The scooby-doo and Boris Schlossberg threads have attracted some seriously clever people with fantastic trading ideas. Last week, octomanoak directed my attention to this site: http://www.invest-fx.com/forex-advan...se/market-flow
The site set my creative juices flowing. This thread is all about swing trading. My basic premise is this:
- A higher-frame swing high means the trend is down.
- By switching to a lower time frame and waiting for a swing high. I can sell into the trend after a retrace.
In the opposite direction:
- A higher-frame swing low means the trend is up.
- By switching to a lower time frame and waiting for a swing low. I buycan into the trend after a retrace.
I use ZigZag (takes longer to establish that a swing has occurred) or ZigZagMe (much quicker) to spot swings on hither time frames, then Fractals on the trading time frame to time the trade entry. Drag a zz amd a frac onto the same chart and you will see why.
For those of you unfamiliar with my work, I am a serial coder of muli-pair, multi-time frame trading robots. So far, there are two in the attached zip:
- Swing trend continuation trader
- Uses the ZigZagMe indicator to spot the trend after a high time frame swing. I am using the D1 tf.
- Confirms the trend after a lower time frame swing in the same direction. I am using the H4.
- Trades an opposite-direction swing on a low time frame. I am using the H1 tf.
- Exits:
- trade hits an Atr-based take profit or stop loss.
- use mptm to micro-manage the trades.
- Zigzag swing break
- Uses the ZigZag indicator to identify the most recent swings high and low of a higher time frame.
- Regards a break of either the high or low of the swing as establishing market momentum.
- Uses ltf swings to identify trading opportunities.
- Exits:
- trade hits an Atr-based take profit or stop loss.
- use mptm to micro-manage the trades.
There is a third robot. This one is a single pair trader that has made a surprisingly encouraging start on demo:
- Steve Hopwood's Super_Signal auto trading robot
- Uses D1 Rsi to establish the trend direction
- Uses the Super_Signal indi to catch the latest swing and trigger the trade
AND
- squalou's version of the Super_Signal robot: squalou is a fantastic programmer whose skills make mine look infantile. He has recoded a version of SS in his own style and introducing a number of extra features. The robot and details of its use can be found at http://www.forexfactory.com/showpost...&postcount=304 Give this robot a try. It will be better than my version and the only reason I cannot endorse it directly is because I do not understand what he has done.
Each robot has its own user guide.
The engine inside the multi-pair robots is essentially the same. It is also very simple, so new robots can be coded at the first appearance of a good idea.
My code is open-source. Coders can adapt it and pinch it for their own use. The only restriction I place on its use is this: please make any robot you code that includes any of mine, free to traders to download and to use.
Posting restrictions
I have restricted the ability to post in this thread to: traders with at least 1 voucher; traders on my 'buddy' list. I have done this because I do not want the thread cluttered with 'newbie' questions about the basics. New/inexperienced traders, this is not intended as a direct insult. What I want here is discussion with traders who fully understand what it is they are doing; when you newbs have been around a while, you will come to understand what a difference experience makes to the posts a member writes and blanche at the recollection of some of the questions you asked. I do. Go to your profile page; there is a link to the FF page that describes the voucher process.
Traders with experience who have not yet been vouched for, can get around this restriction be being added to my 'buddy' list; all you have to do is pm me to ask me to do this.
For anyone not fully conversant with the idea of swing high/low and Atr can read 'The Swing and Atr' pdf included in the zip.
There are two great threads that new traders might like to explore.
- http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=204646 the Scooby-doo thread. Scooby-doo is a professional trader with a large commercial bank and has been sharing his insights with us. There are some promising robots being tested there; some are being traded live.
- http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=216557 - this is an offshoot of the scoobs thread, dedicated to coding robots that trade strategies posited by Boris Schlossberg; you can read the details in the thread. The 2 MA MACD multi-pair combo robot is the most promising there, although traders are trying to tweak others to make them more successful.
A warning to new traders
Although I describe these robots as 'auto-traders', they should not be treated as fire-and-forget bots. Just because they are robots does not automatically mean they are successful traders. Read, mark, learn and inwardly digest what I have to say now:
- At best, a robot is only 90% as good as the strategy it is trading.
- If the strategy is rubbish, so is the robot.
- Until you understand the strategy, you will not be able to trade the robot. You will panic when trades look as though they might go bad, and prematurely close trades that would have turned in your favour had you given them time.
- You should never trade a robot live until you have:
- demo-traded the strategy manually so that you understand it
- demo-traded the robot so that you have seen what it can do
- If you do get to the stage where you are prepared to live trade a robot, do so using tiny lot sizes. Most criminals use different data feeds for their demo and live accounts. A robot may trade like a master on demo, then come completely unstuck live. Live trading is the only true test of a strategy and its trading robot.
Let's see if we can develop some pip-monsters here.