Trading Strategy?

Hey Traders,
Can you help me out whats the best trading strategy for 30 minutes time frame? Thanks! :slight_smile:

I’m kind of tempted to ask what’s made you decide so firmly on the M30 time-frame before choosing a strategy :wink: but leaving that aside, for the moment …

Lots of people are going to have different advice for you, I predict. Be a bit careful of people promoting things (including themselves!). My opinion: I think you’re looking for a recommendation for a strategy that’s fairly straightforward to copy and try out, to get some experience in safely - that kind of thing? (Rather than something that depends on already having a lot of experience, and price-action analysis, and so on?). If so, I think it will be quite hard to find anything here that’s much better than the Ribbon System. Here it is: [B]301 Moved Permanently.

There’s a free PDF in the thread’s first post, which you can download and read before you try it (it’s not a huge PDF, and it’s very well-written), and if you ask questions about the system, in that thread, they’ll always be answered. :wink:

Thank you lexys for your always replied on my post, Yeah I’m looking for others experienced strategy that in safe to trade then I’m going to try it too if it works on me. I’d tried already the Price Action base I read in the forum and some research but sometimes it not works on me or maybe i gotta wrong in the perfect time to buy and sell.

Fair enough … I was wondering whether something like M10 or M15 time-frame might suit you, if (as I imagine) you have a few hours per day for trading, but it’s not really your full-time occupation. One problem with M30 time-frame or longer is that many/most “simple, straightforward, indicator-based systems” aren’t going to give quite enough trading opportunities on that basis. It’s true that such systems tend to be more reliable on longer-term than on shorter-term time-frames, though, so one perhaps wouldn’t want to trade them from [I][U]too[/U][/I]-fast charts.

Have a read of it, anyway, and see what you think? It’s entirely soundly based and sensible, anyway. :slight_smile:

(I can’t remember, now, whether he gives position-sizing advice in the PDF, but if he doesn’t, don’t hesitate to ask about that, if you want to, before trying it out.)

I’m reading it it right now and seems like this will help me a lot. I want you to be a friend lexys. seems you are a good person helping a lot of people.

With apologies, I’m way too anti-social for “social media” - I must be one of the [I]few[/I] people in this forum who’s never used Facebook at all. :8:

I understand lexys.

Hi RD and Lexy,
Personally, I think the ribbon method can be very useful - either as a stand-alone method or as a timing aid when overlaid on another method. For example, if entry/exit levels are based on price action then a ribbon crossover can help identify the right time to actually enter/exit.

As a standalone method, I personally prefer a little more backup than just the 6 SMA ribbon. In fact, this method is so versatile that one can apply a shift indicator in many different ways and combine various ribbons to design an infinite variety of combinations to suit the differing characteristics of different pairs and timeframes.

As an illustration, here are two variations for the same time span on the 1H EURUSD. One is very simple, based on 2 SMA ribbons whereas the other is more complex, based on slightly different ribbons and including RSI and daily pivot S/Rs. They identify the same moves over the same period but give a different perspective. The point is that the method, and the indicators it is applied to, is very versatile and creative.



This ribbon system has similarities to what I do with a 200 sma on a 1hr chart, but I am one of those “Keep it simple stupid” type of traders

Hi Dennis,
I admire your work and approach to markets. You have developed your method by concentrating on “price action” which almost by definition excludes use of various indicators. I fully agree with you that one should keep one’s charts as simple as possible and concentrate on the essential. It is no good just simply adding more and more indicators like decorations on a Christmas tree just so’s maybe one of them might “get it right”. My own principle is that my chart must “talk to me” as a whole and not as a collection of bits and pieces. All the individual elements must fit together to create one picture that tells all. This is the principle behind the development of the Ichimoku method.

The point in charting in any form is always to analyse relative price movement and position. Whether it is indicators, patterns, S/L levels, single candles, candle formations, etc, analysis always concerns where price is now compared with where it has been previously. Its only predictive validity, whatever charting method we use, is the consequences that have followed when similar situations have occured in the past.

Whilst KISS certainly is appropriate in avoiding an overload of superfluous and often contradicting indicators, it does not mean one should deprive oneself of additional indicators that act as “job aids” in analysing and/or confirming one’s opinion and/or identifying entry/exit timing and/or eliminating price “noise”. The objective of KISS is to eliminate clutter from the no. of indicators on one’s chart, but it is worth remembering that price itself produces a whole load of clutter and ambiguity as it meanders up and down, back and forth, and so on.

In your example, you only apply a 200 period MVA and that is fine - but, with all respect, using a single MA actually has nothing at all to do with the Ribbon method! The core principle in the Ribbon method is not the slope or crossing of one or more different MA’s, it is based on the use of two lines with identical periods but with one of them shifted forwards (or backwards) thus forming the ribbon. The crossing of this ribbon is what provides the "warning " that a change might be occuring.

The problem with MA’s in general is their sluggishness in responding unless they are very short term - but then short term MA’s give many false signals. Using a ribbon can provide a very responsive alert but without too many false signals (especially when combined with a “damper” such as your 200 MA line).

The other essential element in the Ribbon approach is the use of multiple TF’s such that signals on the shorter TF should always be considered with respect to the ribbon on the longer TF. Using this element is how false signals are often avoided.

In my opinion, the crossing of an appropriate ribbon (and not a crossing of 2 different MA’s) can help a lot with timing even with your kind of approach which avoids any excessive indicators. By way of example only, I applied a ribbon to the same chart extract that you posted above which I feel does give some good timing assistance when to enter (green rings) and exit (red rings) even though the actual trade entry decision is based on price action signals. This is intended entirely as an illustration and not in any way a criticism of your approach, nor a suggestion that you should adopt such an approach - it is not necessarily even the most appropriate ribbon for this instance, it is purely an illustration of how it can be overlaid on a price chart to provide assistance but without interfering with the core trading method being used. :slight_smile:

I guess it is a bit like buying a car. We all choose different models for various different reasons and preferences but, ultimately, the key objective is the same: to get to the intended destination, in the intended time and without crashes along the way. :slight_smile: