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The Napster of Forex

  • #1
  • First Post: Aug 30, 2006 7:55am Aug 30, 2006 7:55am
Hey all,

<o> </o>
As a computer programmer I spend my evenings and weekends doing exactly as one may expect: writing computer programs. I believe that my latest project may be able to help all of us as a community.

<o> </o>One day back in March I was reading through the Journal Factory Forum. I read “My Trades by Dave”, “Tim’s Journal”, “Jeff’s Trades”, etc. And then it hit me: I want to see Dave’s, Tim’s and Jeff’s trading activity all in one place! Not spread all over separate pages! Heck, I want to be able to see THOUSANDS of traders’ activity all in one place! And so my latest project was born: FX Trading Stats (FXTS.)


<o></o>The idea was simple. Provide an easy to use application for traders to submit their trading activity to the ForexFactory.com community as well as view the trading activity of the collective community. I’ll break it down real easy. The program runs in your system tray (down by the clock on your computer) with an icon that looks like a little blue globe. When you click the icon you will see a grid displaying the following columns:

 

  1. Currency (8 different currency pairs are currently supported.)
  2. Invested Users (The number of FF users who currently have open orders in that currency pair.)
  3. Long (The number and percentage of users who are Long in that currency pair.)
  4. Short (The number and percentage of users who are Short in that currency pair.)
  5. Close (Displays no data. Click it when you close a position.)

*** See Figure 1***



You’ll notice that in Figure 1 some of the cells are colored blue. Those cells indicate which positions you currently have open. So when I took that screen shot (figure 1) I was short in USD/JPY, and closed in every other currency pair. You can also see from the screen shot that there is one other user (my test account) that is currently long in USD/JPY, long in EUR/USD and short in <st1:stockticker>GBP</st1:stockticker>/USD.

To register your trading activity you simply click the appropriate cell in the grid.

Can I select which currency pairs I want to view?<o></o>

Of course you can (or I wouldn’t have posed the question!) By right-clicking the grid you can perform several actions, one of which is selecting the currency pairs you want to view. There are currently 8 different currency pairs supported. They are:

 

  1. EUR/USD
  2. USD/JPY
  3. <st1:stockticker>GBP</st1:stockticker>/USD
  4. USD/CHF
  5. EUR/<st1:stockticker>GBP</st1:stockticker>
  6. EUR/JPY
  7. <st1:stockticker>AUD</st1:stockticker>/USD
  8. USD/CAD

*** See Figure 2***

<o> </o>Can I configure alerts on my desktop or via email?<o></o>

Yes you can. By right clicking the grid and selecting “Alerts” you can configure alerting by currency pair. So, for example, let’s say you wanted to get an email and/or have a little box pop up on your computer when at least 100 users were invested in EUR/USD and at least 80% of them were in agreement on position. You would simply right click the grid, select “Alerts”, click EUR/USD in the drop down box, set “Percentage of Investors” to 80, and Minimum Investors to 100. Then just check the “Active” box and save your changes.

<o> </o> *** See Figure 3***

<o> </o>Can I monitor only the trading activity of certain users? Namely users who are using my same trading strategy?<o></o>

I created Channels to accomplish this. Currently there are 3 channels created. They are:<o>
</o>

 

  1. Scalpers
  2. News Release Traders
  3. Vegas Style Traders

<o></o>I anticipate having a lot more of these in the future, but these three should get us started. Please post back here with any recommendations for additional channels. When you join a channel you are effectively saying “I only want to see the trading activity of other users who are in this channel. Also, I only want to receive alerts based on the trading activity of this channel.”

While the General Area is listed as a channel, it’s not really a channel. All trading activity is displayed to the General Area regardless if the submitting user is a member of a channel or not.
<o></o>

And that pretty much wraps it up. I paid the $8 for a domain name so you would all have somewhere to go and download the product. You can get it at ForexTradingStats.com.

So give me your feedback, is this something that can help us? Do you guys think we could benefit from this project? I welcome your feedback and questions.


Thanks and good trading!


-g
<o></o>

<o> </o>

<o> </o>

<o> </o>

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  • #2
  • Aug 30, 2006 8:52am Aug 30, 2006 8:52am
Girdle66,

I am not so sure how you can relate different traders data in one common screen by particular currency pair. Unless they give you the info or grant you the read access. But whatever the approach it is impossible to do that. Perhap you can give more detail of your approach.
  • #3
  • Aug 30, 2006 9:04am Aug 30, 2006 9:04am
Quoting divinefund
Girdle66,

I am not so sure how you can relate different traders data in one common screen by particular currency pair. Unless they give you the info or grant you the read access. But whatever the approach it is impossible to do that. Perhap you can give more detail of your approach.
Sorry if I wasn't clear enough. This is a standalone application that runs on your computer. When you decide to open a position with your broker you can click the icon in your system tray (for this application), and then click the cell representing the position you just opened. That is how you reflect your trading activity to the rest of the community. Also, the grid provides an easy representation for you to view what other traders are doing. is that more clear?

The app is pretty easy to use. You may try downloading it, that may be easier than me explaining it to you.

Post back with any other questions.
  • #4
  • Aug 30, 2006 9:11am Aug 30, 2006 9:11am
pretty damn cool. i love programmers

what would the integration look like on the FF side? can you deliver to our php backend? i would have to get you working with our developers on integration, email me and we can talk further about it.

but i am also interested in what the community here thinks, would you guys be willing to use this app if we can get it all hooked up?
Relax and be happy.
  • #5
  • Aug 30, 2006 9:17am Aug 30, 2006 9:17am
Quoting merlin
...
but i am also interested in what the community here thinks, would you guys be willing to use this app if we can get it all hooked up?
Yes man, absolutelly. I have already downloaded it and waiting for others to jump in
  • #6
  • Aug 30, 2006 9:22am Aug 30, 2006 9:22am
We would all have to actually USE it to be of value!! It would be sort of a big chat room without all the chat, just the simple info on Long/Short stats for any given pair at any given time, LIMITED to just our "family" of similarly minded geniuses... but really, since we are the singlemost collection of brilliant and successful FX folks around, it would be cool to see what we all are doing!

We (as individuals) would need to keep up on "posting" our positions, make it a new habit in our trading ritual. I would think it would be difficult for our run-and-gun news spike traders to keep up on this, but probably a moot point as by the time the stats are posted, they are obsolete and too late to be of value to others... Us "Faders" on the other hand, might really get some use out of it. As that good ol' news fade develops, more and more of us would take positions, showing up on the grid...

Might be really cool! Let's see what other folks chime in...

mk
  • #7
  • Aug 30, 2006 9:31am Aug 30, 2006 9:31am
Quoting merlin
pretty damn cool. i love programmers

what would the integration look like on the FF side? can you deliver to our php backend? i would have to get you working with our developers on integration, email me and we can talk further about it.

but i am also interested in what the community here thinks, would you guys be willing to use this app if we can get it all hooked up?
Thanks! Programmers love you.

I like the idea of integration with FF. I could generate some web services on my site to supply the communication of stats over to the FF site. I'll shoot you an email and we'll discuss it further.
  • #8
  • Aug 30, 2006 9:36am Aug 30, 2006 9:36am
Quoting mrkam
We would all have to actually USE it to be of value!! It would be sort of a big chat room without all the chat, just the simple info on Long/Short stats for any given pair at any given time, LIMITED to just our "family" of similarly minded geniuses... but really, since we are the singlemost collection of brilliant and successful FX folks around, it would be cool to see what we all are doing!

We (as individuals) would need to keep up on "posting" our positions, make it a new habit in our trading ritual. I would think it would be difficult for our run-and-gun news spike traders to keep up on this, but probably a moot point as by the time the stats are posted, they are obsolete and too late to be of value to others... Us "Faders" on the other hand, might really get some use out of it. As that good ol' news fade develops, more and more of us would take positions, showing up on the grid...

Might be really cool! Let's see what other folks chime in...

mk
You're right, we would need to start making this tool part of our standard trading practice. But change ain't always bad... I think that as the tool became more and more popular people may begin basing their trades off the stats, and to a large degree that will serve as a reminder to post your own trades.
  • #9
  • Aug 30, 2006 9:38am Aug 30, 2006 9:38am
Quoting merlin
pretty damn cool. i love programmers

what would the integration look like on the FF side? can you deliver to our php backend? i would have to get you working with our developers on integration, email me and we can talk further about it.

but i am also interested in what the community here thinks, would you guys be willing to use this app if we can get it all hooked up?
Sounds like a good idea to me.
  • #10
  • Aug 30, 2006 9:50am Aug 30, 2006 9:50am
Quoting girdle66
Hey all,
<o></o>
And that pretty much wraps it up. I paid the $8 for a domain name so you would all have somewhere to go and download the product. You can get it at ForexTradingStats.com.
<o></o><o></o>


Hi girdle,


NET.Framework Which of the 3 choices would you recommend?

x86
x64
IA64

Beefy CPU running Win XP

Also.
In the Alerts Tab Pair Dropdown...
Is there an option for "ALL" ?
  • #11
  • Aug 30, 2006 9:55am Aug 30, 2006 9:55am
Quoting girdle66
You're right, we would need to start making this tool part of our standard trading practice. But change ain't always bad... I think that as the tool became more and more popular people may begin basing their trades off the stats, and to a large degree that will serve as a reminder to post your own trades.
Hope no-one can see who's trading, I wouldn't want someone to follow me into the red
Peter
  • #12
  • Aug 30, 2006 10:01am Aug 30, 2006 10:01am
Quoting girdle66
Can I configure alerts on my desktop or via email?<o></o>

Yes you can. By right clicking the grid and selecting “Alerts” you can configure alerting by currency pair. So, for example, let’s say you wanted to get an email and/or have a little box pop up on your computer when at least 100 users were invested in EUR/USD and at least 80% of them were in agreement on position. You would simply right click the grid, select “Alerts”, click EUR/USD in the drop down box, set “Percentage of Investors” to 80, and Minimum Investors to 100. Then just check the “Active” box and save your changes.
Any chance you can set it so your choice in this section is sticky?
Save having to reset for each currency.
Thanks
Peter
  • #13
  • Aug 30, 2006 10:02am Aug 30, 2006 10:02am
Quoting Bemac
Hi girdle,


NET.Framework Which of the 3 choices would you recommend?

x86
x64
IA64

Beefy CPU running Win XP
Try X86, then x64 if that install fails.

Quote
Also.
In the Alerts Tab Pair Dropdown...
Is there an option for "ALL" ?

No, but good idea! As of now you will have to configure alerts for each currency independently. Maybe I'll squeeze that into the next release...

Thanks for the idea!
  • #14
  • Aug 30, 2006 10:04am Aug 30, 2006 10:04am
Quoting PeterFM
Hope no-one can see who's trading, I wouldn't want someone to follow me into the red
Peter


Don't worry, all trades are anonymous unless you're in a channel. If you select a channel and click View Channel History link you can see who did what. You can also export it to Excel.
  • #15
  • Aug 30, 2006 10:08am Aug 30, 2006 10:08am
Quoting PeterFM
Any chance you can set it so your choice in this section is sticky?
Save having to reset for each currency.
Thanks
Peter
I don't understand. The alert values shouldn't change after you save them, even if you close and reopen the form. Surely your alert parameters aren't getting lost, are they?

Now, after you click Save the first currency in the drop down list will get selected. That's for simplicity, because the user could have changed their currency list on that save as well as their alerts. if you uncheck a currency from your list it will no longer appear in the alert currency combo, that's why the alert currency combo needs to be repopulated after a save and have it's SelectedIndex set to 0.

Does that answer your question?
  • #16
  • Aug 30, 2006 10:09am Aug 30, 2006 10:09am
Super duper thinking girdle, its really a cool idea

Keep up the good work

FT

[quote=girdle66]Hey all,

<?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o></o>
As a computer programmer I spend my evenings and weekends doing exactly as one may expect: writing computer programs. I believe that my latest project may be able to help all of us as a community.
  • #17
  • Aug 30, 2006 10:16am Aug 30, 2006 10:16am
Quoting girdle66
I don't understand. The alert values shouldn't change after you save them, even if you close and reopen the form. Surely your alert parameters aren't getting lost, are they?

Now, after you click Save the first currency in the drop down list will get selected. That's for simplicity, because the user could have changed their currency list on that save as well as their alerts. if you uncheck a currency from your list it will no longer appear in the alert currency combo, that's why the alert currency combo needs to be repopulated after a save and have it's SelectedIndex set to 0.

Does that answer your question?
Call me lazy, and I appreciate this tool and the work behind it, so it wasn't a complaint, I was just thinking that if you decided that once you'd decided the alert % for the first currency, you'd probably want the same setting for them all. So rather than have to re-enter all the params for each pair, one setting could be applied across all pairs.
If you wanted to alter it for some reason on a particular pair, that's the only one needing to be altered. (Hope that made sense)
The set-up I made on EURUSD stays fine after switching.
Peter
  • #18
  • Aug 30, 2006 10:34am Aug 30, 2006 10:34am
Quoting PeterFM
Call me lazy, and I appreciate this tool and the work behind it, so it wasn't a complaint, I was just thinking that if you decided that once you'd decided the alert % for the first currency, you'd probably want the same setting for them all. So rather than have to re-enter all the params for each pair, one setting could be applied across all pairs.
If you wanted to alter it for some reason on a particular pair, that's the only one needing to be altered. (Hope that made sense)
The set-up I made on EURUSD stays fine after switching.
Peter
Peter,

I appreciate your appreciation. I know you weren't complaining, and I understand what you're saying. I went down the same thought process myself during development. But from a development perpective the word "probably" always raises a red flag.

Let's say that you wanted to be alerted when 60% of traders agreed in EUR/USD, but you also wanted to be alerted when 85% of traders agreed in a less common currency pair (AUD/USD.) If you set the EUR/USD value after the AUD/USD, it's not safe to assume that you want the 60% value to overwrite the 85% value. And if there's no alert value set on a currency pair, then it's even more assumptuous for the program to automatically create one just because you entered a value for EUR/USD. Does that make sense?

I see what you're saying, it's kind of a pain to set them all up individually. Another user commented on that eariler as well. But I don't see a better way to do it that gives the end user full granularity and control.

I'm definitely open to suggestions though. Let me know if you have any.
  • #19
  • Aug 30, 2006 10:40am Aug 30, 2006 10:40am
Quoting fingotrader
Super duper thinking girdle, its really a cool idea

Keep up the good work

FT
Thanks Fingo!
  • #20
  • Aug 30, 2006 10:49am Aug 30, 2006 10:49am
Hey.. the Idea of writing such a tool is really smart I thought about that too some time ago. However your tools has has 2 major weaknesses at this time:

First there should be an Interface to Metatrader so people dont have to manually click when they open or close a trade. It should be pretty easy to get this data using windows api since its a windows program too (unlike those annoying Java-Clients which are hard to "control"). This way even people with automated Trading-Systems that dont sit in front of their computer will be counted.

Next (and MOST IMPORTANTLY) you should have some statistics whose Trades were good. If i for example submit 80% "right" directions each day and someone else submits only 50% right directions then my vote should be weighted more than his. This way the signal will greatly improve in quality!! I know that this not trivial to code but with those 2 features your program could be a real help for every trader.

best wishes,
Heiko
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