{quote} I don’t. I‘m a very logical data driven / systematic type of a person.and how far has that approach gotten you so far. NOFUCKINWHERE
{quote} This is bullshit. In your last reply to me, you claimed to be working a strategy that has delivered something like 13% positive return to your account. However, you continue to talk about the need for an approach that delivers sufficient returns to cover your monthly expenses. You either have an approach that delivers the returns you claim, or you are a liar. If you have an approach, then your issue is scale, and you need to increase your margin account balance from 11,300 to 150,000. Fyi, this is the wrong place to find 138,700. Or is it?...
I haven’t rejected the help i’ve received, just commented on what could potentially work for me and what doesn’t.
I’m not forcing anyone to agree with me or to help. There are many other topics on this forum but the next person attacking me in a personal way is going to be placed on my ignore list.
- #568
- Edited 1:34am Nov 10, 2025 1:03am | Edited 1:34am
- Joined Nov 2008 | Status: Trader | 3,270 Posts
- #569
- Edited 4:22am Nov 10, 2025 4:10am | Edited 4:22am
{quote} Manual signal recognition, yes, but based on clearly defined entry and exit levels plotted on the chart one way or another. So I usually place a stop order for entry entry (more rarely limit entry but it happens). And the exits are one reason for manual trading, so that I can take advantage of understanding the bigger picture for estimating the potential of the position. My example above https://www.forexfactory.com/thread/...3#post15463813 from Friday is a good example.
I have taken a closer look at the philosophy of FVG Trading and, as already mentioned, the main problem I see is that there is no right or wrong way to do it, and there are countless variations on how one could trade it, which in turn leads to information overload for me, as I cannot see how or what of it can work with regard to my personal requirements and goals.
Here's what Google suggests regarding the requirements for FVG trading. Of course, you can find a million other descriptions.
- Three-candle formation: - Fairly clear
- Clear structure: - what is "clear" structure? - Very subjective.
- Align with the trend: - This assumes that one correctly identifies the trend, although most markets exhibit very few trends most of the time, and it is rather a sideways chop for most of the time. My observation, as well as the prevailing opinion, is that markets only trend 20-30% of the time.
- Appropriate size: - What is "appropriate"? - Again, very subjective.
- Wait for retracement: - Fairly clear
- Confirm with price action: - Very subjective
- Use additional confluences: - What is "additional"? - A very generalization.
Furthermore, these additional (even more important) questions arise for me:
- Which market(s) should I trade with this?
- Which chart timeframe should I trade, or should I use approaches that utilize multiple timeframes?
- Is this even a suitable strategy that takes into account my own requirements regarding available trading time per day and would also provide enough valid signals for manual trading during this time, which in total, if all are traded (no cherry-picking), lead to the required minimum results in the required time (e.g. monthly +2% with low drawdown).
- Is this a strategy that won't eventually suffer from "alpha decay" and simply stop working from one day to the next?
All these things cause me a lot of confusion and ultimately lead to indecisiveness, which is of course fatal because you can't make clear decisions based on a clear plan and therefore can't build a repeatable process (system) from it which one simply can EXECUTE in a disciplined way.
Therefore, as I said, I feel much more comfortable with the Opening Range Breakout approach, because things can be identified and executed with crystal clarity, objectively, and repeatably. You have a high/low for a specific period that remains the same every day. You buy when the price breaks through this high, and you sell when the price breaks through this low. It doesn't get much simpler or more objective than that.
You don't have to worry about a thousand other things like trying to analyze the chart from left to right, bottom to top, sunrise to sunset on any subjective, non-repeatable criteria or even "gut feeling", any self-drawn lines, "trends", "trend" on different timeframes, "market structure", Fair Value Gaps, Liquidity Sweeps, Order Blocks and so much more, although at the end of the day, if you were to hide all the "information" on a chart, nothing would ever change. You have a bid/ask line that goes up and down and will never do anything else. Quiet boring isn't it?
That's why I don't really like to even watch it anymore. My objective is to find something I can execute, that can be repeated and leading to the minimum income i simply need in order to be able to make a living from it. Which always brings me back to the point that I would prefer to use an automated strategy where I can simply focus on the correct execution instead of having to follow my subjective gut feeling decisions.
Regarding the FVG concept, I found this. Perhaps this is something that could work.
My FTMO trial account. Looks good so far, I'll now try another challenge with the ORB system. This time probably for a 100k challenge. So far, I haven't found a solution for Future Props that would allow copying from MetaTrader 5 to NinjaTrader or Tradovate. I was recommended "Duplikum", however it is cloud-based (I would prefer a local trade copier) and does not incur recurring costs.
Here's the result of my 10K challenge that I attempted in June. Back then, I had no fixed system or plan and relied solely on gut feeling. It actually went well; after 49 days, I was at +8.2% of the required +10% in Phase 1. Unfortunately, I then broke the daily drawdown limit the next day due to a position that was too large and left open overnight.
