Just logged onto an Oanda Demo Acct. As a US citizen I think that I will open a small account with them intially. I’ll see how that goes and may try an LMFX acct using vload to deposit and withdraw - if there is anything to withdraw later on.
Here is my strat for the Oanda acct. Pimarily Based on the @Trendswithbenefits “befuddled” thread mentioned above.
I’ll be working off of the D, W, M Charts. Willing to camp on a trade for quite a while
XLV4 color MAs - 6MA smoothed, 20MA exponential
ADX no +/- lines
M, W, D s/d lines, different colors drawn at the ADX extremes
Will use W, D fibs and shved_supply_and_demand indicator looking for confluence with s/d lines. These indicators will not stay on the chart.
Upon signal will send out a .01 scout (as discussed with @Jerome32, in his Journal). Depending upon the scouts “reconn” will start placing limit orders and taking profit as the trades go in my direction (can you feel that confidence, that success? It’s like a new age aura of profitability .)
Will be trading small lots .01
Considering using the SL method described in @Trendswithbenefits thread in the post above …
As a demo there will be no withdrawals. However, for the live account will be keeping any profits in the account looking to compound as described in question 8 of the @Clint thread below
I would like to incoporate strong/weak pairing similar to @Dennis3450 or the @MikeWolski complete currency dynamics.
Part of my analysis will be based on the s/d thread posted by @kate25.
Another aspect of analysis will be drawn from the following video by proact traders “Trade the Wide Open Spaces.”
I still have to address how to take profit. Not sure if it will be a set TP to remove emotion and not let a winner become a loser as I have done so often. Also seems to be more prudent to take the first 80-100 pips off the table if I am scaling in. After all pips don’t compound as price goes in my favor. 100 pips is 100 pips if made in 1 trade or two trades one after the other.
While many have suggested a trailing stop, it kills me to have it too tight and get knocked out early and too wide and lose too many pips. This still has to be addressed.
Now all the above information is for sale. You can give me your debit/credit card or bank routing and account number when I call with the PC repair fix for your computer that I have been monitoring!!
I have a good… a great, really great group of guys, I’ve known for a long time, a long, long time! They are really, really great. Great guys!
They’re in my boiler… I mean trading room and you can subscribe to that and they will help you, help everyone, to get the money you deserve! We want you, to join us, the top 1%! I do, we really do, perhaps as a dishwasher or chambermaid at one of my resorts.
What a journey, I feel like I’ve been heading down the longest runway ever! I have to get my wheels up at some point!!
@dpaterso, It’s coming together. I feel as though I have all the pieces but have to put them together. Still stripping away superfluous stuff and refining other things.
Sounds silly but I am going to make a step by step check list as to how to approach a trade. Since I don’t have to be quick on the draw I can track each pair as they develop.
Some of it has become second nature but using “all of it” should keep me out of major trouble.
It seems the closer I get to going live the longer it’s taking to get there. Then again, I don’t want to hurry up and toss my money away!!
Cool to read your learnings. People can find their sweet spot if they enjoy trading and that can be a fortunate thing.
About going live vs demo, I personally can’t wait to go live. I am trying harder now to treat my demo as such, which I thought I did for a while but didn’t really. That’s called testing and that’s ok. You single out the wrong habits and vow to not repeat them as much as possible.
I know too well that once I go live, everything will change. I will use a brand new journal, my days and nights’ structure will be clearer, and the fact that every trade matters will become that much clearer too.
I analyse my flaws and mean to improve them, adjusting to reach a safe level in trading.
Live vs demo has got to be definitely different! The people capable to be honest with themselves and truly mean to do well, which involves many things, will be the fortunate ones.
Was away for a few days celebrating the crushing of nations and nation building and realizing the silent majority is remaining so.
I’ve been trading demo as real as possible but didn’t do so while I was away. Positions “on” and no access.
Margin came a callin’. It’s ugly.
I am dragging my feet in tightening up my strat which is a bad sign for a trader. Believe I have all the pieces; some of them are together and some not.
Sometimes I think going live with a micro account and real cash would be the next “boost” to move ahead - it would be with a very small - micro account - . Then I think that’s like saying “I should drink the liquor cabinet dry and finish those 2 cases of beer before I quit drinking. Don’t want to waste all that.”
Perhaps I should start now.
KC
Edit: While my lot size is small a bunch of “smalls” still equal a lot of “bigs”. Am I learning? Idk. Feeling the frustration and need to stop and get myself together!!
Edit: Ms. Margin Call just stopped by - again - for coffee. Wheels have fallen off the cart. Further proof I am not ready.
So I believe I’m down to pretty much “it” interms of my charting and final strategy.
The screen shot below has the HULL 20 & 50 MAs, ADX sans the +/- lines and stochastics. Using M and W for levels based on PA and ADX extreme readings. Trading on the daily. I marked the ADX extremes with vertical lines for ease of viewing what I am looking for on the chart…
Looking for ADX above 25, stochastics turning up and crossing from below 20 will be looking for the HULL 20 to be changing color and I am in long. the opposite for short.
If W/M trend is down and I am long will be aware of counter trend trade issues. I would be interested in your feedback based on the screen shot below. Of all my trading I seem to enjoy the GBP and I am thinking of developing a Profile of all the GBP Majors to use as Strong/Weak analysis similar to what dennis does.
Any and all input is appreciated! Tx,
KC
EDIT: Not quite “it”… I am still wrestlign with SL and TP.
This looks good to me. The important thing is you will probably not find you are tempted to be long when you should be short or vice versa.
Two too many indicators for my preference but each to their own, in a good strategy they help: they are only a real handicap if misused or used in the wrong strategy. Like putting gravy on a fruit dish.
GBP has been very negative across all 7 significant GBP pairs for weeks so good results from a strongly downtrending currency are very encouraging. Yes, do develop something like the SWA that Dennis uses: it generates some trades but equally helpful it forces you to justify why you want to be long currency XYZ when all the other XYZ pairs are bearish.
Sorry but I’m unable to tell YOU IN PARTICULAR what you want to hear.
I know you may think I’m joking with you all of the the time but I"m not. YOU have NO excuse for NOT opening a Futures account with TradeStation. I keep telling you this but for some reason you’re hell bent on this retail spot FOREX thing. I really don’t get it. You’ve got enough capital (that’s my deduction anyway) to be able to trade the new E-micro Futures (and I’ve given you enough links on this) and you’re in the very fortunate position that you are in the US and can open a trading account with arguably one of the finest brokerages on the planet and not to mention the finest trading platform on the planet (and unlike me the cost of the platform and data feeds are included if you have a trading account with TradeStation and that’s valued at around $150 US per month). A person can make a good living trading JUST the four E-micro Dow, S&P, NASDAQ, and Russell 2000. Well maybe not a living with them or with semi-limited capital but for sure could make enough to move the the bigger contracts eventually.
Anyway. All personal choice I guess. But c’mon. So far as I can tell (deduction once again) you’re not of one these underfunded $100 wanna-get-rich-quick-in-a-month dudes as you don’t need to even attempt that I don’t think. Learn to trade proper and with the pros. I’m telling you that you will not be sorry. And even if it’s not deemed as trading with the pros. I can tell you that it is MUCH easier to make money this way than trying to make money in this ostensibly random market. Matter of fact: a good friend of mine, just this morning, sent me an article about something else but in the article the author describes the spot FOREX market to an absolute “T” (and actually it was a FOREX related article so not coming from somebody who has issues with retail spot FOREX like me). Will find it now and tack it onto the end of this post.
As for your chart:
For one thing seems like you could probably just use that MA that changes color (black and white) and do away with the rest to be honest i.e. so far as I can tell the end result will be the same give or take. I of course assume that MA repaints so you’d have to wait for a close. And second: just bear in mind that you’re looking at a pair that for some reason has trended in one direction or another on that particular chart. Find something with “chop” and then see how this holds up and I think you’re going to be miserable with the result.
Here. Now admittedly the article is about volume in the FOREX market but if you forget that for a minute the rest of the quote sums up the retail spot FOREX market perfectly.
“Unlike futures trading, one of the challenges of trading spot forex is its opaque and fragmented nature, with no exchange or central entity facilitating a transparent volume representation. Trading activity via banks, financial institutions, hedge funds, asset managers, individual traders around the clock makes it incredibly difficult to track the real-time aggregated volume coming through the books. Because of this wrongly assumed limitation, many traders have led to believe that volume activity is therefore not available.”
For what’s it’s worth I’m going to start a thread today re: volume, Bill Williams’ MFI, and hope for some VSA contributions. Long story but watch out for it.
That is where I would like to get to but right now I don’t have the money. I’m not a seasoned trader like yourself or TWB and Tommor. and Manxx.
I agree that I am not a $100 acount with million dollar dreams. I take trading seriously and I am always trying to improve. I believe that I have the tenacity, disposition and perserverance to succeed. It may take me longer - I’m more like a mega tanker slow with a huge amount of force and not a cigarette racer - There is no way I could try to trade other folks money and for the the low cost of initial entry for actual money trades forex is my only choice. I’m not in dire straights… yet!!.. but my money I can lose fund has been decimated years ago.
So unfortunately - or maybe not I have to start with forex based minimum openning balance and margin requirments.
So know that I hear you I’m just not there yet financially.
.)
