THE INTRO
So we all know - there are hundreds, thousands and maybe hundreds of thousands of trading systems. IMO - they all work. I say that because, regardless of how outlandish it may seem to YOU or ME - it works for SOMEONE. I think I've said before - one of the more outlandish ones to me would be the lunar cycle trading. Not bashing anyone's system - but I find it to be outlandish. Does it work? Obviously it does for those who use it - and if you resonate with that system or some other system - then fine. Go with it. Which brings me to the "Holy Grail" section.
THE "HOLY GRAIL"
With trading, it exists - and yet it doesn't. I say this and I need to qualify it. As I said above - there are LOTS of systems. There is almost guaranteed to be SOME system out there that fits your trading style, lifestyle, risk appetite, etc... As a result - that system is YOUR "Holy Grail" - but not mine. So let me quickly get into some information about the system.
THE JOURNEY & SYSTEM
The Journey
In the little time I've been trading, I've had my perspective change quite a bit. I'm gonna put some info here and maybe it will resonate with someone. You find out about trading - regardless of instrument/system/etc. You trade it for a few days - maybe even a week or two - and you feel almost invincible. This is easy. You plan ahead and map out all the things you're going to do - and then reality hits. Regardless of the personality, regardless of how successful you are or were - something happens to hit you. Trading without SL and a spike. "Life happens" and you overleverage. Something.
In my case - my "something" was my father getting sick and then passing away. Those who remember me saying things about it before should know this story.
I started out with HotForex. I went from $100 up to $500 from 2019/02/22 - 2019/04/02. I found out about ICMarkets and switched to them.
I was doing quite fine until my father got sick. And then the mistakes and over-leveraging kicked in.
The account eventually hit zero. And I took a LONG break. Over a year. I mean - COVID and everything - and then I tried getting back into it with very little success. I had no drive - I didn't write down the system - I had to re-learn everything and I kept making mistakes. Through the entirety of 2022 I had nothing but losses.
And then...things turned around. I guess you could say I got my groove back? LoL. Now - this is the same account that I kept depositing little bits to - in order to test the strategy. I didn't deposit more than $50 at a time because I wanted to see the strategy live. Back testing is great - but some tools don't work well for that. So what do the account stats look like? Well. I'm actually proud of it. I've taken it from a profit factor in the negative to a positive 0.90 currently.
And my trades since February 19th until now have been....much improved.
And here's the full stats for this year in terms of percentages.
Now - please bear in mind - I'm an IT engineer. I travel a lot. My expenses per week on petrol run around USD$200 on average - with some weeks (rarely) being less, and some weeks (occasionally) being 2x or 3x that amount. So....I drive a lot.
The original goal (did I say this?) was to trade periodically while still doing my day job. Rake in as much cash as I could and then retire early. Now? Well - truth is I love IT. I don't ever see myself out of IT. However, I intend to trade full time and do IT/repairs part time instead of how it is now - in the reverse - where I trade part time. Technical analysis with trading has been fun for me, and almost as enjoyable as IT - maybe even on par. But my sob story isn't what you're here for. Let's get into the system.
The System
What I do is pretty simple, and you can find threads about each thing here on FF or on other sites.
- BTMM
- Quarter's Theory
- PVSRA
Not in any particular order. Let me give a quick rundown of each.
QUARTERS THEORY
This is - I think - the "father" of them all. You'll find an example of that attached.
If you look between 1.10000 and 1.00000 you'll notice there are 4 separations - basically multiples of 25 into 100. So 4 quarters make a dollar - 4x $25 = $100. Between each major zone there are 4 major quarters. There are minor quarters between those, but Quarter's Theory (QT) basically says price moves from one area to another. There are tells for reversals, and there will be retracements - but the move is inevitable. Once a reversal is confirmed - price will move to the next quarter. Price will always want to move to the next major zone, but it will have multiple moves within the major/minor quarters first.
More information on QT can be found online, but also in this book: https://a.co/d/93r4kTB
There are other books available as well - but that's the primary one. You can also do some research online - YouTube or otherwise - and gather more details on QT if you'd like.
BTMM
BTMM is short for "Beat The Market Maker". This is something that I first heard about being taught by Mr. Steve Mauro. You can see that website here: https://beatthemarketmaker.com/.
There are a lot of free resources online that get into details of the course, and there are others that have based their teachings/methods off his - but I believe that's the original site.
BTMM shows the "dark side" of the forex markets. It shows that there are persons on the other side of your trades that want to take your money - and shows you how to beat them. That's the general gist of it - and I will not be going into any details that I found online on forums or sites that have ripped copies of his content. While expensive, I believe that credit is due to him for pointing things out. Not necessarily revolutionary - but it helps to point things out. I'll give a quick analogy.
I've had to write things on clipboards for some time now due to my job. Everything has gone paperless I know - but back when I had to. So I always had an issue with signing at the bottom of the page. Every time I got to that part, it was a pain to write and sign at the bottom. Then one day - someone I worked with simply curled the page up to the middle of the clipboard and signed. I saw. I copied. It's a simple thing that you may figure out over an extended time, but seeing someone do it an easier, faster or more efficient way helps with your own process.
From the analogy above, I hope you get where I'm going. Mr. Steve Mauro gives great insight into how the market works - but people take things too literal and dogmatic. As an example - one of the "rules" given in BTMM that I've seen posted in a lot of places online would be the market cycle. The market apparently has levels where it will move in one direction - up or down - for three levels and then reverse. Persons following BTMM apparently take this as law, while I believe Mr. Steve Mauro gave this as a GUIDELINE. Anyone that has traded the markets long enough will tell you that the market has phases where it will go in one direction for days...weeks...even months. There are minimal reversals at times. Is BTMM then wrong? No. But the information is given as a GUIDE. Not a STRICT RULE as persons have taken it.
From what I've seen/read - the market phases in BTMM are a better explanation of the movements in QT. As a result - IMO - BTMM is a refining of QT. They compliment each other and are not mutually exclusive. There is a large online community built on BTMM, and if you've paid for the course you apparently get support from a community. As with all things - some of it didn't resonate with some persons. Some persons paid for the course - think it's USD$5,000 - and then decided they didn't like it. They couldn't grasp it. Some persons decided that they wanted to share the information, hence you can find forums and threads dedicated to it.
If you end up successful and can credit BTMM to your gains, I recommend that you pay for the course even if you don't sit into it. Credit is due to Mr. Steve Mauro for simplifying the process for many traders.
PVSRA
This means:
P - PRICE
V - VOLUME
S - SUPPORT
R - RESISTANCE
A - ANALYSIS
IMO - it's based on either BTMM or QT. I've found some similarities with the way the system works - but PVSRA simplifies things even further and capitalizes on more safe entries. PVSRA postulates:
- The markets are volatile and rigged somewhat.
- You cannot predict accurately what price will do.
- Find the wave created by the large institutions.
- Ride the wave.
In a nutshell.
Conclusion Of The 3
Regardless of the strategies employed, there are statements that hold true. The most common one heard in MANY different lessons would be "The Trend Is Your Friend" and you should follow the trend. Price will move in a direction on the higher timeframe. Find a retracement on the lower timeframe and enter in the direction that you've identified. Price will use specific areas for support/resistance. Price will use QT zones, MAs (Moving Averages) or established S/R zones for support/resistance. S/R = Support/Resistance. Your job as a trader is to find your rhythm and get into it. Ride the wave.
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All of the info above in the quick info about each system was already posted by me elsewhere. It's crude - it may even be inaccurate - but it's what I use. Let me try and give a summary.
- Any pattern - price action or otherwise - must be taken in context.
- Find the trend direction on the H4 or higher and trade in that direction.
- Use BTMM for reversals. I've found it to be more of a reversal strategy.
- Use PVSRA for trend continuation. I've found it to be a safe trend strategy based loosely off BTMM.
- Use QT for identifying zones of potential retracements and next move breaks.
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In line with some aspects of the strategy - I wanted to help out others of similar convictions by posting this indicator that I paid to get made off Fiverr.
In line with looking for zones based on BTMM - this will draw a rectangle on the chart off the first two H4 candles. It's not perfect, but it gets the basic job done. Here's the instructions on how to use it.
- Run it after the first two H4 candles are formed.
- Delete the indicator after.
- Find the object on the chart labeled for that week.
- Copy the high or low value.
- Select the obect.
- Stretch it out to the end of the week (the end of the H4 session break).
- Paste back the value for the top or bottom - whichever you dragged.
- Deselect the object.
I had wanted to try and get it fixed so it would work regardless of the timeframe, and to have it go to the end of the H4 session automatically - but I never got around to asking. I've kinda just worked with it.
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That's it for the strategy and all that. Let me now get into what happened and why I've hardly been here.
REASON I'M SCARCE
So I actually posted some of this information before, but I added my HotForex and ICM affiliate links. I was contacted by a mod and asked about being commercial - which I had no idea at the time that it would remove the ability to post in other sections. I asked back about just removing the links so the account would return to normal, but I got no reply. So....I kinda "rage-quit" and removed all my stats and linked accounts and just lurked periodically. Never logged in. But I calmed down. Not their fault. They're probably busy. And my desire to help others with the info outweighs any hurt ego/feelings I may have.
This however, may be my last post in a while before I get back to lurking. I've literally just restarted everything - it's been a while. I've had to re-learn. I've had to adapt. I've had to grow. I encourage all traders to push and either build their own system or find one that works for them. When you find a system - stick to it. Don't go at it half-hearted then complain when it fails.
Trading is one of the best and worst things ever. It will teach you a lot about yourself. It will teach you patience. It will teach you humility. And if you actually do learn from it - you'll be better for it.
As always everyone - "May the pips be with you". Keep safe. Take care. The resources are there. Remember - it's not for everyone. If you find that you've been doing nothing but losing - there's no shame in walking away. Everyone can't be technicians. Everyone can't be pilots. Everyone can't be mechanics. Everyone can't be coders. Yes - trading is a GREAT means of gaining financial freedom, but statistically - it's impossible for every trader to do well. If it's just not for you - I'm sorry - find another way. A copy service. Investments. Give trading another go if you must - but find your path - find your rhythm - and do what makes you happy.
2023-05-13
I should add that currently it seems like I can't reply to persons or compose PMs either. Well - I can compose but it's stuck and not being sent. So I may have to leave it at that. Keep safe everyone. "May the pips be with you."
UPDATE - 2023-05-26
Stopped since I was already ahead.
That's it for now. If I can do it - so can you. Bear in mind a few things. Trading isn't for everyone. If you find that you're losing - stop - step back - reevaluate - decide on how to proceed. If you're not gaining any traction, do something else. Copy service or something. But don't keep throwing away money. Trading is addictive, so don't get sucked in.
Once you have a system that works - don't matter what it is - lunar cycles or whatever - if it works FOR YOU then stick to it.
That's it for now. No idea when next I'll be back. Keep safe everyone.
"May the pips be with you."
*EDIT - 2023-07-22*
Just editing to say that I've passed a prop firm challenge using the strategy outlined. Prop firms are a good way to get cash faster if you don't have much to start with. My issue is with their limitations. It's a good exercise to curb your tendencies to over-leverage and stay safe. I'd upload the files but I'm at my limit for attachments. I'll do a reply with some information about sites/tools in use and thanks to all of the various persons I can recall that have helped me to get here. Let's see if I can keep at it for another couple months with the prop firm restrictions.