If your using EFS, enter the highest return you've had...

[BakedWafer]

ITS MY TOOTHBRUSH! AFTER I JUST SHAVED MY DRUNKEN' HEAD! Just growing back.


And I still have no idea what you guys are talking about with the contracts. :/

[soylent]

BACKTESTING:

- Right click on a chart
- Select Tools->BACK TESTING...
- In the middle of that dialog box that pops up, you will see an input box that says:

Default Lot Size: 100

For NQ, set that to 25 -- that will give you (approximately) 1 contract in value when the results are calculated.


-c

[TraderJO]

Soylent,

Why don't you multiply by 20 for the NQ? Contract value = $20/pt.
Then, divide your commission by 20 as well. Just wondering...
__
JO

[Doji3333]

12 PM PST

Yes, 12PM PST. I ran a number of tests but found this to be best..

B

[soylent]

Originally posted by TraderJO
Soylent,

Why don't you multiply by 20 for the NQ? Contract value = $20/pt.
Then, divide your commission by 20 as well. Just wondering...
__
JO

Gack! I can't believe that -- I don't know why I've been using 25. I must've gotten something stuck in my head that 25 was the right number.

Thanks!

-c

[Doji3333]

Here is the current 120 result..

Here you go..

B

[BakedWafer]

WOW. 840 trades, god help us all.

[derekg]

Is this a graph of the original or the one with stops implemented?It might have been discouraging for the trader unlucky enough to have started between trades 130 and 360 as it was breakeven all that time. Really has gone vertical lately, though. You hardly notice yesterday's loss in the grand scheme.

I'm interested.

[derekg]

Originally posted by BakedWafer
ITS MY TOOTHBRUSH!

Yeah, I was wondering about that myself. I thought it might have been brace work gone horribly wrong.

[shogun]

brad
the system that enters with 4 contracts and exits 3 at the first PT leaving 1 to run to the second PT looks the best to me for consistency, could you post the chart for it ,also what would the results of that system be if you enter with 4 contracts exit 2 at first PT leaving 2 to run to second PT,


garth

my wording "curse of the efs " was probably wrong i should have said "curse of the backtester" but i think you Know what i ment, i think the abilities of efs codes are brilliant and if the next version allows multiple time frames to be easily coded it will be a powerful tool.

if you could also post the link to the ethinos group for me

thanks,

[spike500]

Re: Here is the current 120 result..

Originally posted by Doji3333
Here you go..

B

Brad,
Just a few remarks about things I see differently or seem strange to me:

1. You have far too many trades. As a daytrader I only have between 1 and 5 trades (exceptionally) a day. Average is between 2 and 3 trades. If you have 10 or more trades a day you generate a lot of commissions and slippage but only small gains.
2. This proves that you don’t fully profit from the trend. The system seems to me too mechanical. A system is composed by a set of indicators, not 1 or 2.
3. You create a new system apparently in “ a few minutes”. I need days to program and test any new element in my “system”.
4. I don’t believe in the existing indicators. Everyone has them but 90% of the daytraders can’t make money with them. This confirms the worthlessness of these indicators.
5. I cannot back test my system automatically, I have to go through all the trades one by one because the rules of my “system” are impossible to program. My latest back testing took almost 1000 trades and it took me about 2 weeks before everything was checked and calculated.
6. You have tested different models . The one with the smallest number of trades but with almost the same return as the others is the best one to trade on. Minimize risc and number of trades and maximize the profits. Don’t try to take all the possible profits, no system can do that. Take the parts with the best risc/reward ratio.
7. To me too many consecutive losses in 1 day means that your trendgiving indicator is not optimal. If your indicator is good you will never reenter three times in a row in the wrong direction.
8. The drawdown in your equity curve line. I think your biggest drawdown is limited to 25% which is very reasonable.

[spike500]

how i trade

I don’t know if it will be appreciated but i will explain a bit how i builded my “system”:

First I try to identify the trend on daily charts.
I use statistical calculations and probability calculations, so never an existing indicator. I work pure mathematically. I put the results of my calculations in graphs for better visibility. I use four different graphs that give in combination a pretty clear view on the direction and the strength of the future moves. The analyses are quite complicated. To give you an idea without going to far in details: one graph can give six different scenario’s for the future, depending on which scenario will occur the other indicators have to be interpreted differently. So for the other indicators there are four different rules to follow, depending on the first indicator.
Example: if a scenario gives a very strong long, than there is a corresponding scenario for 3 other indicators. All these things have to be combined to get the most probable future move. If during trading the scenario doesn’t fit anymore there will always be an other scenario that can take over the predictions. The system is flexible and can in this way maximize profits by constantly monitoring and correcting the actual positions. In range trading the system adapts itself by changing to another, more suited scenario. If the trend is very strong the system will change to another scenario that will try to take the big move and not get out too soon. Let your profits run.

Secondly the same principle is used on intraday charts. On intraday I use four different timeframes simultaneously. In each timeframe there are similar scenarios as in the daily system.

Trading seems to everyone very difficult and fuzzy, but I trained myself for many months in fast analysing the graphs to have a clear view. I am not constantly in the market. Only when the risc/reward ratio is favourable I trade. It took me more than 10 years to build what I have now.

I use Esignal feed since 1994, but I trade on a Tradestation because this is the program that has the fewest limitations in programming possibilities.

For me the conclusion is: an outstanding system will probably never be programmable because it is difficult to program the analytical thoughts in a human brain. All you can do is try to come as close as possible to a “manual system”, but for me it is impossible to explain everything that goes through my mind when I am trading. I can visually see the situation thanks to the many years of experience, but don’t know how to program these visual skills.

If it’s interesting I can post 2 days with only the signals on it in graphs. 1 day with a heavy trend and a second days in range trading. Twice the same system is used but it self-adapts to maximize the profit in 2 totally different situations. This can only be achieved by different subsystem that are build in 1 major system. But most people think you can trade well with 1 or 2 indicators.
Investing is a profession.

[shogun]

spike

what would be a none conventional indicator , and how would i go about creating one, also if you don't mind posting the charts that would be great,

[soylent]

Spike --

Would love to see your charts.

Thanks for your thoughts on this.

Also: If I may, I think Doji is looking to make more of a 'scalping' tool than a 'traditional day-trading' tool. I think that is a valid path to follow, too. W/ eminis so liquid and transaction costs so low for all the leverage you employ, this strategy has merit, too.

Thanks again Spike!

-c

[spike500]

I include 2 tradingdays: 24 and 25 of may.
One was a day with moves in both directions, the other one was from the bottom straight to the top, so very trending.

The time on the chart is European time but it concerns the open hours at CME.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
24/05:
Daily says LONG, hourly says SHORT at opening. So go short at the highest level possible, so at 1101.25. But watch out for bottom in hourly to reverse to long because of daily long signal.

When 1 scenario reverses and the rest doesn’t follow I have to take my profit at 1093.25

The reverse stays and gets confirmation from other timeframe although hourly stays short. Good for a little ride long. So long at 1092.75.

Hourly stays short and other scenario’s confirm top. So out at 1094.75.

Hourly goes long and other scenario’s confirm direction. So long at the lowest price possible. Long at 1094.75.

As closing times comes closer out at an extreme high point 15 minutes before closing. So out at 1096.25.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

25/05
Daily says LONG, Other times frames confirm LONG. So long at the lowest price possible. Long at 1092.75.
Hourly says that it is impossible to get out before 21.30 hour.
At 21.30 we seek in inferior timeframes an exit point. Out at 1113.


I must agree that may 25 was an exceptional day.
My explanation might be a little confusing but I can’t (and I don’t want) to explain the whole system. But I hope you get an idea of the way it goes and the logics that I use.
My approach is indeed different from Doji. I go for the trend, he’s more scalping.
How to create a non conventional indicator is difficult to say. You first have to find an other way to mesure momentum than the classical indicators. I work mainly with probabilities. For example: how big is, at a certain level, the change that the move will reverse?