Hanover: an auto-trader using Recent Strength

SERIOUS WARNING

 

1. Most Forex traders lose all their money.
2. Using the robot posted here in trading Forex does not guarantee success.
3. Trading this robot could lead to serious financial loss.
4. Trading this robot without understanding its underlying trading strategies guarantees traders will lose their money.
5. This is not a set-and-forget ea; there is no such thing and anyone who tries to claim there is, is either stupid or lying. This ea requires frequent manual intervention.
6. At best, a trading robot is only 90% as good as the manual strategy it trades. At best. At worst, it can be much less effective. If the strategy is rubbish, so is the robot.
7. To trade this robot, you have to understand:
   1. How to use EA's.
   2. How to use hanover's Recent Strength indi. Download it from http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=163158
   3. How to use hanover's Build Strength Preset File script, download from the same post.
      

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Please note: there will be no more development here. Development of these EA continues in my own forum.
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You will make nothing of anything that follows unless you can use hanover's indi.


DO NOT USE THIS EA ON A LIVE ACCOUNT. IT IS EXPERIMENTAL.



We have astral to thank for bringing Recent Strength to my attention. Nice one, astral. I see it as potentially the most exciting development yet here at FF. This is mind-blowing programming by hanover.



We have all read the mantra, "Trade the strongest currency against the weakest." All very well, but unless we have a way of identifying the strongest/weakest pairs then it is a bit hard to know which is which.


Or was. This is the information that Recent Strength provides for us.

Hanover allow us to look at multiple timeframes. The details are in the user guide.

The purposes of this thread are:

 

1. develop H as a trader in its own right. This means using only Recent Strength to trigger trades. This is the separate Hanover EA and associated user guide Hanover.mq4 and Hanover User Guide.pdf.
2. Develop auto-traders that use the Hanover module to confirm their individual trade triggers. These are found in the Trading EA'szipfile. There is a list of these at the end of the Shell User Guide for EA's using Hanover pdf. There is only one so far, but more will arrive.

Thread Rules
There are only two; they should not be a burdon:

 

1. Be polite and constructive.
2. Do not ask questions here that are already addressed in the user guide. I really hate it when people do that - not much point in producing a UG if people are too dim to use it. Take what I am about to write seriously: I will not have this tread cluttered by infantile questions by the lazy and stupid and will instantly bar from posting here anyone who breaks this rule.

Essential posts to read

 

1. hanover has made some fabulous enhancements to his Build Strength Preset File.mq4 script. Make sure read http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...65#post5058965 for details. If you have downloaded the script subsequent to the date of this post then you already have the updated script, but information about the length of time it takes the Relative Strength indi to get up and running is especially helpful.
2. Not essential as such, but useful to know is this one by hanover at http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...97#post5062997. I have described how to set everything up in the user guide; in the linked post, David describes what to do if your initial point-plotting is taking a looooonnnnnggggg time.
3. http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...30#post5064830. This will give you a headache, but ignore it and you are an idiot.
4. http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...74#post5075774 is David's post about using the WatchAndCopy utility - makes things lovely and clear.
5. http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...3#post5079813: also useful to read but not vital if you merely go with the default RS inputs. This is mostly what I do - haven't a clue what most of them mean.

Note to coders
Attached is Hanover module code.mq4. This contains all the code you need to add the module to your own work.

WatchAndCopy by Carsten
Originally, this was, "Would you please read this post at http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...14#post5073914. If able to program this, you would do the FF community a vast favour."

Carsten solved the problem for us. WatchAndCopy is attached. Download the zip and run the .exe file to install the software on your machine.

Carsten mentions that, "You will need to have the .NET framework (3.5) installed to start the program. Otherwise, it should be pretty self-explaining." As I recall, if we try to install software that requires the .NET framework, Windows will go on a hunt and download it. If we have any problems, we can ask Carsten. I am about to set it up on my always-on machine, so we will soon know if there are any problems.

kibed83 points out that the RS indi works best if all 28 possible trading combos are offered by your criminal. I am fairly sure that Alpari do this, so I suggest you count up the possible combos offered by your crim and if this adds up to <28, download an Alpari demo and run the file copier from there.

Huge, huge round of applause to Carsten.

Subsequent edit: WatchAndCopy is dead easy to use and works perfectly.

A note about 'Invalid file handle' errors
Some of you are seeing these in your Experts tab. I see them on my IBFX demo, but not on my Alpari UK demo.

Ignore them for now. The error does no harm and is caused by the Recent Strength indi output file reading in the EA's. This is David's code that I have hacked for our purposes. I do not understand it but will sort it out at some stage.

Above all else, please stop telling me about them.


In Conclusion

This could be the start of a mighty journey. Time to see where this baby takes us.

Have fun guys.



Updates not in the user guide

 

1. Hanover EA:
   1. 2nd Nov 2011: added MinHoursBetweenTrades to tell the EA how many hours to wait after a trade closes before looking to trade again. On the D1 and using mptm to set a 50 pip jumping stop, I was finding the market retracing and taking out the stop, then H was re-opening a trade. This input should help combat this feature. Turn it off with a zero input.

The Central Bank Intervention Module
Those of you unfamiliar with the concept of how Central Banks intervene in the markets on behalf of their currencies, have a quick read of this post: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...42#post5093042 The posts that followed discussed possibilities for coding recognition of the sort of huge move that followed BOJ's interventione recently.

From this, and from code provided by Carsten, I have coded a Central Bank Intervention module. At the mo, it only lives in my generic EA code; this is attached and I shall isolate the code into a separate module for coders to use in their own work a la Hanover.

To try out the module:

 

1. go to a demo account and download Generic auto trading robot by Steve Hopwood.mq4 into your MT4 platform/Experts folder. This is the shell EA that contains the code I use to produce EA's so quickly. Close down and restart your platform.
2. pick a chart at random and open a buy and a sell trade
3. drag 'Generic auto trading robot by Steve Hopwood' onto the chart. By default, everything except CBI is turned off. In the inputs, scroll down to "----Central Bank Intervention module----" (and if you have not yet downloaded MaryJane's utility yet, then now is the time to do so). Here are the inputs:
   1. UseCBI: Go on, take a guess.
   2. TableSize: the number of ticks to look back over when deciding if the market has moved sufficiently to generate the CBI intervention functions. This works in combination with:
      1. Threshold: the guts of the function is this: if the market has moved x pips in y number of quotes received, then something dramatic is happening in the market and one of the 'big players' has made a move. The defaults say that if the market has moved by 10 pips over the last 20 ticks, then said cataclysmic event is happening and it is time to act.
      2. For experimentation purposes, set Threshold to 1 to generate activity quickly.

   3. CloseOnCBI: if true, this will close all trades linked to the chart and the EA that are in opposite direction to the detected move.
   4. HedgeOnCBI: will hedge open trades linked to the chart and the EA that are in the opposite direction to the detected move. This is not currently available to US traders, because they are being screwed by their own government.
      1. CbiHedgeLotMultiplier: the multiplier for the open trade's lot size. The idea is that the strength of the move will allow the winning hedge to overpower the losing original, and close the entire position at breakeven.

   5. TradeOnCBI: if true, the EA will trade as soon as it detects a CBI scenario. It will trade regardless of the current position and will ignore normal maximum trade settings. Watch out when experimenting with a low threshold; the bot trades whenever the Threshold input value is breached, so there are a lot of these until you turn off the EA.
      1. TradeOnCbiTP and TradeOnCbiSL are the tp/sl for the new trade.

The chances of this code being bloop-free are zero. I have rushed the code through so that we can play with NFP tomorrow. In time for NFP:

 

1. dump the bot on a few charts that include USD
2. reset Threshold to something more reasonable. We do not know what this is yet, but 10 seems like a good start
3. turn on TradeOnCBI
4. turn on whatever combination of hedging/closing is available to you
5. sit back and swear when some infantile bloop on my part renders the entire exercise a total waste of time.

Matters of general interest



Read this post:
http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...11#post4923611 Newbie traders, read this for inspiration and warning. Those of you who have suffered losses, read it for inspiration.
Masterly summary of hedging: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...79#post4977179



EA coding
I receive may requests to code EA's. Traders, if I code your EA for free, then I will share it here at FF. If you want me to code your EA without sharing, then my fee is $100 payable into my paypal account. I explain why at http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...94#post4431794, at the bottom of the post.



Useful utilities/EA's/scripts

 

1. MaryJane has posted a fabulous utility to allow us to resize EA input windows: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=299017
2. Multi purpose trade manager: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=89371
3. Account equity analyser: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...16#post4693716 Also at http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...98#post4709098, which includes a template for both USD and the Euro.
4. Past-trades display indi by squalou; shows a graphical display of the success/failure of trades in your History tab. Breathtaking piece of work. http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...10#post3830610
5. My shell EA – the code I use to produce EA's so quickly. http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...94#post4431794

Most promising trading EA's

 

1. Spider. I am trading this live. http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=313680
2. BigBob: an implementation of Nanningbob V10. http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=309980. The strategy is fantastic and I am having a ball trading a variation of it manually.
3. Aurora, a PwR-based EU scalper at http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=312936 made a brilliant start.
4. Trendy: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...82#post4840182, but should be left behind by BigBob.
5. Reversi: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=294255 – I have traded this live.
6. Rip: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...98#post4777998
7. The Beast: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...=1#post4135863 A number of traders are still trading this live.

_________________________________________________________________________________
Posting restrictions
I have restricted the ability to post in this thread to: traders with at least 1 voucher; and traders on my 'buddy' list. I have done this because I do not want the thread cluttered with 'newbie' questions about the basics. New/inexperienced traders, this is not intended as a direct insult. What I want here is discussion with traders who fully understand what it is they are doing; when you newbs have been around a while, you will come to understand what a difference experience makes to the posts a member writes and shudder at the recollection of some of the questions you asked. I do. http://cdn.forexfactory.com/images/s..._the_floor.gif Go to your profile page; there is a link to the FF page that describes the voucher process.

Do not attempt to get around this by sending me pm's asking for help with your basic problems. Doing so will earn you an automatic ban from all of my threads.

I have set up a partner to my restricted threads at http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...66#post3948666
There, you can post the questions that you cannot post here, about anything you need to know. Someone with the knowledge and experience you need will answer.

Traders/coders with experience who have not yet been vouched for, can get around this restriction be being added to my 'buddy' list; all you have to do is pm me to ask me to do this.

Hanovered EA's
I have added the Hanover module to these EA's

1. Reversi: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=294255
2. Caillou: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=314323
3. BigBob trend trading: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=309980
4. Aurora: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=312936
5. jor, and jor and the pal he met on his hols: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=313656
6. PTT: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=311336
7. Trumpcard: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=319264
8. Trendy: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...82#post4840182
9. The Beast: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...=1#post4135863

EA's to be Hanovered
I shall be adding the Hanover module to these EA's. If any of your favourites are not here, then please post a request in this thread, along with a link to the EA's thread.

 

1. BigBob range trading; not a priority

here is a manual adaptation of correlation which might be of use.

http://www.trade2win.com/boards/fore...trategies.html

indie download here

http://www.trade2win.com/boards/fore...tml#post993638

Steve, this is just what i have been after. I had a go using the MIndex to use Currency indexes in an EA but it is not working quite right yet. I wanted to do exactly what you have done but my coding skills are not up to your level by any means.indy

I have been following the various relative strength threads here on FF and all have different ideas but the general theory as every is if the trend forms grab on for the ride but if it turns against you get out quick and wait for the next. Kibed set up a thread in Platform Tech using Hanovers Indy which might shed some useful insight, i've been through so many threads recently i'm losing track of which is useful. I'll do some more digging into this.

I'm going to set this up on the Hourly chart and daily chart and see how it goes. I've had a look through the code and it looks good not obvious LUC popping round for a party.

Once set up i'll post a myfxbook link. Thanks for this.

Mike

First of all a big round of applause for Hanover (David) who has given us IMHO the best currecny strength meter in FF.

Second a Big, BIG round of applause for Steve, who makes our wishes into reality.

Kind regards
P.S. It was about time to introduce an EA service for a very reasonable rate. WELL DONE.

Some brokers as SigTrader(that's their MT4 platform) already have those indexes charted, as EURLFX(EUR against the basket), and seems the formula to calculate EUR strenght index is something like in the attached picture.

Maybe this is easier to input into the code...maybe this helps.
Also, some aditional info on this thread that I'm following http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=317893

This bit doesn't look right. You are adding the suffix twice.
I would do this:

Exactly, dragosd. So instead of the the colored spaghetti indi, you get an actual chart, as follows. First one is USD index, followed buy AUD index. Makes it simpler, imo. Something as basic as a moving average could identify correlated movements. Don't know if it's much use to Steve, but it is another way to view the puzzle. Credit to capito at his CICR thread for the SIGTrader tool.

Guys, some of you appear not to have not read post 1 properly. This thread is about developing an EA that uses hanover's Recent Strength indi.

If you want to talk about something else, please do so somewhere else.

Adds up to the same thing, but thanks anyhow.

Exactly, all credits goes to Capito....

Well, we don't really need to see the charts, I was thinking just at an easiest method to calculate the indexes relative to basket...looking at the Recent Strenght indi, the only problem that comes into my mind is where to set a starting point (NumPoints)? Pretty difficult, right?

Ok, Steve, no more posting....

Small update in post 1. This should allow H to trade a new pair if the is a new strong/weak pairing.

Steve

If we go short then the code in H will be OK, but if we go long then there is, IMHO, a problem.

1. Long. Add the suffix (TradePair = TradePair + AddChar)
2. Check pair exists, yes. Because the second add suffix code is outside of the if statement then we add the suffix again, in effect TradePair = TradePair + AddChar + AddChar;

If you move the second TradePair = TradePair + AddChar; inside the if statement then all should be well.
Check the user feedback, if you have a BUY it will show 'Pair not offered' or it did when I just tried it on CADCHF. I changed the code and CADCHFpro showed as the pair.

On another point: - Is it worth adding a 'if (MarketInfo(TradePair, MODE_ASK) == 0)' statement to ensure that the second version of the pair is provided by the Crim is use, or is this dealt with elsewhere?

Matt, i would tend to agree with you. I have checked the EA i wrote that does a similar thing and the second AddChar should be inside the last if statment. Then the second pair should be checked for availability and if not then set tradetype to -1 to skip the trade and wait for another.

so
becomes

I am away for a couple of days and will leave Hanover running.

Agree totally. We are well aware of Capito`s thread (http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=317893), however, IMHO, Hanover`s indicator is more useful for us in general. The reason is with CICR thread you are relying on one criminal providing a free demo for Sigtrader and if this service ceases you are high and dry. Whereas, with Hanover`s indicator and Steve`s EA you can use your own criminal and are not tied to one particular one. I have looked at some heatmaps, currency meters and other indicators and find Hanover`s to be better tool for analysis. However this is my opinion and different people have different opinions.

The exciting development here is the possibility of using this strength indicator as an extra filter in other EAs and or trading systems. I have been doing this manually for the last 8 weeks or so in my NB trading system and the result has been pretty good (resulting in lower DD and better win rate).

Kind Regards

This type of indicator is perfect for basket trading. I read through this thread a couple of days ago (http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=113181) and am testing it manually. The CCfp indicator gives you pretty much the same information as Recent Strength.

Based on its readings of strong/weak currencies (H4), I open baskets of trades and use MPTM to manage them. Perhaps if hanover could open/modify/close baskets based on Recent Strength readings we could have a winner

Excellent points, astral. BTW, there was no intent to commandeer the ship, so to speak. As I said, it was merely a different way of looking at the puzzle, one that might possibly nudge the cause forward. Something else to feed into Steve's imagination hopper. Nothing more, nothing less.
Just another swing-and-a-miss in my less-than-illustrious career. Oh, well, back to the dugout.

Astral, and guys,
I was reffering at just one post from Capito's thread, the one that shows how that criminal calculates the indexes weight...and I was thinking it may help including this formula directly into the code...just that.
Was not my intention to change the focus here to somewhere else...

Anyway, as for the Hanover's indi(all my respect, great work there!), the solely and most difficult problem is to determine time 0, NumPoints...this is a pure guess...when can you say market was in relative equilibrium?

Was just that, I'll stop any other comments about other methods here, it's not ok, indeed!

Thank you guys for your valuable comments. Very much appriciated. It is this diversity of opinion which makes FF such a great place. As for ccf indicator if you have any information reagrding its source code or how it is calculated can you let SCOOBS know. He has asked for this info here http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=311245

kind regards

A chance for the rest of us to catch up