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Trading at work

  • #1
  • First Post: Apr 20, 2008 7:25am Apr 20, 2008 7:25am
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.
  • #2
  • Apr 20, 2008 7:47am Apr 20, 2008 7:47am
humm....why not simply adopt a more longer time frame oriented system?
it would ease up the pressure and the need to constantly be on the lookout for the next signal.

are you really sure you can both do your job right and trade at your full potential?

i tried to put myself in your position..i for one wouldn't be able to do both things equally well.i wouldn't risk my job and i wouldn't risk not giving my best in trading.
  • #3
  • Apr 20, 2008 9:57am Apr 20, 2008 9:57am
I started a thread on this a while ago, though it was a little more humorous in nature.
Are you sure you'll have the discipline to shut down your charts after your order is placed?
If you are using intuition as part of your entry, will you be able to make your entry decision instantly and under pressure?
What time zone are you in and what hours do you work? Just wondering if your work hours are even the best hours for trading, especially short term.

I've been down that road. I'm self employed and don't have the added pressure of having to do it on the sly. Also I work mostly during the New York afternoon--not the best trading hours anyway.

But I do keep my charts up during work, but more to keep in synch with what's happening through the day, or to follow something I already have going. I don't enter trades very often while at work. But I do exit a few.

With my hours, I found it best to get up early and trade the London open and London/US overlap. Usually I can trade the Asian open also.

Sounds like your putting a lot of effort into making it work. Only one way to find out.

All the best.
  • #4
  • Apr 20, 2008 10:11am Apr 20, 2008 10:11am
I am fortunate enough to have my own business which also allows me time to keep an eye on the charts over the course of the day, however I have moved to trading a longer term time frame because I just got bored with all the noise.......
So I now place 1 trade per day on 1 pair per day at the open of a new daily candle. I trade with the trend and allow the momentum of the price to work for me.
All this now only takes about 5 minutes a day to place my trade. I do however spend a little more time than that because I have to come over here to the factory to see what the rest of you guys are up to.
Same Whore .... Different Dress
  • #5
  • Apr 20, 2008 11:01am Apr 20, 2008 11:01am
Quoting Castlemain




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.
Jesus that sounds like a lot of work... why don't you just buy a smartphone and put mt4 mobile on it? Most days I am trading from class with no problems. The only problem is no custom indicators but if your only looking for breakouts then it shouldn't be a problem.
  • #6
  • Apr 20, 2008 3:32pm Apr 20, 2008 3:32pm
Quoting billflet
I started a thread on this a while ago, though it was a little more humorous in nature.
Are you sure you'll have the discipline to shut down your charts after your order is placed?
If you are using intuition as part of your entry, will you be able to make your entry decision instantly and under pressure?
What time zone are you in and what hours do you work? Just wondering if your work hours are even the best hours for trading, especially short term.

I've been down that road. I'm self employed and don't have the added pressure of having to do it on the sly. Also I work mostly during the New York afternoon--not the best trading hours anyway.

But I do keep my charts up during work, but more to keep in synch with what's happening through the day, or to follow something I already have going. I don't enter trades very often while at work. But I do exit a few.

With my hours, I found it best to get up early and trade the London open and London/US overlap. Usually I can trade the Asian open also.

Sounds like your putting a lot of effort into making it work. Only one way to find out.

All the best.
Hi Bill, I am based in the UK, trading the euro market open, so I'm looking for trends developing from 6-7am GMT onwards. I look for a quiet period of consolidation prior to a strong breakout, nothing else. The breakout also has to occur across multiple pairs, e.g. if usd/chf breaks short, gbp/chf breaks short and chf/jpy breaks long, I will trade the strength of chf. I will then look for the weakest currency of the moment in the same way and trade that pair. Excel does all the analysis for me. If it's not blindingly obvious, I stay out.

I am also self-employed, although I am working on-site with clients much of the time.
  • #7
  • Apr 20, 2008 3:48pm Apr 20, 2008 3:48pm
Quoting traderjai_inhi
Jesus that sounds like a lot of work... why don't you just buy a smartphone and put mt4 mobile on it? Most days I am trading from class with no problems. The only problem is no custom indicators but if your only looking for breakouts then it shouldn't be a problem.
Entries are all done via my mobile phone + laptop. Exits are managed by my PC at home which has a very reliable internet connection. Once I am in a trade, I will control my home PC remotely to set up the automated exit.

I don't mind missing a trade opportunity due to a poor connection via my phone. What I want to avoid is mismanaging my exit.
  • #8
  • Edited 5:43pm Apr 20, 2008 5:28pm | Edited 5:43pm
Couple, of options:
a.) build ea.
b.) download mt4 at work and use the "autohide the taskbar" at the bottom of
screen so your stealthy.
c.) if you dont want your work to figure it out or you have some firewalls that ding you.. Set up a rdp session and a remote server .. (my option).
that way you can acces your home computer. ( with ea options)- ie trade your 9-10 currencies, not much problem.
All the firewalls and the sophisticated stuff out there cant get you ...

I tried the phone option a few years back. Too darn much work. I am not
sure your style of daytrading lends to very much success. It is difficult to focus and your liable to make mistakes.
  • #9
  • Apr 20, 2008 6:12pm Apr 20, 2008 6:12pm
Sounds like you have the solid foundation of a sound system here. The thing you want to look for when setting up a trading routine is to make sure that it is something you can stick to day in, day out; regardless of other events that happen in your life. It might sound crazy, but having the freedom to trade ANYTIME, ANYWHERE is priceless.

for this i recommend investing in a laptop/wireless internet card. i don't know about you, but i would not want to be executing trades with my phone... wireless internet eliminates the unnecessary links in your trading chain. you can bring your laptop to work, sit it under your desk, and when you get a trade notification via your phone pop the lid open and execute your trade. otherwise, forget the laptop even exists. that will allow you to escape the iron clench of the charts. the beauty of a setup like this would be that you could be on vacation in the tropics executing trades like clockwork.


cheers
  • #10
  • Apr 21, 2008 1:02am Apr 21, 2008 1:02am
I suspect the majority of people on this forum work, so this would be a good thread to discuss different ideas.

Another method is to use remote access from work to your home PC (if you're not allowed to install software at work).
  • #11
  • Apr 21, 2008 7:31am Apr 21, 2008 7:31am
Quoting forexmoments
I suspect the majority of people on this forum work, so this would be a good thread to discuss different ideas.

Another method is to use remote access from work to your home PC (if you're not allowed to install software at work).
I use www.logmein.com to access my home computer. It's free (!!!), and crucially, it doesn't require a static IP address. All you need to do is to install some software onto the computer you are trying to control, and have the latest version of IE on the computer you are controlling from.

This is how I intend to automate my exits. My broker is EFX, and unfortunately they don't support Metatrader. However, you can use the ninjatrader platform to execute trades with them, so I'm going to use this for my exits.
  • #12
  • Apr 21, 2008 10:37am Apr 21, 2008 10:37am
One thing you need to consider is reliability. With remote access and the like, if the service is shotty/down or unreliable, your signals become worthless. just something to keep in mind.
  • #13
  • Apr 21, 2008 2:48pm Apr 21, 2008 2:48pm
Quoting nyxxo
One thing you need to consider is reliability. With remote access and the like, if the service is shotty/down or unreliable, your signals become worthless. just something to keep in mind.
It is for this reason that my PC at home generates the signals and manages the exits. Eventually, I should like to run all the necessary applications (Metatrader, Ninjatrader, excel etc...) on a virtual/dedicated web server hosted by a major provider, rather than at home - reliability is a fundamental consideration to the way I intend to set myself up. Only entries will be handled remotely. Signals and exits are handled via a good connection.

As I said, I don't mind missing the odd entry, so long as the signals and exits are well executed.

Thanks for everyone's feedback.
  • #14
  • Last Post: Apr 21, 2008 11:52pm Apr 21, 2008 11:52pm
I have been using MT4 on my mobile for about a year and I've had no problems. I trade mostly off of the 4 hour and daily charts, so I don't need to see the charts too often. I have MT4 send an email to my hotmail account and then I have hotmail send my PDA a text message. It all takes place in about 1 minute... it works great. Its nice to get a trade entry text message while I'm suffering along in cubicle land.
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