My Sixths trading journal with TOB EA

I found the most amazing EA...it is not a holy grail, but it makes a lot of sense. It is called The Old Beast (TOB), by SteveHopwood - truly an amazing robot.

Extra, Extra, read all about it: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=263253

Since I am a newbie to Steve, and don't want to clutter his TOB thread with newbie questions, so I created this journal to pinpoint my weaknesses and strength in trading TOB. Also hope to get some responses from those who trade TOB successfully to answer some of my questions.

After demo it for a month, and gaining a modest 10%, I decided to go live.

I've been trading forex seriously since 2006 with not much of success, but I have a strong feeling that TOB will give me the confidence to become an independent trader.

This journal's goal statement: To see how long will it take to double up on $800 balance.

Started balance of $800 @ 3/29....current ending balance @ 4/11 = 685(-$115)


So let the journey begins...

I got greedy with this EA and it is killing me now...I opened a mini account and traded a minimum 0.1 lot on an $800 balance!!!

How foolish of me! I put the EA on six pairs starting yesterday around 7AM EST...the six pairs are: EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDCHF, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY

After 8 hours in trade, A message poped out:

There is insufficient margin percent to allow trading: 107.60%

I feel I am stuck in a twilight zone now Had to disable the EA on the five pairs, and keep the EURJPY TOB running, since the short trade on this pair is already at two recovery trades, and I am about to get a margin call now! Well, it looks like I blew 50% of my balance..

I need to switch to micro account, with 0.02 lots now afterward.

TOB would provide me with two signals:

1) Trade setup: prices has hit either the top sixth line, or the bottom one

Top sixth: 1.42190
Bottom : 1.40197

Current Price: 1.41327

TOB is a counter-trend system, and seeks to squeeze some pips during a retracement...so it sends a pending buy/sell order

Sell-stop when prices hit the top sixth, and buy-stop order when the bottom sixth line.

2) Trade entry:

You have many options in TOB EA..I use the default setting.

The re-rentry technique used in the TOB to bring you to breakeven when prices goes against your trade is a bit tricky...need to be monitored.

I live in EST timezone, so I let the TOB stay awake on my remaining $414.05 balance of $800 while I will hit the bed!

So surprise me!

By the way, I decided to trade only one pair with TOB, and that is eurusd.

My account balance is too low to trade multiple pairs!

TOB behaved exactly as it was programmed!

Prices hit the top sixth...a sell-stop order was placed at 1.42140....trade got filled...then MM portion of the TOB took over the money management.

Prices went in the favor of the trade, and when it got to +30pips, the jumping SL moved the SL to 1.4184....prices hit the SL, and exited with +30pips for today.

Ain't that grand!

Beast at: 1.41640

top 6th: 42319
bottom 6th: 40197

Waiting...

Hi, nice to read how you try to tame the beast
One question: why don't you set TOB to MaxOpenPairsAllowed to 1 ?
That way you can load TOB on the pairs you want to trade, if one of those pairs has an open order then it doesn't open new trades on the other pairs. That way you create more opertunities to fill a pending order.
You can also set the MaxSpread to a low figure, so it only opens trades with a low spread.

Best of luck!

Excellent idea...Yes MaxOpenPairsAllowed =1 and MaxSpread=5

I'll stalk eurusd with the beast

I would also recommend using 0.01 per $100 or even
0.01 per $200 as Steve is using if I remember correctly.

This should keep your account moderately safe and yourself not going bald with all the hair you will be pulling out.

I made the same error (called greed) running 0.02 lots on a 250 € account. It rose in a most spectacular way (some 30+%/month) Then the Japan earthquake blew it to pieces. (In spite of all warning of seasoned traders in Steve's original thread).

Yes, ludo & krypty, based on steve recommendation lot size of .01 per $200 is highly recommended...My broker doesn't offer a micro account, so minimum size is 0.1..so I assume the balance should be a minimum of $2000 per 0.1 lot size. Last trade TOB brought the balance of $414.05 to 443.05...I am in the process of adding more fund, but meanwhile just hoping not to get into L4 recovery situation, otherwise TOB will certainly blow up the account!

No trades yet for eurusd...

Great thread! I was also thinking in using bigger lots for an initial balance of $200, but now I thinking that it's not a very good idea if one has to deal with big issues like the earthquake in Japan. Maybe I would go with 0.01 lots per every $150, but I wouldn't go beyond that.
I'm still demoing, maybe I'll go live in three weeks =)

With sad & volatile situation in Japan, I wouldn't let TOB to trade any pairs with JPY...it is just too bouncy at this time!

After taking a beating right after the earthquake, I revised my lot sizes and am now at .01 lots per $1,000. I figured to take it conservative and slow. Having said that, I'm still into draw down.

I am also stuck in the JPY crisis and this morning took out a couple of hedge trades to try and keep it from getting much worse. An interesting thing happened when I took the hedge - my percent margin level increased! Obviously I don't understand that one.

Note that I am a US citizen. FXDD does allow hedging in their "front room".

We'll see how this part of my education works out.

There was a nice swing on euro during NFP....it made a low of 1.40603

TOB recalculated the 6xth lines with the bottom 6th @ 1.40251

The pair never touched the bottom 6th, otherwise I am sure the TOB would squeeze more pips into my account!

Well, no trade for today...time for a beer, and have a great weekend to all the observers of my journal.

Well, what do you know! TOB has initiated a trade when eurusd hit the upper 6xth line @ 1.42445

Sell order got filled at 1.42251

Currently eurusd at 1.42243...TOB with sell @1.42251 looking good for the south move.

TOB started the week with +12pips.

The jumping SL is set to 30pips, and got me out at 12pips.

My platform/broker (MT4/ibFX) didn't get me into that trade - but it got me into the EURJPY trade...

maestro, how did u do in eurjpy trade? I, personally, want to stay out of jpy pairs!