Trading around big events like European Central Bank meetings can offer great opportunities, but also challenges, as Ian Coleman learned on October 22. 

Coleman says he managed to make the right call for several currency pairs such as EURUSD, EURGBP and EURJPY based on technical analysis of the charts. Within two days Coleman’s forecasts played out as predicted and he had his best trade of the year.

So what went wrong? Well, when the ECB failed to announce any new stimulus measures, the euro started rallying and Coleman decided to reduce his short position in EURUSD. But the rally was short-lived and traders starting selling as soon as ECB President Mario Draghi started his press conference. Coleman says his premature move meant he did not get as much out of the trade as he could have.