I took a long tonight in USD/JPY.  The pair has made a higher high after putting in a double bottom on the daily chart.  It's retraced back to the rising trendline and has bounced nicely off the line.  I'm long from 94.775 with an initial stoploss just below the recent low at 93.5.  Below is the daily chart...

• Long Entry: 94.775
• Initial Stoploss: 93.5

Today saw USD/JPY, and all JPY crosses for that matter, spike down to varying degrees.  After putting in a bottom around 10:00 CST this morning, all of the JPY crosses have since rallied off of their lows for the day.

I'm specifically interested in USD/JPY, though, because the low that it bounced off of today was within 2.5 pips of the prior low established on December 16, setting the table for a double bottom reversal.  Also, today's candle, though technically not qualifying as a true pin bar, has "pin bar-ish" qualities.  That is, the bears were clearly in control as the pair dropped and bottomed out earlier this morning, but the bulls have since taken control and forced the pair back up.

So I'm jumping in to USD/JPY with another long position.  Since the break of the down trendline back at the end of December/beginning of January, we've been in a bit of a sideways market.  I'm counting on support at 87.00 holding and the pair remaining in a sideways trend, or, better yet, beginning a new uptrend.  Of course, I could be wrong.  I'm placing my stop just below the lows of the possible double bottom.

• Long Entry:  88.964
• Initial Stoploss:  86.99

Edit 1/25/09 8:30 PM: The USD/JPY hasn't moved up like I had expected. Instead, it has kind of just waffled around my entry point, moving mostly sideways. So, while the pair is a mere 30 pips above breakeven, I'm taking this opportunity to move my stop up to just above breakeven. If the pair continues to move up, great! If it doesn't, I'll allow the trade to die on the vine and get out with a scratch trade and my capital intact.

After being flat for more about a week and a half (partly due to my poor start to the month and the need for a break, and partly due to the fact that many of the pairs I watch have been undergoing trend reversals, which may be at least partly to blame for my poor start), I've taken a position in the market tonight.

My poison of choice?  AUD/USD.

After breaking through the down trendline on the daily chart (indicated by the red line in the 4 hour chart below) and establishing a new swing high, the pair has pulled back to a rising trendline and formed a double bottom on the 4 hour.  Price appears to be respecting the rising trendline and double bottom, so I've entered a long order with the expectation that buyers will continue to push the pair up.

My intial stoploss is 10 pips below the double bottom, recent swing low, and rising trendline.  The markets will likely quiet down towards the middle of the week for Christmas, but I may get some good movement over the next couple of days and hope to move cash out half of my position at 1R and move my stop on the other half of my position to breakeven by Tuesday night.

• Long Entry: 0.6832
• Initial Stoploss: 0.6755