An Aggressive Trading Strategy That’s Not for Everyone

There’s a reason why many legendary traders have a reputation for being so aggressive.

George Soros, for example, gained a $1 billion profit by shorting the Great British pound.

Jesse Livermore was famous for being willing to take enormous risks. He built up a $100 million fortune in the 1930s… before losing it all by 1934.

And finally, Paul Tudor Jones made a name for himself after shorting the 1987 market crash and netting $100 million as a result.

These are all names that most traders have heard before.

As the saying goes, if you want the glory, you better have the guts.

On the other hand, how many famous—or infamous—mutual fund managers do you know? These aren’t the folks that typically capture the headlines. Instead, they tend go about their work quietly.

Being a steady-performing fund manager isn’t a bad thing at all. But you can’t tell me that it’s as interesting as a trader ready to risk it all on one big bet.

The point is there isn’t only one way to make money from the markets. In my own trading, I try to balance being aggressive by being highly selective of the trades I do take.

This helps me get the best of both worlds. And right now, there may be an opportunity to get aggressive in one particular corner of the market.

But I have to warn you, this style of trading isn’t for everyone.

On July 17, readers were shown an exciting chart pattern of the Energy Select Sector ETF (XLE). XLE was poised for a breakout. Since July 17, XLE has rallied as much as 11%.

One way to trade XLE is to simply take one position and wait for the market to reach its target.

There’s nothing wrong with this approach, and it’s what I usually do myself.

But every now and then, a market will give multiple opportunities to leg-in and take additional positions enroute to that final target.

That’s exactly the situation we find ourselves in now with XLE. You can check out this setup on the chart below:

Since breaking out of the larger triangle pattern around July 17, XLE is now tracing out a smaller bull flag (blue trendlines). A bull flag is a trend continuation setup.

In the case of XLE, a successful breakout of the flag should result in the ETF continuing to trend higher. $88.78 is the key level to watch. Breaking this level would suggest the flag pattern has completed.

The final target remains around $94 as discussed in the July 17 update.

Legging into an already profitable trade is a powerful way to quickly compound your gains, especially if you manage the existing risk on your open position.

If you can trail the stop loss on your original position to your entry point, then you’ve effectively eliminated the risk on that first trade. That means your only risk should be the new position you enter into if this bull flag plays out as expected.

Happy trading,

Imre Gams

Today, we hear from some new Currency Trader subscribers…

Hi Team,

I have just purchased the Currency Trader course and really found the training useful.

– Ian B.

Imre, looking forward to learning how to look at the market from you. I am new to your trading service.

– Gregg K.