swansjr

That's right Head2k. My system is largely a trend following method and my first position of the day is testing the waters with one contract. If it works out I consider the trend intact and working in my favor. I then look for a second entry with two contracts for the sole reason of initiating a runner. This runner may get taken out very early or may run for a while. Either way, I consider the trend suspect and revert back to one contract. I then test again for the next leg of the move or a reversal. This scheme may all prove to be rubbish. For example, already after weeks of historical and live practice, at times I see what appears to be a new trend forming. It is at this time maybe I should be initiating a two contract trade. Makes sense, right? This may prove to be a variation I should track within my spreadsheets. Thanks.

Thanks much for the input. I certainly don't mind it and indeed, welcome it. It looks like you have many good suggestions. The Risk/Reward is largely an unknown at this time. My maximum risk is 20 ticks but I know many (maybe most) of my trades will have a much tighter risk. This is due to the entry point and its relative position to moving averages and Keltner bands. Some trades may risk 8 pts. Others may be 10 pts. If the trade requires to too much risk - I skip it. Furthermore, this is a mental test in following my trading plan. Even if I lose my virtual shirt in this I must pass my test. That is, did I get emotional and break my rules? Can I walk away from a losing day knowing that my rules demand walking away so I can trade another day? Or, will I start making emotional decisions? This is also an information gathering exercise to see how this method functions (and more importantly how I function) in a simulated environment. You provide some excellent ideas such as tracking slight variations in the system. I already planned on documented my trades within a spreadsheet but I will also track slight variations in the system, as you suggested. Again thanks for the input!

I few days ago I stumbled upon Don Millar's trading blog. It's a fantastic blog about day trading. You won't find trading indicators, techniques or setups but the site is full of trading inspiration and wisdom. I would like to highlight one idea that I ran across on his site that really resonated with me. In summary, Don proposed a little psychological challenge to himself. Knowing that he performs well while recovering from drawdowns he trades based upon an "imaginary" equity curve that's experiencing a sever drawdown. His real equity curve may be humming along just fine. However, to motivate himself he will imagine he is experiencing a vigorous drawdown and thus, will trade with the focus and determination to do well in order to recover. Don calls this, "Get myself in the "comeback" mindset in every moment of every trade of every day." I thought this was a fantastic idea. You can read about it here.

Several weeks back I was posting my EC trades. Since then I slightly modified both my setups and execution. I also decided to post my trades on my own thread. I did this simply because this thread is very busy! I would like to thank Brownsfan019 for starting this thread. Posting one's trading results and having that accountability is a big help. If anyone is interested in my EC trading, which started today, you can find it on this thread.

While this chart will not help Blu-Ray I thought others might find it interesting. Richard from Move the Markets is the guy who coded the EOT indicator (if I remember correctly) and he had a recent post of the volume splitter on his web site. "The top subgraph is the 50-contract traders. Below that are the 10 and 5 contract traders. "

I've been rather poor at keeping a trading journal in the recent past. So I've decided to start a journal here. I hope by posting daily updates (or nearly daily updates since I most likely won't post if I don't trade) I will feel more compelled to trade well. Hell, everyone can see my trades (the good, the bad and the ugly), right? So I better do this well.So, my hope is with this new accountability of showing my trades to fellow traders on this site, I may become more strict when executing trades against my trading plan. I've been also toying with the idea of recording my trades with a video screen capture program and a microphone. But that's another story. I'm trading the EC market on a simulated account with TradeStation. I follow a variation of the Watts scalping method. Below are a few of my key management rules which will most likely evolve over time. Trading Times: 5:00am - 830am central. Screens: 2225t long-term trend screen. 445t intermediate-trend screen and a 89t chart to pin-point entry and exit. Position Size: I follow a repeating sequence: First trade of the day is done with one contract. If it's a winner I trade 2 contracts on the next trade. If this two lot position is a winner I go back to 1 contract and start the sequence all over again. All losing trades revert to 1 contract on the next trade. Target 1: First target is 6 ticks from entry. Target 2: Either 6 ticks from entry or runner. This is another discretionary area. If I perceive the market as "choppy" I will simply exit at 6 ticks. If I perceive the market as "trending" I will allow this second contract to trail. I use an opposite Keltner channel to exit. Risk Per Trade: The maximum to risk is 20 ticks (20ticks * $12.50 per tick = $250). Many of the setups will risk far less per trade. When to Stop Trading: After two consecutive losing trades, stop trading for the day. After two consecutive winning trades, stop trading for the day. Maximum Day Loss: $300. Again, my goal is to trade well - not to make money. Yep, that's right! I need to execute my plan as described and not get emotional and enter trades that I should not take. This has been a major problem. So, here I go.

Any help would be appreciated. I don't have the indicator so I don't have a direct screenshot. However, here is one from their web site. It's an ES chart where they are tracking "big" traders. From previous videos it seems “big" is often 50 or 100 contract orders or larger. You can also find a short video here: http://eotpro.com/VOLUME%20SPLITTER.wmv Thanks!

Yes, it's interesting how some people say this is easy. Yet, I don't see any working code. That's how easy it is. :crap: TradeStaton does not allow access of Time&Sales via EasyLanguage. So, it seems to me you either have to derive approximations of Time&Sales via clever programming or someone has written a DLL to access Time&Sales within the TradeStation data stream. Anyway, here is my only attempt. It’s far from working like the EOT indicator. Occasionally it’s spot-on showing yet, other times it is dead wrong. VOLUME_SPLITTER_V1.ELD

I may be misreading you flyingdutchmen, but executing from a DLL does not necessarily imply they must be using historical data. As you have pointed out the EOT indicator appears to require live data yet, this does not suggests a DLL is not being used. A DLL is often used to add functionality beyond the scope of EasyLanguage. I'm wondering if they are accessing Time&Sales information - their own version of the Time and Sales window found in TS - and pass this to their indicator. But this is pure speculation.

Thanks for the post phall. Yes, I noticed the Log issue as well. I've not used the Time&Sales window in TS but apparently it works as expected. If true this would imply the data from TradeStation does contain Time&Sales data however, such data is not accessible via EasyLanguage. This would corroborate a message from a TS Easylanguage specialist that stated Time&Sales data is not accessible in EasyLanguage. Thus EOT may be using a DLL, as you suggested, accessing the data and passing it to an EasyLanguage indicator. I second Phall's request for any insight into this. Thanks again.

Thanks for the tip. I'm going to look into trying the 1-tick chart with GV.

Thanks Tams for posting the image. I wish I had the indicator running today so I could compare but I was unable to do so.

That's about right. You will need to separate them. I was unable to work on the indicator today. I will hope to do so Tuesday.

I may be mistaken but in this code you are counting ticks not order size. A single tick may be a one contract order or it may be 50 contract order. If we are interested in tracking orders that are 20+ contracts per order, how will you differentiate between the two order sizes?

Strictly speaking TradeStration's EasyLanguage does not have support for Time and Sales, which is what we need to accurately do this. However, I'm using the quote field called TradeVolume to get an approximation of what's going on. This field gives you the trade size of the "last order." Within a single bar this will be updated very frequently. Because of something called "tick netting" (I don't know the details) orders maybe lumped together when they are reported. So, the last order may not be the last order! It may be a lump sum of a few orders. Anyway, to get a feel for this simply create an indicator and have it print the TradeVolume value. You will see the order sizes in real time. Values coming off of TradeVolume look something like this: 1,2,2,3,1,1,2,1,20,3,4,2,1,1,30,1,1,2,3... From there you can process these values as you see fit.Oh yes, TradeVolume only works on live data - not historical data. I will be posting the indicator. I just want it to look a little better before I do.

I'm having some success as seen in the screen shots above. I still have some ideas I want to test to make it look more like the EOT indicator.

This is a great point. Companies don't pay taxes. Customers pay the taxes in the form of high costs.

Here are today’s results. I did not like how it was plotting during the morning session so I did some modifications. Below are two charts from the afternoon sessions. The price chart has two volume splitter indicators. The first one tracks TradeVolume of 50 or larger. The second one (on the bottom) tracks TradeVolume orders between 1-10. The indicator is far from a true volume splitter but it does look like it might have some potential.

Yeah, I have no idea how they are using historical data. Now, I guess it is possible to interface with TradeStation's charting abilities and data feed via third party programming. For example, writing custom DLLs. I wonder if they wrote a DLL that logs trade volume and then they access it later. I would guess TradeStation has an SDK for this type of work but his is outside of my realm of knowledge.

I modified the Bid/Ask Pressure indicator to use TradeVolume instead of Volume or Ticks. This should give an approximate value representing the trade volume of the last order. Further modification may be necessary to the indicator will most likely be needed. Below is a chart from the overnight ES market. I know it’s not the best time to run the indicator but I just wanted to see if I was on the right track. The first indicator was using an order size filter of 50 or greater. The second indicator (the one on the bottom) had an order size filter of 1. The first thing you notice is they do track differently. I will let this run during “normal” market hours today and post the results. I may play around with the indicator a bit more (as I have some ideas to test) then if all looks well, I’ll post it.

That's just about what I did. However, I used the quote field TradeVolume instead of volume. TradeVolume provides the size of the last order. I let it run overnight on the ES market - not the best time to test but I wanted to get and idea if I'm on the right track. I'll post some images later this morning on the Volume Splitter thread. You can find the Volume Splitter thread over here.

You are going to spend a lot of time experimenting with markets, timeframes and trading methods before you narrow down a few things you can relate to. My advice is to read a lot and experiment for the next year on a simulator with live market data. People say simulators are worthless because they don’t give you the feel when you have real money on the line. Well duh, that’s why it’s called a simulator. However, pilots and astronauts use simulators and they don’t throw out that lame excuse. They jump into them knowing they can learn from the experience and they log many hours doing just that. You can learn a lot what doesn’t work on a simulator. Use it. Make your mistakes there because it’s a lot cheaper than the real world. Fact is, if you can’t consistently make money in a simulator you have no hope in the real markets. If you are going to jump in with real money understand what risk per trade is. Also, be prepared to lose. Learn to take losses. Learn to trade well. Consistently executing your trades is vital. Money will follow. Read... Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom Trading in the Zone The Disciplined Trader Market Wizards Trading for a Living Good luck.

Thanks Hal9000. Yes, please do post your screenshots.

TradeVolume is an elusive beast. I found it on the Trade Station Forum about a week ago. I started a thread on TradeStation's EasyLanguage Forum and John from TS just replied about TradeVolume: So, what we seem to have is an imperfect way of obtaining trade volume on an intrabar basis. This is a start. However, now it seems the EOT indicator can be used with historical data?! This is strange.

Thanks. When possible, I'll lend a hand with coding.