good call, thought it was looking close for a bit. I had my stop a few pips lower, was less than 1:1 R;R but got some pips out of it.
SanMiguel
I know… phew thought there for a minute would be eating humble pie! I too took another look at that stop. Decided an arbitory 25 pips might be a little simplistic so adusted it down a few more pips to the last lowest candlewick as I usually do. 
Mine worked out at a 1:1 R/R … 30 TP/ 31 SL.
I would be tempted to take a short off the middle 20period bollinger band but weary of that 4hr spinning top.
now I know why you confuse me with so many different MAs, you keep changeing them based on the price action. 
I’m short at 1.6584, why ? because it’s 1400 gmt and price always drops at that time of day
ok a better reason 15m spinning top on upper bollinger and bear candle in progress. only up 3 pips so far though 
may close it out quickly if it doesnt start looking better
MAs are pointed up so what to do?
SanMiguel
I’m already on it… Shorted that last move up. Hovering around the 15 pips up. Will close out ig goes to break even.
R Carter
Good call. Well done.
I didn’t take that trade but I was following it.
I thought that initial 25 pips stop of yours looked a bit “casual”. 
Maybe we can add to this but set up a couple of templates for:
A:
1hr: 2/4LWMA with a 20 period bollinger band
15 min: 7/14 LWMA with a 13 period bollinger band
B:
1hr: 5/8 SMA with a 20 bollinger
15min: 5/8 SMA with a 13 bollinger
C:
1hr: 9 LWMA & 9 SMA
Not sure if it’s correct but what I’m looking for with these options is to see what price is respecting. I’m treating the MAs and the bollinger bands exactly like support or resistance. It sounds like I’m fitting the indicator to the price rather than the other way round but you can’t be too rigid with MAs because of changing conditions I guess.
However, I also try to keep an eye on the chart above and below to get a 3D view of price movement. So, 1hr is the signal but cross checked with the 15min and 4hr charts.
SanMiguel
I like the idea of keeping open a 15, 1h and 4h chart with Bollinger bands and ma’s of your choosing. Personally, I like to have fast and slower ma’s on the same chart. On my 1h i’m currently using 5 LWMA, 5 SMA and 7 SMA. But like all things its personal choice and trial and error to find what your comfortable with. When all’s said and done with this system on the longer charts were only looking for consistant average pips out of a bigger move.
Could yourself or Mr Carter advise/suggest under which market conditions A, B and C should be used under?
I’m not necessarily after hard and fast rules but I think its helpful especially in Robert’s case to have a pro’s perspective of the whys and wherefores to help newbies like myself understand the thought process
TALOND
Trading against the MA’s again… [I]‘Ye of little faith’[/I]. :D:D:D
well I did close that out about breakeven, now long on the 1h
Not sure how reliable this is but for what its worth… I use metatrader for my charting. I’ve noticed on the 15m chart that when I display the tick volume data. when price candles start touching the volume data that’s generally oversold and look for it to start going up. Today is a good example, tripple bottom extending down into the volume lines now it’s headed back up.
RED EAR
Most days are ok to trade this system. Its rare for the market not to move at least 50 pips. Friday was a typically frustrating day as an example of how ma trading doesn’t always pan out. Price was bouncing all over 5m chart in no particular direction. If you were on the 1h chart or 4h chart. This was of no particular importance as price didn’t actually move significantly either way… but [B]really[/B] frustrating! :mad:
The longer charts are in my opinion always more reliable but can require a bigger initial stop. You can get around this by halving your usual trade size. So say a 50 pip stop would only really equal a normal trade size 25 pip stop. The longer charts are also good for people who actually have a ‘real job’. In that you can wait for a good set up and enter safe in the knowledge that you can come back to the trade say ever hour or so? The only caveat is not to trade high impact news. MA’s often cant keep up!
What volume indicator to you use? The reason I ask is that most forex volume indicators are that of the broker’s volume, which is massively separate to that of the actual forex market. I think some sites were looking at providing actual forex volume but not sure how close they are to this. It’s still a good guide I guess if you are with a major broker.
Thanks Robert
With so many ma’s, lwmas and timeframes in this thread I forget which is the system now
PS Its Will by the way - if I ever get to the stage where I can give up my ‘real job’, I’ll buy you a tie’s worth of beer!
true they are specific to the broker’s tick data, (I’m using Alpari demo while at my day job) However if you look at the tick volume of different brokers you will see that they are all similiar with peaks and valleys matching the time of day. High volume during London and NY and low volume during the Asian for example. I think that any broker with enough volume will have a statistically representative sample of volume so they should all be close if not exact.
see the pic.
also in this pic ‘Robert’ the top dotted line is my buy. the MAs were pointed up in the right direction, now a big down candle put’s me in the hole. What did I do wrong there? That also corresponds to a pivot point s1 it hit that and bounced back down so I guess that answers my own question.
Regarding the Bollinger bounce counter trend strategy, would using Heikin Ashi candles be feasible?
From what I’ve read, I understand they are a lagging indicator but they would help avoid some of the whipsaws which you get using simply candlesticks changing colour (and possibly changing back to the original colour)
RED EAR
Heikin-Ashi? Don’t know the guy… wouldn’t speak to him if I did. :D:D
I dont know of too many platform providers who offer Heikin-Ashi (‘average bar’ candlesticks in Japanese). If youve got them, give them a try and let us know.
I know of people who use the average price line. Thats price line instead of candlesticks, with the upper and lower line removed. So in effect your trading the average price line with ma. [I]The average of the average price movement[/I].
IBFX have the indicator. Attached is a recent 15M chart on the GU.
Robert - to your trained pro eye and on first impressions without giving it too much thought does it look workable?
To my untrained, newbie eye it seems OK and looks to work well where there are long wicks outside the band…
RED EAR
I don’t have experience using them. But on first glance there appears to be a different candle colour and wicking but at the same hi/low points re ‘conventional’ candlesticks. Whether that would add anyting to your decision making process, I hesitate to venture a guess?