1-minute (“60-second”) Binary Options Strategy: 14 of 18 wins
On Monday, I broke from my normal routine of trading 15-minute expiries from the 5-minute chart in favor of “60-second” binary options. For one, I simply felt like breaking things up a bit for my own enjoyment. And two, I know that many traders are into this fast-paced alternative, as it’s now offered by many offshore brokers. Therefore, introducing some 60-second trades into my blog can serve to lend some advice on how I would approach these.
Brokers with 60 Second Options
Normally, I do not trade 1-minute options first and foremost because the payout is relatively poor (70%). Also, it is more difficult to be as accurate with these trades as the 15-minute trades, due to the inherent level of noise on the 1-minute chart, in my opinion.
In other words, when trading 60-second options from the 1-minute chart, you’re dealing with a very small amount of price data encapsulated in each candlestick, and one minute of price action is relatively inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. That said, I believe that it’s fully possible to make sound trading decisions regarding what may happen to the price movement in the next minute.
Basic 60 Second Strategy
My basic strategy toward 60-second options goes as follows:
1. Find support and resistance levels in the market where short-term bounces can be had. Pivots points and Fibonacci retracement levels can be particularly useful, just as they are on other timeframes while trading longer-term instruments.
2. Take trade set-ups on the first touch of the level. When you’re trading instruments that have a high level of noise inherent in the eventual trade outcome (like “60-second” options), I believe that taking a higher volume of trades can actually play to your advantage.
For those who are not familiar with the way I normally trade the 15-minute expiries from the 5-minute chart, I normally look for an initial reject of a price level I already have marked off ahead of time. If it does reject the level, this helps to further validate the robustness of the price level and I will look to get in on the subsequent touch. Expectedly, this leads to a lower volume of trades taken in exchange for higher accuracy set-ups.
60 Second Trades Lead To Higher Trade Volume
But since the inherent noise in each 60-second trade is so large to begin with, I believe trading in higher volume can actually work to one’s benefit in that it helps to even out the accuracy fluctuations that come when trading such short-term instruments.
To provide a baseball analogy, a hitter who normally maintains a batting average of .300 (i.e., he makes it on base with a hit on three out of every ten at-bats) may go through a ten-game stretch where he only bats .100. On the other hand, in that same span, he might hit .450. But over the course of a 100+-game season, it’s expected that with enough at-bats, his true skill level with regard to hitting will be accurately revealed. It’s a “regression to the mean” type of concept.
As such, if you’re trading 60-second options and only taking 1-2 trades in a 4+-hour session (i.e., being super conservative), it’s likely that you’re going to be waiting a very long time before your true skill level at this form of trading is revealed to your attention.
You may not even have an effective strategic approach to 1-minute options, and it would be unfortunate if you went over a month of trading this instrument before you begin to realize that that’s the case once your profit curve (or ITM percentage) starts to take its appropriate shape. That said, don’t overtrade by taking set-ups that aren’t actually there. That’s far worse than even choosing to trade at all.
3. Don’t blindly trade all touches of support and resistance. Continue to consider price action (e.g., candlestick types and formations), trend direction, momentum, and things of that nature that come with personal exposure to how markets of your interest behave and furthering your trading education to continually become better.
But without further ado, I will show you all of my 60-second trades from Monday and I how I put all of the above into practice. To avoid confusion, I will briefly describe each trade according to the number assigned to it in the below screenshots.
Trade History Using 1 Minute Expiry
#1: 1.32817 had been the high for the morning and formed an area of resistance. On the first re-touch of 1.32817 I took a put option on the 1:54 candle. This trade won.
#2: Similar to the first trade I took a put option on the re-touch of 1.32817. This trade also won.
#3: A third put options at 1.32817. This trade lost, as price went above my level and formed a new daily high.
#4: Price formed a newer low at 1.32715, retraced up to 1.32761, before coming back down. I took a call option on the re-touch of 1.32715 and this trade won.
#5: Basically the same trade as the previous one. Price was holding pretty well at 1.32715 so I took a subsequent call option and won this trade.
On the 2:26 candle, price made its move back up to the 1.32761 resistance level. On a normal move, I would take a put option there, but momentum was strong on the 2:26 candle (nearly six pips) so I avoided the trade.
#6: Several put options almost set up on the 1.32761 level, but none materialized at the level. So my next trade was yet another call option down near where I had taken call options during my previous two trades. However, since 1.32715 had been slightly breached before, I decided to instead take a call option at 1.32710 instead. I felt this was a safer move as just half-a-pip can be crucial in determining whether a 60-second trade is won or lost. This trade won.
#7: Put option back up at the 1.32761 resistance level. This trade won.
#8: Call option down at 1.32710 (where #6 was taken). This trade won. However, the minute after this trade expired in-the-money, the market broke below 1.32710 and formed a newer low at 1.32655.
#9: This trade was a put option at 1.32710, using the concept that old support can turn into new resistance. Nevertheless, this trade did not win as price continued to climb back into its previous trading range.
#10: I decided to take a put option at the touch of 1.32817, which was the level at which I took my first trades of the day. This trade might seem a bit puzzling at first given a new high for the day had been established and that momentum was upward. But by simply watching the candle it seemed that price was apt to fall a bit. It was also heading into an area of recent resistance so once it hit 1.32817, I took the put option and the trade worked out.
#11: Another put option at 1.32817. This trade won.
#12: For this trade, the high of day initially made on the 2:13 candle came into play – 1.32839. I had intended to take a put option at this level on the 3:22 candle, but price went through it quickly and closed. And then for maybe 10-15 seconds, my price feed was delayed and by the time it the connection was recovered it was over a pip above my intended entry. So I’m glad I missed that trade, as it’s one that would have lost.
I did end up using the 1.32839 level on a call option, though, given that previous resistance can turn into new support. This trade won.
#13: 1.32892 was now currently the high for the day and had formed a recent resistance level. I took a put option on the touch of the level. This trade won.
#14: Similar to #12, I used 1.32839 as support once again, and it produced a winning trade.
#15: Once again, I used the current daily high of 1.32892 as a resistance level off which to take a put option. But price busted through and this trade lost.
#16: Another fifteen minutes passed by before I was able to take another trade set-up. This time, I used 1.32892 as a support level (old resistance turning into new support) to take a call option. This trade was probably my favorite set-up of the day and was aided by the fact that the trend was up. It turned out to be a winner.
#17: For put options at this point, I had an eye toward 1.32983 (the new high for the day), but price consolidated twice at the 1.32971 level forming a line of resistance. So I decided to take a put option at the touch of 1.32971 on the 4:28 candle. This trade turned out to be a nice four-pip winner.
#18: My final trade of the day was a call option back down at 1.32839, where I took the same set-ups for #12 and #14. This was another good four-pip winner.
After that I was waiting for price to come up and see if 1.32892 would act as resistance, but it never touched. Also, I was feeling a bit fatigued by this point and decided to call it quits for the day.
Conclusions On This Strategy
Overall, I did pretty well for my first day trading 60-second options, going 14/18 ITM. But, in general, I have faith in my strategy to predict future market direction with a reasonable level of accuracy, and my ability to apply it to any market or timeframe. I also enjoyed toying around with the 1-minute options, as it was a new experience, and I would definitely consider adding more 60-second option days into my regimen in the future.
Where Do I trade?
Fast withdrawals and decent payout %s keep me happy there.
