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Snowballs and the anti-grid

  • #41
  • Jun 6, 2010 1:32am Jun 6, 2010 1:32am
Quoting wheelbarrow
I have a minilot broker, so cannot trade microlots of 0.01 which is the default setting of snowball.ex4

I tried to compile the snowball.mq4 with default lots set to 0.1 and placed the include files in their folder, but I got the following error which is not compile error but something else:

[code]1;39;;;Function "shell" is not referenced and will be removed from exp-file
1;39;;;Function "print" is not referenced and will be removed from exp-file
1;39;;;Function "stringReplace" is not referenced and will be removed from exp-file
1;39;;;Function...
these are just warnings from the mqh file functions which are not used in EA and has no negative impact. if there are no errors and just warnings then its fine.
  • #42
  • Jun 6, 2010 6:15am Jun 6, 2010 6:15am
Quoting wheelbarrow
I got the following error [...] how to solve it?
There are no errors, only warnings and they mean exactly what they say: some functions are defined but never used [in this EA]. It even writes that it has already figured out the proper solution on its own and will simply do the obvious and remove these unused functions, so everything is perfectly OK.

These functions are defined in the common_functions.mqh include file which serves me as a repository of all the useful little functions that I wrote during all the months and that make my programming life so much easier when I need some of them in one of my EAs. Naturally I do not need all these functions in all my EAs all the time but I want to have them all in one place and only one version of this file, so some of them will always be unused.

Errors would be marked in red and have the word error written next to them and would interrupt the compilation immediately and not complete it.
  • #43
  • Jun 7, 2010 4:44pm Jun 7, 2010 4:44pm
Thank you for responding to my post. I am learning a lot by using your ea.

I noticed every trade has a comment automatically attached to it:

snow_XXXXXX where XXXXXX = currency pair
eg. snow_EURUSD etc.

How should I change the comment to something else. My purpose to change this input is to make it harder for the broker to detect that a number of people are using this same trading robot. When a broker discovers a successful robot like yours he will take actions to stop it. That is my concern.

Also, I don't want the robot to attach a stop loss to the pending order because sometimes I receive an "invalid stop" error and the pending order fails. Is there a way you can either stop the robot from placing a automatic stop loss OR allow the user to set the stop loss as a separate input from stop_distance

~wheelbarrow
  • #44
  • Edited 6:24pm Jun 7, 2010 6:12pm | Edited 6:24pm
Quoting wheelbarrow
How should I change the comment to something else.
You can find the line in the mq4 file that reads:

string name = "snow";

and change the name to something different. Don't use more than 5 characters or the name of the offline chart will be truncated because it will be constructed from this string, this is a hard limit of the .hst file format.

Please note that changing the name will also change the auto-generated magic number, you won't be able to resume a currently running cycle and it will also start a new empty equity chart.

The comment string alone is not used to identify the trades therefore the magic number is used and the broker will always be able to tell EA and manual trades apart, but this is not considered a problem in any way (see below)

Quoting wheelbarrow
My purpose to change this input is to make it harder for the broker to detect that a number of people are using this same trading robot. When a broker discovers a successful robot like yours he will take actions to stop it. That is my concern.
All orders (except the closing of the cycle) are done with pending orders, so the broker will not have the ability to slip you. I do not see how the broker might be able to hinder your trading, except maybe so called stop-hunting but retail trader stop hunting is commonly considered an urban myth, mainly resulting from selective perception.

Furthermore if you suspect your broker is engaged in fraudulent activities against you, you should immediately withdraw all funds and use a broker you can trust. I see no point in trading with a broker you don't trust.

Quoting wheelbarrow
Also, I don't want the robot to attach a stop loss to the pending order because sometimes I receive an "invalid stop" error and the pending order fails.
Could you please post the relevant part of the log file (experts tab) with the corresponding orderSendReliable() log entry? This should not happen as long as stop_distance has a reasonable value (some multiples of the spread at minimum)

Quoting wheelbarrow
Is there a way you can either stop the robot from placing a automatic stop loss OR allow the user to set the stop loss as a separate input from stop_distance
This is not possible. The entire strategy and the EA is based on constant grid spacing and the exact prices of existing stoplosses are used everywhere throughout the whole EA, for example to always reliably find the pyramid base, to identify whether a certain grid level has already existing orders pending or trade or whether it is empty and a new order must be placed, etc.

You would have to rewrite the whole thing pretty much from scratch and it would most likely end up being a completely different strategy. You can always fork the project, this is no problem at all, but as far as the "official" snowball is concerned I will label this as a definite WONTFIX.
  • #45
  • Jun 8, 2010 12:35pm Jun 8, 2010 12:35pm
Can I add my voice to those that say this EA is simply amazing!

Without doubt the best one I have come across so far.

I was manually trading a similar system, but finally found something to ease my micro trade management. Thank!

In my tests though, I found that if each order is set to break even when a subsequent order is placed, then some savings can be made in longer running trades.

ie, when sell order #5 is activated, so sell order #4 is set to BE. Is there any way to have this option available in the externs? For my style of trading, it would really suit!

I hate asking for anything when you've already given so much (especially with my first post on this forum), but if it's easy to do and you have the time I would be utterly grateful.

Thanks again.

Cord
  • #46
  • Jun 8, 2010 3:46pm Jun 8, 2010 3:46pm
Quoting cordite
In my tests though, I found that if each order is set to break even when a subsequent order is placed, then some savings can be made in longer running trades.
The problem in this case would be: how would I reopen this trade if price decides to immediately go up again?

My goal when designing this was that whatever happens it is always guaranteed that I have exactly one trade at every grid step when I arrive at my target. The break-even calculations would not be so easy anymore, BE would move further away when trades are missing and i fear that this would nullify the gains from fewer stoploss losses.

Similarly if I make stoploss smaller than the grid steps it would provoke more (although smaller) stoploss hits and my intuition tells me this would also *exactly* nullify the benefits. (My intuition tells me that this could indeed be mathematically proven, although I did not try to prove it yet)

The changes to the EA logic in both cases would be significant and time consuming for me to implement at the moment.

I am currently thinking about a fifo- and no-hedging-conforming generic universal (multi) grid EA with market orders instead of limit orders that would be a bit more flexible to do such experiments (and also serve as a framework for experiments like hedging a grid with an anti-grid of different size or (anti-)gridding a moving average instead of price directly or similar crazy ideas).
  • #47
  • Jun 9, 2010 5:05am Jun 9, 2010 5:05am
Do you still use the same logic on your demo account? http://prof7bit.mt4stats.com/ Seems like you trade 4 pairs, so you just let it run until it passes the clouds? How could you possibly know even if it passes the clouds it will generate profits? but I'm getting very excited just seeing your statement. lol
  • #48
  • Jun 9, 2010 5:27am Jun 9, 2010 5:27am
Quoting Togu
Do you still use the same logic on your demo account? http://prof7bit.mt4stats.com/ Seems like you trade 4 pairs, so you just let it run until it passes the clouds? How could you possibly know even if it passes the clouds it will generate profits? but I'm getting very excited just seeing your statement. lol
I'm at least trying to start it into the direction where I expect the next big move. It seems after analyzing my own trading it is still some kind of bottom- (or top-)catching and I would have better results if i could wait a bit longer after a profit until I restart it again. This is where I still have to work on my psychology.

Quote
How could you possibly know even if it passes the clouds it will generate profits?

This is how the breakeven level is calculated. It uses real numbers from the order history and the open orders to determine where I am and how much is still missing to break even. Whenever I pass this green line It is guaranteed that I am in profit.

Quote
I'm getting very excited just seeing your statement

Ignore everything that is related to usdchf (and also some trades in usdjpy), there I have started doing some experiments with a conventional grid, testing some concepts and some new ideas (this manifests itself in the wild swings that can be seen in the right part of the chart).

The statement looks indeed amazing and I have tripled my live account (the oanda account that is connected to mt4 via my bridge) during the last 12 weeks.
  • #49
  • Jun 9, 2010 7:45am Jun 9, 2010 7:45am
Hi I was trying to get this working on FXDD Demo a 4 digit broker (not sure if that matters). How do I get this installed. I am just using the ex4, I could compile it myself even when I put the 2 files in the include folder. Thanks in advance...
  • #50
  • Jun 9, 2010 7:51am Jun 9, 2010 7:51am
Quoting Minnelli
Hi I was trying to get this working on FXDD Demo a 4 digit broker (not sure if that matters). How do I get this installed. I am just using the ex4, I could compile it myself even when I put the 2 files in the include folder. Thanks in advance...
Could you please describe the problems in some more detail? What exactly did you do, what did you expect to happen and what did happen instead? Error messages? (I don't have a magic crystal ball)
  • #51
  • Jun 9, 2010 8:27am Jun 9, 2010 8:27am
Sure - thanks for the assist. I place the ea on a 5 min EURUSD. Change the lot to .1 since it is a demo account and .01 isn't allowed. I see 3 lime colors in the upper right saying start short, long, bidirectional. Nothing happens.

I tried to open an order up long and short but nothing happened. I do see the lime green price bar moving up and down.

Maybe it isn't installed right. I did try compiling first to no avail and then just copied the ex4 over. it allows me to place the snowball ea on the chart and it does appear to be working but nothing is happening. thanks again. Hopefully this will help others out as well and not just me.
  • #52
  • Jun 9, 2010 8:38am Jun 9, 2010 8:38am
Quoting Minnelli
Sure - thanks for the assist. I place the ea on a 5 min EURUSD. Change the lot to .1 since it is a demo account and .01 isn't allowed. I see 3 lime colors in the upper right saying start short, long, bidirectional. Nothing happens.
You should have read the instructions more carefully, this is not a fully autonomous EA, its semi-automatic, it needs your explicit start and stop commands. Its behaving exactly as it should.

These three labels at the upper right are "buttons". To activate one of them doubleclick and then move it a few pixels. (Sorry, there are no real pushbuttons supported in mql4, so this is the closest I can get when simulating them)

Wait until you think there will be a significant long or short run soon and then start it. Then wait until you are in profit and it hits your target and actuate the button labeled "stop" to take all profits. There are more detailed instructions (and also the whole idea behind it) in this thread and on the website.
  • #53
  • Jun 10, 2010 12:09am Jun 10, 2010 12:09am
Yeah the buttons are kind of touchy Didn't know what those where. I have EURUSD trading long as a test and GBPUSD as bi-directional. I started the EURUSD earlier today after the last message and GBP just now. I'll keep you informed. Thanks for the help.
  • #54
  • Jun 10, 2010 1:16am Jun 10, 2010 1:16am
Quoting 7bit
I'm at least trying to start it into the direction where I expect the next big move. It seems after analyzing my own trading it is still some kind of bottom- (or top-)catching and I would have better results if i could wait a bit longer after a profit until I restart it again. This is where I still have to work on my psychology.



This is how the breakeven level is calculated. It uses real numbers from the order history and the open orders to determine where I am and how much is still missing to break even. Whenever I pass this green line It...
Congradz with your live perfomance. trippling your live account is amazing. I never had a chance to triple my account for my entire trading career.
  • #55
  • Jun 10, 2010 4:55am Jun 10, 2010 4:55am
Quoting Togu
Congradz with your live perfomance. trippling your live account is amazing. I never had a chance to triple my account for my entire trading career.
I play it quite aggressively, the lot sizes compared to my account balance and with it the possible drawdown per cycle would be considered far too high by many people. The account is still relatively small and I want to reach a significant amount of money in relative short time. I once started all my forex adventures with only a few hundred bucks that were left on my paypal account (somebody gave them to me for writing a custom wordpress plugin for him). Should I lose it all it would not endanger my live savings.

I must say this just in case any newbies are reading this thread and have dollar signs in their eyes already. Also I must make absolutely clear that there was no fully autonomous EA ever involved in this, all start and stop decisions were made by me after analyzing the market in a "conventional" manner and I have spent the last 15 months working hard (on forex and on myself) and lost more than half of the initial capital (I was careful, so I lost not all) until I started to become profitable. If I include this learning phase in the calculation then it isn't tripled anymore, only 30% plus or so. This was not a get-rich-quick adventure. At least the "quick" part has already expired: nearly 2 years, 10 hours a day fighting with my own bad habits plus coding and simulating uncounted strategies at the weekends and I am still not rich ;-)
  • #56
  • Jun 10, 2010 8:49am Jun 10, 2010 8:49am
Hi 7bit,

thanks for sharing your very interesting EA and methodology. I was vey excited but some testing over the month of February this year was very painful and it still had not recovered by the end of march using a bi directional grid.

I know you use discretion in your trading. Did you trade over this period? and how did you handle it?
  • #57
  • Jun 11, 2010 2:52am Jun 11, 2010 2:52am
When I manually change the stoploss on a pending order, the robot creates a new pending order at the same price. Here is an example:

Pending buy stop @ 1.2100
I manually edit stop loss
Robot creates New Pending buy stop @ 1.2100 again

Now robot has created two pending buy stops at the same price. How can this problem/glitch be solved? Thanks again for providing support.
  • #58
  • Edited 6:53am Jun 11, 2010 6:06am | Edited 6:53am
Quoting wheelbarrow
When I manually change the stoploss on a pending order, the robot creates a new pending order
wheelbarrow, did you even *read* my previous answer to you?

I will repeat it again: the stoplosses are expected to lie exactly on the grid of stop_distance. The robot will use the stoplosses to calculate many things throughout the whole code and one of these calculations is whether a new pending order must be opened or not at a certain level.

What did you expect to happen? The bot's main purpose is to place new orders when orders are missing and then you move existing orders away from where they are expected to be and complain that the bot is doing it's job?

You cannot move the stoplosses!

You must not move the stoplosses!

There is no need to move the stoploses!

It works exactly as it is designed. Stoplosses are in the distance of stop_distance, and I will repeat it again: I will not change it because there is no need to change it. stop_distance is already the optimal value for the stoploss because it is the most obvious value, every other arbitrarily chosen value would be oddly deviating from this natural value for stoploss, it would introduce an additional degree of freedom (which is bad) for no reason, and this would break and destroy the simplicity and the symmetry in which lies the beauty of the system and its underlying math.

---> WONTFIX (not in hundred years!)
  • #59
  • Jun 11, 2010 7:43am Jun 11, 2010 7:43am
Hey, nice result on your trading. I've been testing your ea too. But you see, price area where we want to snowball is usually limited to certain zone limited by 2 S/R lines. Would be nice if we can set those area limit after one trading direction is executed, so outside those area, the script automatically back to waiting position. Picture attached.
Attached Image(s) (click to enlarge)
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  • #60
  • Jun 11, 2010 9:26am Jun 11, 2010 9:26am
Quoting newborn
Would be nice if we can set those area limit after one trading direction is executed, so outside those area, the script automatically back to waiting position.
If you install the latest version then you will be able to draw lines into the chart and write into the description field of the line the command stop or pause to either stop the entire cycle or to pause (close trades but remember the level and the losses) when price crosses this line or write start long or start short or start bidir to make it start (or restart after pause) when price crosses this line. This should open up a whole bunch of new possibilities.

Try experimenting with the new pause function on demo to see how it behaves. It can also be used to completely reverse the direction of the snowball without losing the current level (pause and then restart into the other direction).
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