You can code something to alert you when an opportunity is ready and give it the go ahead to start placing the trades on your behalf. Have you considered doing this?
I found this to be critical! Especially for myself has a long-term trader.
As Iām preparing to fund my first account Iāve been doing a lot of thinking and analyzing of my demo over the past year or so.
itās amazing to me how far down the rabbit hole Iāve gone and how many twists and turns I have taken in terms of different indicators and strategies.
I started off basic and then itās overthinkingā¦ how can I get in earlier, how can I get out later, how can I catch the bottom and the top. Thatā¦ Is my problem. I canāt.
As I think about trading it has come full circle to the understanding that I just want a piece of the action. I donāt need the whole thing from the very bottom to the very top. If I can consistently take a chunk of change out of The middle of a trend, that has success written all over it! Thatās all I have to do.
What I have to come to terms with is it isnāt stereotypical trading. Itās not exciting, not what you see in the movies, itās not doubling,tripling account balances over night, itās not a huge run of pips over the course of half a day.
It is actually something that wouldnāt be full-time, but something to become part of my lifestyle and my regular job as I trade the New York close.
So it all comes back to as @tommor frequently says ā¦ Boring trend-following. Iāll have to find my excitement elsewhere. While I collect pips on the side. Itās like picking up change off of the street. 
@tommor, your continual emphasis of the simple and the obvious has made an indelible impression on me.
Tx,
KC
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That is the most cheering post Iāve ever received. Many thanks.
You are very welcome! 
Now I simply have to execute the simple/boring!
KC
@tommor I am not sure I got your entry / exit rules so I will try to break them down
- 50 EMA slope should be upward
- Day close should be lower than previous day close (i.e. retracement)
- SL previous day low + 1.5 x ATR 20
- Exit
a. if 3 days consecutive close higher?
b. ???
thanks in advance
Not exactly but I will summarise where I am as of today. Of course these things evolve in light of performance and changes in market conditions. I and many other traders have found things rather difficult the last few months so this is a summary of the best available tactics I am using this week (for uptrends: reverse for downtrends as appropriate) -
Set-up -
- 20EMA and 50EMA slopes both upwards
- 20EMA above the 50EMA
Entry -
by pre-set buy order at breach of todayās high tomorrow if todayās high was lower than yesterdayās high
(if tomorrowās high is lower than todayās, drop the entry level to breach of tomorrowās high on the next day, as long as the set-up conditions stills in place)
Initial stop-loss -
3 x ATR20 below entry
Risk -
2% of account capital
Manual exits -
- at third consecutive higher close
- at close of fifth consecutive day with higher high and higher low
- if set-up conditions fail
- at close below 20EMA
- close everything if unrealised gains from all open positions reach 10% of account capital - then take a day off.
If a trend is very consistent I would also exit at any close below the 3EMA.
Thereās nothing magic about these numbers I have to admit, and if market conditions become more ātrendingā I would like to run the winners longer and hopefully pyramid them also.
I still donāt understand these 2 points 
do you happen to have a chart?
thanks for your time
If you donāt mind, arenāt you using tecnnical analysys? Exactly what Iām doing, and I thought is good, not really that good lol.
Actually posting your trading journal could be a big help to new traders.
I rarely post what trades Iām in and never post account records.
Iām still long-term trend-following using daily charts, Iāve cut down the parameters I use but have not added anything - Iād expect many people picking up a strategy might do that. My primary indicator as to buy/sell short decisions is the bullish/bearish points each currency scores according to the 50EMA slope direction. This gives a result that very closely matches Dennisās strong/weak analysis trading approach - personally I find my own approach just a little quicker - maybe Iām more responsive to visual cues rather than numerical data.
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I have seen a lot of new traders who think that following their trading plan wonāt do any good for them. To them, I would like to say that forex trading is not going to be easy if you wonāt stick to your plan. It will help you judge your trading performance and improve your trading results.
Iām a day trader, but looking to swing, so I may give it a try. Thanks, and yes it sounds boring, but hopefully effective
Whatās the objective reason to belive that there are trends in the markets? Simply by looking at the chart and seeing higher highs or lower lows? Any other less subjective criterions?
Most boring equals most successful long term in my experience. I see people are already trying to apply it to the 5 minute chart. Stop it people. It will just wreck you. Boring daily candles for me. Find a trade once a week if Iām lucky.
My base starting definition of an uptrend is to see both price and the 20EMA above the 50EMA. After that I note additional features to give a āscoreā for each chart with the base trend so that I can prioritise which I want to get into most urgently.
Why 20EMA and 50 EMA define trend? Only I can imagine if sufficiently enough people believed in that mix of EMAs and started to buy or sell simultaneously that would induce a trend based on this combination of indicators. Without that this looks really baseless assumption.
The selection of MA durations has no relation to the behaviour of the foreign exchange market in my opinion. I donāt believe the market reacts or pays any attention to any MA, regardless of period. These two parameters in relation to each other and to the candlestick periods I use (D1) simply align best with what I want in my trading:
So if you want a lot of signals in a short period of time, reduce the values, if you want one signal a year, increase them. Iād be surprised if one selection had a significantly greater profitability than the other.
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Boring is good as in if your looking for excitement in trading it can lead to impulsive trades .
Patience Pays in this game bar your scalping!
I like the scoring-system. I would like to know how many trades you take per day/week/month by trading that way please?
I use a selection only now from the criteria listed but the basis remains the same. I probably average about 15-20 trades a month. Itās never as many as 30.
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