DislikedThank you to MM for sharing his ideas and methodologies. I have been trading the Stairstep Breakout method for a few years while also working on a method similar to the one presented here. I have found that the signal line break of the channel and the breakout on the SSBO system are pretty close together and usually yield good trades. I offer a couple of observations from my research. In my research, I use a 55 ema channel and either a 9, 13, or 21 ema close - depending upon volatility and my risk tolerance that day. I do not suggest that this is...Ignored
- #643
- Edited Dec 7, 2017 6:30am Dec 6, 2017 5:53pm | Edited Dec 7, 2017 6:30am
- Joined May 2017 | Status: Trader | 3,880 Posts
Ok guys the time has come! 
After 1 month of running my basket test with this strategy I can finally share my results.
First off just to recap, I traded all 28 pairs 24/5 with slightly modified settings from the original. It's been an interesting month to follow the account up and down.
Total results after 1 month of trading are:
Starting balance: $1000
Trading size: 0.05
Final balance: $643
Total profit/loss: -$357
Total profit/loss percent: -35.7%
So overall the basket test was not very successful. I did learn that having the same settings for each pair is not the way to go, and they all need their own optimized individual setting, so this goes to say that using this strategy for basket trading is not really recommended.
I do believe that there is potential with this strategy, we just need to test and find what works best.
Thanks and green pips to you all.
After 1 month of running my basket test with this strategy I can finally share my results.
First off just to recap, I traded all 28 pairs 24/5 with slightly modified settings from the original. It's been an interesting month to follow the account up and down.
Total results after 1 month of trading are:
Starting balance: $1000
Trading size: 0.05
Final balance: $643
Total profit/loss: -$357
Total profit/loss percent: -35.7%
So overall the basket test was not very successful. I did learn that having the same settings for each pair is not the way to go, and they all need their own optimized individual setting, so this goes to say that using this strategy for basket trading is not really recommended.
I do believe that there is potential with this strategy, we just need to test and find what works best.
Thanks and green pips to you all.
Truth is like poetry. And most people f*cking hate poetry.
Hello again everyone,
First of all my apologies for not being able to reply to all of you guys who wrote to me over the past year with ideas or results after trading this method. I haven't visited FF for a while now, been pretty busy with various other personal projects, but I am still trading and still using this system.
I found from your messages and some of the posts that most of the traders happy with the strategy are the discretionary traders, those who use the system with at least a pinch of manuality - which is also what I learned in my experience with it. Autotrading it did not work for me, although I haven't tried much (just used for some time the EAs you guys so generously shared here, mostly on demo). Thanks again for all the work and sharing your experiences.
I've continued to use this system in my private trading with good results - which is frankly all I ask for from my trading. I haven't had spectacular gains because I trade part time, but the system has been keeping me at break even when the market's choppy and winning when there are good rallies. I continue to think that this is a good manual system, one that keeps the trader safe and gives good direction and entries - but only a trader's eye can feel market volatility, timing, and apply correct money management.
I am thinking of sharing a kind of a journal on this system here in this thread - documenting the manual entries and the results on the system in manual (live) trading. Please let me know if that would be useful to anyone. Also if you guys have any other ideas related to the system that I can help with, I'd be happy to.
Cheers everyone and happy pipping!
First of all my apologies for not being able to reply to all of you guys who wrote to me over the past year with ideas or results after trading this method. I haven't visited FF for a while now, been pretty busy with various other personal projects, but I am still trading and still using this system.
I found from your messages and some of the posts that most of the traders happy with the strategy are the discretionary traders, those who use the system with at least a pinch of manuality - which is also what I learned in my experience with it. Autotrading it did not work for me, although I haven't tried much (just used for some time the EAs you guys so generously shared here, mostly on demo). Thanks again for all the work and sharing your experiences.
I've continued to use this system in my private trading with good results - which is frankly all I ask for from my trading. I haven't had spectacular gains because I trade part time, but the system has been keeping me at break even when the market's choppy and winning when there are good rallies. I continue to think that this is a good manual system, one that keeps the trader safe and gives good direction and entries - but only a trader's eye can feel market volatility, timing, and apply correct money management.
I am thinking of sharing a kind of a journal on this system here in this thread - documenting the manual entries and the results on the system in manual (live) trading. Please let me know if that would be useful to anyone. Also if you guys have any other ideas related to the system that I can help with, I'd be happy to.
Cheers everyone and happy pipping!
Hi again everyone!
Since I've been trading this method manually quite often for the past few months, I want to check if there is still any interest in following it live here on the forum - meaning through some daily setups and live trading updates.
Since I don't trade full time, I have a quick method of finding the setups (by that I don't mean just the MA Channel signals, but the actual trade setups) and a few clear rules when entering positions, which I'd be happy to share with you guys.
Since my time is limited, I don't follow more than 2-3 pairs daily and I trade mainly one (USDJPY), but I 'd like to find out if the same methodology works for other pairs consistently. I can assist with strategy feedback on other pairs, on the only condition of keeping the discussions strictly on the MA Channel strategy setups (good or bad), so they would be relevant for us as live backtest in the long run.
The MA Channel signal (short: MAC) is still the backbone signal for my trading, but I am using some basic technical analysis and a minimum awareness of the Fundamentals to keep my trade grounded in actual market action. Time and time again I've come to the conclusion that there is no way to use this strategy (or any other system for that matter) completely mechanically. Most of my real gains over the past months have come from maintaining a few open trades in solid trending market conditions and taking advantage of common sense to adjust these positions. The rest of the time I take trades that are 30-50pips profit or loss, which is fine by me if 2-3 times a month I manage to bank 150-200 pips from one particular setup. My general aim is aprox. 500pips a month, give or take, while having no negative months in the process - it's an objective that doesn't put much pressure on me and allows plenty of room for mistakes while keeping me focused on discipline.
Since this is not a live signal service, I think the best way to work together is posting just the setups and later updates, leaving them open during the day for discussion / suggestions from other traders who use this system. Most traders here have well established trading methods and strategies, so I think whatever we post should be well argumented in terms of the strategy's pillars, so we can all focus on the same thing.
Here's the pillars that I propose to you (in a nutshell): 
SHORT @153.74 (MAC signal)
Res.: 154.01, 154.35
Sup.: 153.20, 151.90
My trade: SHORT @153.63, SL @153.98, TP @153.23, 152.00.
Trade Logic: on MAC, late entry. SL "protected" by short-term res.levels around 153.80-90, first TP without any major level in between. If successful, possibility to extend gain on a break of 153.20 toward 152.50 and 152.
Cheers & happy trading!
Since I've been trading this method manually quite often for the past few months, I want to check if there is still any interest in following it live here on the forum - meaning through some daily setups and live trading updates.
Since I don't trade full time, I have a quick method of finding the setups (by that I don't mean just the MA Channel signals, but the actual trade setups) and a few clear rules when entering positions, which I'd be happy to share with you guys.
Since my time is limited, I don't follow more than 2-3 pairs daily and I trade mainly one (USDJPY), but I 'd like to find out if the same methodology works for other pairs consistently. I can assist with strategy feedback on other pairs, on the only condition of keeping the discussions strictly on the MA Channel strategy setups (good or bad), so they would be relevant for us as live backtest in the long run.
The MA Channel signal (short: MAC) is still the backbone signal for my trading, but I am using some basic technical analysis and a minimum awareness of the Fundamentals to keep my trade grounded in actual market action. Time and time again I've come to the conclusion that there is no way to use this strategy (or any other system for that matter) completely mechanically. Most of my real gains over the past months have come from maintaining a few open trades in solid trending market conditions and taking advantage of common sense to adjust these positions. The rest of the time I take trades that are 30-50pips profit or loss, which is fine by me if 2-3 times a month I manage to bank 150-200 pips from one particular setup. My general aim is aprox. 500pips a month, give or take, while having no negative months in the process - it's an objective that doesn't put much pressure on me and allows plenty of room for mistakes while keeping me focused on discipline.
Since this is not a live signal service, I think the best way to work together is posting just the setups and later updates, leaving them open during the day for discussion / suggestions from other traders who use this system. Most traders here have well established trading methods and strategies, so I think whatever we post should be well argumented in terms of the strategy's pillars, so we can all focus on the same thing.
Here's the pillars that I propose to you (in a nutshell):
- All trades will be opened in the direction of the MAC signal (even if not necessarily at the time of the actual signal). I know there are many opportunities on the pullbacks, but since this is the main logic of the strategy I follow discipline & only trade WITH MAC. However, we can also discuss setups in the opposite direction while waiting for MAC to confirm a signal.
- All setups must have a minimal "map" of key levels, that will be used for SL protection and profit taking together with the signals. I personally use D1/H4/H1 support and resistance levels on 2 separate charts and look for what I call "confluence" of levels (more of them coming together). I can expand on this subject later, however note that there should be nothing fancy, just S/R levels with relevance to current price (previous H/L, pivots, anything that works for you).
- All setups must include awareness of Fundamentals - always check trades before and after news with expected high volatility. Personally I don't close my trades before news, but I've made it a rule never to go into a trade without knowing the daily events that are likely to shake the market. I usually focus on red events only, so as to keep focus. At those times I re-analyze the open trades, adjust SL/TP levels according to the expected volatility, project possible change in my setups & wait for the new entry levels.
- All setups must have a minimum of 1:1 risk/reward ratio. That almost goes without saying, but many days I make 30-40pips/day on trades that are with the main signal/trend but lack a proper risk/reward ratio. Even if good or profitable, I will NOT post any such setups or trades here, because they encourage lack of discipline and twist the predictibility and the results of trading the actual MAC system.
- All trades must include some risk management setup to protect the profits and limit the losses, so that the REAL R/R at the end of the trade can be as high as possible. My personal rules include (depending on the situation): moving SL to BE after 25-30pips, adjusting SL levels on the basket of positions in order to control overall risk, adding positions to winning trades to boost profits, taking partial profits, etc. I don't think there is only one good way of handling risk and everyone has their own tested methods, but risk management is crucial in the overall success of trading this system (and any other for that matter).
This said, I will leave you with a sample setup from today, a USDJPY short. Please let me know what you think.
SHORT @153.74 (MAC signal)
Res.: 154.01, 154.35
Sup.: 153.20, 151.90
My trade: SHORT @153.63, SL @153.98, TP @153.23, 152.00.
Trade Logic: on MAC, late entry. SL "protected" by short-term res.levels around 153.80-90, first TP without any major level in between. If successful, possibility to extend gain on a break of 153.20 toward 152.50 and 152.
Cheers & happy trading!
As the setup posted earlier today was already ongoing at the time I posted (now already hit its first target) I thought it useful to give an update + a possible way to get back into the same MAC signal (short) on the next opportunity.
I post the charts first, then the setup:
Quick Setup update (on the rules mentioned above):
1) The MAC setup is SHORT at the re-touch of the 33EMA.
2) my confluence Res. levels are: 153.38 (horizontal, H4) then 153.79 (Horizontal, H1), 153.73, 69 (Rainbow levels).
As the RB are dynamic levels (formed by MAs), I expect them all to go lower in the next few hours, because price now is about 50pips lower. So the key levels I take into account are: 153.38 (my short limit order is @153.40), then the other levels will likely converge around 153.70. The logic is to hide my stop higher than that, technically 153.90 is ideal so that all these res. levels would become "barriers" for price before it potentially hits my SL.
My stop is 153.80 to keep the risk @40pips on this entry (personal choice).
3) No high volatility news expected until NY session tomorrow, so from that perspective it's a go.
4) R/R is good enough - if filled, the order would be targeting a minimum of 152.63, so I go for 2:1 at entry (may change according to price action later).
5) Risk management - this order may be filled during the night (Im in Europe), so I will be leaving a trailing stop active starting @30pips (153.10).
So, to sum up, the setup active now for me is:
SHORT USDJPY @153.40, SL @153.80, TP @152.65
If limit order not filled (quite possible if the yen rallies @Asia open) I will be looking for another pullback to EMA33 tomorrow early London & re-set my levels for a new setup.
Hope this clarifies the setup before & gives an insight on how I use the MAC signals in a discretionary way.
Cheers & happy trading!
I post the charts first, then the setup:
Quick Setup update (on the rules mentioned above):
1) The MAC setup is SHORT at the re-touch of the 33EMA.
2) my confluence Res. levels are: 153.38 (horizontal, H4) then 153.79 (Horizontal, H1), 153.73, 69 (Rainbow levels).
As the RB are dynamic levels (formed by MAs), I expect them all to go lower in the next few hours, because price now is about 50pips lower. So the key levels I take into account are: 153.38 (my short limit order is @153.40), then the other levels will likely converge around 153.70. The logic is to hide my stop higher than that, technically 153.90 is ideal so that all these res. levels would become "barriers" for price before it potentially hits my SL.
My stop is 153.80 to keep the risk @40pips on this entry (personal choice).
3) No high volatility news expected until NY session tomorrow, so from that perspective it's a go.
4) R/R is good enough - if filled, the order would be targeting a minimum of 152.63, so I go for 2:1 at entry (may change according to price action later).
5) Risk management - this order may be filled during the night (Im in Europe), so I will be leaving a trailing stop active starting @30pips (153.10).
So, to sum up, the setup active now for me is:
SHORT USDJPY @153.40, SL @153.80, TP @152.65
If limit order not filled (quite possible if the yen rallies @Asia open) I will be looking for another pullback to EMA33 tomorrow early London & re-set my levels for a new setup.
Hope this clarifies the setup before & gives an insight on how I use the MAC signals in a discretionary way.
Cheers & happy trading!
