4 Hour Strategy (MACD)

leverage? i use MIG and i can only change my contract size (form 0.1lot to 8 lot) ,can i change my leverage also ?!! should i request my broker or something?(i think it is difference between leverage and contract size)

Hi Phil,
I'm a newbie here and still learning from your thread about 4H MACD System. I would like to say thank you for all of your efforts here. Can't say a word that can describe on how amaze i am to all of your efforts and other member's also like Palmer and Irusoh who have contributed so much to this thread. Keep up the good work guys!

hi phillip,

thank you phillip and everyone that has contributed to this thread, i have been following you guyz and have read the first 60 pages and have pretty much compiled the techniques provided and now i am in the process of forward testing. going great so far but I have a question. How do you average out the pips per week. I mean lets say you have a trade with 0.2 lots and the first lot gets 30 pips and the other lot closes at 45 pips. Now is that 75 pips gain because each one gained it's own pips or is it the average of the two and why? this might be a stupid question.

That a great question that I think has never been addressed...Tell ya what I do is it's simply the total # of pips per trade but I break it down like this. I usually go in with three lots that are equally weighted...this can be 0.3 = three 0.1 lots, 0.6 = three 0.2 lots....1.5 = three .5 lots. I count each lot as a separate trade. Each 'lot' is counted as a separate trade but they are equal in terms of leverage and $ value. My standard target for the first lot is always around 20 to 25. If things move fast (and I can monitor things) and I'll have the mouse in hand to exit and move stops up (usually one remaining to breakeven and leave the other as is). If things keep chugging, take the next out at hopefully double the amount of the first exit (40 to 50 pips) and then move the last to breakeven. If I'm 'in good' and the trend is strong, I'll move the stop a few pips above/below the 21 and let the rhythm of things eventually take me out...

Hope some of this helps...

Palmer, thanks for your response. Another if I might ask you, lets say your target per week is 100 pips and as you mentioned you go in with a few lots and I do the same thing. Now as you mentioned lets say the first lot you get out with 30 pips, then the other half with lets say 70. so now did you get to your weekly target or do you average that out 70+30/2=50pips. Because i see phillip usually go in a trade with a few lots and at the end he averages all the pips out for that particular trade so i was wondering how do you guys usually do it. I have some trades where i have 0.2 lots and i get 20 on the first and 50 lets say on the second. so does that count as 70 or an average of 35 pips. I hope this clarifies the question a bit.

By the way this is the only and i mean the only thread that is honest with real people that want to help become master traders, believe me i have been researching for 4 months about 8 hours a day and i think this system and phillip and everyone else like yourself palmer are really here as a trading community where no one is trying to sell something to someone.

Lets continue this and become successful independant traders and take those few pips from the big boys.

Its not really about the more pips you take, but the few pips you take compounded over the year will boggle your mind.

is there a indicator or something in mt4where you can set your trailing stop loss to follow the 21ema automatically or do you have to physically monitor and change yourself?

Time: Thanks for the kind words. I'm approaching two years with this thread and the reason is simple...it works but it takes patience for things to set up correctly. If you stick with the method and wait for the high probability set-ups...it'll happen for you also...

The problem with "let's say your target per week is 100 pips" is that you may not get a signal every week. I strictly trade the Euro and Yen. This forces me to wait for good set ups. Only two piars for me, gotta keep it simple. Take the following EURUSD chart from about Aug 13 to late September...not pretty. The overall trend is down but the rhythm of it all is just not clean. Now, there is a downward channel with a strong upper resistance line that could be traded with the corresponding MACD patterns but again the flow is difficult to follow. I do trade this type of congestion areas but not very often simply because the chart...just don't look good. This is more of a really technical trader's chart that would require ( in my humble opinion ) a few more tools for entry possibly on a lower timframe. If you look at this chart it's hard to find the 'method principles' here. It took over a month for this pair to break away from the congestion of the moving averages and continue down. Even then, the rhythm took a while to get going and still didn't look to grreat. Right now all five of the mov avgs are starting to converge.

What to do what to do what to do. Look at possibly one other pair, but just one. Too many charts with no clear picture and you can start 'trade spotting' and very easily start to make bad decsions just because you have to think you need to be in the market because we have an account open. BAD BAD BAD. What do I do in times like these...Golf course, fish the flats, or get shot down again from the brunette that I knew was out of my league in the first place. Or, have an alternative trading plan. There's nothing saying that this has to be your only method. If you have a window to trade a lower timeframe, Phillip's 5 minute method is also very productive but it takes patience there as well. I monitor that when I can ( been too busy lately ) if the 4hr looks like it has, to try to pick up a few pips here and there.

I have a trader's outlook for the markets. I llike to trade, I like to look at charts, and of course...I like to make money. I recently started writing covered calls on stocks and while the indexes were getting pounded I actually had over a 50% return on 'that' account doing this. No Fannie Mae, Freddie Macs, financial sector trash stocks either. Anyway, I'm writing a lot here because my Steelers won last night and my Crimson Tide is at the top, for now, so I'm in a good mood...the point is to have an alternate trading plan if one is not setting up correctly.

You'll see that Phillip posts a lot of advice, how to's and Q/A posts and every once in a while a 4hr entry trade. Only every once in a while because he waits for the set-up. He's a great trader and has made some great entries that for a better word are awesome because his logic is, uh...'Spock like'..solid and simple.

You can very easily make one trade per week with this method. But, you really have to look at the price action, trrendlines, channels, Fib #'s, etc. if the rhythm is not fowing well. This is a more difficult trading aspect which can be successful for you but can take a little more time to master.

"Patience. Let the market come to you." Hmmm, now who said that????

Hey Zoolander...hmm...you might want to check the programming thread here and ask that question....which is a good one by the way. Try a search first. I've done some mql coding and just thinking out loud here...If long then setstoploss at EMA21 - 5 pips or something. I did monitor one trade last year by doing just that. The EURUSD was on a tear and I got in from a bounce back up from the 89 and took out almost 900 pips. I used the 21 as my stop loss but the actual exit was about 50 pips below it because I already had a big chunk in the bank so I could afford to use a big stop.

This is good thinking because when using the 21 (+/- a few) as a stop loss and if you get stopped out, you're getting stopped out at a probable TC area which shouldn't tell you that the trade is over but you have the opportunity to re-enter the trend...

well technically white goodman is from dodgeball but ill give it to ya....


yeh im tending to use a 50pip trail in my testing atm, jsut begun testing so i will work out what suits me... consequently its my first week using an mt4 platform so my 'coding' is a little noobesque... but yeh it would be good for when im at work or uni to know my trailing stop is jsut below or above the 21ema.....

btw well said Palmer in previous post, im aiming to use Phils 4hr and 5min strategies for my testing and hopefully trading, bout 50 live practice trades each strategy, made little books and audio libraries very neat and tidy

Just a question slash help....im putting together an excel spreadsheet to monitor and record all my trades, ive put in what i think would be helpful but i have a feeling im missing a few things that i should be recording... if anyone can browse over it and hint to me what i should add or delete it would be appreciated (see attachment - in the 'testing' page)

Hi whitegoodman

Yes, there is such an EA (not an indicator) compiled by Yannis. It was posted sometime back on Phillip's 5min system and I do use with Phillip's 5min system to manage my TP and SL after a manual entry. It sets TPs & SLs that your broker cannot see. It does almost everything except makes tea.

Just do a search on ff for yannis and look for all his post. There is also a pdf file explaining the EA - which is rather complicated but very nice to use. There is a free version and a pro-version that you can buy.

I hope it helps.

Edit 1: Here is the link to the latest version of the EA I am using:
http://www.forexfactory.com/showpost...postcount=4456

Here's a couple of EAs that manage Stops. They both have pdfs explaining their use. Just so you know, I've never used them, or even really looked at them seriously. They are EAs that have been posted somewhere on forex factory in the past - sorry, can't be more specific than that cause I don't know

I suppose, use at your own risk...like I said, I know nothing about them, and unfortunately can't give credit to whoever posted them originally. Guess you could do a search and find out if you wanted too. Hope they help!

Ben

...I see Golfer has already given a link. Yannis one is 'Artemis sitter' that I have posted

thanks a heap, ill check it when im home from work, where does it base the TP (or do you mean the TP as in the SL) is the trail like a few pips below the 21ema?

Hi phil,

i would like to clarify some doubts i have with one of the lessons which is L6
market emotion. Through your mp3, you mentioned that point 2 is also one of the high probability trades. Assuming that at that particular moment, the price did actually went into the war zone. i would had actually done a short trade. However, the price make a way high out of 21ema. In this case, my stop would had been trigger. Is point 2 a high probability trades and is one of those minor trade that did not work out? In such scenario, do you
still short it again or do you just let it be just one of those losing trades.

Second time reading, i thought i had the confidence to know that question. i guess still havent passed the test yet. Still in process of learning and learning.

Regards
vincent

As I can see by now, not the big SL is the problem but knowing wether the setup is worth entering or not. There are TCs, which should be passed even if they have SL<50 pips and, on the contrary, and as Phillip showed us recently, one can enter even if on 4H SL>50 pips but if he sees that the setup seems to be highly probable.

My small summary on how to keep risk in acceptable borders when having problems with big SLs:
1) divide position into parts with different SLs so that the average SL is <50 pips;
2) go to lower timeframe until you see the possible place for your SL<50 pips;
3) take the SL which 4H offers you (even >50 pips), but lower position size (for ex., if for trades with SL up to 50 pips you trade 1.0 lot, then you can take a position with 100 pips SL, but open only half (0.5 lot);
4) wait for a possible retracement of the signal bar (21, 38, 50% etc).

Have I forgotten anything?

Shorted GBP/USD at 1.5953 with S/L 1.6053 (Stop Loss 100 pips with 0.5 lot) = S/L 50 pips (full lot)
I entered 0.5 lot (Money management)

1) Closed 0.3 lot at 1.5808
2) Move S/L at 1.5927 (left 0.2lot till 1.5639)

I shorted GBPUSD after 50% Retrace + 21EMA & 10EMA confirmation of TC signal!

well done reno, i noticed that one just then, just got home from work....i really need a laptop for work lol

Is Anybody Noticing The Break Out On Usd/jpy?
How Far Do Think It'll Go?

again ,usdcad is on the same TL with a nice tail.

Thank you for the hint! I've just bagged 80 pips...I took profit on the 200..

Long EURUSD at 1.2873 with SL 1.2824
TC on 4H MACD, 5 min 21,10 ema confirmation, break of triangle on 5 min chart!

Closed 0.5 lot at 1.2966 and moved s/l to BE till 1.3034
p.s. USD is going to CHINA TOWN