The goji system, for lack of a better name

Trading Systems
181

Looking forward to it!

I’m done for the day as far as live trading goes. Three trades, three BEs that all went on to TP. For Monday-Tuesday the total was: 1 TP, 6 BEs for a total of +12.5 pips. If I’d trailed a 4 pip stop as Bernie does I’d have a few more pips. If I’d just left the TP and SL alone, my total would be 4 TP, 2 SL for a total of +30 pips. But as I said a couple posts ago, just because the latter approach would have been more profitable these two days does NOT mean it would have been more profitable over time.

I’ll probably still demo trade off and on throughout the day just to increase familiarity with the system and moving SLs.

182

I’m done trading for the day, I was in a hurry when I posted before. I’m looking at my statement and I’m actually -10 for the day. My +12 trade actually stopped out at b/e before going up for me (I didn’t catch it at the time as I had stops set and was watching a different trade at the time). I haven’t traded this strategy for a few weeks while focusing on something else. I’m now trading it in small size to get the hang of it.

Trade 1 was around 9am and trade 2 was at 9:20.

Good trading to everyone!

183

Naturally my first “finished live trading, remaining trades will be demo” trade of the day was a clean TP!

184

Hello all:

I had been demoing another strategy that needed some MT4 indicators so I switched to IBFX and closed Oanda. BAD move on my part as I didn’t like the MT4 platform at all (discourages scalping and short term trading) and the lowest spread available was the E/$ at 2 pips; all of the others start at 4. So back to Oanda.

Suggestion: I read somewhere quite some time ago and granted it was for a longer term strat, 4H maybe?, but the guy said he always moved his SL to BE+1 and that way he at least got some reward for following a trade. I don’t know how well this will work, I will try it, but the downside risk is that one could be stopped out of 5 or 6 profitable trades with a 6 pip total. Bernie’s way is more profitable.

Thanks again Bernie for the strat. and good trading all. d

185

I have found it pretty difficult to trail the stop with Oanda, as the scale of the graph keeps changing with price changes, then it takes some time to line up the SL line with the right price, etc.

I made a script for Autohotkey (a fantastic free program that lets you set up macros for anything at all in Windows). Now, when I hit the “s” key on the keyboard, Autohotkey will click on the trade to open the cancel/modify window, click on Modify, click on the stop loss price, and delete the last three digits. I also set it so that I then just hit “enter” to submit and close that window; since Oanda’s platform is java-based, otherwise the enter key does nothing and you have to mouse-click on Submit.

So here’s how it works in action: I place the trade and watch the Profit(Pips) display. When it hits +4, I hit “s” and type in the last three digits of stop loss price, hit “enter”. That’s it. Then do it again at each “milestone”.

I thought I would be super slick and take advantage of how Oanda lets you set SL in terms of pips rather than price, by having the “s” key open the window, change SL to 4 pips (from current price), and automatically submit. That way, as soon as Profit (pips) moved up a pip, you would just hit “s” again and it would automatically move the SL up, keeping it 4 from current price. Unfortunately, Oanda tacks on the spread after you set the stop loss. I could have Autohotkey take that into account, except for the fact that the spread is variable. I am thinking of having a few keys for each typical spread; in other words, you would hit “9” to set a 4 pip stop loss with a .9 pip spread, hit “2” to set a 4 pip stop loss with a 2 pip spread, etc, since those are the typical spreads Oanda has during our trading period.

Anyway, of course this is only of any use at all to those using Oanda. I just tend to get sidetracked by little convenience things like this. If anyone wants, I will post the script and you can download Autohotkey at Autohotkey.com.

186

I just grab the TP or SL line and move it. Or if the graph is bouncing around a lot I go up and click the pair, click modify, and enter the new numbers. Guess it is all in the way we get use to trading. I envy you computer literate types, I have a hard enough time just learning a platform. d.

187

hi all,

i will post my trades today, now, and get back to answering questions later. right now i see a number of posts since my last.

I HAVE NEVER HAD A DAY quite LIKE THIS IN THE SIX MONTHS THAT I HAVE BEEN TRADING THIS SYSTEM. I WILL EXPLAIN AS I POST THE TRADES, ALTHOUGH IT WON’T BE AS FLOWING AS THE FIRST ONE I ATTEMPTED TO SUBMIT.

i may have but i do not remember waiting almost an hour for my first trade.

8:55 entered order short, 1.2700
8:57 short 1.2700
8:58 exit, 1.2700, had been +4.

i will explain this one as when you trade around whole numbers, 00, or even the halves, 50, it can be difficult. today, BE

9:20 entered order long, 1.2710
9:23 long 1.2710
9:27 exit 1.2714, +4, had to as high as +8

now this next series i have never experienced in the six months i have been involved with this system.

10:30 entered order short, 1.2735
10:35 CANCELLED SHORT ORDER, entered order long, 1.2755
10:40 CANCELLED LONG ORDER, entered order short, 1.2725

10:48 short, 1.2725
10:51 exit, 1.2723, this trade just missed getting stopped out at 1.2734 and then, when it turned around i stayed with it a little longer hoping to hit a TP. finally, i took the +2, + 6 for the day.

now, it was frustrating, then my first submission was lost, which was additionally frustrating. HOWEVER, I WAS WINNER TODAY. EVEN IF ALL I HAD TO SHOW WAS A BREAK EVEN FOR THE DAY, I WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN A LOSER.

there is a scene in the movie “rudy,” where the janitor tells rudy, rudy is thinking aobut quitting at the time, that he has been up against some of the best athletes in the world and he didn’t back down. well, today, i/we were up against some of the greatest currency traders in the world and we didn’t back down. after all, i’m a retired teacher. i went head to head with some of these people and yet, i eked out a small PROFIT. i will never look at that negatively. we’ll see what happens at 3:00 - 4:00 pm today.

finally, with yesterday’s total averaged in i am averaging 26.25 pips, per day for the new month.

i will now read all of the previous posts and try to get answers before 3:00 pm.

g, b

188

hi all,

here are some answers and responses to some of the previous posts.

thanx orpips for your previous comments, i do not think i could have said it any better.

nice to hear back from some of you. of course i can not predict the future, but today was, from my experience, unusual.

welcome lavaman, sometimes things move very quickly even on the five minute chart, but maybe that’s becaue i am 62 years old/young. i am not sure how you acheived 13 pips today. now, it is great that you did and i am thrilled that you did, so you certainly did nothing wrong. however, in following the system totally, i am not sure how you accomplished that?

i am hearing some frustration in dealing with the S/L. i have been thinking about this. i know oanda charts tend to bounce around at times which makes things a little more difficult. however, today, from 3:00 - 4:00 pm, upon entering a trade, i am going to switch to the one minute chart and manage the trade there to see how that goes. as such, i will provide a report.

later, time to get ready,

goji, bernie

189

hi all,

i feel a little better now.

3:00 short, 1.2695
I IMMEDIATELY SWICHTCED TO THE ONE MINUTE CHART TO MANAGE TRADE
3:08 exit, 12686, +9, +15 for the day, december total, 61.5

it seemed easier moving the S/L on the one minute chart. price almost hit my TP, and i moved the S/L up tight. i am satisfied.

this trade seemed far more easy than any of my morning trades. i am only going to take one trade this week during this time slot. i am studying to see if i want to stay for the entire hour. i suspect the ease of the trade had more to do with price action than switching to the one minute chart, but i will continue exploring.

THIS IS AMAZING BUT I FEEL MUCH BETTER ABOUT THIS DAY RIGHT NOW!

later,

goji, bernie

190

Hi Bernie, sorry to keep interrogating, but how did you get +9? I would have thought with the 4 pip trailing stop, that would mean price must have gotten to +13 which should have hit your 12.5 TP.

191

Well, perhaps it’s because I didn’t follow the system all that closely. It’s the discipline, I’m working on it. I’ve been anticipating the close of a candle across the 10 EMA instead of always waiting for it to close. I also haven’t been using the “multiples of 5” pip entry points. And once I’m in the trade I’ve been switching to the one minute candle to plan the exit and/or move the stop-loss. I just caught another 9 pips here going long on the EUR/USD. Seriously, I don’t know why I can’t just follow a system. Perhaps I’ll end up adapting the goji system to fit my own trading style. With that said, I do realize that if I can’t follow a set of rules strictly, whether they be mine or someone else’s, I’m going to be setting myself up for failure.

192

lavaman,

i think you are right and many people would agree with that. you certainly do not need to follow my rules, or you can adapt my rules to your style. there is nothing wrong with that. over the long haul, you will be better off folllowing a plan. that does not mean that you can not change that plan. if you have valid reasons for changing, then change. here’s something to think about. i believe writing the information down or being able to explain thoroughly to someone exactly what you are going to do for your next trading session will help you greatly.

later,

bernie

193

hi orpips,

i just found your post, i think it was hiding. when my TP almost got hit and price started moving against me, i pushed the S/L line up tight and that"s what i got. no rules for this, just profit. this is why i could never sell this system, it’s where individual differences, trading style etc. come into play. bottom line, after this morning, i didn’t want to give more back.

have a good one, all,

goji, bernie

194

Well, what I feared has happened – one loss and everything from the past two days is wiped out and then some.

Today’s trades were one loss (-10) and one BE (that, again, went on to hit TP). Out of the six BEs since Monday, five would have gone on to TP if I’d left them alone, one would have stopped out, so that would have been a net +52.5 pips (at 2% risk per trade, a 10.5% gain on the account balance).

edit: I should add that this does not mean the system would be more profitable if the SL and TP were left untouched. Traded that mechanically, the system is easy to backtest using an EA and Metatrader, and having done so, I found it was a losing strategy. Trading the way Bernie does does not seem to be testable in the same way, since it depends on tick-by-tick price action and the historical data in MT is based on 1-minute records.

195

hi all,

i am quitting for the day. i have an obligation and will not trade 3:00-4:00 pm, either. WELL, WE HAVE JUST HAD ANOTHER CRAZY day AND I GUESS THAT IS TRADING. i am quitting today at “0.” several negatives happened and i have decided to knock off early. one nice thing about all of this is that there is always a tomorrow. today’s whacky trades:

7:50 entered short, 1.2625
7:57 short, 1.2625
7:59 exit, 1.2623, had been to +8, +2

8:15 news, no trades, spreads to 10
8:17 spreads back to normal

8:30 i was not aware of any news but spreads went briefly to 10???

8:35 entered long, 1.2640
8:37 long, 1.2640
8:38 exit, 1.2640, 0, +2

8:45 entered order short, 1.2615
8:55 cancelled short
8:55 entered order long, 1.2635
9:05 cancelled long, two days in a row means their is much indecison
9:05 entered order short, 1.2620
9:12 short, 1.2620
9:24 exit, S/L, 1.2630, -10, -8

9:25 long, 1.2630
9:26 exit, 1.2632, +2, -6

9:50 entered order short, 1.2630 nearing news at 10:00
9:57 short, 1.2630, took trade hoping to get out before news
10:00 news, and i didn’t get out, THIS WAS BREAKING ONE OF MY RULES.
spreads went to 10, but did not hit my S/L of 1.2640
10:01 exit, 1.2624, spreads returned to normal, when i was +6 i took it for a break even on the day. NO, THERE ARE NO RULES FOR THIS!

o.k. i decided to get back to zero and quit for the day. this is two days in a row that have been strange. i can only think that this is because of the anticipation for euro-zone interest rate cuts scheduled for tomorrow. we shall see.

hang in there orpips, i think BETTER DAYS ARE COMING!

goji, bernie

196

Hi Bernie, here are my daily questions :slight_smile:

I took this trade but didn’t include it in my report above because I should not have taken it in the first place – I had forgotten to check news, and there WAS news at 8.15 and two at 8.30. So I don’t consider it a “fail” of the system because I broke the rules. But in any case, I did take it and was stopped out for -10. I see you moved to BE and I did not. When you move to BE, are you looking for Oanda’s “Profit (PIPS)” display to show 4.0? Or are you looking only at the candlestick? The reason I didn’t move to BE was because Profit never hit 4; the price (looing at the chart now after the fact) shows a high of 1.26444 before plunging, but the chart uses the Buy price; the Sell price would have been 1.26435 (assuming spread was .9 pips at the time), so only +3.5, which is why I did not move the SL.

9:25 long, 1.2630
9:26 exit, 1.2632, +2, -6

I had BE here. High (Buy) was 1.26372, so I can only assume that the spread was 2 pips at the time, otherwise I don’t know why I didn’t raise the SL to +2 once price hit +6. I (thought I) was watching closely, this might have just been a mistake on my part somehow.

197

Sorry, one more:

You put a 9:50 short entry based on the close of the 9:45 candle; but the 9:50 candle closed back on the other side of the EMA, so shouldn’t that order have been cancelled and a new long order placed?

198

I had 8 various trades starting at 06:50 CST and at one time was down -22p but ended up at +5. Hard work today but better results than I had yesterday. My last two trades were Limit entries using a 5 pip entry from the close of the previous crossed candle - not according to the rules and it can give up some early pips but it does ensure the trade will go in the right direction (at least for a little bit!) Not sure I will always do that but worth looking at again tomorrow. d

199

Do you mean 5 pips from the high (not close) of the previous candle? Otherwise I would think your method would get you in earlier in the majority of cases, since your entry would be closer to the open of the new candle. Bernie’s system is based off the high/low rather than close, so the new candle has to move a bit (sometimes a lot) to hit the entry point.

200

I was wrong in what I said: a candle crosses and then closes, I wait for the next candle to open and go 5 pips from there in the direction of the cross. Since the E/$ doesn’t gap very often in the NY session it’s 6 of one, half a dz of another. I would not enter that way if the previous closed candle had a long wick/shadow. I also keep an eye out for minor and major S/R - if one is within 10-12 pips of a potential entry I pass. I love the action of 5M TFs but wonder if the 15M would yield bigger results? Oanda had great spreads this am on E/$, swissy, and $/Y. d.