Bernie,
I continue to follow and take sim trades with Oanda demo. I think you have stated in the past that you frequently move your sl and tp to stay on the winning side of the trade. Do you have the ability to do this drag and drop on your live platform? This feature does not seem to exist on the demo platform which is web based java application.
Thanks
Art
hi ez et al,
i do not know what works on oanda’s demo, sorry. you may want to check the following:
trading page
tools
user preferences
trading
default S/L, change to 10
default TP, change to 12.5
click, apply and wait 5-10 seconds
save
now, if this is working, when you enter a trade you will get a red S/L across the chart, and a green line, likewise, for the TP.
to move these click on either, a prompt will come up near the line. click that and scroll the line.
hope this helps!
bernie
B. - you are exactly right, the moving of TP & SL “lines” work the same on both platforms. And I have to hand it to you, trading NFP Fri. takes some skills and that you have. d.
Thanks for the response. It seems that I may have an issue. I can establish the TP and SL as you have described. There are no lines that appear on my graph when the trade takes place. I will call Oanda on Monday to talk with there support (this is something I always do anyway before I open an account so I can form an opinion on customer service).
Art
hi all,
i thought i would offer the following article for education purposes to all of you this morning. i have offered something along these lines in the past when discusing what we do. since i use a bona-fide method, quit when ahead, or quit when behind, and do not over trade, i maintain this is trading and not gambling. in this article boris schlossberg offers his opinion on the matter. perhaps it may help some of you.
Thoughts on Trading
A Trade or a Gamble?
I love to trade a lot - which is of course a euphemistic way of saying I love to gamble. Although I have been to Vegas more than a dozen times I never laid down so much as a dollar bet in any casino. I have absolutely no interest in backjack, craps, slot machines or any other games of chance and I look down with disdain at the excited masses crowding the cavernous Vegas gambling halls. But deep down, if I am honest with myself, I have to admit that whenever I trade a lot I am just as much of a sucker as every hopeless loser that gives up his hard earned money to Steve Wynn or Sheldon Adelson
If you are constantly trading just for the sake of trading, just for the rush of being “in the game”, just for the momentarily thrill of being right you are gambling. You are trading without an edge, without any solid information and are therefore completely vulnerable to the random vagaries of price.
Towards the end of last year I decided to do something about my toxic addiction and created two separate accounts - one for trades that would only follow my trading plan - the other for all my trading/gambling impulses. But before I share my experience with you allow me to define the difference between a trade and a gamble. The key distinction is information. The less information you posses the more likely the chances are that your trade is gamble.
Notice the unifying theme? Like everything else in life success in trading requires hard work and homework. There is no magic formula, no simple 5 minutes per day method to make you money. In trading, working hard is no guarantee of winning, but not working hard is an assurance of losing, because trading at its core is a game of information and you must always be up to date on what’ s gong on in the market or become the sucker at the table.
Now back to my experiment. I subdivided my trading into two accounts - one where I traded only calendar risk on a reactive basis with very disciplined entries and exit rules and strict adherence to money management. The other account was just for my whims and impulses.
An interesting thing occurred. My “trading plan” account which I traded far rarely and more carefully became much more profitable and incurred much lower drawdowns. Meanwhile the equity in my gambling account bounced up and down like a hopped up rubber ball. Suddenly the thrill of “being in the game” wasn’t so much fun. Like a reformed smoker who appreciates the smell of fresh air, I was no longer drawn to making impulsive trades. That’s not completely true. I still dabbled in my gambling account (who amongst us can completely give up our vices?) but my need to trade constantly has been reduced substantially. The less you gamble, the more you realize how stupid it is and that has been the most valuable lesson learned so far.
Sincerely,
BKForex Advisor | The Desks of Boris Schlossberg and Kathy Lien
have a great weekend everyone,
goji, bernie
Thanks for sharing that Bernie! That’s exactly what I do! I realized I was killing my account with impulsive scalps, and that the real results were coming from my trading plan. However, it was very difficult to see that my plan was profitable when I was inundating my results with faulty data. Hence, the two accounts. Right now, the impulse account is just a demo, but I keep it open during the day if I need to get “the stupids” out. Nice to see I’m not the only one that thinks that way.
hi all,
well, that was a good hour’s work and the results have me finished for the day.
the trades:
7:55 entered order short, 1.3425
7:55 short, 1.3425
7:58 exit, 1.3420, had been to 1.3414-5, +5
8:00 entered order short, 1.3405
8:11 short, 1.3405
8:12 moved to BE
8:14 exit, 1.3392-5, TP +12.5 +17.5
8:55 entered order long, 1.3410
8:55 long, 1.3410
8:56 exit, 1.3422-5, TP +12.5 +30
january total +70
OK, SO I REALLY WORKED AN HOUR, plus one minute! see you at 3:00 pm
goji, bernie
hi all,
and that was a poor hour’s work. i am not complaining, but what a difference an hour makes. this was a good trade from one point of view. i will be able to give you a good idea of what i do with the S/L once a trade is entered. normally price moves considerably faster and i do not have a chance to record all of the moves i am making. also, i do not remember them, so i can not list them normally. this after noon was different, thus:
the afternoon’s trade:
3:05 entered order short, 1.3370
3:39 short, 1.3370
3:41 S/L moved to 1.3374
3:43 S/L moved to 1.3373
3:46 exit, 1.3373, hit S/L -3, +27
january total, +67
see you in the morning,
goji, bernie
Bernie,
I decided to open an account with Oanda based upon my comfort level with the platform following your trades. I know that in your thread you referenced what leverage you use when placing trades. Would you mind reviewing that portion of your trade setup/plan one more time. It helps put things into perspective when considering the TP/SL and of course the win ratio.
Thanks
Art
hi all,
for the most part, i put approximately 80% of my bank roll into play on each trade. due to my tight S/L, i think this represents about 3-4% on any one trade. since i do not trade set and forget, i believe this serves me very well.
goji, bernie
hi all,
and yet another hour, and several more winners are produced! i tend to like quittig early. have i ever mentoned that? almost every time i am able to do so, i am sure.
the morning’s trades:
8:10 entered order short, 1.3275
8:10 short, 1.3275
8:12 exit, 1.3262-5 hit TP, +12.5
8:40 entered order long, 1.3285
8:40 long, 1.3285
8:40 exit, 1.3286, had been to 1.3292, but i wasn’t fast enough to close
the S/L any more than one point. +1, +13.5
8:45 entered order short, 1.3225
8:51 short, 1.3225
8:52 exit, 1.3212-5 hit TP, +12.5 +26
january total, +93
see you again today at 3:00 pm
goji, bernie
hi all,
i am finished for the day, a pretty good day, i might add. here’s another example of why i do not consider my system and philosophy gambling. i am finished for the day and the afternoon. in the afternoon i had one trade. i was able to take THREE PIPS out of the market. some of you may not be happy with that. some of you may not want to quit at 3:10, if your plan is to work from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm. i, on the other hand, will take my THREE PIPS, add it to the 26 earned this morning and end the day with a +29 pips.
this afternoon’s trade:
3:00 entered order short, 1.3175
3:02 short, 1.3175
3:07 moved to BE
3:08 moved to 1.3172
3:08 exit, 1.3172, +3, +29
january total, +96
goji, bernie
hi all,
another major news day and another large five minute candle. if you have been paying attention, very often if you do not get a signal within 10-20 minutes of the news, you wind up waiting for awhile. the latter was the case today. this is not a complaint but an observation.
today’s trades:
9:40 entered order long, 1.3135
9:45 canceled order long
9:45 entered order short, 1.1320
9:45 short, 1.3120
9:47 exit, 1.3115, had been to 1.3111 +5
10:00 entered order long, 1.3130
10:02 long, 1.3130
10:04 exit, 1.3142-5, hit TP, +12.5 +17.5
i waited until 10:50 am but no more signals were indicated. i will be back at 3:00 pm to see what the afternoon offers.
january total, +113.5
goji, bernie
hi all,
another good day. before i started the 3:00 pm session, i was looking at a 30 minute chart to see if the market was trending, since i quit earlier right around 11:00 am. it was interesting to see the e/u had been in a very tight 40 point range. as such i was thinking that things may be slow this afternoon and perhaps nothing would happen. well, that was not the case and we were able to add eight more pips to our morning’s total.
the trade:
3:25 entered order long, 1.3155
3:25 long, 1.3155
3:28 moved S/L to 1.3163
3:29 exit, 1.3163, had been to 1.3166-9, + 8 +25.5
january total, +121.5
later,
goji, bernie
hi all,
this has been a slightly strange morning, thus far. we have had two very long candles, in opposite directions in about an hour’s time. does anyone know the direction of the e/u? NOTE: I AM MAKING A SLIGHT CHANGE TO THE TP. I AM GOING TO MOVE IT SLIGHTLY UP TO 12.9.
that said, i am feeling an urge to quit for the day, primarily becuse of the strangeness of the two large moves thus far. things tend to settle down after one long move and now we have had two. also, my laptop is very slow this morning, perhaps it is the cold that has hit the northeast?
also, we have had one TP trade, and the long lines are telling me to be cautious. i will see you all at 3:00 pm est today.
the morning’s trade:
8:45 entered order long 1.3180
8:57 long, 1.3180
8:57 exit, 1.3192-9 +12.9
january total, +133.4
later,
goji, bernie
Hello Bernie,
Would you be so kind to explain what made you NOT place:
I personally placed both orders, both went along with the system, both trades turned out to be losers.
hi chasing et al,
one of the problems with writing a forum like this is that it tends to get long, thus difficult to catch up on all of the nuances that develop over time. also, i have no control over when someone begins using the system. i am sure there are people using it that i have never heard from. now, we have discussed several times that i never trade around major news releases. often times like these skew the spreads. though that did not happen today, it could have. now if one is working with a 10 point S/L and the spread of the e/u expands to 10, you could be stopped out upon entering, thus simply giving money away. no, that is always a bad deal. i am sorry that you had losers on your two trades today. the reason i did not take the trades is that i knew that news was coming out. baby pips provides this information and you should check it before you begin your trading. here is the most recent post provided where i discuss this. as luck would have it, it was within the last week.
01-09-2009, 09:05 AM
gojilover
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 178
hi all,
the e/u was dancing prior to the major news, jobs report at 8:30 am. i know this news normally moves the market. the anticipation was that the report was going to be very negative and it was. i decided to take no trades before hand. as the spreads came back to normal, after the news, i entered an order at 8:45, short at 1.3640. it was entered at 8:46 and exited within the minute. we hit our TP at 1.3627-5, and were closed out. most of you know, i like to quit early on fridays. therefore, have a great weekend everybody. i am finished for the day.
january total, +40
later,
goji, bernie
Last edited by gojilover; 01-09-2009 at 09:51 AM.
i hope this helps and that this experience has given you, as least, a learning experience. many, but not all, news related reports that move prices come out at 8:30 am est., for future reference.
goji, bernie
dear goji,
I am still here and am getting the hang of your system pretty well. THanks for your constant updates. BUT, one thing I do not do is move the S/L. When do you start to move the S/L up? For most of my successful trades it stays in the -2 to -4 pip range, and after waiting it out (sometimes seconds sometimes minutes) it rallys up like clockwork and hits the take profit. I am probably +50 pips for january so far. (and thats only trading probably half of these days!)
Well, the news did not affected the spread much today. I’m also with Oanda and the spread went to 10 for literally 5-10sec. It’s pretty discretionary - not to trade at 8:35 and OK to trade at 8:45. And also, there are news practically every day, what is to be considered as major? The way the news affect the trading may be different every time.
Though, I see what I should HAVE DONE with both “losers”. I should HAVE MOVED my SL to +1 when it was +3. Both were +3 up. Next time I will.
Thank you, Bernie.
Hi Goji,
First, thanks for sharing your system and for the great updates. I have just recently started following your system, on demo of course and am getting the hang of it.
I was curious about something: Instead of setting a T/P point, have you considered letting the trailing stop take care of the exit. The one trade that you took today could have easily made double that with a trailing stop. Just curious about what you thought since you’ve been trading this for a while.
Thanks again
Raj