Phantom 6 - Manual System

This is a manual trading system using the EA Phantom_AddSix_02a
First of all thanks to MetaCoder, Frazer and others for developing this worderful basket system, i hope MC doesnt mind using his EA here (credit to MC the original author)


Before you read any futher, please visit the original thread at http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=252521
pl read the thread from start to end. atleast 2-3 times. understand the method, understand the risk involved, understand the EA settings for optimum results, read and analyze the wonderful results posted by Frazer, MC, vienna and others. If you dont understand any of these aspects, then quit this thread, otherwise you will lose money

What is Phantom_AddSix_02a ?

We have 2 groups, buy group of 7 symbols and sell group of 7 other symbols. these 14 together form hedge. Out of these 14,
we have seperated best performing group of 6. buy group of 3 (GBPUSD, UDSCHF, EURJPY) and sell group of 3 (EURCHF, CHFJPY, GBPCHF).
these 6 together again forms hedge. at start hour, the EA calculates how much each pair (in 14) moved ahead. so at the top of each hour, it calculates 'phantom gain' for each pair since start hour. if the biggest winning pair is in our phantom 6, then EA trades that pair in its direction. again after 1 hr, it does same thing. but always the start hour is same. however the start hour is reset every 8 hours so that it coincides with market timings like AS, EU, US. The EA closes all trades if combined profit exceeds the Profit Percentage. then EA starts new cycle with same start hour until start hour is reset

Lot size

this is the most important aspect of this method, it can make or break the system. this method has tendency to run into huge drawdowns
and eats lot of margin. so we need to arrive at optimum lot size. this is done by Max Margine To Use (MMTU) and the leverage. MMTU is
the max margin committed for EACH trade. so if its too large, it results in big lot size and you may run into margin calls. if its too
small then lot size may be too small and may take more time to reach PP. Leverage plays a major role. pl visit the original thread to
understand how this is arrived based on your account settings. For 3000 USD account, 50:1 leverage , you can use MMTU 0.4 and PP 0.25.
you can try and tweak these numbers on your demo to know which one is best for your account. Until you understand how it works, error on lower side, means trade with small units

How this manual system works ?

You need a demo account with similar account size, leverage , min lot size as your LIVE account. this is mandatory. start EA on demo 1 hr before EU opens, ie 05:55 AM GMT. This EA must be running 24x7. For some reason you stopped it, again start at 05:55 AM GMT.

At 07:05 AM GMT, take a look at whats happening in the demo account, how many open trades, whats the current PL etc. there are 2 types
of scenarios.

one where the current basket is loaded with several trades (more than 5) and all of them are same pair. that means you find 7 trades and all 7 belongs to same pair. doesnt matter wich pair its. in that scenario, dont trade on LIVE account until the demo account compltes this cycle. it may take few hours and some times few days to come out of this mess. stay on side lines.

another scenario where you have a basket with atleast 2 pairs and the total basket is in loss. then trade this basket on LIVE account. you place same orders at market price. If the demo basket is in profit side, wait for it to come to losing side or PP is hit

Its very important to trade in same lotsize in LIVE as in demo.

If you trade the basket, then after every hour check the EA and any new order in demo, place same order in LIVE. When the total PP reaches your PP level, close all trades in LIVE and wait for next cycle.
Dont place any new orders after US session is closed. however you can close them if PP is hit
Be prepared for huge drawdown sometimes, in that case dont get panicked, be desciplined, it will comeback to PP.
This system doesnt have stoploss concept, however for my safety i put 200 pips as stoploss for each pair, just in case
Dont trade this on major news day. let the news die before you enter
Please practice this manual system on a demo system for 1 month atleast. open 2 demo accounts and treat 1 demo as LIVE

[u]does this substitute the EA or does it perform better than EA ?[u]

The aim of this manual system is not to compete with EA. In fact it piggy backs on EA, so its as good as EA. this manual system is for those who dont have MT4 on your broker or those that are afraid of using EA on LIVE accounts.

dont ask questions on how uch profit i can expect in 1 week, 1 month etc. this is not a get-rich-quick system. but if you follow it with descipline can give you decent profits. do this on demo account for 1 month to see yourself.

Gosh roundrock, I think this is going to cause some confusion, and we already have enough of that on the board. You say it's a manual system yet you include the EA. You also speak of "huge drawdown" and this really goes against what I've been trying to do in terms of getting people to use appropriate account types for their balances and get their settings right so they NEVER see huge drawdown.

You say it piggybacks off the EA and is as good as the EA. I beg to differ about "as good as the EA", because I don't think most humans can execute a strategy like this. The strategy behind the EA is designed to work optimally when the trades can be placed in a clockwork fashion, around the clock, so the built-in sythetic hedging comes into play when market action happens to reverse. How many traders can commit to placing a trade every hour, around the clock, for the whole trading week?

MC, this is only for those that cant run MT4 on broker platform. copying trades from demo to live has to be done as the intelligence lies with EA , not the manual system.

huge drawdown is a caution to those that are NOT comfortable with DD of say 10%. even with optimum settings sometimes it goes to that level. traders should be warned ahead of time to know the risks before putting their real $$$$

again this is not perfect as EA , since human errors could occur in any manual system, but this is a tool for someone who cant run EA for whatever reason

i think that this thread is still a good idea considering it is in fact trying to break the EA into manual trading.

many ppl don't understand the coding, and its trading logic. manual trading will involve more followers and more thoughts.

another issue is that MC's coding in fact can use some more variation. for example, why set MMTU and profitpct in current way? maybe we can set profitpct = profit in % of the margin used?
this way better clears the confusion caused by leverage.

also, why not use a more user friendly "lot size", and "dollar profit" (because different leverage, and account type are very confusing to users)

anyway, the EA is far from completed, so manual trading thread might have its merit. we should roll this on.

here are some thoughts of mine, they are cheap 1 cents, hoping more gold coins thrown upon them:

1. current set:
buy: gu, uch, ej
sell: ech, chj, gch

what's the good of this hedge? why this 6 work well among 14 pairs?

my 1st impression is that when you have too many CHF in a basket, it is very "lazy", it is not quite sensitive to the market mood. (again, i may be dumb and wrong)

my suggestion is:
buy: gu, uch, ej
sell: eg, gj, gch

this way, you have both gj, ej, and gu in your 6 pairs basket. let's be open-mind. according to my observation of 14 pairs basket, when market moves seriously, it is usually gj, ej, gu, eu, gch, and eg on the top and bottom of 14 pairs PL ranking. my suggestion only miss 'eu',but should better reflect 14 pairs movement, if that is the background logic of the EA?

2. this EA/system is fundamentally trying to capture the true market direction.

why i say this? because you don't have a stoploss, and wait forever. i guess that this wait is for true market direction instead of market inefficiency. am i right or wrong? this is an essential question.

so if i'm wrong, then following is BS, let's skip it.
if i'm right, then i'd like to suggest one thing:
why not let some position run, at least running to the end of the week or the month?

if you have 0.10 lot invested, and wait 1 or 2 days to see it getting positive. it is very dumb to exit in the middle of the market movement only because you reach a preset %. This involve a serious mistake seen on many FF systems focusing on entries only:

a sound system has a reasonable entry rule, it ALSO should have a reasonable exit rule. why is 1% or 5% a reasonable exit rule for a trend following method?

this method seems not an intraday system, since it can hang there for a couple of days. so why not, why not, when closing, leave at least, say 0.01 lot to running free (break it even). i believe that you'll be shocked by its potential.

On the other hand, if you keep profitpct as say, 2%. that really limits the potential reward, but leave the risk unlimited. sort of like martingale feeling. it is easy to identify the EA's profit potential when you see many backtesting chart in the phantom and basket 14 threads. the equity curve's rising slope is fixed, because of the fixed profitpct; but when it crashes, it might crash to an astounding low drawdown level. why does this happen? because you limit the reward by exit all winning positions.

Let some positions run for free.

Read your trading records if you have it running for a couple of months, check how many closed winning positions COULD HAVE BEEN thousand pip winners today???

these are just for the start...

MC's initial idea is clever and very creative. let's bring it on.

hi charvo,

some interesting thoughts. and out of box thinking. the main reason why i chose this manual system is we have the cushion of the basket to absorb our losses if it goes against us. if it goes in direction then we hit the TP. this is a system without stoploss. but much better than trading a single pair without a stoploss. since we have so many pairs in basket, we hope to piggyback on 1 or 2 winners to take us to profits

regarding selection of pairs, i also agree about CHF. somehow i dont feel comfortable leaving aside EU. This is 2nd biggest forex pair. so cant leave it out

with manual system, you can chose your entries at start of EU / US sessions. you need not be in front of the system all the time. you can set some alerts when the total PL reaches certain level and then act accordingly. to add pairs you can check once a hour. also now i am trading X version which means add only when all its prev trades are in profit. this will also reduce the DD significantly

Hello
I try to understand how to use your EA because I am very interested in using this strategy manual because EA makes me a little scared because I do not understand this system may therefore be that with your help manual j 'would come to understand :-)

So I have several questions about this system can be on this queue would have the answers :-)

When do you stand?
why his peers there a reason?
I put this EA on a graphic ok but I'm open as many graphics as there are pairs?
How do you determine the TP and SL?
I read that this system is based on a synthetic cover but that means a synthetic cover?

starting from a certain loss why not put everything in hedging and thanks to some indicators such itrend, etc. .. tttrend we cut the wrong branch and let us run (with SL in case the hedging goes wrong) it should also reduce the risk right?

I am in Asia should I change something for trading during the Asian session?

any difference between this version and the version for example EA Phantom_Jag_v2_drift

I know that's a lot of questions but I think you were all beginners and also that you will forgive me for asking so many questions.

thank you

no problem with so many questions, but i guess i didnt understand even one

i trade the EA manually, copy the orders from demo to LIVE. I start when the absket is in some big DD. atleast 4%. i dont trade every basket as i cant do that manually. i cant keep pace with the EA due to work and family issues.

thank you very much.

I'll wait your answers forward because I really want to understand this system, but very difficult to get answers.
for the translation really sorry but I use google translate which increases the difficulty for me to understand.
thank you for everything.
cordially