pips won = 1.2 - 0.5 = 0.7 pips

The entry signal was better this time: a tiny doji at support followed by a bullish engulfing candle. I went long at the close of the engulfing candle, but exited when the next candle closed as a pinbar. The pinbar formed just below 104.000, a round number, so I played it safe and exited. I missed out on the up move that followed. 

Trade #3

Pips lost = -2.8 - 0.5 = -3.3 pips

This trade went wrong. I held on to it longer than I should've. I saw a very strong bullish engulfing candle and went long on the close. I was a little burnt about the fact that I missed the upmove in my previous trade so I resolved myself to hold on to this trade until my hard SL was hit (placed just below the engulfing candle). 

The next candle was a small pinbar. If I was trading with discretion, I would've got out at a minimal loss. The next candle after the pinbar continued to move downwards. At this time I could detect that the pinbar was forming a swing high, and closed my trade when price momentarily moved back up a bit. As you can see, this was a good decision as price would've eventually taken out my stop loss. 

20th December 2013

Trade #1

Pips won = 1.6 - 0.5 = 1.1 pips

I nearly won this trade. Went short after seeing an engulfing candle near resistance, and place my TP at 142.320. Price fell within a pip of my TP before turning upward, at which point I got out. This was the correct move as price eventually broke resistance.  

Thoughts

Intuitively I seem to be practicing  the philosophy that good trades should happen quickly. If price isn't moving in my favour shortly after I open a position, then I get out with a tiny nominal win or loss. I've also noticed that price moved within a pip or two of my TP before reversing, so I might need to tighten up my TP.