Scalping Trade execution

This is for all the scalpers out there:

What do you do in order to execute your trades faster than the usual F9 built-in order screen?

I've recently gone back to manually trading--specifically scalping--on a demo account in anticipation of the increased time I will have after my internship to start trading live.

Personally for me, I have a series of scripts which calculate the lot size for me, based on a hard-coded risk value, for BUY and SELL orders. I have a custom mini keyboard which resembles an arcade console which has a script mapped to each button.

1. BUY
2. BUY half risk
3. SELL
4. SELL half risk
5. CLOSE ALL

Is my setup overkill? Are there simpler methods? How would you do it?

As usual Ron, you are ahead of the curve. Thanks for your help on other threads.
ps: I'm considering doing just that, with perhaps adding an EA just to do a trailing stop on the last lot.

Not much traction on this thread, but I have an interest in your thoughts. Ihad been thinking about using a script to open my trades, too. I do not know mq4 or C, so I am having some troubles with coding it, and do not know how to debug the logic - other than calling an Alert(). Would you please explain how to get details out at certain points in the code so I can find/fix my errors and enter trades with better timing than what I am doing manually?

This script is supposed to look back for a while to find peaks and valleys and then calculate the fibonacci levels to use as trading targets, enter a trade from a price reversal pattern, and calculate the SL just beyond the peak.

I know it is crude, but people need to start somewhere, right? Are there some simple debug tools and techniques?

James

//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//| BuyRight.mq4 |
//| Copyright 2008, MetaQuotes Software Corp. |
//| http://www.metaquotes.net |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
#property copyright "Copyright 2008, MetaQuotes Software Corp."
#property link "http://www.metaquotes.net"

//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//| script program start function |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
int start()
{
//----
double peaks[], valleys[], range, l238,l382,l500,l618,highest,lowest,lol[],price;
int ih, il, i,hil[],lov[],cmd,TP,SL,ticket,lots,MagNbr,BuySell;
ih=0; il=0;
for (i=3; i<50; i++)
{
if (High[i-2]<High[i] && High[i-1]<High[i] && High[i+1]<High[i] && High[i+2]<High[i])
{
hil[ih]=i; peaks[ih]=High[i]; ih++;
if(High[i] > highest) highest = High[i];
}

if (Low[i-2]>Low[i] && Low[i-1]>Low[i] && Low[i+1]>Low[i] && Low[i+2]>Low[i])
{
lol[il]=i; valleys[ih]=Low[i]; il++;
if (lowest<Low[i]) lowest = Low[i];
}
}

if (BuySell == 1)
{
if (lol[0]==2 || lol[0] ==3)
{
cmd=OP_BUYSTOP;
TP=((highest-lowest)/Point)*0.382;
SL=(Ask-valleys[0])/Point ; if (SL < 5) SL=5;
price=Low[1]+(High[1]-Low[1])/3;
ticket = OrderSend(Symbol(),cmd,lots,price,4,SL,TP,"Stop entry",MagNbr,1,Blue);

}
}
//----
return(0);
}
//+-------------------------------------

Hello,
jjasper your decription sounds like a lot of work for a script
Scripts can only be run once, so having a "Close All" script would be more useful, since the action is performed once. If you want to constantly look for the formation you mentioned, an indicator or an EA would be more suited.

Also, the statement High[i-2] is referencing 2 bars into the future. Since these will never be formed on calling of this realtime, High[i-2] is always 0.

Ronald,
None of your trading ways have sounded like "overkill". I would like a keyboard like your screenshot as well, perhaps mapped to an custom API to interact with various brokers. Not "overkill"

How would you mathematically define a peak/valley?

The closest way I can think of which is completely mechanical and doesn't repaint is to use fractals...

The keyboard is just this: http://www.ultimarc.com i'm using arcade buttons.

And I use the custom software they have to program in the macros.

Thank you for the link, Ronald. I'll have to look into it more, Pac-Man Pips

For peak/valley definition, it looks like he is attempting that in the code.

jjasper7, you may want to look into using iHighest() as well. The autofib codes may help learning this function.

Thank you both.
Yes, the peak/valley I defined was that the 2 preceding and following bars are below/above the current one, and the count starts with i=3 to accomodate that, so High[i-2] will always be >1. Not a great algorithm, but should catch 98% or so.

I thought I'd try to set it up as a script so I could activate it manually and let it watch for the peak pattern reversal to enter the change of direction, and then insert the logic into an EA I am trying to write. Sounds like you are saying that it will not run like that, so can you suggest another approach that would work for capturing an expected manual entry?

I thought iHighest() would bring back only 1 peak, and my desire is to analyze the trend from a few most recent peaks/valleys to choose trend direction.

what are the 'autofib' codes you are referencing?

jjasper7,
I hadn't noticed your i=3 count, but you came up with a method that works for you

A script is like an EA that runs once. As soon as a script is called, it will check all conditions programmed. If all conditions true, it will perform. If all conditions are not true, it will do nothing.
After either case, the script will unload itself.

Considering the code you have already, why not port it into an EA now? It will run constantly, and you can debug from there to be sure its returning the values you want it to. Or you could create an indicator to show these values, and call it into your EA afterward.

If you load a script to look at the previous 2 bars, and the condition is not met, it will return 0 and unload itself. If you load either an EA or indicator to look at the previous 2 bars, it will constantly check until the conditions are true, and only unload itself if you remove it from the chart (or create an "off" function).

Thanks, I'm working on it as an EA.

There isn't a "breakpoint" feature for debugging is there? So far I am trying to get a small simple function to run, and then start adding Alert() statements to display variable contents, and retest. Although that works, it seems inconvenient and slow - do you know of a better way?

Another question I have, I have QQE Alert running to give me directional arrows on the chart. It works fine on my desktop, but when I loaded it on my desktop, it does not paint the arrows! No changes, and recompiled on the new system to be sure it links up properly, but still no arrows displayed. Is there something special about displays on the chart window that I would need to accomodate?

Use the Print() function. Works the same way as alert, but posts to the journal instead.

Ronald,
When I run the script, I always get error 4109 back from the ordersend / getlasterror routines. The inputs look ok, and 4109 explanation is 'trade is not allowed. enable checkbox 'allow live trading' in the expert properties. I have loaded an EA and set the properties tab, but it still fails.
How do you get the quick buy script to work?

Does the broker allow trading on that pair?

yes, and confirmed that 1 lot produces the same error. It has reasonable values or 0 in the SL and TP. Observed that a message appears in the Experts list "uninit reason 0", and then 'removed' when the script is called, and have not found what that is yet. also observed that if the EA is active (green) , it prints a "starting display function" message in Experts very frequently - perhaps with each tick, which stops if I deactivate the EA, but the script runs in either case, and always gives the 4109 error code.

Any other suggestions of what to look for or at?

I do not see what I am doing wrong. I suspect that I am violating some operational rule that I have not found yet. I want to run this script once to open a position. I have simplified this to be a simple manual entry at the ask price with a stoploss and target set at fixed distances. Would someone please look at it and try to execute it and explain what needs to be changed?
It produces the error code 4109 = Trade is not allowed. Enable checkbox "Allow live trading" in the expert properties. is the clue I have, I am running this as a script, that I drag from the Navigator box into the chart, then I get the messages as seen below in the Experts log.
I have loaded an EA and enabled the checkbox, but this still fails, and I do not know how to put it in as an EA and only run once. I have also set up the Alt-B key to call it, which seems to call, but the error occurs and it still does not buy.


Here is the script...

//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//| BuyNow.mq4 |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//| script program start function |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
int start()
{
int ticket;
double price;
double Lots;
double TPB; // Target stop price
double SLB;
int Mode;
double StopLoss = 50;
double Target = 90;
int magicnbr = 101;

price = Ask;
Mode = OP_BUY;
SLB = price - StopLoss*Point;
TPB = price + Target*Point;
Lots=1;
//SLB=0; // simplify to test
//TPB=0; //???
OrderSend(Symbol(),Mode, Lots, price, 3, SLB , TPB, "manual auto buy ", magicnbr, NULL, LimeGreen);
ticket=GetLastError();
Print (" BUYNOW ",ticket," ",Symbol()," M",Mode," L", Lots," E", price," S", 3," SL",SLB ," TP", TPB," C", "Keyboard Entry ", magicnbr," ", NULL," c", LimeGreen);

return(0);
}
//+------------------------



BuyNow USDJPY,M15: removed
BuyNow USDJPY,M15: uninit reason 0
BuyNow USDJPY,M15: BUYNOW 4109 USDJPY M0 L1 SL100.48 TP101.88 CKeyboard Entry 101 0 c3329330
BuyNow USDJPY,M15: Loaded successfully


code 4109 = Trade is not allowed. Enable checkbox "Allow live trading" in the expert properties.

I found it - I needed to add the line...

#property show_inputs
to the script to get the opportunity to add the 'allow live trading' option.