james16 Chart Thread

There is a custom MT4 indicator named AutoPivotIndicator that will draw them for you automatically. You should be able to find it in the programming forum - if not let me know and I can upload it when I get off work.

Mike,

Just wanted to ask. When one is starting off like me its very easy to get overwhelmed by the amount of info that one needs to absorb and can easily end up wondering aimlessly in circles.

Do you suggest a sequence of skills or stages that must be mastered before going onto the next stage?

Is there something I can start with now so as to make my time in the PF more profitable?

P

There's plenty of programmes, not sure which ones are the right ones for James system.

Any help welcome+++

Hello Benji,

Are you trade on demo or live?

How come we cannot see the stoploss level? I want to learn those touch trade that how you set the stoploss level.

Do you always enter when there is trendline, ppz and 50 and 60% fib, of course best will come with round number at that level.


Thanks!

PippingM

isn't it nice when your exit point is your entry point for reversing your position, this is way I like higher TF.

ps:I'm feeling like a surfer climbing on all the waves

hope you are all right!

wish you the best!!

Hey Peter

I always say start with a piece at a time. Start with learning to read the bars. Then learning to read a great bar from a decent bar. Then learn to identify support and resistance. Start practicing drawing PPZs. Usually I will say to people start with just pinbars at A+ swing highs and lows nothing else. Then slowly add Outside bars. Then add other things as you get comfortable. Most people try to do too much at once. It is a slow and steady race and where you will be in 3-4 months from now you can't even imagine from where you are at now. Then 3-4 months after that etc. A good summary is posted here by Josh

http://www.forexfactory.com/showpost...ostcount=23250

Good for reference points and the main concepts. Find a concept and then keep studying as much as you have to.

Hope that helps
mike

I personally use an equity stop. That is a fixed % amount I am willing to lose. It isn't a hard stop. Depends on how the pair is moving and how I want to scale in. Usually the stop is 3% range, but rarely do I get to that point. Often I end up scaling in and pulling profit much sooner. Bigger volatility pairs I allow for more room and less volatility pairs I scale in quicker. It is a lot of feel for me personally on gap plays

Best
Mike

Try this

http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...t=pivot+points

Mike

Hello Benji,

I am in the way still learning the touch trade,

Will you consider this is a good touch trade on the GBPUSD 4hr?

1.6400 round number, 61.8 fib.

If there is no trendline presented, will you take this touch trade?

Also, if you will take this trade, where do you want to place the stoploss?

Thanks!

PippingM

hey mike you definitely are right, I wouldn't imagine myself being where I'm right now. All this stuff it will make sens if you will give more time and follow what the senior guys are teaching you.

It take time to grasp all the information and dedication, but everything step by step as mike suggested.

Take your time and read this hole thread, you will be amazed by your one progress.

wish you the best!

hey see my above post it definitely worth take it as you can see

as for SL usually 30pips bellow 61.8 fib but that depends on the pair, on those with high volatility usually I give it more room

hope that helps!

IB, mainly because there arent that many local brokerages that handle al the markets I want, and trading with a US brokerage is a pain in the ass - between having to wire funds in and out of the country and all the regulatory requirements that go with trading to begin with (especially for me, ugh), it isnt worth the trouble to look elsewhere.

Not that I am unhappy with them - commissions are decent, speed and execution is topnotch. Customer service is pretty rubbish, though.

For you?
Each instrument has its own nuances. Even down to basics like timeframe - you can could trade oil, gold or eminis anywhere between a weekly chart and a tick chart if you wanted, but things like the softs need to be looked at on a weekly chart. I daresay Jim will be able to point you in the right direction for pretty much anything you want to trade.


For everyone else?
Demo first. Each contract is different. They dont trade the same. Demo.

There are three main things that give people a headache when they start in futures - contracts, margins and ticks.

For contracts, you just need to know which one to look at. It isnt like stocks or forex where you have a continuous chart to trade from - you can *construct* continuous charts - or let your software do it for you - but there are definitely some nuances involved that a good futures book will cover alot more thoroughly than I As long as you just remember to trade the most liquid contract, and make sure you are trading off the chart for said contract, it should be okay.

For margins, you need an initial margin and then a maintenance margin. Varies by instrument - the exchange (usually cme.com) will tell you how much.

Using gold as an example, the initial margin is about $5400, and then maintenance is $4000 (last I checked - I dont think its changed, but oil margins jump around all the time). Of course, you will set your stops as per normal, so you dont actually risk that much, but if you dont have it to begin with, you wont get to play.

Granularity can be a huge problem if you want to trade futures on a small account. There are mini instruments available on nymex for some of the popular contracts (off the top of my head, I think you can get mini gold, silver, copper, dow, oil, gas, soy and wheat), but even then the margin requirements can be too large to exercise proper money management with a small account.

At which point, your only real options are either to look for a CFD dealer who deals in minilots/microlots for the instruments you want (not applicable for USAians... and opens a world of other questions), or look for another instrument that tracks commodity prices... something like an ETF/ETN, option over a futures contract or a stock price that follows what you want (a gold producer, and oil services company, etc). All of those raise their own issues though - contango with your ETF, theta decay with options, hedging programs with your stocks. All those can result in you making a loss while the 'price' of the commodity is going up. Do your research, understand what you are trading.

(then you have to take into account that if you are trading actual futures - as opposed to a CFD your broker constructs - you will have to pay for data, and you will pay transaction costs.. both of which are a bit of an anathema for people coming from the forex world)

Oh, and ticks. A 1 tick move is different in every market, and represents a different amount of money. Gold moves in 10c/oz increments, but each contract is for 100 ounces. Oil in 1c/bbl, contract is for 1000 barrels so each tick is worth $10. Nymex cotton in 100ths of a cent/lb in 50,000lb lots. So from there you have to work out the value of 1 tick, then the number of ticks between your order and your stop to get your risk.

A good futures book goes a long, long way to making things easier. Getting Started in Futures by Jack Schwager, then Schwager on futures when you want to go further are a good choice.

Really not sure sorry, someone else should be able to answer this though - I see a bunch of MT4 futures charts posted in the PF, so hopefully one of those guys will chime in

Hello triger,

Do you also use the hint from Dow chart to justify your touch trade also? Or you solely base on the chart analysis.

Thanks!

PippingM

I only use dow for my yen crosses needs. Sometime I'm solely based on what I see on the chart and other time I look on equities markets for more clues.

hope that helps!!

Hi trigger,

Thanks for your advice and I will keep look for those trade and I really like the R:R on those trade.

Do you usually take those touch trade or the PA trades for more conservative approach?

If so, did you also catch the GY on 141 touch too?


Thanks!

PippingM

Mike,

I've managed to downloaded it.
But its not in the Navigator indicators section.

Any idea on how to activate it?

P

Nope didn't take it, what you are seeing as to be a good setup it's not even close as what I want to see in thouse situation.

If you have looked at daily chart you will se that the price is now trading right in to a sideway market like the box to the left, I was concern about that so I'm expected price to take off this box to take any trade.

hope that helps!

thanks mike. I spent a good amount of time this weekend looking at these exact types of setups that worked in the past, so this one really jumped out at me.

Actually after questioning benji's trendline on USDCAD, I looked at it a little longer and saw yet anther break/retrace/PA based on the trendline he drew.

I will also note that I think the trendlines are almost useless unless they are confluenced with a horizontal PPZ of some sort.

As I've studied this more and more, I have found my charts getting cleaner and cleaner. I drew weekly, daily, and 4 hour PPZ's on the pairs I look at last week, and it was really quite an experience watching price react at nearly EVERY single horizontal line I had already drawn on my chart lol.....

I don't even use the EMA's that others in here seem to like so much, and I have dropped RSI from my charts too. Although divergence is a good tool, I find the PPZ's+PA is more than enough information to make a good, solid, clear decision. Sometimes I'll still have a glance at macd/rsi, but I already know in the back of my mind if price will be diverging or not.

Hi Mike,

I've managed to import it into the Custom Indicators.

Will try transferring it onto charts now. See if I'll manage.

Big Thanks