Dollar Cost Averaging Spreadsheet: an Alternative Method to Single Trade Risk

[4EverMaAT 10]

The spreadsheet was originally designed to assist with determining the best order placement and position sizing for an EA that I assisted developing. There has been debate on whether or not martingale or any form of cost averaging can assist traders in becoming more profitable. This is difficult to determine at the level of the mind, since there seems to be a lot of negative points of view towards terms like "martingale", "averaging down" etc. So to help objectively prove that dollar cost averaging strategies, I am releasing the workbook to public. Feedback and discussion of course is appreciated. I would love to hear how the spreadsheet or other similar tool assists traders in using some sort of position sizing. When used wisely can quickly increase equity, without the use of mystic indicators or some exotic recipe. Although it should be noted that, statistically speaking a betting strategy of any kind requires an edge. It does not have to be a large one. But it has to be an edge of some kind in order to consistently multiply profits.

 

The file format is excel xls, which should be compatible for most people that have access to MS Office 2000 or greater.. There should be no problems importing into Open Office, but no guarantees. There are two spreadsheets in the workbook. The best thing to do is to watch the videos to get up to speed on how to use the excel spreadsheet.

 

The second-best thing is to just play around with the spreadsheet, only change the cells specified in the videos. Any cell with a formula, do not touch. Save a separate copy of spreadsheet for each pair/scenario you work out and find useful.

 

note: for nano lot accounts, divide the pip value (F2) and the Exchange rate (F5) by 10. There is a video on this.

 

Although this spreadsheet will still do the job for many, there is another version of the spreadsheet that is very similar to the one presented, but uses a macro to auto-fill in the rows that you would have to manually type in. It makes testing different strategies much faster and less stressful (shades), and even generates a text file to copy values into Expert Advisor which is the next logical step with a tool like this. This newer version of the spreadsheet will only be made available to those that are subscribed for updates at AwarenessForex.com

 

update 11/26/2011: new version of spreadsheet adjust the martingale calculator to force 2 digit rounding. metatrader 4/5 only accepts 0.01 as lowest trade lot size #.

 

update 11/27/2011: added row for margin level for each scenario. Change B8 (Starting equity) and everything else will recalculate. Many forex brokers have 2 different margin levels: margin call and stop out level. Basically they will alert you / liquidate some or all of your positions when you reach these levels.

AF Cost Averaging Worksheet.xls

[henryduncan12 10]

I download this spreadsheet and checked. There was good and useful data for me. Thanks to share it with us.

[4EverMaAT 10]

I download this spreadsheet and checked. There was good and useful data for me. Thanks to share it with us.

 

Cool. It goes a long way to becoming more objective about entry and exit, regardless of triggers/predictions. Really places much more emphasis on the position sizing, which is mainly what we do have control over. We have no control over the market direction.

 

Did you find the videos helpful in explaining how it works?

[henryduncan12 10]

 

Did you find the videos helpful in explaining how it works?

 

Yes, it much helped to understand excel spreadsheet.

[4EverMaAT 10]

Yes, it much helped to understand excel spreadsheet.

 

ok, good. I did my best to make sure they were not confusing.

[bobcollett 10]

Hi 4Ever ,

I am suprised at the lack of response to your spreadsheet.

I for one, find it very interesting.

Unfortunately it is hard to follow without the video.And I am deaf so I cant follow the video.

Do you have a written version hidden away. It does not have to be Oxford English.

kind regards

bobc

[4EverMaAT 10]

Hi 4Ever ,

I am suprised at the lack of response to your spreadsheet.

I for one, find it very interesting.

Unfortunately it is hard to follow without the video.And I am deaf so I cant follow the video.

Do you have a written version hidden away. It does not have to be Oxford English.

kind regards

bobc

 

It was something I tossed up on a few forums to facilitate the explanation of how money management is more important than trying to guess precise entry/exit. It also shows how you don't have to reinvent the wheel to be profitable. The videos are a bit extensive, but the spreadsheets can be viewed in a better light when you see a full mechanical system in action. I never did post those videos, but hopefully this weekend there will be some new surprises coming. It's been several months and 1000s of man hours of combined observing, testing, and tweaking system bugs. Especially the APAMI price action indicator.

 

The website will have a more written documentation of how to use spreadsheet. I will do my best to contain more written words in the videos. I was going to wait until I actually had the webpage up before making any update comments

[4EverMaAT 10]

Here is an updated version of the spreadsheet, but in google sheets format. 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13i6z-jzz9gMzo9dDlxbazS58-wDOPQ-8xYBscO8ZRds/edit?usp=sharing

 

 You can copy it to your own google account or download as ods / xlsx to use it as needed.

 

If a moderator can read this, hoping they can edit the OP and insert the above into the bottom of the post.