My Trading Journey
I have been a member here since August 2010. I think the fact that I am still around is testament that perseverance and some imagination can lead us to success.
I have always liked playing strategy games such as Magic the Gathering and Sid Meier's Civilization, and it is this passion for exploring strategies that got me deeply involved in trading. Trading must be the ultimate strategy game. It takes place in real time and has real consequences - you can lose your hard-earned money (which I did, many times, over and over again). In a game, you can master the limited number of variables and then win. However, in trading, there appears to be an unlimited number of variables (for e.g., Central Bank policies, supply and demand zones, psychology of market participants, etc.), many of which are inherently unpredictable.
I must have spent hundreds of hours testing the different trading systems in Forex Factory. I think I probably enjoyed exploring these strategies more than the actual trading itself. I tried indicator-based systems, and while some may work, these systems are highly vulnerable to market conditions. If the market is trending, and you happen to be using a trend-following indicator, then you will win. However, if the market ranges then you lose. The problem is that it is not always so easy to identify when the market will trend or range.
From the onset, I was attracted to money management type strategies, for e.g., grids, scaling in and out, martingale and anti-martingale, Oscar's grind etc. The first book I read was Bird Watching in Lion Country, published by Dirk du Toit in 2004. His system was essentially a grid strategy.
Of course, I failed many times and wanted to give up trading altogether. Yet, I truly believed money management itself was an edge and eventually I proved to myself that I was correct. I suppose, in the end, we will adopt a system that suits our style because trading is such a personal endeavour.
Sentinel EA
The Sentinel EA was developed based on my research and beliefs. It is a trend-following system with a unique money management strategy. It was recently completed and I was happy with the backtests results (99.9% modelling quality). Over 5 years, it achieved close to 20% annual returns with a maximum drawdown of less than 10%. It was not easy developing such a system and I treated myself to a nice steak when I saw the backtest results.
Tracking the Sentinel's Performance
This journal will track the Sentinel's performance. I have started trading the initial version of the EA on a live cent account and you can view it here https://www.myfxbook.com/members/Sen...nel-ea/2011812
The Sentinel will soon be running on a larger live account and I will post its results here. Well, wish me luck!
I have been a member here since August 2010. I think the fact that I am still around is testament that perseverance and some imagination can lead us to success.
I have always liked playing strategy games such as Magic the Gathering and Sid Meier's Civilization, and it is this passion for exploring strategies that got me deeply involved in trading. Trading must be the ultimate strategy game. It takes place in real time and has real consequences - you can lose your hard-earned money (which I did, many times, over and over again). In a game, you can master the limited number of variables and then win. However, in trading, there appears to be an unlimited number of variables (for e.g., Central Bank policies, supply and demand zones, psychology of market participants, etc.), many of which are inherently unpredictable.
I must have spent hundreds of hours testing the different trading systems in Forex Factory. I think I probably enjoyed exploring these strategies more than the actual trading itself. I tried indicator-based systems, and while some may work, these systems are highly vulnerable to market conditions. If the market is trending, and you happen to be using a trend-following indicator, then you will win. However, if the market ranges then you lose. The problem is that it is not always so easy to identify when the market will trend or range.
From the onset, I was attracted to money management type strategies, for e.g., grids, scaling in and out, martingale and anti-martingale, Oscar's grind etc. The first book I read was Bird Watching in Lion Country, published by Dirk du Toit in 2004. His system was essentially a grid strategy.
Of course, I failed many times and wanted to give up trading altogether. Yet, I truly believed money management itself was an edge and eventually I proved to myself that I was correct. I suppose, in the end, we will adopt a system that suits our style because trading is such a personal endeavour.
Sentinel EA
The Sentinel EA was developed based on my research and beliefs. It is a trend-following system with a unique money management strategy. It was recently completed and I was happy with the backtests results (99.9% modelling quality). Over 5 years, it achieved close to 20% annual returns with a maximum drawdown of less than 10%. It was not easy developing such a system and I treated myself to a nice steak when I saw the backtest results.
Tracking the Sentinel's Performance
This journal will track the Sentinel's performance. I have started trading the initial version of the EA on a live cent account and you can view it here https://www.myfxbook.com/members/Sen...nel-ea/2011812
The Sentinel will soon be running on a larger live account and I will post its results here. Well, wish me luck!
