Trend Trading All Pairs

dont know about your indi, i tend to rely heavily on my own interpretation of market structure, which looks down on EC, AC, UC, GC 240, to me at least

no i didnt see it, i'm not doing MTF analysis, just using 240m

so if i have what i deem a great set-up on the 240, i'll take it with complete disregard for other TFs

it is my preferred style, and i may come round to MTF trend trading, let me test it first, you may prove me wrong

No, stops and take profits are individual per trade and stops are usual.
I simply open a lot more trades than usually and go to work, then come back and check what happened while I was away.trades that are still opened and missed take profit by few pips and I have some of them, but still running I closed them. I use same size per pip though and try not to risk more than 2% per trade.

actually i wouldnt mind a short, but missed the entry and wont take it if price comes back

but will note it and see if it gets down to 81.20

Next week as I restart live trading I will become much pickier with my trades.
My goal bigger winners than losers and higher than 50% hit rate.

hehe, hope that happens, I most of the time need to sacrifize R:R for win/loss and vice versa.

But I wish you all the best in that endeavour!

that's true. you can see my trades. there were few that missed my take profit just by few pips and I see there is no hard rule here. I generally prefer to follow trades and close them manually within take profit range. 10-15 pips around it.

hit rate is important to me. when i traded with bigger stops than stop loss my hit rate actually was around 85%. I used to trade No Brainer method this way, but mostly because I was not able to let profits run then. but obviously it is interrelated r:r to hit rate.

If you already had such a high win-rate, then why you changed the method? 85% should already be more than enough to convince me of staying with a method.

I was wondering as to what steps will you take to increase the win rate?= to over 50%? Could you elaborate on being picky from your prespective and experiences?

also, what caused the hit rate to drop ...smaller SLs?

Thanks

Here are the two trades i was able to enter using the trade assit tool ....so it worked to get me into the trades while i am at work and would have surely missed these trades otherwise.

USDJPY, neglected to open position, but price moving forward nicely


GBPCAD, never got filled, and didnt want to when price came back; CAD crosses found support


AUDCAD, -27, as anticipated, price drifting sideways, diminishing downward momentum, but was happy to hold


* in future probably wont post charts until filled, will be easier in a dynamic market where decisions are changing

because I used to have problem with stops from time to time.
Generally it happened end of January 2010.
I ended 2009 slightly up. I really had problems than with letting profitable trades run. Then one day in January 2010, I entered long Gbp?usd right after news. Price moved with such speed, and I made few mistakes. Added to losing position and moved stops. lost 10% in 1 day. and more than I was up in 2009. Generally speaking, with No brainers you are going against price direction. You must know thisas you mentioned you are familiar. so, I got a problem with going against the price at the moment.

last trade I moved stop was short G/J in November but not as serious as than in December. I actually became good at trading back draw downs. Had one of 10% in July and trade back within same month and added 2%. The thing is, if I can trade back DD like this, I can trade this on too.
I should have been way better his year than I am. But progress is really big especially last 6 months.
Custos, I remember you mention you are trading without take profit. Ok, but what is the size of your stops? in pips? I mean on average what is your stop loss pip size?

man, my hit rate is much higher than 50%. it was a game, I stated that i enbtered whatever was moving, not very good entries.For example. December I had 14 trades on my live account. 6 ended BE, with about +5+8 pips since i prefer to have positive BE. 7 trades were winners and 1 loser. it means that if to ignore BE trades which are also positiove, I still have around 85% hit rate., my winners of same size as losers or bigger.
My loser is 40 pips and winners from 30 to 60 pips. not that much. It's pity I riskied too little in the beginning.

November was real bad. i am checking myfxbook. looks like sh*t. 2 big losers 260 and 120 pips. the rest is 50/50, with slightly more losers. anyway, should not have lost so much. Probably 2-3% down month , not -6%.
October is superb. Hardly any loss and a lot of winners. Thanks to NightMoves. my 2 biggest losers are 12 pips and one 6 pips, all winners and a lot of BE.

I want to improve on things that I am doing now. NightMovbes strategy and James16. Do not want to change anyhting just to improve mylsef.

what I need to work on is avoiding such big losing months as November. It would take me up considerably.

Excellent article by Steven aka. BRV

Take The Easy Ones, And Don’t Do Anything Stupid In The Meantime
Posted 12/29/2010 11:22:00 AM EST

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As 2010 comes to a close and I dig around for any possible way to summarize yet another tumultuous year, I am reminded of the origins of this site and the premise on which it all began. Some people might be attracted to the title of simplicity while others the connection to their particular trading methodology, though I find it of great importance to take the blog back to its roots and discuss not only it’s premise but a precursor of all of our trading routines.
If someone asked my opinion on how to become a successful trader and my response was limited to no more than one sentence this “slogan” for nobrainertrades.com would no doubt be my only words spoken:
“Take The Easy Ones, And Don’t Do Anything Stupid In The Meantime”
Uncertainty Unschmertainty
I have said on many occasions that uncertainty is a very normal and routine part of trading, though it is far from the underlier in our investment decisions. The number of uncertain circumstances that arise throughout my or any other trader’s day far outweigh those that pose a high level of conviction. These moments of clarity are rare, and they tend to occur when we are the most alert, most prepared and most conscious to events happening before us. Relying on others for forecasts, a burning desire to get into the market or other forms of pure laziness throw Miracle Grow on our uncertainty and tend to make it much worse before it gets better.
Bear in mind three simple things as you go about your trading routine:

 

1. The more time you spend in front of your monitors, the more opportunity you will find, though the less alert you are likely to be
2. The more opportunity you find, the more risk you assume
3. The more risk you assume, the greater profits you can obtain or conversely, the more losses

Highly uncertain times should be left aside for those that are not. Taking action during these times is by all definition the “stupid” in our slogan “Take the easy ones, and don’t do anything stupid in the meantime”.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nW2eMRU5Wx.../tradethis.jpgOvertrading is so popular that it can easily throw those that do it into a statistic in a matter of seconds. Traders that control it and only take action when the correct opportunity presents itself are the ones that tend to prosper over time.
Certainty
Why do we argue over certainty? Most of the time, it is because we are too anxious to trade or have a simple lack of understanding about the market in which we are participating. This lack of understanding usually roots from much needed experience or lack of awareness due to ignorance in understanding inputs, interpreting the news, drivers or other forms of market moving activity injected into the market.
Moments of clarity are sometimes dropped into our lap like a nicely wrapped birthday present we weren’t expecting. We can see it and understand it all, and action is taken. We have a successful trade, yet all we might be doing is making up for all or a portion of previous losses. Now imagine having nothing but successful trades, or a string of these birthday presents plopped onto your lap on a regular basis. You are simply removing the ugly patch from your routine. You are opting certainty over uncertainty.
….and we all have this moment. Even in the very early stages of my career I was very much aware of moments that posed a much higher level of probable success over others. Even with my limited understanding I knew where I stood a much better chance of a positive outcome, and this never changes. No matter how much experience you gain I am confident that the existence of this “feeling” will always remain true. It is a matter of harnessing these moments and ignoring all of the others.
If pressing buttons is what gets you excited, then there are more than enough objective websites out there to help you fill any knowledge gaps and enhance the frequency in your levels of certainty. Something as common and simple as Wikipedia can leave you with questions answered and light bulbs going off, which might lead you on to other topics relevant to your trading.
Churn Monkey Disease
People often say things like “you are too hard on yourself?”. In the case of overtrading, I find nothing wrong with being hard on yourself. This is the ultimate mistake and it should be number one on anyone’s “fix list” (if the problem exists).
Brokers make their money off of your transactions. It is simply their job to get you to trade more.
In order to do this, they will flood you with a plethora of research written by non-street savvy “analysts” aka churn monkeys, ease-of-entry technology (you can even trade on your mobile phone very easily now), charting software that mimics the floor of a casino with all of the indicators available (more indicators = more “opportunity” = more transactions and more money), trading signals that probably originate from a former fast food employee’s shack in Antarctica, and forums that have you throwing ideas around with other like minds susceptible to this information.
All of the above have one root purpose (and usually cause): to trade more often. To fall back on a cliché: ignorance is bliss, in this sense. There is only so much information out there that is digestible, and you want to take advantage of something that you alone can interpret, and in your own comfortable manner.
My Grandmother Was A Better Quiltmaker
My grandmother was among the pack that made quilts in her later years, and they were all different. She brought in all types of unique items, colors and even shapes when it came to their design. To some people, they might have been considered an eyesore, but to her, they were all hers….nobody else could claim them. She loved every part of them because all of those little stitchings meant something unique to her and her alone. And what would start as a simple patch on the quilt would eventually turn into something much larger, until finally, the project was complete and another one was added to the collection.
While I don’t expect you to put down the mouse and pick up a ball of yarn and needles, the simple construction of the quilts my grandmother used to make or any other item created across the world on a daily basis starts with the idea of an individual. This creative process is something that gets heavily overlooked by many traders as the need to carbon copy the actions of another is an overriding theme in this industry. A strategy is usually delivered on what might appear to be a silver platter, only for the trader to later find out that it is old, rusted and falling apart.
Reading a biography of a prolific individual might be fascinating or fun, but no single person will ever be like the original. Creativity is one of the parts I enjoy the most about trading. If it wasn’t there, I or many other people probably wouldn't be doing this for a living. The “strategy” we use here is based on consistent global variables that do indeed require a degree of input and creativity to act upon. Most of us do it without even realizing it. It is a shell, or a starting point, with infinite possibilities in terms of interpretation and direction.
Once upon a time I used to post trades here, emphasizing that they are used only to demonstrate that the methods used here work, and do so effectively. But as the site continued to grow and pick up more readers, I also picked up a group of traders that mistook me as their personal advisor as opposed to just a writer. Out of frustration from a string of private messages and careless emails received I simply stopped doing it and began to focus more on interpretation and actual digestion of this information as opposed to raw examples. Over time, I notice the emails have changed substantially. Instead of “what do I do now?” I receive questions such as “can you recommend more professional resource sites?”, which I of course prefer much more because I know that the person sending it is putting in time and effort into their routine. The effort is there and creativity is clearly being sought.
As 2010 nears its end….
….be mindful of everything you have learned this year. We take our experience for granted sometimes and ideas that might seem to come in a flash can actually be the most valuable. Bits of information are simply everywhere….be hungry and keep digesting them. We should never sit in dormancy, waiting for a “golden key” to get handed to us. The “golden key” is not something we can find or receive as a gift. We have to create it.
And of course, one more thing:
Take the easy ones, and don’t do anything stupid in the meantime.

I still remember Mortician pointed that break of these lines will be golden.
It is happening hopefully:

lets see if we can get there