I see 6 reasons right here for a Long trade on gold on the probably imminent resolution of the $1360 level. 6 Reasons for a Long trade, on a MONTHLY chart.
Regarding the ETX Lot size thing…pfffft…no where on thier platform do they explain this…and even now that you have suggested I was using *650 leverage to make that trade, that still doesn’t explain why my target on a 2:1 rr trade, was less than half my projected Stop Order losses…
…will check it out again and paper trade with sensible amount…see if I can get my head around it.
Ummmnnn… If you click on an instrument and then right click on the instrument and then click on “Market Information” then you get the below!!! LOL!!!
Well: whether I agree with you or not re: where Gold may be going is beside the point i.e. you’ve certainly done your homework on that chart. Nice work actually.
Alright well given that chart: you’re obviously no novice at this. So that’s out of the way. Sorry: easy to make incorrect assumptions around these parts.
I’m busy uploading something for you to look at re: RSI for the sake of interest.
I use RSI to confirm Market Structure and to show divergences that may suggest that price structure isn’t being 100% honest about it’s future intentions. ‘Divergence’ is a good time to start hunting for reversal trades. ‘Hidden Divergence’ is a good sign of continuation trades…doesn’t really matter the time frame. Like all tools, and I tend to use very few, RSI is just another method of helping you get on the ride side of the road for any given trade…and like any other indicator, no any given single signal can be taken as gospel.
…also finding that the ETXTraderPro only lets me execute Market orders at the there and then given price…I am guessing with a full account that this won’t be the case?
Alright well that’s the very definition of a market order i.e. “now”!!! LOL!!!
But if you’re asking if you can place orders TO BE executed at a certain date and time in the future then no can do. But then again I’ve never seen that at any broker. You can place orders that are VALID up until a certain date and time (and if not executed they’re merely cancelled). I THINK TradeStation has Market On Close orders (but don’t quote me on that i.e. it’s been a while).
Not questioning your analysis. Just not sure about the RSI period given that it’s a monthly chart. Also would feel more comfortable myself if those divergences were around the 30 level and there was a failure swing low.
But then again: you didn’t start this thread to be coached on trading it would seem so no idea how we got to this point!!! LOL!!!
I have only ever really traded on crypto exchanges, with pretty simple trade algos.
i.e. Simple Market
Or Limit Buy/Sell orders.
On FXCM for example, I can look at a chart, pick a 61.8% retrace level on an otherwise trending market, set a Buy Order at whatever price the 61.8% retrace is at, then also set a Stop Loss at the bottom of the range, and a Sell Order at the price that I think the asset is likely to bounce back up to.
On FXCM, I can do this: leave the house, come home and find that my trade is all done and dusted whilst I was out. The ‘thing’ with FXCM, is that there Stop Loss order when executed, becomes a Limit Sell Order…not a market sell. More often than not, this will save the trader losing a few bob on the slippage of a market Stop Sell order…but there will always be that one time, where the market will tank through a Stop Limit Sell order, and not come back, and if trading with leverage, could totally blow up an account…this, I really do not like.
ON ETX Trader however. I can’t seem to choose a price level that I enter the market at…which means if I want to execute a trade at a certain level, then I have to sit and watch the market until it comes up or down to my level…this I also don’t like… if this is the only way of doing things on ETX TraderPro, then I fear they have set their platform up to exploit trader’s impulses. We all know the poor judgement and wild moves we are capable of pulling when we sit staring at 5 minute charts for too long.
When you open that order screen you have “Trade” and “Order” as headings. “Trade” is a market order to be executed immediately. Click on “Order” and you can place either limit sell or buy or stop sell or buy orders. And when placing an order you can set the stop (SL) and limit (TP) as well (either or both become orders once your entry order has been executed).
Here you go (below). Save us BOTH a lot of time!!! LOL!!!
Come to think of it: how did we end up here and on Gold!!! Didn’t we start out with Bitcoin trading somewhere else??? LOL!!! These two threads are doing my head in!!! LOL!!!
(And no and before I hear from the peanut gallery: I no longer work for Deltastock and I am merely a client at ETX and nothing more) (and just trying to help this dude out because it seems that brokers that accept Nigerian clients are not a dime a dozen or so it would seem).
I still have no idea what a ‘lot size’ is from that screenshot, or from when I do the same thing on my demo platform…
…have to say, this system seems very opaque to me, and I don’t think I am particularly slow on the uptake.
…Probably a good system from ETX’s point of view…good at getting Joe Blogg’s losing loads of money through not knowing wtf is going on.
…Just executed a BTC short on both the demo FXCM and ETX accounts (which I would never do on these CFD platforms on a live account, cos the spreads are HUGE, especially on ETX). I sold what the ETX TraderPro Trade ticket was telling me was “£1” of BTC. Immediately I was -$65, which was the spread on 1 BTC. Now that I can understand…“£1” of BTC somehow represents 1 actual Bitcoin.
However, when I short sold “£2” of gold yesterday, I was immediately -£48. Then when the trade got stopped at just $6 up the charts, I booked a -£138 loss…Response from their support has left me none the wiser…perhaps I should just go with what way the wind is blowing here…What was it Warren Buffet saying about never trading something u don’t understand?
…Got to say, FXCM platform is a hell of a lot clearer and more ‘welcoming’ than this ETX…
Hey listen. No offense but your posts are starting to confuse me. You present a chart with some pretty fancy analysis but for some reason or the other you don’t seem to have a clue when it comes to lot sizes, tick sizes, tick values, spreads, and whatever else. And slating a broker because of this isn’t fair. If there is one thing you can be sure of: ETX doesn’t need to fleece the likes of you or I out of a few insignificant (to them and based on our trade sizes) fees or losses. And they certainly don’t need to, nor do, resort to the usual stunts that are pulled by most brokers to try fleece you or I out of a few GBP. They’re a member of the London Stock Exchange and cater to professional traders and institutional traders and investors. And being able to ride those coattails is a privilege. Their branching out into the ever so wonderful world of retail is relatively new (hence MT4 now thrown into the mix which I cannot say delights me but it is what it is). Their proprietary platform exists to take a load off of the brokers and the dealers. Nothing more and nothing less. Hence (and as I noted somewhere else): no bells and whistles. This is for guys that would ordinarily pick up the phone and transact in trade sizes that your average retail trader can only dream of. And all of this aside: I sleep nights because i don’t have to worry about stop hunts, orders not being executed, artificially widened spreads, withdrawals, you get the picture I’m sure. Been trading with them for well over five years and not a single issue to date. So just some things to bear in mind once you’ve chosen a broker which, obviously, is a personal choice.
I’ve posted links to their training videos for the platform. Not much more I can do I don’t think and my work is possibly done here i.e. it’s not for me to provide support or training on the basics of a trading platform.
As for the rest and to be rather blunt (but do forgive me as I hardly know you obviously and can only form an opinion of what you’ve posted): I reckon you’re a bit gung ho about all of this. Saying that you KNOW where Gold is going for instance and with such conviction has gotten more than a few in trouble. Like these people that KNOW that Bitcoin is going to wherever by year end and beyond. Well. We’ll see. You could be right. You could be wrong. Not for me to say. And not information that’s relevant to me or my trading systems. But I wish you the best of luck.
I learned to trade from getting into Bitcoin I have never had to think about lot sizes, tick sizes, tick values. With crypto, there are units of crypto, which have Bid and Ask orders at certain prices, usually within 0.00x% of each other…spreads I now get…the spread is basically the brokers premium over the spot price of the underlying asset with whatever market they are using
…this is my first attempt at looking at cfd brokers but what can I say…whatever reports their are about the shenanigans that they like to pull, FXCM, their platform I understand. When I make a trade on their demo platform. I know how much I am selling, how much I am risking, how much margin I am using, how much I stand to make. i.e. all the things I really need to know about when making a trade. On ETX, the trade ticket tells me I am making a trade for 1 GBP or 2 GBP and what this GBP means (not pounds sterling, that is for sure), I have absolutely no idea. No where on their platform, do they explain what ‘lot sizes’ are for particular assets…or if this is explained, it certainly isn’t explained under the ‘Market Info’ tab you pointed out above…the information just isn’t there m8…perhaps certain elements of the platform (such as the ability to Set Limit Entry Orders) just aren’t functional with a demo account? Perhaps that I is why I aint getting a lot of what you are telling me? With a demo account, neither the information or the functionality is there?
I persevere with ETX because I can well imagine the antics that the likes of FXCM and most of the other bucket shop cfd’s get up to…seen enough of that in crypto.
P.S. I hear you regarding the KNOWING of where a particular asset might be heading, but a trader has to have some degree of confidence in what the charts are telling him, otherwise he may as well not bother and just hit the roulette wheel. One of the problems with TA however, is choosing the right time frame that best frames the trade. Usually it is conflicting signals on the HTF charts that will invalidate any signals on LTFs…well that gold chart is based on Monthly candles and in my view, it couldn’t be more clearer…doesn’t guarantee that I will be right, but it is the closest thing to a guarantee that technical analysis can give u.
Open a chart (Gold for example). On the top right hand corner of the chart you see a little “ticket” graphic, to the right of that a little “bell”, and to the right of that a little “i” in a circle. The “ticket” is where you place market orders or limit or stop orders, the “bell” is to place price alerts, and the little “i” in a circle is where you find the information specific to that instrument.
There’s other ways of getting to those same things (like right clicking on the same instrument in one of the watchlists and then selecting from the popup menu but going from the chart for now should make thing a little clearer).
And look: I’m not punting a particular broker over another. I have experience with three others that I trust my money and my life with to be honest. And those three, arguably, have the finest trading platforms on the planet. But ETX is my main broker and I just like the way they roll I guess. And please believe me when I tell you I’ve been through the ringer and back several times since 2005 with various brokers. I did very badly in my first few years of trading but with hindsight: I can tell you I was NOT solely to blame for my staggering losses at the time that is FOR sure i.e. I certainly had help along the way from one or two bucket shops. Problem is when you’re new at this: you don’t see the wood for the trees and to be fair cannot know until all the tricks have been pulled on you.
This being said there is one VERY distinct difference between ETX and the others and maybe THIS is what’s confusing you. If you take a look at any of their price quotes: you’ll notice that even although the prices are correct and match the underlying asset (or are in multiples of the underlying asset e.g. 10x or 100x) your tick value remains in your account’s base currency. In other words: the price of Gold is quoted in USD which is obvious. BUT: the TICK value is always in your base currency. So if you’re trading Gold and it moves say $0.1: your account will move but in £1 increments (assuming a lot size of 1) and not in $1 increments. Take another example: the DAX is usually quoted in EUR. At ETX the price quote is correctly showing the EUR price BUT the ticks are in your account’s base currency and not in EUR. In other words: all prices are normalized (for want of a better word) across the board to your account’s base currency on a one-to-one basis. I hope that makes sense. And why this is so peachy: it makes risk management a total and utter breeze as you don’t have to worry about converting EUR (DAX) to GBP (base currency) in order to calculate your risk on a position or position size. It also means that you can trade instruments that you may normally not have been able to trade due to capital requirements. Good example is my case (yeh I’ve fallen on hard times i.e. long story and not relevant here for now). My account is denominated in South African Rand or ZAR. One full position or lot on the Dow currently reserves R1 291.00 ZAR in margin. BUT were it not for this: one full position or lot would reserve $1 291.00 USD in margin. There is a HUGE difference there. In other words: at any other broker I’d be reserving $1 291.00 USD x the USD/ZAR exchange rate (let’s say 14.5) R18 719.50 ZAR for the exact same position and would therefore require OODLES of capital to open a few positions. I hope that all makes sense. If not: ask. WHY is this you may ask. Because if you look nice: it’s a spread betting platform!!! And therein lies the secret sauce!!! LOL!!! In other words: I can trade the same way whether I have a USD, GBP, EUR, or ZAR trading account i.e. I don’t have to worry about doing rate conversions when trading an instrument that is being quoted in a currency different from that of my account’s base currency. So if I was getting R1 ZAR per point on a ZAR denominated account I would be getting $1 per point on a USD denominated account or £1 GBP per point on a GBP denominated account and so on and so forth.
Before opening an account with ANY broker be sure to Google phrases like “broker name review” and “broker name scam” and so on and so forth. Always makes for some really interesting reading.
And don’t look at the five star rave reviews. Most of the time those are posted by individuals on the payroll. Look at the bad reviews and ratings (although those too are subject to abuse but to a FAR lesser degree). And don’t just skim over the bad reviews and ratings thinking that those things can’t or won’t happen to you and it’s just disgruntled traders that cannot trade and have lost money. There is always an underlying thread. And those things can, and will, happen to you. What makes you so special???
Also don’t be fooled just because a broker is registered with a particular regulatory authority. As I keep saying: there are regulators and then there are regulators i.e. not all regulators are created equal.
Why JUST THIS MORNING in fact I did all of the above for fun. After reading all of the scam and horror stories I was surprised to find that the said broker was indeed registered with the relevant regulatory authority as claimed (which did surprise me to be honest i.e. made a point of checking the regulatory authority’s register). This leads me to several conclusions. Could be that the regulatory authority in question is not aware of the issues. Could be that the regulatory authority is powerless to act. Last but not least and probably the most likely explanation in this case: could be that the regulatory authority just couldn’t give a sh*t anymore.
