I am surprised how these people have no shame to post in trading forum at all when they don't even understand the basic idea of average daily profit... It seems that you are right and for Acs 10 pips a day means beginning a day, entering a trade and closing it at 10 pips profit.... EVERY DAY... LOL!
cabletrader....with trading you must pay attention to the details. If you think I use "4xMadeEasy and hanging onto every word from the likes of James Dicks" you are not paying attention to the details. This will be my last reply to you since you twist my posts around and I don't have the time for it.
It's hard work for sure, they come in all guns blazing without first understanding what's being said! One thinks 10 pips a day is a lot of money and rattles on about 5k accounts all the time, the other one thinks you need a 3 pip stop, sheesh
Well a few posts back you were singing the praises of a book written by James Dicks and posting screenshots of 4xMadeEasy with all it's little arrows and stuff! Are you saying that wasn't you who made those posts, was it an imposter who hacked into your ET account just to discredit you by posting garbage? Attention to detail, yes, and a good memory also helps
=============================================== Let me ask this question =============================================== IF you have CONSISTANTLY pulled profits from currencies for more than six months... (be honest now)... What is ... (1) Your entry method (Trendfollowing, mean reversion, etc) (2) Stop placement method (3) Your exit method (Reversal, volatility exit, etc) (4) If you went through extensive backtesting and optimization, what software did you use? Help us learn something new! Best Regards... T200K
With all respect Trader200K if you are asking for specifics you are asking someone to share valuable information which probably took them an awful lot of time, effort, and money to gain. Aside from that it's not the strategy which makes a consistently profitable trader, it's the trader himself. Even with a profitable strategy not everyone can produce positive results. That fact was proved by an experiment at one of the US colleges where a selection of students were given an identical strategy to trade and very precise details of how to trade it. I forget the exact results but only a small percentage made any money. In general terms: (1) Your entry method (Trendfollowing, mean reversion, etc) Trend and Counter Trend based on technical levels and price action. (2) Stop placement method When the trade becomes no longer technically and/or financially viable. (3) Your exit method (Reversal, volatility exit, etc) Based on technical analysis and price action. (4) If you went through extensive backtesting and optimization, what software did you use? Real time testing on demo and then live accounts.
(1) Your entry method (Trendfollowing, mean reversion, etc) Trend following. (2) Stop placement method I dont use stops. (3) Your exit method (Reversal, volatility exit, etc) Trend Reversal or depletion. (4) If you went through extensive backtesting and optimization, what software did you use? AmiBroker and TWS simulated account to decide I didnt want to auto trade it. LOL. I let the system alert me, I enter the trade and either use a discretionary stop, or allow the system to tell me when to stop. It' all about the price action. Like the USDCAD trade I entered last week. Still trending downward..... So far has been good for 250 pips. The trades are there... Question is do yoou have the stomach to let it take its time to develop and swim around before you see real profit.
giles117, what time frame do you trade? And stops, when you say you don't use stops do you mean you don't physically place a stop but instead have a mental stop, or do you hedge, or use options, how do you protect yourself from account meltdown? I wish I could hang on to more trades for the ride but it's rare unless it moves incredibly fast! I've tried but as soon as I see 50 or 60 pips the temptation is too much and I can't help myself! Like Cable now, shorted at 90 and came out at 70 but longer term I believe the dollar is going to rebound and sterling is in for a rough time. My excuse is it's the end of the year and I want to be flat, but I always seem to have an excuse even if it's just 'no-one ever went broke taking profit' Maybe that's my New Year resolution, hang on to winners longer! Any tips welcome! I've already tried scaling out but it screws up my risk:reward. (see, look, another 20 pips I left on the table while I was typing this post!!)
15 and 30 min are my primary time frames I have a mental stop. Usually never incur more than 3-4 pts slippage on that mental stop.
<i>"but I always seem to have an excuse even if it's just 'no-one ever went broke taking profit' "</i> That old axiom is myth #2 in our profession. In reality, millions of aspiring traders have gone broke thru the decades taking profits left & right. How is that possible? Simple. Profits are smaller than losses. +20pip profits and -50pip losses (for example) are done all the time, every day, right now I'm sure. <b>giles</b> is 100% correct. FX traders must let profits run in order to win over time. Anyone who trades FX does so in the first place because that market makes some huge moves. If attracted to a market because we know it makes huge moves, why on earth exit any trades for pittance profit? Flat over the weekend or any market break per FX is always fine, but one cannot eat like a proverbial bird and fertilize like an elephant in this profession. Those emotional excuses are brow-beaten elsewhere in this forum and elsewhere, of course. Bottom line is, let profits in FX run deeper than you can bear to stand, and you will catch many amazing profit runs in the process. If I were still trading FX, my stops would be -20 to -50 pips seeking +100 to +300 pip (or greater) gains, depending on which pair we speak of. I do know some long-term profitable FX traders, and every one of them is a swing / position trader in the manner giles speaks of.