Semafor Trading

I am a big fan of the SEMFOR and I feel that there is a general misunderstanding about the indicator. Almost every discussion I have come across that references the SEMAFOR has somebody crying about "re-painting".

So let's start by addressing "re-painting". First - forex prices are not static. Second, trading is not an exact science. There are a lot of grey area's in trading and if you cannot accept this then you are in for some painful days.

If I call you at 9am and tell you the high printed at 1.6395 - is there any guarantee that at 9:05 there won't be a new high?

So what is re-painting other than the indicator doing what it is supposed to do and alert you that a new high has printed. If you enter a trade solely based upon a semafor painting - you are essentially entering trades every time a new high or low is made. If you can find an edge in doing this, more power to you and there is no need to continue reading as you are a market wizard.

So if anywhere in this thread someone complains about repainting, be prepared to be told that trading is not for you!

Now on to the semafor's!



Looking at the above chart (in hindsight) it is pretty obvious that the semafors mark swings/pivots. However, as I previously stated, markets are not static, but rather quite dynamic! So how can you use the semafor in "real-time"?

One way is by utilizing Heikin Ashi candles...



more to come (an actual system)....

Hi Enochben,

This looks really promising When do you plan to share the actual system.

Awaiting keenly

Cheers
Vicky

dear Enochben,
I feel that you have a promising system. Please can you tell us abut it in the weekend.
waiting for details
thanks in advance

Well I was going to put it on my blog first, but it's Friday afternoon and I've got nothing better to do so....

If you like things simple, then all you really need to add to the previous charts is the "AMA optimized final slope" indicator. I don't recall where I originally found this indicator nor do I really know how it works.

If you really want to know more about adaptive moving averages - google perry kauffman.

Here is a chart with the indicator added.



Some simple rules to follow.

1) Wait for a semafor to paint (up or down)
2) Once a semafor paints - look for the color of your HA candle to switch (red to white / white to red)
3) Once you have a different color candle look for confirmation on the AMA slope

if the semafor has painted a new high, we will be looking for the slope to paint a red dot below the zero line

if the semafor has painted a new low, we will be looking for the slope to paint a blue dot above the zero line

Note: Always wait for a candle to close before taking action. This is especially important for the re-painting crowd.

There are a few other indicators I use to help me in entering trades, but they are really not necessary.

Questions???

Can you post your relevant indicators? Much appreciated. Thanks.

See attached.

Add support and resistance lines to give you an idea of where prices may (or may not) stop, pause or reverse. Use whatever levels you are already comfortable with. I use pivots and market profile value area's. Again these are just guides. For example in the chart below price fails at R1 - signaling that a reversal might be in play. I know this is hindsight, but if you see the failure unfolding at a known resistance level coupled with a semafor and followed by a change in HA candles, odds are you are going to see some sort or price reversal.

A few more things...

Settings:

AMAopt Slope: I forgot to mention that I change the period from the default "10" to "3". All other settings are left as is.

Semafor

If you are really want to play it safe you can take advantage of the normal semafor cycle to filter trades.

Once a high semafor is painted, wait for a buy signal (green dot) but do nothing - instead wait for the next sell signal (red dot) and enter short.

For a low semafor just reverse the order (sell (red) then buy (green)). Note that the cycle does not always give you intermediate signales before printing an opposite semafor.

admin - why was this thread moved to "journals"?

Can you also show me where you got the HA candles indicator? Thanks.

Enochben,

Thanks for the indicators.

I used semafor with another trend indicator last week and found very good. Later i noticed this thread and i loaded the following indi's in the chart:

1) Semafor
2) AMA slope indicator
3) Non lag MA with 21 setting.
4) OHLC -HA for candle sticks.

With this the chart looks great.

My idea of trading this system is like this:

1) Wait for semafor to print high/low ( star signal ) in hourly chart Assume it printed high. ( Red star )
2) Go to 5 min chart and look for red circle to appear.
3) wait for candle and AMA slope indi to change its colour.
4) Fianlly wait for Non lag MA to change its colour.
5) Enter in to short trade.
6) Exit when first green circle appears or in profit.

My trading rules are more or less similar except that i take confirmation from non lag MA ( 21) aslo.

Your comments pls.

Seems just like my "Freebie System" which i started a thread for.......... Which the mods keep messing with because it is SO SIMPLE and VERY PROFITABLE!

http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=276813

Dredding82, with that kind of an introduction, please post the URL of your system. I couldn't find it by searching, probably because of the "messing mods" .

Its in trading journals now which the mods will not tell me why..and every time i try to start a new thread they change my poll,thread rating and just add the new threads pages to the old one....just look for Freebie System...http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=276813

Ah, that's why it didn't show up, I filter threads by the star rating, should have looked down a little further .

well my thread did have over 92 votes with a 4.5 or around there rating till the mods took it off so no one can vote on the thread...they also changed the poll which had over 300 votes 86+% that liked the system...

Maybe you'll get a better reception back home at kreslik.

he can't go home lol

IM NOT TRO .........how many times do i have to say that....TRO will even tell you that me and him are different people....If the mods here were smart they could check my IP and see im on the east coast of the US not in AZ where TRO LIVES! DUH