Extracted Thread (per thread starter's request)

Remind me again FXH why you call this the 'stairstep' strategy. Examples dont come much better than this on EURAUD. I haven't been trading this one but I wish I had.

Ahhh it's good to be back.

How about some advice for those who have not been so unfortunate to have this hapen to them.

When you set your TP on a sell, make sure you decrease the amount of pips by the spread. If you do not, this is what happens at the worst of times:

Attachment 1080526

On the final trade of a martingale, the price action bar hit the TP on the dot and made a U-turn like there is no tomorrow. The QuickTakeProfit is 30p, but I had the TP set to 30p, not a safer 28p (that includes the spread).

Not only was it 1 weeks profit gone, but another breakout was missed while waiting for the SL to be hit. In hindside, a lot of things could have been done, but sometime you just have to let it run.

The loony was kind enough to give back 20%.

I think a SL on a buy should also be adjusted to include the spread.

And finally, yes I know the CZ's are not ideal as per your method FH, but this post was not to show my settings, rather to warn those using the indicator to set TP/SL.

It's great to have you back, HXT!

Less than 10p tall. Fantastic!...

FXH~ I'd be curious to know why the EA did not form a box where mine is. I believe our settings are very close.

This has already been explained. You can do a keyword search, or you can go back to pg 215 and read until you get the answer.

FH

I am moving onto higher time frames daily etc.

I do not want to leave this thread without giving you my final Thank You for your system.

It gave me apart from the many green pips, the opportunity to slow down focus on the charts and get out of the hell hole of indicator this and indicator that, that would have been my ruin as I was at total loss before I found your system.

Anyway, I have learned from this system a lot more than just how to draw a CZ box and what I have learned is hard coded into my brain and will be and is a part of my decision on entering some trades.

Would I recommend this system?
Yes and I have done so.

Kissa (Felis)

I lost my profits from the beginning of the week so i decided not to trade today. Better wait for next week.

Horrible sawtooth, i would have lost more.

Few setups can sustain this ranging market on GBPUSD.

Good luck !

Looking around the forums, it's been a torrid week for most system traders. At least my SSBO account has held its ground, even returning a small profit.

Attachment 1081471

Interesting - Some say it was a slow week but as you can see from the screenshot - I now own CitiBank, MIG, Dukascopy and a few others. It was a fortunate mishap while I was playing about but who am I to complain.

This particular machine has ongoing graphics issues and it was whilst pursuing that problem that I got this astounding result on GU. :-)

lol, I have gotten that once in a while, switching time frames and then back to 15 min corrects it......

nice profitable week!

doji

Heh I believe that number is the maximum integer for the platform.

[edit]
Didn't see the whole number. Not an integer!

Nice pips !

This is around the 32 bits signed integer max value (UINT_MAX = 2 147 483 648 = 2**31) multipled by a factor. Problem with signed / unsigned processing ? integer / float ? of maybe only the "Printf" function. For example trying to print a pointer (32 bits) and not the pointed integer itself.

This is also the only colored (green) item in the items list of the picture...

Forty minutes until market open. Who's out there getting ready for the week?...

Sleeves rolled up, ready to pile in ...

Come on you pips!!

I am all set up, pondering what the week will bring with some things and thinking how nice it is to really not be bothered by which way the market will go in regard to SSBO.
Cheers.

My experience so far

This is a long post by FF standards: Take heart there is a gem or two in it.

Truth; I had a tough week last week, no confidence in what I was doing – I got lost in the minutia of settings. Then I put in alarms and found myself no better than Pavlov’s dog, waiting for the alarm to go off and salivating when it did. I have a brain that jumps when the signal goes off instead of stopping and looking at the market, I automatically press the enter trade key. I have tried for years to shut this part of my brain off, can’t be done; just like I can’t not look at a women who is decked out and looking hot, even when I am with my wife and know I am going to catch hell, I can’t not look. It’s my downfall as a trader, that and patience. After a week of sleepless nights, blood shot eyes, and no success, in the depths of my weakness; I was ready to throw in the towel because: I was unable to stop my brain from reacting to the market instead reacting to a plan.

My strength is my tenaciousness.

Knowing ones weakness is the first true step in becoming a better anything. Seeing my weakness in full bloom, on Thursday, I stopped what I was doing, sat back, threw my hands in the air and screamed, “I can’t take this anymore.” The stress of not finding something that worked using consolidation patterns was very frustrating. To make matters worse, when I pull up a chart now all I can see are consolidation patterns with breakouts. I know in my heart I am on the right path, I just haven’t traveled down the path long enough to take my eyes off the next step to see what’s going on around me. Eternal hope is a disease when left unchecked.

Success comes to those who take the next step when success seems impossible. My next step is in process, I am creating a method, system, whatever that fits into my schedule and lifestyle. If I don’t do this simple step, I will always be fighting between masters who need my full attention: wife, dog, friends, etc… etc…

So this is my show.
1.I have no patience to watch the market waiting for a trade set up. When I do, I have to make a trade even if it’s not a signal on my chart; it’s a signal on someone’s chart somewhere in the world. Just the way I am wired.
2.I travel so my trading has to fit in with a schedule that changes.
3.I need my rest and being chained to a computer during the night doesn't work.
4.Being Pavlov’s dog that salivates every time I hear a bell is no fun either.
5. I over trade

The problem:
Find a trading method that I don’t have to monitor the market all the time, and doesn't use alarms and only has a few set ups to balance I bane of over trading.

Solution
Now this is the new twist, I am not finding a trading system; I am creating my own system based on the resources available to me using the time proven consolidation breakout’s as taught by FH.

One thing I can always do is be available for the open of the Tokyo market which is the open and close of the Forex market. This is my one thing; I am available for the open of the Tokyo market. That is an edge.

With this one known fact, something that fits within my lifestyle; I sat down with a new vigor and worked on a daily system using breakouts. Why I chose a daily chart: the open of the market happens just one time every day, instead of every 5 minutes, 15 minutes or hour etc… Based on consolidation patterns it gives me enough pips to meet my definition of being financially free. Example; one of my pairs using a predefined consolidation method only went to 3 trades once last year and gave 1800 positive pips for the year. Now that doesn't sound like a lot of pips and I am fighting the feeling of being a failure because I can’t make more pips. Interesting thought that keeps me trapped “1,800 pips in a year with very little well defined risk – big deal.” People do that many pips every week at the FF. Think about it though: 1,800 pips at $10 a pip is $18,000.

Now this is the interesting part, I am only looking at my charts at the most 15 – 30 minutes a day. I know I will still fight my need to trade demon every day and I know in time it will get easier. One day at a time; sounds like an addict going cold turkey. Yes it is true I am addicted to the action. Trading causes my brain to release a lot of feel good proteins. Again, something I will have to overcome every day. I still have some things to learn because it’s a new time frame for me. I feel like a golfer changing his mechanics to become a better golfer. I am well aware of the four stages of learning to be competent and look forward to experiencing them.

I will show a couple of charts this week to show what I am doing. Honestly, this scares the shit out of me. To be so vulnerable in showing others what I am doing when I am still struggling to find my rhythm. I have the utmost respect for people who start and nurture a thread because I now know one of the feelings they had to work through to be successful in fulfilling their chosen mission to be of service to others.

Have an amazing week.

Just want to say thank-you and congratulations for sharing your story and having the courage to do so. I know that was not easy to write, and I'm sure even harder to share. I can honestly say my years in this "chaos" mirrors your story quite closely.

This method brought to us by FXH and the other major contributors has allowed me to finally fine tune my focus in a calm and relaxed manner for the first time.

Thank-you again FXH and cheers to you SP

MM

Well written SedonaPipper.
Bit like you, after many years chasing the Forex dream, I have realised that I am a useless trader. Always desperate to place the trade in case it moves quickly, and it usually does...in the wrong direction, because I didn't check all the rules. I switched to running ea's, but that proved worse than my manual trading, so now I also have reverted to the daily charts to trade manualy In my case, have the London open as my prime trading time.
I look forward to your daily charts and will follow your progress with interest.
John

Hi all,

Ready i am !

But the GBPUSD market is sleeping again this morning. Doesn't matter, i don't make a lot of trades but i don't make bad trades too.

Patience is really a key point in forex trading. "Plan the trades and trade the plan". So true. Now i stick 100% to it.

And i am nervous, like you, SedonaPipper, but i am anxious only when the trade is taken. I can wait for entering a trade, that doesn't bother me. Fear comes after that. This is probably a "self-conservation" instinct. This looks normal. I am not a robot (but my EA is , exact replica of the SSBO indicator).

But times passes and i am less and less anxious when the trade is taken.

Trading is a psychological activity !