Carnino,first time when i adjusted your EA,I didnt notice in general items -“allow live trading”.
Later ,when I tried to change this(although I remember your guide for it !) ,I didnt succeed ,then checked global variables,but I couldnt find help from there also…
I load it also to other pc,and immediatly it was also the same problem now…I can see information line in upper left corner,but no trade…
Thanks in advance
Vesa
As I stated in Post #649, I will not be helping anyone who does not know how to setup an EA in MetaTrader, because if you don’t know how, then you should not be using an EA in the first place. Please read the post again and first learn how to use your Trading Software properly.
However, I will give you a hint …
Carnino, I am having some trouble working with the money management. I have the EA running on a demo account with a $50,000 balance. When I run the EA as is, (dblRiskMaximum=1 and dblMarginMaximum=5) everything seems fine with my stop ending up at about 1%. My problem is when I try to run it with the strategy tester it comes out much different (approximately .065%). I have tried to make adjustments, but I have to raise dblMarginMaximum to nearly 80 to end up with 1% risk per trade. Do you know why this might be?
Now as far as results. Yesterday was amazing for me on the demo account. I had over 5% win on the buy side. What results has anyone else had?
[ol]
[li]Remember, that the Money Management uses the smaller of the two types of risk, so what Balance and Currency have you defined for the Initial Account deposit in the Strategy Tester?
[/li][li]Also, what Currency Pair are you testing and what is the Leverage or Margin Ratio and Margin Requirements for that Currency Pair being used.
[/li][li]And finally, what parameters are you using, such as Stop-Loss size, etc.?
[/li][/ol]
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I have tried several different amounts with the strategy tester, from $1,000 to $50,000.
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I am using GBPUSD mostly but also tried EURUSD.
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Initially I left all parameters at their default except intOpenHour, which I set to 21 for my time zone. I am trying to set my trades to 1% risk, so I should be nowhere near any margin issues.
The EA runs fine, I just get very small losses and very small profits when using the strategy tester. When I use the same settings on the actual demo with a $50,000 starting balance everything works fine.
You keep ignoring the most important detail - What is the Leverage and the Margin Requirements in use for your Tester data?
Are you are using standard virtual tick data produced MetaTrader or are you using DukasCopy tick data from something like TickStory? If using tickdata, what Leverage and Margin requirements did you set when you produced the FXT data files?
Here is an example in TickStory, of the fields I am referring to …
I am just using the data from MetaTrader at this time. I have downloaded some data from DukasCopy using the instructions from ClarkFX’s “Complete Backtesting and Analysis Setup (100% Free)” thread, but have not finished converting yet. Right now I am just using the data that is already in MetaTrader. I am assuming that this data comes from my broker, since it only goes back in time as far back as my chart I am using. I guess I am not sure where to get the margin and leverage information you are asking about.
Yet again, you keep ignoring my question - What is the Leverage and the Margin Requirements?
This is important and is part of the details you should always know about your Broker and they should have this information on their website.
Even if you are using Broker data via MetaTraders virtual ticks, you have to still know your Brokers Leverage and Margin requirements in order to properly define what percentage margin you want to set in the EA and what impact it has on your account. Please note, that in this case, I am referring to the Broker and Account type in use for your Strategy Tester. Obviously that is also required for your other accounts too, but in this case we are trying to resolve the issue in your Strategy Tester.
If possible, run an indicator (spread_on_chart.zip (1.37 KB)), in order to see what those values are on your account. Alternatively, let us know what Broker and Account Type that you are using for the Strategy Tester.
This may be something new to you, because most EA’s and even manual traders don’t even calculate the Margin risk, and just ignore it, which is equivalent to setting it to 100% in my EA. However, I don’t ignore it and like to control it very tightly, because I run multiple EA’s on my account and the margin of multiple orders grows quickly and before you know it, you can get a margin call.
EDIT: For example, in your case, you mentioned that you would have to set the MarginPercentage parameter to 80% just to get the Order Risk to be the 1% desired. Now imagine if you had the EA running for both the GBP/USD and EUR/USD and both of them opened orders. The result would be a margin call, because 2 x 80% is 160% which is over your permitted margin.
EDIT: I’ve attached my spread_on_chart.zip (1.37 KB) that has the margin information too. Remember that it is an indicator, not an EA.
Thanks,it helped!
I these 2 days average spread was <1.3 pips
- stoplevel on GBPUSD is 3.1 pips
- freezelevel was 1.1 pips
- commision 10 euro 1 lot – so 1 pip
Based on these values default parameters are ok?
Is the commission per operation or complete open/close trade. Usually it is per operation, so you would have to multiply it by two, making the total commission $20 and so 2 pip equivalent. Can you confirm this please or let us know who your Broker is?
If your Stop Level is 3.1, then I recommend you set “dblStopMinimumPips” to the StopLevel + Average Spread ( 3.1 + 1.3 ) = 4.4 pips
Now, assuming a commission of 2 x $10 then the Stop Size for Stop Loss, Trailing Stop should be a minimum of Stop Level + Average Spread + Commission ( 3.1 + 1.3 + 1.0 x 2 ) = 6.4 pips.
However, this is the minimum. Even though the spread averages at 1.3, you should also consider a standard deviation of the spread. Lets say that it can often deviate another 0.4 - 0.6 pips then you will have to increase the size by that amount.
There is also slippage to think about, so lets say that your slippage can be 1 - 2 pips, you will have to compensate for that too.
In all, if we take this all into account, the ideal minimum size of the stop-loss and trailing stop can be between 6 - 9 pips.
However, since I hope you have been trading this already manually, you should by now have a feel for the ideal size. I am assuming that you have done your homework and analysed all your trades at the smallest level (M1 Chart) to see where the MAE & MFE has been in order to select the proper stop size (MAE = Maximum Adverse Excursion, MFE = Maximum Favourable Excursion).
Don’t take this lightly. If Trading was easy it, we would all be rich, but it is not. It requires work and study.
Carnino,
Your analysis had been very enriching and changing the ways I have been trading.
Do traders have to do these analysis daily and adjust the EA parameters daily with the MinimumStopPips, StopLoss and TrailingStops?
Daily? No! Weekly? Sometimes! Monthly? YES!
However, not all parameters need to be monitored or changed very regularly. The [I]MinimumStopSize[/I] can be set once a year or quartely! It is a failsafe for the other parameters.
The others depend on market! Sometimes average spread does not change much over an entire year, but in other cases it can change quite often.
Remember when several of us reminded traders here that Summer months were not good for Breakouts - well that was an example of monitoring what the market does and adapting to it.
Think of it this way. If you were the CEO of a large company you would have plenty of managers and employees to do the dirty work for you. But here you are doing every part of the business, from CEO to Janitor. You have to know and monitor every single aspect of it if you want to succeed.
EA’s are only tools to facilitate doing some of the more difficult or mathematical stuff for us, like “employees”, but you still need to “manage” them regularly.
It does not matter if you are using an EA or trading manually. You need to be vigilant! Things can change at any moment and you have to adapt.
PS! Some traders do well for an certain period of time based on luck or “gut feelings” but not for very long. For a true trader to withstand very long periods of consistent success, he needs knowledge and skill, gained by study and experience.
No, is 1 pip complete open/close.
so if i well understood
MinimumStop = 4.4
Stoploss = 7
Trailing = 7
Steps = 5
thx
How did you come up with S/L=7, T/S = 7 and Step =5? Are those based on your observation of the trades you have taken manually before? Because, if you are basing them on my example of 0.4-0.6 Spread Deviation and 1-2 Slippage, then you are just guessing again and instead of looking at trading metrics.
Look, I am not trying intimidate you, but rather showing you and other traders, that there is plenty more to consider and that just running an EA with some fixed parameters is not going to make you rich. An EA does not substitute the hard work that you have to put in to it.
But if you wish, set your EA to the values you specified and let in run for a few weeks, then draw your own conclusions.
Happy trading!
Your analysis had been very enriching and changing the ways I have been trading.
Do traders have to do these analysis daily and adjust the EA parameters daily with the MinimumStopPips, StopLoss and TrailingStops?
Hi to all,
In my version of strategy, just before I open a trade I [B]estimate[/B] the amout of Commission I have to pay in pips considering only the openPrice (because I haven’t yet the closePrice)…when I know the pips involeved in commission… I adjust the import I want to risk per trade with StopLoss+Commissions in pips to know how much lots I must take… so if I have a loss I cover also the commissions with the stop loss.
An example :
Stop Loss = 5pips.
Commissions involved in the trade = 2pips
import to risk = 10$
$ for pips = $1,42
lotSize = 14200
so if i have a loss … -5pips … I lost 10$(with all the forex costs included)… i think this is very important.
Bye bye.
Thanks,
Can the EA automatically adjust for these analysis? Or the subsequent EA automatically adjust for these Stops as mentioned in one of your past posts in which you use in your EA?
Also you mentioned in one of your post that ATR M1, M5, or M15 can be used for calculating these Stops . Can you enlighten us on the way to calculate this ATR methods
The v1.0 of the EA, the one I have shared here, does not do automatic spread compensation. My own version (v2.0) of EA does do it but I am not willing to share (or sell) that one. You can’t expect me to do all the work for you. I have already shared much of it here for free. Surely you can do some work of your own and adjust stops on a regular interval. As I have stated before, you have to be willing to put in the effort if you want to succeed.
As for using ATR for defining the stops, it is a standard practice by many traders and there is plenty of information on the Internet about this. Here are a few example links:
[ul]
[li]A Logical Method Of Stop Placement
[/li][li]Incredible Charts: Average True Range (ATR) Trailing Stops
[/li][li]Market Masters: Dynamic Risk Management With ATR Trailing Stops | See It Market
[/li][/ul]
is there a myfxbook of carnio’s improvements yet?
i stopped trading parmar 3gp quite a while ago as something in my gut told me it might be too good to be true [it seemed too easy to make money, this set and forget and nothing else]
profit is still up for the year looking at the myfxbook, but profit seems to have taken a battering the last few months and im wondering now how much edge this system actually has and how much was just good fortune.
still though, it was a good effort by the OP …as it hasn’t run into the negative. i just thought it would be consistant gains month after month
Hello [I]defiance888[/I],
I never did not trade [I]Vijay’s PARMAR-3P[/I] or the latest variant [I]PARMAR-1P[/I] on any of my accounts (demo or live), so cannot comment on its edge but from the tests I carried out, I do believe that it is not as strong in 2014 as it was in 2013.
However, I am trading my own [I]DayBreakTrail[/I] on my live account and can say that I am pleased with the outcome and will continue to use it. The EA went straight from my [I]StrategyTester[/I] directly to my Live account, without first forward testing it on a demo account. That’s how confidant I am with it.
I have been using it both on the GBP/USD and EUR/USD but with different parameters for each in accordance to my own environment and market conditions.
Since, the EA was freely shared, you can setup your own forward test and adjust parameters to your own conditions and monitor its results for yourself.
As for [I]Vijay’s[/I] input, it seems that he is no longer participating so have no idea what strategy he is trading now.
Hope that answers your queries!
Regards,
Carnino