I’ll try posting a few next week
no snacks for me though, I’ve had too many.
should have stuck to the plan. set up a buy at yesterday’s high and it triggered and won. But the sell was set up under the Asian range and that was a loss. 1:1 rr this time so it was a break even day.
Talon you could therefore create an EA that sets off a warning that price has opened above or below the prior days Hi and Low or is there one available already I would think there maybe? Another warning could be a move beyond close and open?
It’s such an obvious idea that there probably is already an EA. I just haven’t looked for one.
if you look for one you will find many, trust me.
I don’t trust EAs though, Every time I test one it always seems to make errors in it’s trading. They open and close trades when they are not supposed to according to the trading strategy. At least that’s been my experience with them.
I’m still using Oanda anyway and can’t use EAs on their platform.
edit:
Winner again last night. That’s 90 pips so far this week. I’m doing 30pip take and stop. I’m experimenting with multiple lots now.
two orders at the same price so they get triggered together. one has a TP of 30 and SL of 30, and one has a TP of 100 and a trailng stop of 30. So if price goes in my favor by 30 pips the first order will close in profit and the second order will be up 30 pips with a stop loss at break even and still going.
What do you think? sound like a good idea? I’ll try it for a while anyway.
Ya i have the same experience with EAs. And, that does sound like a good idea i may have to try that
May not be such a good idea after all.
I was trying to think of a way to take half position profit, move stop to break even and let the other half run without being in front of the monitor to do it manually.
Last night the order with the trailing stop got stopped out at 15pips loss due to a retrace before it got to break even.
the regular order hit the take profit for +30 so I ended up with +15 net.
Still made profit right? What’s wrong with that lol
yeah as long as it’s profit I can’t complain too much.
yep, profit is good. But I had a loss today. but that was my fault. Dumb mistake. I set my order in the wrong place. Not where the plan says to place it. That was just sloppy and careless. Won’t happen again.
Hola everyone,
I have been looking into this whole idea. Got some plots drawn in my MT4 for the daily, h4, h1, 15, and m5.
The thing that I see, at least if I want to not have bigger stop losses is to keep a close eye on the trade and get out if it goes south. I might miss some big trades, but I will limit losses and other chances will come along.
If the price is moving up fast, I am going to let it ride longer and move my stop up to cover some profit. If it is taking a long time to gain pips, I am going to cut out, taking the profit I can.
Have you guys been moving stops up at all? I have seen some swings in what the order reached versus how they retracted, so it might be an idea to consider.
Disclosure: I am entirely new to Forex (I come from trading stock options – an entirely different approach!) and so take everything I say with many grains of salt. 
Using my powers of Thread Necromancy, I proffer this bit of info should Talon or anyone else still be working with daily hi-lo. From another hi-lo thread which reported some back- and forward-tested success (eventually yielding an EA):
This is a pure “set and forget” system where trades are placed at the same time everyday. The option is also there for those inclined to monitor their positions, adjusting stop levels as profit targets are reached.
By setting multiple profit targets we are exercising money management, while aiming for 95 pips profit from a 50 pip move in price.
We will simply be placing orders 5 pips above the previous days HIGH and 5 pips below the previous days LOW. (Actually, it’s more like the previous 17hrs at 5pm EST.) Use a 30-pip stop loss for all orders. Orders are placed on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
EXECUTION:
1.) At 5pm EST open the 1hr chart (close of NY session, end of trading day) for GBPUSD (other pairs are also possible).
2.) Use the high and low of the previous 17hrs. For Mondays orders go back as far as 00:00 EST on Friday for high and low.
3.) Open a total of 6 PENDING orders (for each pair) including 3 BUY STOPS and 3 SELL STOPS that expire within 24hrs (I use 18hrs) as follows:
Buy/Long Orders:
i. #1 - Entry = HIGH+5pips, Take Profit=15pips, S/L=30pips
ii. #2 - Entry = HIGH+5pips, Take Profit=30pips, S/L=30pips
iii. #3 - Entry = HIGH+5pips, Take Profit=50pips, S/L=30pipsSell/Short Orders:
i. #1 - Entry = LOW-5pips, Take Profit=15pips, S/L=30pips
ii. #2 - Entry = LOW-5pips, Take Profit=30pips, S/L=30pips
iii. #3 - Entry = LOW-5pips, Take Profit=50pips, S/L=30pipsThat’s it.
Once you have placed your orders you are free to go and do something else with your day as this strategy does not require you to be monitoring the trades. Though, as already mentioned, to maximize results you may choose to adjust stop levels when profit targets are reached (which, by the way, is automatically done by the EA).
There can be four possible outcomes after either the long or short trades are triggered:
1.) All 3 profit targets are reached for a total of +95pips.
2.) The first 2 profit targets are reached (+45pips) and the remaining lot is stopped out (-30pips) leaving a total of +15pips.
3.) The first profit target is reached (+15pips) and the two remaining lots are stopped out for a total of -45pips.
4.) All 3 lots are stopped out for a total of -90pips. Additional to this is the variable outcomes of when both the long and short trades are triggered - should one not set the hi/lo sets as OCOs.
Also note that for those so inclined to monitor the trades, stop levels may be adjusted on remaining lot/s to protect already-attained profits. Trailing stops may also be used at your discretion. (These features are included in the EA.)
Please note that as a general rule of thumb you should not risk any more than 3% of your trading account on any one trade. Therefore, with this strategy the order size will need to be divided between the long and short orders (if OCO is not employed). The total potential loss on the long orders (90pips) will therefore add up to 3% of your trading account.
Alternatively, you could risk 3% of your trading capital on EACH order, totaling 9% of your trading capital being risked for the long trades. The same applies to the short orders.
Sounds like an interesting variation. I may give it a try. I found a similar thread on the ff forum.
You may have, in fact, found the very same thread on that forum.
Hey everyone,
Last week I decided I needed a new trading plan, because with my new job I won’t have time to analyze charts. The Daily Hi Lo breakout was the first method that came to mind, for its “set it and forget it” quality. I ran some Strategy Optimizations on different currency pairs, I thought I’d share my findings.
A few notes on my parameters, as they might differ from the OP:
- Days based on GMT
- Set it and forget it, not adjusting the SL when the trade goes favorably
[B][U]SL and TP need to be periodically adjusted[/U] [/B]
This is very profitable method (but you didn’t need to hear that from me:)). But there are long durations when the profitability of the method goes to practically zero, as shown below for the EURUSD, SL=11, TP=35, PipFilter=6 (Pipfilter:shift of the entry price above or below the previous day high or low, respectively).
What I have found is the Stoploss and Target profits need to be adjusted over time to change those flat areas to profitable ones. Determining new Stoploss and Target profit levels using the strategy tester, based on optimizing for profit and lowest draw down from the previous month, one can approximate the best SL and TP to use for the new month. Doing so does change these “flat” durations into profitable ones.
[B][U]Which currency pairs are the best?[/U][/B]
The EURUSD appears to be the best pair to trade using this method. It gives the lowest draw down, with a good Reward to Risk ratio (~4:1), and steady profits. I got a net of 90 pips this week, which is a nice start for implementing the strategy. The GBPUSD netted around the same. But there are other pairs that work just as well. Here is the data:
Pair SL/TP (Max Profit) Best SL/TP for Lowest DD & good Profits
GBPUSD 30/40 10/10
EURUSD 10/40 10/10
USDCAD 20/70 10/10
USDJPY 30/50 10/10
GBPJPY 10/60 10/20
EURJPY 10/100 10/10
There other SL/TP values that work to, whch make steady profits with less risk of drawn down and consecutive losses. But the EURUSD is all you really need. When one has enough equity, they can trade other pairs to compound the profits, in addition to increasing the number of lots traded based on MM principles.
[B][U]Reward to Risk Ratios Less that 1[/U][/B]
Optimizing to make “flat” months into profitable months usually gives SL values greater than the TP, thus a R:R < 1. In this case one can still trade it, and bare the sharp drops in equity following several consecutive wins, or just choose a pair with a R:R > 1. Pairs which gave R:R less than one are: USDCHF and AUDUSD. The NZDUSD was 60/90, which are big SL and TP values for my liking, but can be scaled down with lot size to lower risk.
I intend to trade the EURUSD for the month of July, and see how it goes.
Synergy
hey Synergistik take a look at post 538 the multiple lot entry idea. What do you think of that? Is there a way you could test that with your backtesting and see what it looks like in a graph?
Synergy,
GREAT post!
Thanks,
BK:)
Does anyone have a mq4 expert for this method.
I just started learning mq4 programming so I am being lazy and hopeful that I don’t have to start one from scratch.
I searched some of the online databases and couldn’t find this particular expert.
Synergy,
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Can you please share with us the process you use to optimize the SL and TP?
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What was the “pipfilter” Hi/Lo buffer? 5?
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Based on your optimization, what do you think about dividing the EU lot size into two trades of 10/40 and 10/10? I realize these two trades would cut the R/R ratio in half, but this would also benefit us with a free trade, once price moves 10 pips in our favor. A conservative approach that generates less profit but fewer losses (you would think). Please trash the idea if it warrants it!
BK