arndude

I would like to add an additional risk with trading forex, based on my personal, recent (last fall) experience. A major, well-established broker, which offered forex trading as well as other trading accounts, went into bankruptcy, thanks to the company CEO absconding with a huge amount of customer funds... over time and evidently unchecked by any regulatory agency. It appears at this time that some accounts will be reimbursed, at least partially. However I learned the hard way that forex is not insured in any form and it is highly likely that my (fortunately small) account has made its' way into the personal account of the ex CEO... never to return. Beware the forex market... from any broker.

Hello Maelstrom, Thanks much for such a comprehensive response (07-19-2011, 10:49 PM ) to my post and questions. Your had observed in that post that range bars on my chart appeared to open at the same tick as closing of the previous bar, whereas your bars have a 1 tick difference between close of a bar and open of the next bar... and requested verification. Your observation is correct. This is my first experience with range bars, but from your description, I am guessing that my running a 20 point bar might be effectively equivalent to your running a 19 point bar, though it's not clear if we would end up with the same signals? .... does that make sense? Also in your 07-19-2011, 04:49 PM post you had suggested: “Back on point, there are several nuances I use that help keep me out of chop or whipsawing trades. If anyone out there is looking to actively trade this method, or something similar, I will be happy to post details - it would have certainly helped last week.“ I am interested in actively trading the method and would welcome the opportunity to learn of any nuance that helps to keep you out of chop trades. From your post today (Today, 12:16 PM )... I would like to take a learning guess, as to why you took the previous day's trade at C instead of B... (marked chart attached). Gonna' guess you saw congestion to the left of the B signal (circled in red) and overhead “resistance” to the upside at C??? Regarding today's entry long. I think the 1st signal was at point “A” (see attached chart). If that is correct, it is also going into the open... about 30 minutes away (I assume you are in CST zone?) and always somewhat volatile for a few minutes at least. I did take a 1 lot trade... OOPS! You also remarked in previous post... “I am looking for a graphic editing program better than MS Paint to make some notes on your attachment, and will make some comments on it shortly. “. You might consider “SnagIt”, (used to be free... I think it's around $40 now) a pretty flexible screen-capture program with some (limited) markup capability. For more extensive graphics program at the right price (free) you might try the OpenOffice Suite... it contains a graphics module. Thank you again for your continued support of this terrific thread. arndude

Thank you for an excellent thread. Having read through each post I think I am beginning to understand your message but would like to check that opinion. Attached is a screen capture of the YM beginning on Sunday, with my interpretation of your method applied to the chart. Please comment as to its’ accuracy or lack thereof. I also have some related questions as posted in this note. I apologize for the congestion. Am also borrowing some of your descriptive format… the “formations of intent” are enclosed in colored rectangles (yellow = downward, cyan = upward). Each formation is labeled with a letter (A through R). Beginning Sunday night, I think the first legitimate entry signal occurs in block G, when a close below 12,335 “validates” the downward intent in block F. Then a pullback followed by an entry short at the close (12,314 or as close to that as possible) of the next candle. If that is correct, I wonder how you enter the trade… stop market, limit order, manually entered market order… etc? Set risk - Initial stop at 1 point above this candle… at 12, 335 in this case. Trail to 12, 292 (block I) if not exited by that point. Exit plan… either ( A ) 1:2 risk:reward target, or 42 points, ( B ) extension target from entry by the height of block F, or 53 points in this case, ( C ) trail the stop (initially to 12,292 in this case), ( D) get taken out upon reversal at block L Do you have suggestions or guidance as to choice of exit? If my interpretation is correct regarding long entry at 14:44 yesterday… if held overnight with trailed stops, the position would be looking at +12,498-12,298 or +200 pts as of this afternoon at close of the market. I think you said previously that you set alerts and trade 24 hours during the week. You also offered a warning of sorts regarding the overnight lack of liquidity. How do you handle the overnight alternative? Again I thank you for your excellent descriptive posts and your willingness to share your experience. Kind Regards, F PS… this is my first run at adding an attachment… we’ll see how that works out. First file is complete history... next two are a repeat of first, broken into 2 parts for better visibility?