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Mechanical Trading - Is it possible?

  • #61
  • Mar 15, 2013 8:06am Mar 15, 2013 8:06am
I trade from a Mac and use Parallels to run Windows 7 which in turn runs the trading platform. The problem is with running a trade management EA I need to keep my computer on to keep the EA running, well this week, after having my computer on constantly for three weeks, I shut down my computer when I turned it back on the Mac side of my computer works perfectly but not Parallels which runs Windows 7 which runs my trading platform doesn't start up.

After a few hours of stress and blasphemy I get it up and running again, HOW I HATE ANYTHING WINDOWS BASED, give me a 10 year old Mac any day of the week.

How does anyone run EAs, with any confidence, on a Windows based computer I just don't know.

Anyway sorry about that and on with the trading!
  • #62
  • Mar 15, 2013 8:22am Mar 15, 2013 8:22am
Quoting stevepatt


15/02/13 USD/CAD BUY Trade is up about 2 pips at the moment
Just been stopped out on the final 25% still running on this trade from the 15th February for a over all return of 2.42R averaging 121 pips.
  • #63
  • Mar 15, 2013 9:05am Mar 15, 2013 9:05am
The SuperTrend Indicator is a Commodity Channel Index CCI set to 50. What I have done is to use a Multi Time Frame MTF CCI indicator loaded twice onto my charts one showing the 4h TF and one showing the daily TF.

My reasoning for doing this is to try and eliminate, as much as possible, the whipsaw effect that occurs when the market is transcending from a UP Trend to a Down Trend or the other way around.

The charts below show the settings for the scmtf cci Indicator as I have them set. You use the "CCI Timeframe" setting to set the TF you want to look at 0 is for the TF you are on, I then set the second scmtf cci indicator to 1440 which is the daily TF.

Take a look at the charts to see if you can spot an advantage to using it or not.
Attached Image(s) (click to enlarge)
Click to Enlarge Name: 15th Mar 13 EUR:USD 4h Chart.png Size: 160 KB
Click to Enlarge Name: 15th Mar 13 EUR:USD 4h Chart 2.png Size: 155 KB
Click to Enlarge Name: 15th Mar 13 EUR:USD 4h Chart 3.png Size: 156 KB
Attached File(s)
File Type: ex4 scmtf_cci.ex4   8 KB | 303 downloads
  • #64
  • Mar 15, 2013 9:32am Mar 15, 2013 9:32am
Not only do I think mechanical trading is possible, I think it is the best way to trade. As much as we like to think we are masters of our own brains, this is not the case. The number of biases and the potential psychological/emotional effects that can affect our thinking make discretionary trading too risky in my opinion. Also, purely mechanical systems are the most worthwhile for me to develop because they can be automated further down the line. Your setup looks pretty nice, and I'm going to try it out.


About your Windows question: I use windows 7 and the only time it's been a problem is when it "conveniently" restarts itself to install new updates in the middle of the night when I'm sleeping. Of course, that's a setting that can be changed. The strange thing about your situation is that restarting Windows usually makes it work again. Keeping it on for a long time will probably fill the page file so it would be slowed down; but after restarting mine is usually good again. Maybe the problem is with parallels? Either way, I'm definitely going to develop a nice FMEA when I start full-time trading.
  • #65
  • Mar 15, 2013 2:28pm Mar 15, 2013 2:28pm
Quoting raspie
Great results!

I specially like new settings with MAMethod = 2. Much less "false entries" this way.
Have you thought about reentries? I mean when you've exited all your positions and trend still continues. I've found more than a couple of those cases. As a suggestion you could reentry when SuperTrend+Ma_alerts2 change it's color matching BB_MACD's color.


//Raspie
Hi Raspie,

I do look to re-enter, usually after a pull back in a trend I find the BB MACD or the SuperTrend will change colour and i look to enter again when the colour changes back to the colour of the prevailing trend.

This is often a stronger signal especially if this occurs during a strong trend see the image to make this clearer.
Attached Image (click to enlarge)
Click to Enlarge Name: 15th Mar 13 GBP:USD 4h Chart.png Size: 179 KB
  • #66
  • Mar 15, 2013 2:44pm Mar 15, 2013 2:44pm
Quoting MechoCola
Not only do I think mechanical trading is possible, I think it is the best way to trade. As much as we like to think we are masters of our own brains, this is not the case. The number of biases and the potential psychological/emotional effects that can affect our thinking make discretionary trading too risky in my opinion. Also, purely mechanical systems are the most worthwhile for me to develop because they can be automated further down the line. Your setup looks pretty nice, and I'm going to try it out.


About your Windows question: I...
Hi MechoCola,

I got into looking for a mechanical way to trade, higher TFs, because I was very frustrated with trading lower TFs, 15m mainly. I would spend all day waiting for the perfect setup I would then enter what I thought was a good trade only to see it go against me and then I would start to force a trade to make up for the loss.

I see at least two positives to trading this way I only need to check the charts every four hours and after a losing trade I have an exact formula to get into another trade and I'm not trying to chase the market.

Anyone can look at this trading the daily TF and lining up with the weekly trend or even look at the 15m TF and line up with the 60m or 240m TFs.

I know there are traders out there who understand market flow and the different stages a market goes through, believe me I've tried very hard to understand all this and given myself a big headache, i take my hat off to anyone who can trade that way consistently.
  • #67
  • Mar 17, 2013 4:07pm Mar 17, 2013 4:07pm
Update Close of Markets for Friday 15th March 2013

The USD/CAD trade hit it's SL for total return on this trade of 2.42R

I have opened no new trades this week, mainly down to problems with my computer.



Since opening this journal I have entered thirteen trades.

11/02/13 USD/JPY Buy Result +0.87R averaging 54.4 pips

11/02/13 GBP/USD Sell Result +2.97R averaging 148.5 pips

12/02/13 EUR/JPY Buy Result (-1R) losing (-50) pips

13/02/13 NZD/USD Buy Result +0.75R averaging 50 pips

15/02/13 USD/CAD Buy Result +2.42R averaging 121 pips

22/02/13 AUD/USD Sell Result +1.62R averaging 80 pips

26/02/13 EUR/GBP Sell Result (-1R) losing (-50) pips

01/03/13 EUR/GBP Sell Result (-1R) losing (-50) pips

04/03/13 AUS/JPY Sell Result (-1R) losing 50 pips

04/03/13 EUR/GBP Sell Result (-1R) losing 50 pips

06/03/13 AUD/USD Buy Result (-1R) losing 50 pips

07/03/13 AUD/USD Sell Result (-1R) losing 50 pips

07/03/13 AUD/USD Buy Result (-1R) losing 50 pips


So after five weeks of trading I am +1.88R for the 13 trades I have taken.
  • #68
  • Mar 22, 2013 6:38am Mar 22, 2013 6:38am
Because of work and family commitments I'm only going to be able to trade End Of Day (EOD).

This is going to mean a lot less trades but also a lot less time looking for setups.

I have stopped using the SCMTF CCI indicator and instead use the MTF Supertrend indicator to see what is happening in the weekly TF. By doing this it keeps me out of a lot of whipsaw action as the market moves from one direction to the next. By doing this the amount of trades drop but they are much more reliable and only take 10 or 15 minutes a night to spot.

So if you have a 9 to 5 job or have limited time to trade this could be of some help.
Attached Image (click to enlarge)
Click to Enlarge Name: 22nd Mar 13 GBP:USD D Chart.png Size: 203 KB
Attached File(s)
File Type: ex4 SuperTrend nrp mtf.ex4   8 KB | 284 downloads
  • #69
  • Mar 22, 2013 2:46pm Mar 22, 2013 2:46pm
I had some time today so tried a bit of day trading on the USD/JPY 5m chart
Attached Image (click to enlarge)
Click to Enlarge Name: 22nd Mar 13 USD:JPY 5m Chart.png Size: 181 KB
  • #70
  • Apr 22, 2013 8:48pm Apr 22, 2013 8:48pm
Any updates?
  • #71
  • Apr 24, 2013 1:08pm Apr 24, 2013 1:08pm
Quoting ray420
Any updates?
Hi Ray,

I haven't been trading this recently, not because it does't work, but because i have been looking at other things.

Set the indicators up as described in post 68, above, and do some back testing trading this using day charts only takes a few minutes to look for set ups and place trades.
  • #72
  • Apr 30, 2013 12:57pm Apr 30, 2013 12:57pm
I haven't been trading this way for a while because I have been looking at, a few, PA trading threads and trying to get my head around them, which to a certain degree I have managed to do.

I've got to admit, though, it's far easier to check my charts every four hours to see if four indicators line up than it is to be checking charts to see if I'm getting the correct PA at the correct level at the right time of day ect etc. So until PA trading produces significantly greater returns, than what I'm doing here, I think I'll stick with this for now.

Trading using indicators doesn't have the same kudos as trading PA on naked charts but you've got to look at it in terms of reward for the amount of time and effort put in. If you are trading PA on M15 charts you are going to need total concentration and might have to wait hours before you get the "perfect setup" and even then it's not guaranteed to be a winner. I know, if I was going to trade that way day in day out I would soon burn myself out, like I have said, I would rather just check my charts every four hours to see if four indicators line up before taking a trade or not.

It might not be sexy but, my god, it's a lot less stressful and if it works so much the better.

This is what I've been doing from 22nd April up until today.

25/04/13 NZD/USD Buy Result O.32R

25/04/13 GBP/USD Buy Result 2.91R

25/04/13 USD/CAD Sell Result 1R This trade I had the EA set up wrong and it took 100% at 1R

26/04/13 AUD/USD Sell Result (-1R)

29/04/13 USD/CHF Sell Result 0.25R 75% Of this trade is still running

Five Trades +3.48R three winners one loser one still running


Check the charts every four hours, if all four indicators are GOLD go LONG if they are RED go SHORT if not do nothing. Absolutely no ambiguity you either have a trade or you don't.
Attached Image(s) (click to enlarge)
Click to Enlarge Name: 30th Apr 13 NZD:USD H4 Chart.png Size: 125 KB
Click to Enlarge Name: 30th Apr 13 GBP:USD H4 Chart.png Size: 120 KB
Click to Enlarge Name: 30th Apr 13 USD:CAD H4 Chart.png Size: 108 KB
Click to Enlarge Name: 30th Apr 13 AUD:USD H4 Chart.png Size: 107 KB
Click to Enlarge Name: 30th Apr USD:CHF H4 Chart.png Size: 135 KB
  • #73
  • May 1, 2013 10:00am May 1, 2013 10:00am
I am trading using H4 charts, using these settings for the indicators being used.
Attached Image (click to enlarge)
Click to Enlarge Name: 1st May 13 USD:CAD Indicator Settings.png Size: 169 KB
  • #74
  • May 2, 2013 12:07am May 2, 2013 12:07am
Gone short on AUD/JPY H4 chart
Attached Image (click to enlarge)
Click to Enlarge Name: 2nd May 13 AUD:JPY H4 Chart.png Size: 138 KB
  • #75
  • May 2, 2013 4:00am May 2, 2013 4:00am
Missed two trades this week one on EUR/USD on Monday and the other on AUS/USD yesterday. I wasn't around to take the trades no other reason.
Attached Image(s) (click to enlarge)
Click to Enlarge Name: 2nd May 13 EUR:USD H4 Chart.png Size: 103 KB
Click to Enlarge Name: 2nd May 13 AUD:USD H4 Chart.png Size: 113 KB
  • #76
  • May 2, 2013 11:25am May 2, 2013 11:25am
Quoting stevepatt
I haven't been trading this way for a while because I have been looking at, a few, PA trading threads and trying to get my head around them, which to a certain degree I have managed to do. I've got to admit, though, it's far easier to check my charts every four hours to see if four indicators line up than it is to be checking charts to see if I'm getting the correct PA at the correct level at the right time of day ect etc. So until PA trading produces significantly greater returns, than what I'm doing here, I think I'll stick with this for now....

Gone short on AUD/JPY H4 chart

Update on USD/CHF and AUD/JPY trades

29/04/13 USD/CHF Sell Result 1.25R

02/05/13 AUD/JPY Sell Result (-1R) This trade ran into this "12:50amJPYMonetary Policy Meeting Minutes" when I back test this I'm not looking for RED news so when going forward I still trade even if I know RED news is due to be released because over time results will even themselves out.
Attached Image(s) (click to enlarge)
Click to Enlarge Name: 2nd May 13 USD:CHF H4 Chart.png Size: 124 KB
Click to Enlarge Name: 2nd May 13 AUD:JPY H4 Chart 2.png Size: 131 KB
  • #77
  • May 3, 2013 1:19am May 3, 2013 1:19am
Setup just occurred on NZD/USD H4 chart.

The only discretionary thing I do is whether to enter straight away or place a Buy Stop +spread +1 pip above setup candle, for a long, or a Sell Stop -1 pip, below setup candle, for a short. That's the only thing I have to consider once I see a setup candle.

The important thing, with this type of trading, is to take every setup as it comes along. My problem is I can't be around every four hours to catch every trade, like happened earlier in the week, but as long as I keep taking the trades, when I am around, without question then I'm happy.
Attached Image (click to enlarge)
Click to Enlarge Name: 3rd May 13 NZD:USD H4 Chart.png Size: 143 KB
  • #78
  • May 4, 2013 3:35am May 4, 2013 3:35am
Update for close of markets on Friday 4th May 2013


Since opening this journal I have entered twenty trades.

11/02/13 USD/JPY Buy Result +0.87R averaging 54.4 pips

11/02/13 GBP/USD Sell Result +2.97R averaging 148.5 pips

12/02/13 EUR/JPY Buy Result (-1R) losing (-50) pips

13/02/13 NZD/USD Buy Result +0.75R averaging 50 pips

15/02/13 USD/CAD Buy Result +2.42R averaging 121 pips

22/02/13 AUD/USD Sell Result +1.62R averaging 80 pips

26/02/13 EUR/GBP Sell Result (-1R) losing (-50) pips

01/03/13 EUR/GBP Sell Result (-1R) losing (-50) pips

04/03/13 AUS/JPY Sell Result (-1R) losing (-50) pips

04/03/13 EUR/GBP Sell Result (-1R) losing (-50) pips

06/03/13 AUD/USD Buy Result (-1R) losing (-50) pips

07/03/13 AUD/USD Sell Result (-1R) losing (-50) pips

07/03/13 AUD/USD Buy Result (-1R) losing (-50) pips

25/04/13 NZD/USD Buy Result O.32R averaging 29.9 pips

25/04/13 GBP/USD Buy Result 2.91R averaging 145 pips

25/04/13 USD/CAD Sell Result 1R This trade I had the EA set up wrong and it took 100% at 1R

26/04/13 AUD/USD Sell Result (-1R) losing (-60) pips

29/04/13 USD/CHF Sell Result 1.25R averaging 62.5 pips

02/05/13 AUD/JPY Sell Result (-1R) losing (-80) pips

04/05/13 NZD/USD Buy Trade Update at close of markets yesterday it was (-3.2) pips

I am +3.11R for the twenty trades I have taken.
  • #79
  • May 4, 2013 3:50am May 4, 2013 3:50am
By adding the SuperTrend MTF indicator I have been able to avoid choppy markets, like happened with the three AUD/USD trades I took on the 6th and 7th March.

When trading the H4 charts I have it set to 1440 by doing this I'm also in alignment with the daily TF before taking a trade.

I'm still uncertain about the yen crosses because I need a much bigger SL to trade them.
  • #80
  • May 6, 2013 4:53pm May 6, 2013 4:53pm
Quoting stevepatt
Setup just occurred on NZD/USD H4 chart. The only discretionary thing I do is whether to enter straight away or place a Buy Stop +spread +1 pip above setup candle, for a long, or a Sell Stop -1 pip, below setup candle, for a short. That's the only thing I have to consider once I see a setup candle. The important thing, with this type of trading, is to take every setup as it comes along. My problem is I can't be around every four hours to catch every trade, like happened earlier in the week, but as long as I keep taking the trades, when I am around,...
Trade twenty SL hit (-1R)
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