Is the system running on a hosted solution somewhere???? I am currently working on an FX ATS and cant imagine running it on my own PC due to how many internet issues I have with Comcast. I think I am going to use a Virtual Private Server from RackForce.com to host the system but am not sure yet. I'm looking forward to following this journal. How are you sizing the positions? Is everything a fixed size (i.e. 25k positions) with a fixed stop? Regards, Eric
Yes sadly I am using my personal computer to run it, but me and me partner might put it on a serve in the near future as we see some growth. Well I started the journal at 25K, then I sized up to 30K but I hit a snag with one trade which decimated me and had to size back down to 25 and now I am at 20K. However, I think next week I will size back up to 22K atleast. I judge my size depending on leverage I shoot for about 15:1 and I also look at drawdowns to gauge my sizing so I would tend to size up right after drawdown periods in anticipation of profitable trades.
Wow surprisingly I egged out a small profit in this week of drawdowns. After the last post I had about 5 or 6 losses only 2 of which were program stop outs for nearly 170 pips. But this one trade today made my week again. +161 pips Total PnL for the week: +20 Week 7: .7% return lol Acct: 3053
Yeah, I feel like I am constantly improving and as long as I can keep treading water and at least NOT lose money, I should be profitable sooner or later.
Alright since last night I had one stop out, after my prog went long then EUR sold off. This morning the program bought and now I am hoping I didnt get stoped out since it bought around 1.5650 and the lows were 1.5620 with my 31 pip stops (i upped them by one pip to compensate for slippage) I may have been stopped out, but if I wasnt, then heeellllooo another $200. Will update after work. (I am also trading 22K not 20K and if this trade works out I will be back to 25K)
Yeah, I was bracing for that as I was reading the thread. Maybe the idiotic element on ET don't read this forum Good luck with the ATS, BTW, from a fellow automated trader.
Unfortunately, I was indeed stopped out in the shakeout, However upon closer inspection of the prices I noted that i technically shouldnt be getting stoped out according to my 30 stop loss rule. I basicallly Trade the close prices of 30 Min bars. In that case I went long at the closed price of 1.5649 and I got filled 1.56525 with a 31 pip stop loss getting stopped out at 1.56225 and an ultimate low of 1.5621 in the shakeout taking place in the bat after I got stopped out. I noticed that my stop out (30 pips precisely is LESS than the stop I placed which was 31 pips) and its not that I got out on an uptick or a good fill since the actual trigger for me to get out occurs in the NEXT bar. So after analyzing it it appears that apparently my program determines that I got filled 1.5654 instead of the true price of 1.56525 and places the stop according to this phantom number LOL. THis occurs at every trade (I am showing a worse fill than I actually had by a couple of pips and my resulting stops are about 28 pips). I could never notice this before because until the upgrades on Thursday my executions have NEVER been this precise. Thus I need to increase my stops to about 33 pips in order to ensure I give each move the full 30 pip stop I alot to it. Now that I have done this my results should be even closer to my historical results (off which I am basic my fundamental expectations of profitability).
Thanks Andrew, good luck in your trading endeavors. (I feel that its important to be encouraged postively) I think the amount of hekling one gets on ET actually depends on how you present yourself, and most of the abuse goes towards new traders who only traded demo before and think they are automatically great when their papertrading strategies show them a profit but quickly learn that live trading is slightly different. I am usually honest with myself and I plainly state the mistakes I make almost AS I actually make them (now if I could only not make them). That sortof takes the fun out of jabbing at me when they end up quoting what I just said. And overall I am not meeting my goals but I am also not getting blown out of the water so its hard to keep knocking someone who merely stays at roughly the same place at +/- 300 bucks lol. When you factor in my acknowledged mistakes/software issues and what they cost me I am not doing terrible.
I am not really satisfied with my sad excuse for a fix on the problem of stops. the best way would be to get the closed price from the bar that triggered me and to place the stop 30 pips away. In the previous case that price was 1.5649 for a stop at 1.5619. If I was to use my new 33 pip stops it would be placed at 1.5621 and may not have worked as that was the low. Due to the slippage and mispricings of my actual fills and what my program says I got I need a 36 pip stop in that case. While in the trade I just entered (short at 1.5688) I would need a 31 pip stop for the same desired effect of a 30 pip stop from 1.5688. If I was using the trigger price and not my actual fill price, my stops would vary by the amount of slippage, but they would be precise, whereas now I have to place larger stops which will cost me perhaps 5 pips across the board. I will work on this issue and come up with a solution that ensures I get the full 30 pips without generating average stop outs of 35+ pips.