I am sure that many of you have thought about this tricky issue: You are at work, and this takes up a great deal of your time and energy, but you want to be able to follow the forex market and start the process that will (hopefully) build your trading account to a reasonable size.
The key factor for me is minimizing the amount of time spent staring at charts. Charts can be so mesmerising and absorbing. Having charts open at work is a recipe for disaster.
Another difficulty for me is that I'm not always at my desk, sometimes in meetings, out and about etc... so I often miss trading opportunities anyway.
A big factor for me is the trading style I should adopt. the only trading strategy I have had consistent profits from on a monthly basis (in a demo account!) is trading breakouts on a 15 minute chart, and using my intuition to filter out false moves. This involves looking and waiting for the correct setup, which requires huge amounts of energy, discipline and patience.
The solution I have hit on is MSN messenger, which I always have open, and when I am not at my desk, I receive my MSN messages on my mobile phone. My plan is to have my desktop computer at home doing the entry hunting for me. On this computer, Metatrader will feed bids and asks into an excel spreadsheet (I've got this working nicely). Excel will analyse the movements in price across 20 pairs (I have a fabulous, excellent value programmer working on this for me). When excel detects a setup, it sends me a message via MSN messenger. If, for any reason, I am disconnected from MSN messenger, the macro sends me a text message. I have this working nicely in excel.
My entries will be manual. I am planning to automate my exits using a price cross with a moving average.
So, to summarise, I will have scripts doing the entry hunting for me and sending me messages when potential setups occur, I will make the entry decisions myself and then immediately set up an automated exit, close down my charts and get on with my day.
I will post here with my progress, and I warmly welcome any comments or suggestions.
The key factor for me is minimizing the amount of time spent staring at charts. Charts can be so mesmerising and absorbing. Having charts open at work is a recipe for disaster.
Another difficulty for me is that I'm not always at my desk, sometimes in meetings, out and about etc... so I often miss trading opportunities anyway.
A big factor for me is the trading style I should adopt. the only trading strategy I have had consistent profits from on a monthly basis (in a demo account!) is trading breakouts on a 15 minute chart, and using my intuition to filter out false moves. This involves looking and waiting for the correct setup, which requires huge amounts of energy, discipline and patience.
The solution I have hit on is MSN messenger, which I always have open, and when I am not at my desk, I receive my MSN messages on my mobile phone. My plan is to have my desktop computer at home doing the entry hunting for me. On this computer, Metatrader will feed bids and asks into an excel spreadsheet (I've got this working nicely). Excel will analyse the movements in price across 20 pairs (I have a fabulous, excellent value programmer working on this for me). When excel detects a setup, it sends me a message via MSN messenger. If, for any reason, I am disconnected from MSN messenger, the macro sends me a text message. I have this working nicely in excel.
My entries will be manual. I am planning to automate my exits using a price cross with a moving average.
So, to summarise, I will have scripts doing the entry hunting for me and sending me messages when potential setups occur, I will make the entry decisions myself and then immediately set up an automated exit, close down my charts and get on with my day.
I will post here with my progress, and I warmly welcome any comments or suggestions.