123PatternsV6 revisited

Welcome Traders

The purpose of this thread is to continue to develop trading rules based on 123 patterns.

In November 2010 I published an indicator called 123PatternsV6. That indicator was the result of much discussion and development work in a thread called [Multiple Trading systems gbpusd only]. Zamanib started that thread and I recognise his valuable work on that project.

The version of 123PatternsV6 that I use is unchanged for more than a year now and can be downloaded from that previous thread.

Download 123PatternsV6

123Alarms addon see post #27
123Alarms update with email alerts post #1286 (7 Dec 2011)

Why a new thread ?

I am starting this new thread to start with a new focus and avoid confusion with that previous multiple systems thread.

Guidelines to keep this thread on-track

This thread's focus is using 123PatternsV6 for trading decisions.

 

1. 123PatternsV6 custom indicator only
2. No other custom indicators or systems discussed here
3. Any MT4 built-in indicators and chart objects are OK
4. Any currency pair is OK
5. Any time frame is OK

Thread Housekeeping

 

1. Normal charts only. Go to the previous thread (listed above) for a discussion of rangebar and other charts.
2. Keep posted charts clean and easy to read. Use MT4 File.Save As Picture to create gifs. Use the attachment button in FF post editor to upload gifs and then insert into your post. This way we will not get those huge chart images wrapping the thread off the screen.
3. When quoting someone else delete most of their post. There is no point quoting an entire 50 line post with a one or two line response. Learn how to use the editor properly, quote only the relevant words and cut the rest.

Goals

As you know a complete trading system involves much more than somebody's favorite indicator. Risk management, position sizing, timing, trading journals to evaluate progress, entry rules, exit rules and so on.

My goal for this thread is to work together on understanding 123 patterns, when are they useful, and when they are not.

In my posts I will filter out my own 'great ideas' or 'rules' that do not actually support consistent profit making. For example if adding a moving average looks cool/interesting but in reality makes it harder to make profitable trading decisions then it must be removed.

If you have an interest in 123 patterns and would like to work towards these goals then welcome trader, let's do some work.

Robdee

PS Indicator support. Please use the private message system for support questions. Do not post support questions in this thread. Thanks.

PPS Removing rubbish posts. As moderator of this thread I will remove posts that I consider to be irrelevant or just basically rubbish. I know in my naive enthusiasm I've posted rubbish in some threads in the past. I know how it happens. This is a not a personal attack, it is just keeping the place tidy as a learning environment.

NEWS FLASH
123PatternsV7 beta testing now in progress post #235 (14 Dec 2011)

Hi robdee
Thank you for the indicator.
I wish you success & happiness!
Best regards from Switzerland!
FXcube

Welcome back -- long time - OK let give it a try on normal candle this time range bars was not that great trading this system.

Hi rob, I havent seen you around for a while where have you been.

123PatternsV6 uses ZigZag which comes with MT4.

To understand this use a plain chart, add ZigZag only, then go to any candle and look back in time. What are the last three points made by ZigZag? Label those points 1 2 3. When price continues from point 3 to go past point 2 then we have a break. Some people call this 1-2-3-break.



Ideally the move from point 1 to point 2 should be more pips than the move from point 2 back to point 3. In other words point 3 is somewhere in the middle between point 1 and 2. I say 'ideal' because that alignment strongly suggests that 1 to 2 is an impulse move (with the trend) and 2 to 3 is a retrace move (against the trend). This provides evidence of trend direction.

In summary ZigZag filters the noise and allows us to focus consistently on just the most important high/low points. With ZigZag only we can easily observe:

 

1. previous three price points before any particular candle in time
2. three price points forming a 1 2 3 pattern
3. price retracing from 2 to 3
4. price trend continuing and breaking past 2

We also have two categories of 123 patterns. First, those patterns where 3 is ideally located in between 1 and 2. Second, those patterns where 3 is located beyond 1. Some would say this second category breaks the pattern and is therefore not a valid 123 anymore.

I prefer to call these two categories ideal patterns and distorted patterns.

Robdee

PS Something to think about - How does the 123-break pattern relate to the popular higher-high higher-low concept, is it the same thing ?

Robdee You are the man,thanks for the GREAT 123 indicator best i,ve come accross fit very well into my simple trading system.
KISS keep up the thread i will follow with intrest.
Regards

First I want to welcome and thank Forexcube zamanib ukcool HankT and gprfc. Your interest and support is appreciated. I like to look at FF user profiles and try to imagine what it is like to be living (and trading) in those places all over the world where you are living now.

Here in New Zealand it is spring. Gardens, lambs and calves are all growing fast right now. Gusty winds cover the country as we change seasons. I went for my 'first swim of the season' in the harbour recently. It was still pretty cold but refreshing and I am looking foward to long summer days.

It would be nice to read descriptions of other places where traders live.

Now about this indicator...

In my first few posts to this thread I am going to start simple and build up layer by layer. This will allow readers to see the foundation ideas that went into this indicator. In the last post I showed that something as simple as just dropping ZigZag on the chart will give you a lot of information.

I think it is important to actually do that. Manually insert text labels 1 2 3 break on to a chart that has ZigZag only. You will get a better feel for what the indi is trying to do. Notice those places where patterns overlap or it is hard to tell the difference between bullish and bearish patterns.

Basic Setup

For a basic setup we keep ZigZag on the chart and overlay 123PatternsV6 on top. We change the indicator settings turning off ShowAllLines ShowAllBreaks and ShowTargets. ZigZag had a default depth of 12 so we set our indicator to the same ZigZagDepth=12.

Now we can see (on top of ZigZag) the blue dots, red dots, and break arrows as below.

Hey robdee

i can not wait to read more from you...

Good moring (at least for me it is

I see greatpotential in your indicator. Have you ever thought of giving it a sound alert when it draws an arrow ??

I will be following, very interesting

Green pips

Udine

Edit: found the 123alarm

great work

Hi Rob

Great indicator I'm looking forward to the thread !!

Hi Rob

I like 123 patterns, looking forward to your continued insights with this cool indi.

hi robdee

thanks ... very interesting thread

I like the zigzag

1-2-3 indicator did not know ... is very good but I study it because it is not as determined by the trend

tp? sl? ... perhaps a tsl?

I demo'd the 1 2 3 a year or so ago and had so-so results, not enough for me to continue. The problem I found was that #3 often didn't break the #2 position or broke it just a little so that i got into a trade but then reversed. I will watch your alls progress with the indicators listed to see how this "New and Improved" version goes. Thanks for posting, p.

Welcome piprac. I agree with you, in some situations 123 patterns are not useful. However, I also know that there are other situations where 123 patterns are useful.

That is the goal of this thread as in post #1

"My goal for this thread is to work together on understanding 123 patterns, when are they useful, and when they are not."

In other words

 

1. what are the strengths and weaknesses of 123 analysis
2. what are the limitations
3. what market conditions are best
4. what times are best
5. what other study do we combine with it
6. and so on...

Just to clarify this, the indicator is not new and improved. It is the same indicator we were using a year ago.

What can become new and improved is our understanding and trading practice. To do that requires the efforts of trial, error, and tracking our progress.

Robdee

hi ... You have used a multizigzag h4? looks great

Hello
The MTF zigzag indicator looks good,where can i find this,i would like to use this along with the 123 indicator.
Robdee made my first pips using the 123 setup taking it slowly as this is the first time i have used this strategy.
Regards

Welcome AlexM80 Udine Eamonn simmo24 and porfiro, good to have your feedback. Looks like I better carry on with more posts

In the last post I described the basic setup using ZigZag and my indicator. With the basic setup only ideal 123 patterns are shown with red dots for bearish and blue dots for bullish. Distorted patterns are ignored and not highlighted at all with a basic setup.

Now on to the next layer...

To the basic setup I now add sell zones. A red arrow points to the first candle to close below (2). This shows that the bears are strong enough to push the price down and close below that previous price level (2) where the bulls last showed their strength. At this point who is winning, the bulls or the bears ?

The price level where that red arrow is printed now becomes a guide for future selling interest. A sell zone then is an area of future selling interest.

I draw this with a pale green rectangle that covers the red arrow and stretches out into the future. The bears were winning at that price once before so they will remember that price. The bears will be interested in being strong at that price again to sell more lots or to defend their short positions.

The bulls will also remember that they were beaten at that level and will push up to retest the strength of the bears. If the bulls give up that fight too easily then price will drop away too fast and will not come back into that interesting sell zone. In that case I will not have a trade entry which is OK with me.



For my trades I am only interested in selling when price comes into the sell zone. If I liked I could enter immediately after the break. I could grab some pips that way. However the reason I do not do this is I am usually not watching the chart when that happens (so I miss my chance) and I also like to see some bullish strength (pushing price back up into the sell zone) so I have the bulls enthusiastically filling my sell limit orders (as a result of their buying activity).

Does that make sense ?

Robdee

Hi Robdee

Great to see you around again.

I will be following your thread with interest, hoping to learn and share where I can.

Cheers

hi qprfc

sorry for the delay in my reply ... I was sleeping.

here you have it ...

Interesting.
Subscribed and downloaded the indy to get familiar with it.