Catapult Strategy Journal

Hi Fellow traders.

Here’s is a strategy that Daxter1962 brought to my attention. I made an initial video test which was uploaded to my Slingshot revisited journal.

All I have done is give it a name (Catapult) & applied very simple rules to keep the back testing as simple as possible. I proceeded to test the EURUSD from 2001 to end 2002 which made profit :slight_smile:

The results got me excited. I then continued to test EURUSD 2003 till end 2003. Again I was extremely impressed. In fact this is performing above average than what I would expect. The excitement is building rapidly.

I have paused only to make this journal, upload my video data & to keep everyone up to date from this day forth.

I will now take this strategy extremely serious & shall spend the next few weeks/months back testing every spare moment I get. If the results prove successful then I shall live test this too.

This may seem early days, but call this traders instinct. This could be the one to diversify the Slingshot strategy. All will be revealed slowly with each back test video I complete.

All Catapult video’s will be unlisted on youtube so only you babypipers can watch from this thread. This is until its proven long term. I don’t want to get my hopes up or anyone else’s until all the back testing data is complete which can be cross referenced against the Slingshot strategy.

[B]The rules:[/B]
Setup bar must close 75% or more of its entire range.
Setup bar range must be larger than the previous bars range.
Setup bar must close above/below previous bar high/low depending on trade direction.

Entry criteria:
Entry bar is one time frame lower than setup bar time frame.
Entry bar must close above/below setup bar high/low depending on trade direction.

Stop is placed 50% between setup bars open & close.
Target is the entire length high to low of the setup bar minus 15 pips.

Simple 100% rule based strategy.
I cant upload pics from this PC but all videos will be uploaded here whether back test or live forward testing.

Thanks to Daxter1962 for bringing this to my attention.

Here is a video explaining the simple rules with 2 examples
(May still be uploading so be patient)

[video=youtube_share;VSjIr995Aw4]http://youtu.be/VSjIr995Aw4[/video]

First back test of the EURUSD 2001 till end 2002.

[video=youtube_share;eTWusbSK9eo]http://youtu.be/eTWusbSK9eo[/video]

Back test EURUSD 2003. Another profitable year.
Starting balance for 2001 - $10000
Total winning balance since 2001 - $17847

[video=youtube_share;0r6I2tZKspE]http://youtu.be/0r6I2tZKspE[/video]

This was the start of the 3 year drawdown. EURUSD 2004 Down to 86% profit.
I have completed up to end 2009 with a positive 228% profit. All will be uploaded when I have more time.

[video=youtube_share;xFFjB8FGq90]http://youtu.be/xFFjB8FGq90[/video]

EURUSD 2005 Profit down to 32%
[video=youtube_share;aEehRMrFNd8]http://youtu.be/aEehRMrFNd8[/video]

After testing till 2009 with a positive 228% on the balance (based on 1 lot size) I am confident to live test this strategy.

I have started this account from $100 using the same 11 pairs I trade the slingshot strategy.
Due to the low trade count per year, I will back test the daily/240 combo to see if the results are also positive after 100 trades. If so, then I will add the daily/240 combo to the live account test as well. This will diversify & smooth the yearly profit curve.

Be patient this may still be processing
[video=youtube_share;V_UlEf5j73Y]http://youtu.be/V_UlEf5j73Y[/video]

EURUSD 2006 BACK TEST - Profit down to minus 17% - Balance $9135 from original $10000 back in 2001.

[video=youtube_share;H8VMcdxbGqo]http://youtu.be/H8VMcdxbGqo[/video]

Don’t worry it gets better by the end of 2009. Think long term diversification (many pairs & time frames). This has potential.

EURUSD 2007 - back up to 15% profit. Balance $10700.

[video=youtube_share;8FQUVkCdvVs]http://youtu.be/8FQUVkCdvVs[/video]

EURUSD 2008 - massive increase to 192% profit. Balance $19600

[video=youtube_share;4z1UA4i_Vv4]http://youtu.be/4z1UA4i_Vv4[/video]

EURUSD 2009 228% Profit balance $21400

[video=youtube_share;HMnJ212w1GA]http://youtu.be/HMnJ212w1GA[/video]

It does look promising. I like the idea of 100% mechanical as well, makes it an ideal candidate for automation. If only MT4 could do multi-timeframe backtests it could save you a ton of work.

Since its running on a weekly you couldnt have had an awful lot of trades. Do you mind posting some stats as well as the videos. I think for the 200+% to have any meaning people will need to know stuff like:
Number of trades over what period of time.
Win/loss ratio
highest streaks (win/loss)
risk per trade (or if fixed lots average approximate risk)

Also have you looked at any other instruments or though about different timeframes (such as 4hr/1hr)?

Hi Mata Nui
I always post my account history at the end of the video’s with how many trades taken that year. All win/loss are shown on account history. The percentage is number of pips win/loss ration based on 1 lot size per pip. I use 0.5 lot size to with stand a period of drawdown then double percentage to keep in line with the Slingshot data. I know the risk is fairly high around 5 to 10% per trade but I want to see if a strategy survives this higher risk on the long run. This is exactly the same way I test & trade the Slingshot strategy. If you wanted to work out an exact trade %, then results would be completely different. I just want to know if this strategy makes more pips than it looses.
I have more video’s made & will be uploaded to complete the EURUSD test with all account results shown. It totals over 70+ trades with less than half winners. What really made the profits was the crash in 2008. The remainder years were pretty much 1 step forward 2 steps backwards.
I did an initial test with the Daily/240 & could not get out of the red for 78 trades. Therefor this strategy has not shown promise with Daily as the larger time frame.

My conclusion so far is this strategy works well in volatile market conditions (like the collapse in 2008). I will have to do more tests to draw a final conclusion, but it does seem to me that more filters need to be added to reduce losses during normal market conditions. More on this later.

Catapult EURUSD Weekly 2010 236% profit balance $21800

Catapult EURUSD Weekly 2010 236% profit balance $21800 - YouTube