I am demo trading at the moment - higher TF (H1,H4,D1 using M5 to confirm direction at entry). I have read Carter, Murphy, Ponsi, Silvani and enough online articles that I believe I am able to begin distilling the 'truth' from common threads.
I am having a problem setting stops properly for non-trending trades (I use Ponsi's FxEd for trending trades - works for me more often than not). I initially used a flat 50 pips but that was not enough room. I then went to using 50% of the ATR at time/TF of entry. This can range to several hundred pips and is just way too much at times. Here are this morning's trades (3-Aug-2011):
Open Time Type Item Price S / L T / P Close Profit
--------- ---- ---- ---- ----- ----- ----- ------
2011.08.03 08:16 sell eurchf 1.10369 1.11450 1.10207 1.10203 215.73
2011.08.03 09:43 sell eurusd 1.42898 1.43071 1.42820 1.42818 80.00
2011.08.03 08:15 sell usdjpy 77.024 76.950 76.673 76.951 94.87
2011.08.03 10:08 sell eurchf 1.09442 1.09542 1.09000 1.09542 -130.55
2011.08.03 08:15 buy gbpusd 1.64001 1.63710 1.64620 1.63710 -291.00
2011.08.03 10:36 buy audusd 1.06865 1.06870 1.06900 1.06867 2.00
These were all traded on the H1 TF. I get that it is unwise to pick a hard and fast SL (since different pairs have different volatility) but there has to be a better method than .5 * ATR! These two bad trades wiped out the morning's profits (one was a retracement bet, the other a channel trade).
Is there a better way?
TIA -
jh
I am having a problem setting stops properly for non-trending trades (I use Ponsi's FxEd for trending trades - works for me more often than not). I initially used a flat 50 pips but that was not enough room. I then went to using 50% of the ATR at time/TF of entry. This can range to several hundred pips and is just way too much at times. Here are this morning's trades (3-Aug-2011):
Open Time Type Item Price S / L T / P Close Profit
--------- ---- ---- ---- ----- ----- ----- ------
2011.08.03 08:16 sell eurchf 1.10369 1.11450 1.10207 1.10203 215.73
2011.08.03 09:43 sell eurusd 1.42898 1.43071 1.42820 1.42818 80.00
2011.08.03 08:15 sell usdjpy 77.024 76.950 76.673 76.951 94.87
2011.08.03 10:08 sell eurchf 1.09442 1.09542 1.09000 1.09542 -130.55
2011.08.03 08:15 buy gbpusd 1.64001 1.63710 1.64620 1.63710 -291.00
2011.08.03 10:36 buy audusd 1.06865 1.06870 1.06900 1.06867 2.00
These were all traded on the H1 TF. I get that it is unwise to pick a hard and fast SL (since different pairs have different volatility) but there has to be a better method than .5 * ATR! These two bad trades wiped out the morning's profits (one was a retracement bet, the other a channel trade).
Is there a better way?
TIA -
jh