Rule of 4
FOMC ANNOUNCEMENTS – FAST MARKETS – MECHANICAL ENTRY
Big News Night t
We have all been there – waiting with great anticipation for a big news event like the FOMC interest
rate announcement – and then we didn’t know how to trade it because the price action was so
erratic.
Here is a solution: The Rule of 4
Background
1. I have watched practically every single big news item in the market for 23 years.
2. Initially for 10 years as a broker – where I noticed how often clients would bet the wrong way.
3. Then as a trader – trying to figure out why I was just like my old clients.
4. Then it dawned on me! I lost because I was afraid to “buy high and sell higher” or I was afraid of
“shorting low and covering lower”.
5. But it wasn’t the whole story. I needed a reliable entry method.
6. I downloaded every single “FOMC night” I could get my hands on.
7. I tested everything from tick charts to the 15min chart.
8. I found something interesting in the 10min chart. That is what this document is about.
FOMC TRAINING
A Breakdown of a Strategy
FOMC DATA SAMPLE
© Material is copyrighted by Tom Hougaard. – All rights reserved
Example 1
Chart to the
left is Dow
Index on a
10min chart.
The chart to
the right is the
same chart but
zoomed in on
the part where
the FOMC
announcement
has been made
– still on a
10min chart.
Now go to the
next page.
Explanation
4
Point number 1 represents 1
the first 10min bar. Point number 4 makes a
new high and closes off its
Point number 4 represents lows.
the 4th 10min bar.
Now I can place buy orders
My research suggest that above and sell orders below
bar number 4 is a reliable the extremes of bar number
bar to “bracket”. 4.
This means this is the bar I Bar number 5 comes and
want to place buy orders goes with no orders being
above and sell orders filled.
below.
Bar number 6 fills the short
Let me show you the data orders.
and you can judge for
yourself. I take profit when I sense
the momentum is running
out of steam.
Another Example
Close Up
Point number 4 completes
and I input orders above
and below.
The long side is triggered. It
is profitable.
The short side is also
triggered later.
1 It is also profitable.
4
Another Example
Close Up
Point number 4 completes
and I input orders above
and below.
1 The long side is never
triggered.
The short side is triggered.
It is profitable.
4
Another Example
Close Up
Point number 4 completes
and I input orders above
and below.
The long side is triggered.
4
The short side is never
triggered.
You have two bars of
waiting – after which the
position comes good.
It is profitable.
1 You may need to adjust
your trading size to account
for the larger stop loss you
need.
Perfect Practise Makes Perfect
Perfect Practise – what others called “Deliberate Practise” - does not mean to aimlessly look at charts – hoping to
uncover the next gem like School Run Strategy – or Sniper Mum (empowering the other sex in this channel) – but to
design a specific question, such as “how do I trade FOMC”. That is perfect practise.
From FOMC 22nd March 2023
Conclusion
1. I have now traded the “FOMC Rule of 4” two or three times in my live Telegram channel. I have had no losing trades
using this approach. Please do not read that as “this is an infallible strategy”. There are no infallible strategies.
2. But it is a good strategy, and it is good for more than one reason. It keeps you disciplined at a time when the market is
going haywire. It keeps you focused on your time frame, which means that the fear of “missing out” is unlikely to
come over you.
3. It is mechanical in entry. It is not mechanical in exit. That is where your instincts as a trader comes in.
4. Can you trade it in SP500? Yes of course. Dow and SP500 are usually highly correlated.
5. Can you trade it in Nasdaq? I don’t know. I haven’t tested it. I haven’t traded it. Let me show you tonight's Nasdaq.
NASDAQ - From FOMC 22nd March 2023
Dow From FOMC 1st Feb 2023
ENJOY
Tom Hougaard
[email protected]
www.tradertom.com
