Help 4 Struggling Trader

[pipsaholic 10]

Hi,

 

I am looking for some advice from some more experienced trader to improve on my trading system/rules. I have removed a lot of indicators from my system and I am designing my own based on the past 9 months experience in learning and experimenting.

 

Please review and add or take away what you feel may benefit my system.

 

Please see attachment .doc

DAILY TRADING RULES.doc

[RealDemo 10]

Sorry but it doesn't look like you've taken on board any of the advice already given in your other thread.

 

You've got way to much stuff going on, trim it all back.

 

What is the key premise that your working with here?

 

When you say analyse something...what is it you are actually doing? be very specific, and keep it sharp.

 

I don't want to sound mean, trust me I've been there in headless clucking mode too, but if this list is a reflection of what's going on in your head then it's time to stop and listen to what people are trying to tell you.

[wrbtrader 10]

Hi,

 

I am looking for some advice from some more experienced trader to improve on my trading system/rules. I have removed a lot of indicators from my system and I am designing my own based on the past 9 months experience in learning and experimenting.

 

Please review and add or take away what you feel may benefit my system.

 

Please see attachment .doc

 

Hi,

 

You should first try using that trading plan you've posted for a few weeks to a few months to determine if you can do all of the different types of analysis...efficiently and profitably. I counted about 25 different trade methods within your trading plan. Most traders can't manage using one trade method and yet you're attempting to use 25 different trade methods together as one trading plan. :crap:

 

Therefore, I highly recommend you remove most of those indicators and price action methods and decide upon just 1 - 3 trade methods within your one trading plan. This will allow you to efficiently determine problematic areas within your trading plan resulting in you being able to adapt your trading plan to minimize drawdown periods when market conditions changes and to remain consistently profitable (if profitable) because the markets are constantly changing many times per year.

 

It's that constant change why most traders have big drawdowns or consistent drawdowns because they failed to recognize different trading conditions or not willing to stay on the sidelines until favorable trading conditions return that would allow them to exploit whatever trade method they're using.

 

Simply, with 25 different trade methods within your trading plan, when something goes wrong (it will go wrong), you will be constantly running around in circles chasing your butt trying to find the problem if you're not profitable...you're trading plan will not work via its current design.

 

Why? There's too much to do (analysis). Most of that information your brain will attempt to sort through and piece together will result in you not having the ability to follow that trading plan you posted. Thus, you will either conclude you didn't have the discipline to follow your trading plan (blaming yourself) or conclude you don't know what's wrong with the trading plan because you're using about 25 different trade methods as one trading plan.

 

Once again, I highly recommend you only use 1 - 3 trade methods from your Pre-Trade and Main Analysis list and then slowly build up to all those other methods assuming you're still profitable. Yet, don't continue adding more trade approaches if you can't be profitable with what you already had in prior.

 

I'm now very curious to see what your charts look like on your monitors as if someone was standing behind you and taking a picture of your monitors (plural) instead of showing one chart that's been maximized for forum discussion. Thus, I would be more surprised if you have less than 3 monitors in your attempt to manage 25 different trade methods as one trading plan.

 

Start small, master it and then build up.

Edited December 22, 2011 by wrbtrader

[TimRacette 11]

Hi pips, I read through your trading rules, you have some really good stuff in there, but there's also things you probably don't need. I have two specific comments regarding your word document. The first, try rewording it to the first person I instead of you/your. It may seem subtle, but it can help embed your routine and principles on a subconscious level.

 

Second, For your trade entry section, take a 3x5 note card and write out your exact entry criteria in steps. Put this in front of your screen and when you think you see a trade setting up, just run through your "trade entry checklist" to make sure it fits all your criteria before pulling the trigger.

 

Writing out a trading plan is great, but it's usefulness comes in the simplicity and being able to refer to it when the trade is setting up. Over the years I've gone through my trading plan and simplified it to the core idea so there is no room for interpretation. This was a great Saturday morning exercise along with reviewing my trade notes from the week.

 

Best of luck and happy holidays,

Tim

[pipsaholic 10]

Sorry but it doesn't look like you've taken on board any of the advice already given in your other thread.

 

You've got way to much stuff going on, trim it all back.

 

What is the key premise that your working with here?

 

When you say analyse something...what is it you are actually doing? be very specific, and keep it sharp.

 

I don't want to sound mean, trust me I've been there in headless clucking mode too, but if this list is a reflection of what's going on in your head then it's time to stop and listen to what people are trying to tell you.

 

I have taken on board what others have said, but I do not feel I have way to much stuff going on I am not going to use 3 vague rules. I like to filter out areas which I have learned to see if they fit the market. No where did I say that all my rules had to be 110% I didn't mention in my previous thread that I only look for 3 reasons to enter a trade out of the 20 possible confirmation points.

 

Analysing I am monitoring and marking key points and swing levels at that time.

 

Hi,

 

You should first try using that trading plan you've posted for a few weeks to a few months to determine if you can do all of the different types of analysis...efficiently and profitably. I counted about 25 different trade methods within your trading plan. Most traders can't manage using one trade method and yet you're attempting to use 25 different trade methods together as one trading plan. :crap:

 

Therefore, I highly recommend you remove most of those indicators and price action methods and decide upon just 1 - 3 trade methods within your one trading plan. This will allow you to efficiently determine problematic areas within your trading plan resulting in you being able to adapt your trading plan to minimize drawdown periods when market conditions changes and to remain consistently profitable (if profitable) because the markets are constantly changing many times per year.

 

It's that constant change why most traders have big drawdowns or consistent drawdowns because they failed to recognize different trading conditions or not willing to stay on the sidelines until favorable trading conditions return that would allow them to exploit whatever trade method they're using.

 

Simply, with 25 different trade methods within your trading plan, when something goes wrong (it will go wrong), you will be constantly running around in circles chasing your butt trying to find the problem if you're not profitable...you're trading plan will not work via its current design.

 

Why? There's too much to do (analysis). Most of that information your brain will attempt to sort through and piece together will result in you not having the ability to follow that trading plan you posted. Thus, you will either conclude you didn't have the discipline to follow your trading plan (blaming yourself) or conclude you don't know what's wrong with the trading plan because you're using about 25 different trade methods as one trading plan.

 

Once again, I highly recommend you only use 1 - 3 trade methods from your Pre-Trade and Main Analysis list and then slowly build up to all those other methods assuming you're still profitable. Yet, don't continue adding more trade approaches if you can't be profitable with what you already had in prior.

 

I'm now very curious to see what your charts look like on your monitors as if someone was standing behind you and taking a picture of your monitors (plural) instead of showing one chart that's been maximized for forum discussion. Thus, I would be more surprised if you have less than 3 monitors in your attempt to manage 25 different trade methods as one trading plan.

 

Start small, master it and then build up.

 

I am going to amend my plan by stating that only 3 of the following 20 points required to be met to find a valid signal.

 

See attachments for my overall setup before zooming in.

 

 

Hi pips, I read through your trading rules, you have some really good stuff in there, but there's also things you probably don't need. I have two specific comments regarding your word document. The first, try rewording it to the first person I instead of you/your. It may seem subtle, but it can help embed your routine and principles on a subconscious level.

 

Second, For your trade entry section, take a 3x5 note card and write out your exact entry criteria in steps. Put this in front of your screen and when you think you see a trade setting up, just run through your "trade entry checklist" to make sure it fits all your criteria before pulling the trigger.

 

Writing out a trading plan is great, but it's usefulness comes in the simplicity and being able to refer to it when the trade is setting up. Over the years I've gone through my trading plan and simplified it to the core idea so there is no room for interpretation. This was a great Saturday morning exercise along with reviewing my trade notes from the week.

 

Best of luck and happy holidays,

Tim

 

Yeah, putting I seems more personal I agree good idea. Good idea for the small card, but things always small get lost around here lol. I have out it on my whiteboard. To be honest I would love to simply it so easy it takes 2 mins to read and follow, however I would be missing so many things out which I feel will come back to haunt me. I am considering making it more of a checklist.

 

I am also considering making live videos and talk through what I am thinking at the time of the trade do you think it will help as writing your setup or results can be difficult and you miss things out.

[yiman 10]

Hi,

 

I am looking for some advice from some more experienced trader to improve on my trading system/rules. I have removed a lot of indicators from my system and I am designing my own based on the past 9 months experience in learning and experimenting.

 

Please review and add or take away what you feel may benefit my system.

 

Please see attachment .doc

 

looks to me like you are over analysing. My experience is that the simpler the better. Ive been down that road trying to use different methods to get confirmation. All it did was give me a headache, confusion and bad trades.Int he end i was neither winning or losing, Very frustrating after all the hard work.

 

I spent a few years and alot of money looking for the holy grail and eventually discovered Ihad it all the time. It was stiting there between my ears waiting for me to recognise it.

 

I ended clearing everything off my charts and spent a week just looking at patterns and drawing trend lines.

 

then I started sim trading the patterns. When i was sattisfied that the patterns were jumping at me I added my indicator. The indicator is only there to act as confirmation or to detect divergences. It is secondary to the price action.

 

once i was satisfied with that I started using wolfe waves , again they jump at me because i am primarily looking at the price chart.

 

The simpler your final system the better IMHO.

[joshdance 10]

I do not feel I have way to much stuff going on I am not going to use 3 vague rules.

...

See attachments for my overall setup before zooming in.

...

 

All the forum junkies who have not yet had any success at all read all of this garbage about systems and rules, and they write these intricate, long, detailed documents containing "rules" which are just a total waste of time only impede the learning process.

 

It's like going to a baseball game for the first time, sitting in the stands, and sitting there with your head in a baseball rule book memorizing all the rules, and thinking you understand how the game is played. Maybe you should get your head up out of the book, and WATCH the baseball game that is being played right in front of you.

 

It's funny that you say "I am not going to use 3 vague rules" while instead you have 20 vague rules. You actually have no rules except for the section "Exit Rules," all of which are actually specific (note: not necessarily good or bad, just specific).

 

You are looking at 9 markets, multiple time frames. Drop them all except for one market, and limit it to 3 time frame charts (2 would be better). And unless you are a long term swing trader or investor, and do not mind getting screwed by bucket shop forex brokers, you should get your butt out of spot forex ASAP and into a real centralized exchange and instead, trade currency futures.

 

My advice (since you asked for advice and feedback) is the same I gave someone here:

http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/e-mini-futures-trading-laboratory/11074-advice-day-trading-es-futures-4.html#post131797

[pipsaholic 10]

looks to me like you are over analysing. My experience is that the simpler the better. Ive been down that road trying to use different methods to get confirmation. All it did was give me a headache, confusion and bad trades.Int he end i was neither winning or losing, Very frustrating after all the hard work.

 

I spent a few years and alot of money looking for the holy grail and eventually discovered Ihad it all the time. It was stiting there between my ears waiting for me to recognise it.

 

I ended clearing everything off my charts and spent a week just looking at patterns and drawing trend lines.

 

then I started sim trading the patterns. When i was sattisfied that the patterns were jumping at me I added my indicator. The indicator is only there to act as confirmation or to detect divergences. It is secondary to the price action.

 

once i was satisfied with that I started using wolfe waves , again they jump at me because i am primarily looking at the price chart.

 

The simpler your final system the better IMHO.

 

Great advice however I do feel that my plan is simple yes it has alot of steps on it but if as some say only follow 1 or 2 rules to enter a trade its like saying play baseball only if you know how to use a ball and bat no use using your speed, intelligence, rules of the game etc.

 

I heard some top experts saying if you have more things on your chart than S&R and trendlines your over complicating your system which I find unbeliveable. I dont believe huge banks and instituations use only those to make millions I have seen their setups and they have technical indicators and lots of rules in place.

 

So, what would you advise me to take off my plan?

 

All the forum junkies who have not yet had any success at all read all of this garbage about systems and rules, and they write these intricate, long, detailed documents containing "rules" which are just a total waste of time only impede the learning process.

 

It's like going to a baseball game for the first time, sitting in the stands, and sitting there with your head in a baseball rule book memorizing all the rules, and thinking you understand how the game is played. Maybe you should get your head up out of the book, and WATCH the baseball game that is being played right in front of you.

 

It's funny that you say "I am not going to use 3 vague rules" while instead you have 20 vague rules. You actually have no rules except for the section "Exit Rules," all of which are actually specific (note: not necessarily good or bad, just specific).

 

You are looking at 9 markets, multiple time frames. Drop them all except for one market, and limit it to 3 time frame charts (2 would be better). And unless you are a long term swing trader or investor, and do not mind getting screwed by bucket shop forex brokers, you should get your butt out of spot forex ASAP and into a real centralized exchange and instead, trade currency futures.

 

My advice (since you asked for advice and feedback) is the same I gave someone here:

http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/e-mini-futures-trading-laboratory/11074-advice-day-trading-es-futures-4.html#post131797

 

I disagree that looking at 9 markets is bad for a newbie I was always told to specialise in 1 currency pair while others had clearer trends and setups and even if not trading you learn a heck of a lot its like watching 1 baseball game which is boring compare to 9 top league games.

 

Why would currency futures be any better it still uses the same concept.

[joshdance 10]

Great advice however I do feel that my plan is simple yes it has alot of steps on it but if as some say only follow 1 or 2 rules to enter a trade its like saying play baseball only if you know how to use a ball and bat no use using your speed, intelligence, rules of the game etc.

 

A more apt baseball analogy for your methodology is that of a batter focusing on the runners on base, the left fielder, the lights above, an airplane flying overhead, the vendor selling peanuts, and the pitcher all at the same time, with no particular focus to any one of them. Sure, he needs to know strategy, such as what the probability is of the pitcher throwing the ball inside, outside, etc., based on a number of factors, such as the current count, inning of the game, score of the game, and etc.. But while these things may be quite important, the real important thing for him is to keep his eye on the damn ball and respond accordingly. Your eyes are on so many things, that you can't describe in a relatively simple paragraph what you're even trying to do. Or can you?

 

I heard some top experts saying if you have more things on your chart than S&R and trendlines your over complicating your system which I find unbeliveable. I dont believe huge banks and instituations use only those to make millions I have seen their setups and they have technical indicators and lots of rules in place.

 

The banks also hire programmers and pay them $200,000 a year to write incredibly complicated software that will make sub-millisecond trade decisions; they co-locate their servers at the exchange at enormous cost, and they have millions of dollars worth of transactions per day. Do you think you should make it your goal to do the same? My point, if it's not clear, is that you are not a huge bank or institution, and you do not play by the same rules that they do. You cannot, and attempting to do what they do simply does not make sense, because you are not them. I'm not telling you that their strategies will not work for you; but what I am telling you is that trying to mimic them will no more make you successful than pretending to be Harrison Ford will make you a successful actor.

 

 

I disagree that looking at 9 markets is bad for a newbie I was always told to specialise in 1 currency pair while others had clearer trends and setups and even if not trading you learn a heck of a lot its like watching 1 baseball game which is boring compare to 9 top league games.

 

Sure, and after you watched 9 baseball games you couldn't remember who was playing who, what the score was for any game, or any other details probably. And you certainly couldn't describe the mood of any one game in particular; you couldn't describe if the score was really reflective of how the game was played. What was the sentiment for the game--was it a close, competitive game, even if the score does not say so? Who really was the best team for most of the game? These types of details are things you cannot see when you are distracted by 9 markets, or even 2 or 3. All you see are price bars and lines on the chart. You have no sense of market sentiment when you are distracted by so many of them. You want a cut-and-dried solution, something which says "do this or that" ... you want no ambiguity, no uncertainty--you want to be able to take one glance at the score in the game (the price of the instrument, if the analogy is not clear) and know what to do. But this is not how it works. The market is rarely clear and cut-and-dried. But this is what people want--to not have to deal with uncertainty. Learn one market, get to know it, learn how it moves. You're trying to date 9 girls at once, and none of them are putting out for you, because you don't know any of them well enough intimately. Make one of them your steady girl, and ditch the rest.

 

Why would currency futures be any better it still uses the same concept.

 

I will answer your question with a question: why is it that in the attached screen shot, four different brokers offer four different set of quotes? Another way of asking this is: what is the price of GBP/USD at some given time? Would like to hear your answer.

[MCM 10]

Hi,

 

I am looking for some advice from some more experienced trader to improve on my trading system/rules. I have removed a lot of indicators from my system and I am designing my own based on the past 9 months experience in learning and experimenting.

 

Please review and add or take away what you feel may benefit my system.

 

Please see attachment .doc

 

Were you really looking for advice? Or someone to pat you on the back and say "great system - thanks for posting - I am going to trade the exact same way". Since posting - you have argued with each person who offered a suggestion (except those ones which wouldn't truly change your "system" - changing verbiage to first person. Even then - you argued on where you were going to put that advice. You have listened to experts saying "dont overcomplicate" your system - but you don't believe them. (Why listen?). You don't want to concentrate on watching 1 currency pair - because watching 9 seems less boring. Are you hear to entertain yourself or make money? Do pro coaches in football (since the sports analogies are flowing in this post) show 9 different game tapes at once to their players during Monday and Tuesday tape review? Tell me with great intimacy the turning points and price action of your favorite currency pair from last Wednesday. Can't do it? I would venture that the top traders who post around here could give you a play by play on their favorite instrument - to ridiculous detail.

 

So...let me offer this to you.

 

Your system looks great (that is what you wanted to hear - correct?). Trade it. Spend only capital you can afford to lose. Re read this post in 6 months. That is my advice.

 

Cheers

[cfrn 10]

Between the rules and advice your head must be spinning and stomach churning.

 

All the indicators in the world can't predict what's going to happen next. (I know because I'm a vendor) The good news is you don't need to know what's going to happen next in order to be profitable over the long haul.

 

Try some simple elegance for a week. Pick a time frame. Any time frame.

3 min / 30 min / 300 tick (it really doesn't matter)

 

Whatever time frame you settle on create a second chart 3 time frames larger.

9 min / 90 min / 900 tick (again it really doesn't matter)

 

Plop a 50 period MA on the chart, or a 55, or an 89 (it really doesn't matter)

 

When price is above the MA on the larger time frame, buy a pullback to the MA on the smaller time frame.

 

When price is below the MA on the larger time frame, sell pullbacks to the MA on the smaller time frame.

 

I know this sounds elementary. Ridiculous even. That's the beauty of it.

 

Trade this next to all the other stuff for a week, and see which is more profitable.

 

BTW - this isn't to say this method is some great method, this is only to say this is one of the most basic methods you can create. I think you'll be surprised at the results of this humble little trade at the end of the week. It's easy to follow, won't make your head hurt, it's extremely easy to manage your risk, and your entries are defined to the tick.

 

No matter how simple or sophisticated your method, the main point is you can never know (with certainty) what will happen next. Take something with a definable edge, like the little trade above, apply it regularly, and enjoy your work.

 

Trading's not easy, but it CAN be simple.

 

Good Trading and a Happy New Year!

[pipsaholic 10]

A more apt baseball analogy for your methodology is that of a batter focusing on the runners on base, the left fielder, the lights above, an airplane flying overhead, the vendor selling peanuts, and the pitcher all at the same time, with no particular focus to any one of them. Sure, he needs to know strategy, such as what the probability is of the pitcher throwing the ball inside, outside, etc., based on a number of factors, such as the current count, inning of the game, score of the game, and etc.. But while these things may be quite important, the real important thing for him is to keep his eye on the damn ball and respond accordingly. Your eyes are on so many things, that you can't describe in a relatively simple paragraph what you're even trying to do. Or can you?

 

 

 

The banks also hire programmers and pay them $200,000 a year to write incredibly complicated software that will make sub-millisecond trade decisions; they co-locate their servers at the exchange at enormous cost, and they have millions of dollars’ worth of transactions per day. Do you think you should make it your goal to do the same? My point, if it's not clear, is that you are not a huge bank or institution, and you do not play by the same rules that they do. You cannot, and attempting to do what they do simply does not make sense, because you are not them. I'm not telling you that their strategies will not work for you; but what I am telling you is that trying to mimic them will no more make you successful than pretending to be Harrison Ford will make you a successful actor.

 

 

 

 

Sure, and after you watched 9 baseball games you couldn't remember who was playing who, what the score was for any game, or any other details probably. And you certainly couldn't describe the mood of any one game in particular; you couldn't describe if the score was really reflective of how the game was played. What was the sentiment for the game--was it a close, competitive game, even if the score does not say so? Who really was the best team for most of the game? These types of details are things you cannot see when you are distracted by 9 markets, or even 2 or 3. All you see are price bars and lines on the chart. You have no sense of market sentiment when you are distracted by so many of them. You want a cut-and-dried solution, something which says "do this or that" ... you want no ambiguity, no uncertainty--you want to be able to take one glance at the score in the game (the price of the instrument, if the analogy is not clear) and know what to do. But this is not how it works. The market is rarely clear and cut-and-dried. But this is what people want--to not have to deal with uncertainty. Learn one market, get to know it, learn how it moves. You're trying to date 9 girls at once, and none of them are putting out for you, because you don't know any of them well enough intimately. Make one of them your steady girl, and ditch the rest.

 

 

 

I will answer your question with a question: why is it that in the attached screen shot, four different brokers offer four different set of quotes? Another way of asking this is: what is the price of GBP/USD at some given time? Would like to hear your answer.

 

I feel you’re getting the wrong impression by my rules. Yes, it’s impossible to get an eye on 100 things either on a baseball field or a chart however, I do not construct my charts in the way you think I take it step by step ruling out or confirming each one like a checklist. Everyone says trading is so simple like you only need a moving average crossover and MACD to point up/down and that’s your system which is a myth. Yes, it works sometimes as random entries work sometimes, however over the longer period your drawdown will be large. We retailers do have to not act and use the exact same tools as the big banks yes they are more software, money, experienced traders, however don’t the corner shop need to know the prices of the big stores in order to come in line with prices at their own store? If they continue to increase their prices no one will come and we know where they will go. Traders who know where the smart and dumb money is are more successful than those who don’t.

 

The thing is you have to have a system which filters out the good/bad trades according to your plan, mm and risk profile. If that means scanning markets which majority of moderate and experienced traders do. I have been using 1 or 2 cross pairs and was getting nowhere and now I have opened myself up to 28 cross pairs and the opportunities are a lot more yes they are bad trades in their as well. I think you got me wrong that I want a cut and dried solution I am not trying to be 110% correct on all my points but trying to confirm at least 3 or more points in order to trade.

 

So, what makes you sure that the futures market is no different in those prices? Yes, it’s less competition but those prices are wild imo I only trade between 0.7 – 3.5 pip variable spreads on my pairs and that gets me 12 cross pairs.

 

 

Were you really looking for advice? Or someone to pat you on the back and say "great system - thanks for posting - I am going to trade the exact same way". Since posting - you have argued with each person who offered a suggestion (except those ones which wouldn't truly change your "system" - changing verbiage to first person. Even then - you argued on where you were going to put that advice. You have listened to experts saying "dont overcomplicate" your system - but you don't believe them. (Why listen?). You don't want to concentrate on watching 1 currency pair - because watching 9 seems less boring. Are you hear to entertain yourself or make money? Do pro coaches in football (since the sports analogies are flowing in this post) show 9 different game tapes at once to their players during Monday and Tuesday tape review? Tell me with great intimacy the turning points and price action of your favorite currency pair from last Wednesday. Can't do it? I would venture that the top traders who post around here could give you a play by play on their favorite instrument - to ridiculous detail.

 

So...let me offer this to you.

 

Your system looks great (that is what you wanted to hear - correct?). Trade it. Spend only capital you can afford to lose. Re read this post in 6 months. That is my advice.

 

Cheers

 

Yes, I am looking for advice and some have given advice I have taken it on board, but nothing strong to suggest I should amend xyz rather the majority have citizen my plan and 1 member not on this forum told me to burn it and join his live trade room of unsuccessful traders. I don’t care what others think about my system they can use it all they like or not in fact I advise them not to as it may not be suited to their personality. Well, the major turning point last Wednesday 21st at 10am BST on the EUR/USD was 1.303 made a huge bearish pin bar for price to drop for the rest of the day.

 

My question to you is what apart from looking at 1 or 2 pairs would you take out of my plan.

 

 

Between the rules and advice your head must be spinning and stomach churning.

 

All the indicators in the world can't predict what's going to happen next. (I know because I'm a vendor) The good news is you don't need to know what's going to happen next in order to be profitable over the long haul.

 

Try some simple elegance for a week. Pick a time frame. Any time frame.

3 min / 30 min / 300 tick (it really doesn't matter)

 

Whatever time frame you settle on create a second chart 3 time frames larger.

9 min / 90 min / 900 tick (again it really doesn't matter)

 

Plop a 50 period MA on the chart, or a 55, or an 89 (it really doesn't matter)

 

When price is above the MA on the larger time frame, buy a pullback to the MA on the smaller time frame.

 

When price is below the MA on the larger time frame, sell pullbacks to the MA on the smaller time frame.

 

I know this sounds elementary. Ridiculous even. That's the beauty of it.

 

Trade this next to all the other stuff for a week, and see which is more profitable.

 

BTW - this isn't to say this method is some great method, this is only to say this is one of the most basic methods you can create. I think you'll be surprised at the results of this humble little trade at the end of the week. It's easy to follow, won't make your head hurt, it's extremely easy to manage your risk, and your entries are defined to the tick.

 

No matter how simple or sophisticated your method, the main point is you can never know (with certainty) what will happen next. Take something with a definable edge, like the little trade above, apply it regularly, and enjoy your work.

 

Trading's not easy, but it CAN be simple.

 

Good Trading and a Happy New Year!

 

This is a great post and should be a model for others as an example. The system you mentioned may work but I find it hard to accept it is that simple wouldn’t 95% of retailers be making bucket loads if it was like that? What about market structure, trends looking and past trend lines etc. you seem to miss all this out where the experts as well as my own experience say these are a requirement.

 

Happy new year.

[wrbtrader 10]

...This is a great post and should be a model for others as an example. The system you mentioned may work but I find it hard to accept it is that simple wouldn’t 95% of retailers be making bucket loads if it was like that? What about market structure, trends looking and past trend lines etc. you seem to miss all this out where the experts as well as my own experience say these are a requirement.

 

Happy new year.

 

I think you forgot that most "retail traders" refuse to follow advice and only want to hear what correlates with their own assumptions or theories. Simply, they really didn't want advice...they wanted confirmation to what they are thinking about involving how to approach trading even if they are struggling or losing money.

 

Therefore, here's good recommendations to you...

 

1) Stop asking for advice and its time for you to take it to the next step.

 

2) Trade your method with real money for a few months.

 

3) If it doesn't work (your not profitable)...you can always return back here and be specific in stating what aspect of your method that you "think" is the problem and you can then ask for help with that specific problem.

 

The above will be more useful than posting your trade method as you did in this thread and asking for others to tell you what's wrong with it as if you didn't know but in reality its now obvious that you specifically do know what's wrong with it and the advice so far have not given you answers to the specific problem in your trade methods (plural).

[joshdance 10]

The thing is you have to have a system which filters out the good/bad trades according to your plan, mm and risk profile. If that means scanning markets which majority of moderate and experienced traders do. I have been using 1 or 2 cross pairs and was getting nowhere and now I have opened myself up to 28 cross pairs and the opportunities are a lot more yes they are bad trades in their as well.

 

Wow, it sounds like you have it all figured out.

 

 

So, what makes you sure that the futures market is no different in those prices? Yes, it’s less competition but those prices are wild imo I only trade between 0.7 – 3.5 pip variable spreads on my pairs and that gets me 12 cross pairs.

 

Again, you seem to have a perfect understanding of this, even though you have no clue what you're talking about. Life is too short to try to help people like you who ask questions but have no real desire to learn.

[4ME2Learn 10]

Hi,

 

I am looking for some advice from some more experienced trader to improve on my trading system/rules. I have removed a lot of indicators from my system and I am designing my own based on the past 9 months experience in learning and experimenting.

 

Please review and add or take away what you feel may benefit my system.

 

Please see attachment .doc

 

If there is someone that can help I will be greatfull as well. For 6 weeks I've done 220 trades on the DEMO account with my system and lost only on 17 trades. I went to "LIVE" trading with the same system and did 70 trades with 64 LOSSES. How do you explain that????

[joshdance 10]

If there is someone that can help I will be greatfull as well. For 6 weeks I've done 220 trades on the DEMO account with my system and lost only on 17 trades. I went to "LIVE" trading with the same system and did 70 trades with 64 LOSSES. How do you explain that????

 

Possibilities:

 

1) You traded differently because it was real money

2) The market was different enough during the period you were live that it proved your system only works in certain environments

3) When trading live you get actual slippage, bad fills, and all the other crap that makes trading with real money difficult

[cfrn 10]

It is almost statistically impossible for there to be that great a divergence between the demo and live trading. My guess, along with what Josh offered is this -

 

Although you think you used the same system - you didn't.

 

Review not the system, nor the market, review the trader.

 

What did YOU do differently?

 

There lies your answer.

[4ME2Learn 10]

thanks for the info. I will do a backtest on my own system and try to pick up what I did wrong or different.

[joshdance 10]

thanks for the info. I will do a backtest on my own system and try to pick up what I did wrong or different.

 

 

What is the basic concept of the methodology you are trying to trade, and on what market? What days were you live?

[pipsaholic 10]

Its a trend based system with hourly setups on the major pairs. I am a swinger.

[4ME2Learn 10]

What is the basic concept of the methodology you are trying to trade, and on what market? What days were you live?

 

Hi Joshdance. I am using a MA fantail with a brake-out indicator on M5 with the triggers on M1. I use the M15 for trend direction.

[4ME2Learn 10]

Its a trend based system with hourly setups on the major pairs. I am a swinger.

 

Hi pipsaholic. It is a MA fantail with breake-out indicator. I use the M5 for trading and the M1 for triggers. The M15 is my trend. I only use EURUSD.

[pipsaholic 10]

It looks pretty but I am a price action based trader I hardly use any indicators.

[joshdance 10]

Hi pipsaholic. It is a MA fantail with breake-out indicator. I use the M5 for trading and the M1 for triggers. The M15 is my trend. I only use EURUSD.

 

I have also tried GMMAs in the past; hope it works for you.

[RealDemo 10]

It looks pretty but I am a price action based trader I hardly use any indicators.

 

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