waveslider

I have developed systems for years and manage a fund trading primarily SPY and other liquid ETFs. I can't keep away from the e-minis because of their leverage, and my models work so well on them. Hedge funds and futures trading are a different animal, politically. They are regulated by different bodies and have different requirements for money management. I would very much value hearing from other developers who have considered becoming a CTA to manage money trading futures markets. Thanks - - ws

Smells like spam. The advantage I find in algo trading is the lack of pressure and stress that goes along with discretionary trading. Bottom line is - discretionary trading is a hell of a lot of work on an intraday basis. Once you are in a trade it is incredibly easy to make a mistake, especially when the market is moving. I like the idea of discretionary trading, but it sure is relaxing doing the automated thing.

No.. I am in the same boat as you...

Brown, I am having a similar issue. From what I understand this issue may be related to a ".NET" update that XP users are downloading. It may not be your router. Has your computer recently installed new updates from MSFT? all of this happened around 9/11 (coincidnece? ha ha)

Can anyone recommend a simulator that's any good? One that will replay historic data.... sounds like fun

Suri, I agree with your broadening top situation. If you look at the chart I posted, the #1 point is further back. So point 4 is slightly below point #1. Having a hard time believing in the rally, internals and volume have just been horrible, so that leaves just short covering powering this one. The only standout is the nasdaq, which is powering along well.

Here we go again - Ever since the market has made this steep move up with no pullbacks, I have been suspicious. Direct sustained moves through resistance are usually a run on stops engineered to create fear. This move has fear written all over it. Fear is what creates a perfect 4-5 move in a wolfe wave, so here we go. Daily charts of $spx.x and FDX. The S&P point #1 starts at the 50% level of a range. The other chart I have here is for Fedex, what is interesting is that it has the same WW pattern, but if you run an Andrews pitchfork on the pattern, the centerline runs perfectly with the WW line. I shorted a little today.

All I can say is, wow - -that is one of the nicest ones I have ever seen. This one is perfect because it fails above the range (marked with horiz. white lines) and below the range. #2 point gave people plenty of time to get long. #4 to #5 was steep and dramatic, beginning with a gap and hardly looking back.

Well I hope someone else on the forum was watching this one... the wolfers out there are cleaning up.

Thanks Tams - Does anyone have a service they use to alert them when a fed meeting is going to take place?

spqr25- nice analysis. The Schiff lines also indicate the likelihood of a range and a "make or break " area in the markets. A fabulous pitchfork that parallels this down move is the up move in the US dollar (dollar and US markets are often inversely correlated, for those that haven't observed that). Pull up a monthly chart of the USDCAD and look at the same fork upside down! I watch the dollar vs the markets down to a five minute time frame - it's very informative.

ok you beat me or did you read my mind?

if you are skilled enough - you can do anything with excel. Excel can read data files in CSV format. There are free programs (or under $100) to download free daily data from the internet too! TS you can do a lot with, but there are better ones. I second sevensa's neoticker recommendation, and amibroker. I am using tradersstudio which makes amibroker look like a kids toy.

Last one worked PERFECTLY. Lots of these showing up recently.... And here's another one.... That's SPY on a half hour chart , sort of an ugly format - sorry...

Mechanical trading is very possible, more than possible -common. Possible on the scalping level and on daily, even weekly- why not? On whatever level, I think you have to be there overseeing it, I do and glad I was today. If you are asking essentially is are there exploitable patterns can be defined with code (so that a computer can execute them). The answer is yes. Discretionary traders will tell you that successful trading can be done better by a human. Yes that's true too, since computers are not able to evaluate, have no intuition, have a hard time adapting, etc. But computers don't make mistakes! They only do what they are told. This thread needs more depth and runs the risk of taking us back to "disretionary vs. mechanical" argument - danger....

Any takers? not crazy about the point#1 but a nice move down to 5..

PA18, My reason for starting this thread was mostly due to platform issues. The brokerage side is not so bad, unless there is a major disaster. When I decided to leave, there was a crisis where the data feed was crashing and you couldn't get anyone on the phone for hours. I became a squeaky wheel. I do a lot of business with TS, and am one of their "major" clients, so they assigned me a "higher up" rep who basically kisses my a$$, but does respond very quickly to any concerns I have. I would not call TS crappy, they periodically have their issues - which are bad - but I would bet many brokers are similar. The advantage with TS is that they have a lot of clients giving feedback and demanding improvements. It is a competitive business - much more competitive than even 3 years ago. The advent of ninjatrader and amibroker created formidable rivals in the "lower priced platform" industry. Hope that helps you.

Had to post this poster child pattern from overnight session the other day. Occurring within a range - notice the quick and violent move to pt. #5

ZDO - thanks for that post. Agree with you about Ross hook (though I had not tested it, figured it wouldn't work so well unless obvious momentum conditions). Also agree with you about JMA, which I use. I also use a short term JMA to help identify waves.

Agree with you Tasuki, these are not wolfe waves. The reason for the pattern's success is the psychology, as you stated. There has to be strong participation "washing" people out and getting them positioned on the wrong side of the mkt. Pt. #2 (bearish scenario) should look to bulls like a bottom. Pt.#4 should look like a higher low potentially giving a confirmation of a bottom. Then it all falls apart and the wolves take over (supposedly). Most important is that this pattern happens in a ranging situation- a trend on a higher time frame negates the pattern....

I like Joe Ross's definition where if you have an "A_B_C" pattern in one direction that fails, then another "A_B_C" pattern in the opposite direction that fails in the same price range - price is locked in a range. Best to see that on a higher time frame and do your trading one time frame lower.

This is interesting to me also - trying to find a way to quantify relative passing of time on tick charts. This indicator doesn't show up on my tick charts... any ideas?

I think ADX is better as an exit tool, though I don't use it...

Glad this thread got this pattern in my head - did anyone else catch this classic one today in ES? It was good for about 6 points, just picture perfect trade. Taq- look for ranging situations. The 1-3 lines you draw are very steep. Also use the pivot low/high instead of vaguely drawing through bars. It is important to realize why the pattern is working and see the psychology of the crowd. I don't think those patterns you sent are valid. Study the pattern I have here...

Suri - WW works best in choppy sideways markets - not trending. The run from 4 to 5 was too long. The move from 4-5 should be short and violent - scaring out the people who bought at pt. 4. This is a chart of SPY 20 min. There is a potential WW forming that could work nicely. Note pt 2 is a major high. Lots of overlap in the waves which means range. The move to pt. 5 is beginning rapidly, will momentum continue tomorrow morning? The danger in this trade is the higher time frame - this is the top of a huge range, and a large channel. The peak last week formed at a perfect timing pt - (see the conversation on Andrews pitchfork where we marked the recent top). If last weeks peak was the top, then the next andrews line points steeply down. In the case of WW, the higher time frame always overrules. This one you have to be careful on and watch closely as the purple 1-3 line is broken.