How to successfully swing trade the markets? (HAS Method)

[topchess]

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Before I continue, all indicators are not mine. I never created them, and I never created "MTF HAS method" or "MTF HAS indicators". I am not the author of the original method, all credits to the original owner of the method, and indicators.
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Now let us start,

I have always wondered how to pickup big moves in the market, until I found this indicator. So I am going to share how I use it, and how can you set it to your personality, and increase your profit.

Let me tell you why I think swing trading is more practical than intra-day, short-term and scalping.

Alright! Swing trading; while it may be using big stops, it is safer than hourly / intra-day trading for couple reasons in my view.

(a) increased profit and ability to ride big moves / trends
(b) trading with the trend always (even if I do a mistake, the market will correct it)
(c) less time viewing of charts and i do not have to monitor charts every hour
(d) i believe that anything less than 4-hr timeframe is a "joke".. too choppy
(e) i can't deny though that 1-hr charts are perfect for exits / re-enetering

So think of it this way first. What do we need to make big pips?
We need to ride big moves in the direction of the trend and secure as many pips as we can from that move.

This is going to be long, so we need to arrange stuff.

You need a MetaTrader platform and I recommend NF demo platform for analysis only.

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Installation
1. Download the attached .zip file
2. Extract the .zip file
3. Move SwingTrade template to metatrader_dir/templates
4. Move 4 TF HAS BAR.mq4, Heikin_Ashi_Smoothed.mq4 to metatrader_dir/experts/indicators/
5. Open a new chart and select SwingTrade template.

You should see something like this (attached).

If you want to have your unique template (MANUAL INSTALLATION)
Just copy the two indicatos and add them to your chart.

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MTF HAS BAR
This is the primary indicator. It will show you the trend in 4-consecutive timeframes starting from bottom to top.

Example: If you are opening 4hr chart. It will show you H4-D1-W1-MN1 trends in order from bottom to top.

Blue means bullish. Red means bearish. (Obviously)

SETTINGS
make sure that settings are 2, 6, 3, 2 in order

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Heikin_Ashi_Smoothed.mq4
A smoothed Heikin Ashi. This will be presented as candles on your chart windows. Just within your bar/candlestick. They take many shapes;

Long-legged, small body (slightly directional)
Short-legged, big body (strong direction)
No-leg (very strong direction)
Blue = bullish
Red = bearish

SETTINGS
make sure that settings are 2, 6, 3, 2 in order

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What did we do?
1. Decided to swing trade markets
2. Installed the required 2 indicators, settings are set to 2,6,3,2

We will always depend on the primary MTF HAS which shows trend for four time frames. However, the Heikin_Ashi_Smoothed candles are still important.. and they should stay in your chart window.

In next post, I will explain how I trade the market with these two indicators.

[topchess]

Because, I believe that a picture can explain thousand words, I will post charts with explainations on our newly set strategy.

[topchess]

Now let us look a little deeper in the indicator (MTF HAS BARS). Which contains of blue / red boxes. and let us put this as a headline:

The more timeframes that agree, the more probability this signal is valid / trend is strong.

Example
If we are watching 4-hr chart. If h4, d1, w1, mn1 are all bullish, it's a strong uptrend and vice versa.

You know even when three timeframes agree, it's likely to be good trade too. You will even find chances when 2 timeframes only agree. (more risky trade)

So how do ENTER or EXIT the market using this?!

[topchess]

Our main goal is to enter new moves in the trend, so we should wait the first timeframe changing color in agreement with main trend.

Let us say D1-W1-MN1 are bearish, but H4 is bullish..once H4 turns red (on the close of the first candle that closes red, we enter out short position)

[topchess]

This is the kind of method that needs practice, a lot of back watching, and a lot of discussion that can't be put together in one post. So please ask..

STOPS
Always open 3 or 4 parts (one position but divided into parts) Why? To lock up profit as the move goes with you. This is very important task. Stops are very challenging, and you can miss out good moves without using some sort of strategy.

It depends on the pair too, the targets can be calculated on ATR. or based on your own experience, 30 pip increment, 50 pip increment, it's up to you.

Please go forward and see how MTF HAS has been.. sometimes the daily candle is just changing colors. But entering on daily signal needs a huge stop. So wise step could be using 1-hr to exit in the proper time.

For more agressive traders, or traders who have much more time. You can use H1-H4-D1-W1 instead of H4-D1-W1-MN1 look, it's about the same. especially that H1 is good for exit / re-entering, but h1 is choppier. so its also up to you. I do not have time to monitor 1hr chart around the clock.

You can even use D1-W1-MN1 alone for long-term trading. It is up to you as long as you ride the main trend.

[topchess]

Recent example from EURCHF H4 Chart

This is a very recent example from EURCHF on the 4-hour chart @ 1.6730
The entry is valid because D1-W1-MN1 are all blue (bullish)




Go one timeframe forward and look at D1-W1-MN1
Interesting! D1- just turned blue from red and candle closed in bullish status. Might be early signal of strong acceleration behind us. Although at the beginning the candle is only a leg, no body, more evidence if we got a big body candle after that day.




So according to rules, you are up by 20 pips almost on such trade. and you have a few parts open. You should try to secure 50+ and let others run.

I also suggest risking no more than 1% of your total available units/cash per trade itself. So divide that 1% into 3 or 4.

I also suggest trading many pairs. After you secure 50+..you know the market can be tricky, you will see retraces within the move..it can even go below your entry again. Stoploss is challenging. Sometimes an entry can give you 1000+ pips but you also do not want to lose many pips. So If you secured 50+.. move the second part of your position to +10 or +15. If they are hit. Move stop to something like -20 so that you do not lose anything on this trade.

Anyway, you have to rest assured that some trading signals when taken probably can net you thousand pips at once. So you have to be disciplined and follow all moves in the direction of the trend. You can get there
Well, you can even use 1hr as an early indication of warning. You can use it to exit part of your trade or add to your position.

[shandy]

Hi Topchess,

Can we assume the signals in your thread "Intra-day and trade ideas on Pound/Yen" are from this system?

[ahefner33]

Hey TopChess.


Quick question. Whats the reasoning for the HA candles? Unless I miss something, its seems the signals come straight from the MTF HAS Bars.

Also, when I load your indicators and template, the MTF HAS on every chart shows all red (bearish) on all pairs even where the trend is clearly up?

AH

[topchess]

shandy, ofcourse not!

The MTF BARS indicators had a history causing some platform issues. So I suggest to add manually the Heikin_Ashi_Smoothed.mq4 alone. But this way, you will manually switch timeframes back and forward to see the trend.

The MTF BARS indicator (inside chart) is the same! But it saves time as it gives you instant view for 4-consecutive trends.

[topchess]

This is the indicator you need. Simply, if the above instructions cause problems in your platform, just download and use the indicator inside the attached zip file.

How to enter?

Usually, trend is bullish if all or 3 timeframes have blue body. I refer to 4h, d, w, month charts. (The best trend following tf's, because less than 4h is very choppy and can lead to several fakeouts.)

I do not believe that trading systems have to be complicated and you got to wait for 5 indicators at least to line up to enter a trade.

Actually, the only difference is that you will have to switch manually between 4h, d, w, mn to view the trend status.

But from experience, this indicator is enough if you have the required patience and discipline to trade markets.

Exit / Stops

Please refer to the above post about dividing your position. Make sure you leave one part at least that run until the end of the move.