The Dance

Hi BlueMental,

Here is another link whiuch will give you the exact openibg and closing times for thee various Forex markets.

http://fxtrade.oanda.com/resources/fxmarkethours/

I'm also in South Africa (Cape Town).

Regards,

jvfx

Hi All,

I asked Clay if it was ok to post this and he said yes ( Cheers Clay)

I have been working on the new chat site and I am happy to say it’s now up and running. I have made changes to a few things.

1. No need to have the site running you can use an MSN style gadget which allows you to have the chat open in the corner of your screen.

2. If you have a webcam or Mic you can use that on the chat as well as people using the text chat.

3. More user friendly

I have put a lot of work into this so if you want to chat live with other dance traders then please join.

PS

Remember fxinvestor.co.uk is a fan site to The Dance it has nothing to do with Clay so any problems with it please talk to me.

Eclayf
I've in fx for over 9 months now and been trying various indicators and several systems but all ended in frustration. My account blew several times. Seems like the more indicators i tried, more confused and frustrated i become at one point i felt like giving up and quit my journey in fx.
Until one day recently I just revisited ff as visitor and check out your thread "the dance"..Suddenly I feel this is it ! That's the One and last few days, i've been reading your manual over and over again and began to feel the POWER and the potential.
This is my 1st post here at ff just to show my gratitude and thank you note for your help.


god bless

Thanks for all your effort Juneman, I know how much time you've spent getting this facility instigated for us mate. The new site looks great and i'm sure it'll be home to a very lucrative 2010 for us all!

Greetings Clay.

No it is not intended as an EA. I'm sure anyone who has been around the block knows that EA's can not and do not work in the long run no matter how well they are made.

It is a form of Managing the trades according to The Dance rules.

The best way for you to understand my intent is by showing you.This is my current trading 'engine' that I use. It runs both in Tester mode for back testing as well as in live mode.

Simply by dragging and dropping the relevant buttons in the rectangular DropZone, the trade is initiated.

Each open position can be closed separately by dragging the ticket numbers on the left of the trade info. (ticket number, lots, pipcount)

The number 0.00 with 1, 2, 3 and 4 above it, is a manual override of lots per trade. The small numbers 1 to 4, when dragged to the right, increase your current number (0.00 in this case) by the small number * micro lots. Draged left = decrease.

The Blue Close 'button' closes all trades.

I won't bother explaing the whole thing, but you get the idea.(Full explanation will be PDF manual once we get it suitable for The Dance format)

So by setting the whole engine up that it is keyed for The Dance rules, it allows one to focus full attention on The Dance, as opposed to having to think or spend any energy on actually executing the trades on time and accurately. All the auto settings can be overridden (as in auto trade per capital percentage defining lots per trade, or stop losses, or trailing stops etc.) - My current version does not have visible stops(they are done by number settings at the moment), but I am getting there.

I think that clarifies a bit better my intention, and that is what makes it a relevant to this forum topic.

<edit>
My current engine shown, runs as an EA, but I am in the proccess of rewriting it to run as an indicator that opens and closes the trades through scripts. The EA has to wait for a tick to open/close a trade, while the scripts are instant.
<end edit>

BlueMental.

Hi Juneman, We already 'met' on the chat site. At the time I did not realise you were the one that set it up.

I look forward to discussing The Dance there once the market opens up. In a strange way, the group of people that are getting involved in The Dance make it feel like home.

I have tried several 'trades' on the backtester version, but it is not really a true perspective of what my live trades will be, since it is easy to speed up/slow down the whole show, and it is much easier to see the dance flow on a faster setting than real time.

BlueMental.

BlueMental,
This is an interesting concept. We would be interested to test this engine when ready.

Kostas

Hi SMcGuire45

Sorry I missed your post. YEP,,, I trade MST, which is one hour different duing dailight savings time. I'm in AZ. Tough at times, especially with an extremely hectic schedule at the moment, but it can be done.

BEST thing is to pick ONE session and master it's personality and ONE currency to start with and master it's personality. THEN move on to more.

God bless.
Clay

Sorry that the opening picture is a few bars back, but the srrow marks the entry. Will try to capture the pic imediately after entry next time.

Ok, my idea's about how fitting this trade was to 'The Dance' rules as I understand them.

1. This trade is NOT during shared Tokyo/London time, but I am pretty familiar with GbpJpy (It is my favourite pair) so I'm forgiven

2. I did not trade the touch at 35 8 bars before my trade. I was doubtful since there were some long downwicks prior and it seemed to me it might start a porcupine war. When in doubt stay out!

3. After the retrace (GbpJpy often has long wicked doji's like that) I entered the trade on 10 touch. It was on the second bar, so it was fine by Dance Rules.

4. My SL is set to 19 pips/ (GbpJpy has 5 to 6 spread)

5. I moved SL to the high of the doji after the bar after the doji closed.


<EDIT> I moved it again after that (me forgot) to a pip or 2 above low of the bar after the doji.(With GbpJpy, the second SL was about break even or maybe BE+1)
</EDIT>

6. I left it there for the chance to run, but once I saw the retrace bar (2 bars before I closed) I tightened the SL to high of bar 4 after open.

7. That is where it got hit 2 bars later.

Not bad, 14.9 pips and almost zero drawdown on that trade.

Your comments will be appreciated. (boo's or cheers, I don't mind)

BlueMental

<EDIT2> Hmm. I did not notice it during the trade, but on H1 and D1 it is showing bounce off the RN 143.00.
</EDIT2>

I am not a GY fan but your trade looks good to me. I would have also taken the 35 because the round number (144.000) was also there giving a 5 bar constrainment.

Kostas

Very interesting concept and way of looking at trading in general. For my part, the thing I have been hoping to find is a trailing stop method to trail by bar extreme +1 on longs and bar extreme +spread+1 on shorts (the reason for that latter is because of the way way MT draws it's candles on the ask line so on shorts you need the extra for spread).

Still, what you have shown does have promise in it. Only issue I can see is that it eats up a lot of screen space limiting the view of the charts. I'm sure that can be managed as well though.

Once you're finished with it, I'd love to see a copy to play around with in Sim.

If it helps one to actually "see" and execute trades on the "right side" of the move to help avoid counter trend trades that are against the rules, it would probably greatly speed up a newbies efforts and growth. I can see where it would have some real worth there.

All in all, looks very promising. Thank you for all the effort BlueMental. Greatly appreciated.

Clay

Took a short on GbpJpy off 35 touch with SL set to 18 pips. It went down but imediately started retracing, so I closed with 3.2 pips profit.

Perhaps I should have left it, but to me it turned too quickly to be comfortable with.

3 sets of double bottoms with possibility of a 4th. (some are equal body, some low=body bottom, but good enough to use as an up signal.)

In hindsight it means I should not have taken the short with those signs showing up strength. Time will tell.

BlueMental

Getting out was probably the right move BlueM. The other thing is that the 10 is "turned over" in that area,,, never a good sign for a trade counter to the 10.

Stilll +pips is +pips.

Regarding concepts, One of the American Presidents (can't recall which one at the moment) once said, 'If I have only 4 hours to chop down an oak tree, I will spend the first 3 sharpening my axe.'

Mohammed Ali, 'The power of the punch is not in the hand, it is transferred from the feet through the hips and spine.' (not verbatim quote but words to that effect).

And finally, Ella Fitzgerald, 'It don't mean a thing, if you ain't got that swing.'

All three are the exact same statement. "Build your foundations before you build the house."

If you think I am not well in the head saying all three say that, then try see them from a different angle and you will understand. You now also get an idea why my username is Bluemental.

As far as the taking up of chart space is concerned, the EA doesnt use much, and can quite easily be placed in it's own chart. (Four charts on screen, M15,H1,D1 and EA(any timeframe as long as it is the pair you wish to trade.)

In response to both you and Kosta, I am just busy tidying up my code and will attach it within the next hour or so.

BlueMental.

Was asked to post a couple of newer versions of the "buy" and "sell" scripts I have been working with. They still use the SAME set by the SetLotSize script. Difference is that they set TWO positions of EXACTLY the same size, so you may want to downsize your risk a bit using them.

The FIRST trade is set to TP at +15 and the second one to +100. This is part of what I was working on when I posted The Dance.

Idea is that one would NAIL +15 pips on every trade, or very nearly every trade the way Kostas1 is doing, then move the other one to BE and let it run as long as they can.

This accomplishes two things. It minimizes risk really fast, locks in pips really fast AND STILL helps you stay IN the really good trades when they come along.

I really like that one. and I do "see" that they all say basically the same thing and I do NOT think your "mental" you just see things a bit differently is all.

Tonight's trade,,,+17 and I'm done,,,,

Here is my GU trade which i am still in. Notes are on the picture

OK, I have cleaned up most of the code, but there might still be a few loose odds and ends in there. Since I often add stuff in to test it then take it out (or NOT take it out later).

This is coded for a 5 digit Mt4, but if I recall corectly, it is also usable for a 4 digit Mt4. If not, give me a shout and I will sort it out.

Also the calculations involved for the lots and percentages of them on Auto Mode are based on an account in USD, If your account is NOT USD, the figures will be wrong.

I do not want to spend too much time on this engine, because I am rewriting it from scratch in a script based way as opposed to an EA. If you want to start posting 4hundred and plenty posts about this engine, remember that this thread is The Dance, NOT the BMI Engine post.

If need be, we will start a separate thread for it instead of clogging The Dance with two feet EA's.

Most of the settings are self explanatory, and the one listed as MarginCallSound is a string of the .wav file you must have in your Mt4/Sounds folder. If you have no .wav file of that name, it will simply do nothing. No sound, no alert. If the Margin call sound (after it gives you a heart attack) bugs you because it replays EVERY tick, then you can alter it in one of three ways, either in the settings of the EA under Margin_On = false, or by Setting the xMargin value to lower than the current Margin% in the EA settings, or by double clicking the White number (currently 150) to the left of the White number 0.00 with 1,2,3 and 4 above it.

The 0.00 with the small numbers is the Manual Lots per trade override. If you type any lot number in there, the number shown on the left of the chart (currently 2 % Lots x.xx) will be replaced by the lot number you typed in. The only time the number shown there will be overridden is if your total open lots exceed your MaxLots number (in the EA settings, not on the chart).

In other words, if you have MaxLots set to 2.00 and have an open position of 1.2 and you try to open another position of 1.5, it will open that position with (MaxLots-1.2)=0.8. It does the same if you are trying to hedge. MaxLots = Max TOTAL lots available.

If you drag the Lots Overide number to the Left of its position, on release it will have the open Buy Lots as it's value. Drag Right it gets Sell Lots. Drag it Down to below it's home position, but above the Buy Sell Buttons, it will reset to zero, which restarts the auto % value. If you drag it into the DropZone, it will have the value of the difference between Buy and Sell

The if your broker allows hedging. (If 1.5 lots open for Sell and 2.1 Lots open for Buy, the DropZone will set the Lots to 2.1-1.5=0.6 (Useful to equalise if Hedging)small numbers above it, alter the value of The Lots Override, dragged Left they Subtract, Right they Add. 1=0.01 2=0.02 3=0.03 4=0.04

If you alter the number to the left of % it will change the percentage of the Lots/Equity Ratio. It will not accept zero. If you wish to NOT use the auto setting, just type your own Lot value in the LotsOveride Number.

When you open a trade, it will list up to 15 trades on the screen. The first number on the left is the ticket number, followed by the number of lots in that trade, followed by the pips it is currently making/losing. If they are Buy trades, they will be Green. Sell trades will be Red. If in profit they become a lighter colour. If in loss, the pip number gets brackets to indicate minus.
If you drag a trades ticket number over the DropZone, it will close that treade.
!!! just by going OVER the DropZone activates the close !!!

The Buy, Sell and Close Button's, when dragged AND dropped in the DropZone, activate their respective actions.

Buy... guess? yes it Buys either the amount of lots you have typed in the LotsOverride number, or if that is zero, it uses the Auto % Lots on the left of the chart.
Sell, same but sells.
Close closes ALL open trades.

This EA only trades in the currency pair of the chart it is in. If you wish to trade with other currencies, you need to open the EA in their charts too.

If by mistake at any stage you type in the Name field of a number you wish to change, it will remake the initial Label and you will need to delete the mistaken one. For example, if you open up the LotsOverride properties, meaning to type 0.5 lots as the value, you should do it in the TEXT field, not the NAME field. If however you do type it in the Name field, it will reposition itself to it's original place then next tick a new one will live in the same space. If at any stage you get confused or have too many objects (either from the EA or from other indicators or your ramblings), it is fully safe to delete ALL the objects on the screen. It will not open or close a trade because of this.

The settings for SL and TP are in the EA settings. (Will Put, at some not too far away time text spaces for them on the chart).
They are totally invisible, you set BuySL for 16, and if an open buy position hits -16 pips, it will be closed. SellTP set for 30, when it hits 30 pips profit, it will be closed. No Borker can hunt these SL/TP's

In the 'The Dance' version of this engine, I will at least make them visible. I still have to decide the best approach for it.... (me thinking might take a century or two)

Ummmm... I think that about covers it.

If not, gimme a shout, and remember !!! this is The Dance thread, so please don't start filling it up with this EA (or any other EA/Indicator garbage)
In fact, since I KNOW it is going to happen, I will open a Thread for it NOW.

The only discussion about this EA here is on how to get it more Dance Rule oriented, and if anything in it obstructs Dance Rules that can be altered.

BlueMental.

<EDIT>
Ummm.. dumb me! I forgot to also attach the indicators and the font that goes with it so you can get it to work....

I only know how to set up a font in Windows XP.
You open the control panel, and open the Fonts Option, where you click File/Add New Font.

It will work without the Font, but then the DropZone rectangle will be blank or useless characters.
</EDIT>

<EDIT2>
Sorry about that, I did not realise I had to zup the font file for it to accept it as an attachment. It is now in place.
</EDIT2>

Hi Blue, was a pleasure to meet you last night in Phil's Chatroom. Really like the concept, and as long as it doesn't become an area for people to talk about using BMI with other strategies, I don't have a problem with it being here until you get The Dance's version going.

Need to make it clear to everyone that this is a TRADE MANAGEMENT EA/ Engine, NOT an autotrader EA which would of course not be allowed here as they never work properly, tend to waste huge amounts of time, etc., etc.

BUT tools to manage the trade such as this, ARE acceptable. The MAIN area where discretion is needed is the entry, after that, The Dance can be "managed" quite effectively by the scripts and a trailing SL or by Blue's engine, IF you follow his lead on it.

Personally, I'm going to wait to see what Ol' Blue does with the newer version, but I DO encourage input to help him get there!

God bless,
Clay