Or trade Spot through IB, which is cheap too, supported through Neoticker and has more flexibility in position sizing. I wouldnt really rely on eSignal for a high frequency system. Last NFP it was up to 15 seconds behind MB Trading quotes. Its ok for non fast markets tho. I think you would be much better off connecting directly to MB, and let it run 24/7 for backfill data.
Today in the E/U was a great day to scalp. So many nice swings up and down. Or, you could of just sold the break of the congestion at the 4700 level and held on all day for a total of approx 30-40 pips. I'd prefer to be an idiot...
Targetting 3 pips with a 2 pip stop does sound a bit foolish I must admit, but scalping can be profitable if you're sensible about it. This isn't scalping in the true sense of the word anyway, it's more intraday trading than scalping.
Hi Cabletrader. My fault, i didn't address your previous post. I do not use a 2 pip stop. The stop is very tight and is trailing. And there are no "targets". Some of the wins are 30-40 pips. But on average, each trade netts 3 pips after spreads and commissions. As to the stop its not a certain pip number but its dynamic according to the price action. The stop is always 1 pip below the low of the previous bar. The system works off 5minute bars. It aims to capture intraday trends and ride them until they stop and if they reverse then ride that trend as well. There are alot of small 1 or 2 pips wins and losses (whipsawing) but there are enough big winners (over 10 pips) (10-12 trades from the 60-80) to overcome this. I hope that clarifies things a bit better. And yes -- the system will be server side for faster execution. Im a beginner to the forex market (but not a newbie to trading). So im welcome for anybody to share their views. If for example, you think only idiots scalp then it shows you are narrow minded. I don't know many traders but I know a few scalpers that do very well. There are several ways to be profitable in every market. You have to respect other people's styles. Hell, you may even learn something Best regards, Nizar.
Oooohh, now i get it. You thought i target 3 pips with a 2 pip stop because i said the SYSTEM stats was 1.5:1 average win to average loss. The word average means the "mean". It does not mean every single trade I make 1.5x my risk. This is how I get this statistic. Over a large and statistically significant number of trades.... I totalled up all (nett) pips from the wins. And then divided it by the number of winning trades. This gives me how much ON AVERAGE, each winner netts. Lets call this X. Then i totalled up all the (nett) pips from the losses. And then divided it by the number of losing trades. This gives me how much ON AVERAGE, each loss netts. Lets call this Y. X/Y is average win: average loss. Hope that helps.
Well when I said "scalping can be profitable if you're sensible about it" that was a clue about the way I think. I'm not trying to pour cold water on your idea, far from it, anyone who makes money consistently in this or any market deserves respect. But these are discussion forums and putting out an idea can expect candid and (sometimes) constructive criticism which I assume is what you're after and is what I'm trying to offer. I'm confused now, you clearly stated several times that the average nett profit for each trade is 3 pips after spreads and commissions, so what is your average initial stop? You say it's dynamic but it has to start somewhere. And how does your average win work out to 3 pips if 20% of 60-80 trades are for 10 or even 30-40 pips as stated? It sounds like this isn't really scalping at all, it's intraday trading off a 5m chart using a tight trailing stop, nothing wrong with that it's the way a lot of daytraders trade.
To be honest with you, I dont keep track of what my average initial stop is. Because say the spread is 1 and the commission is 0.5pip. So total costs per trade is 3 pips. EFX for USD/JPY and GBP/USD are almost always 1 pip from what Iv seen from the demo. I've attached a sample of the results. These were trades taken on January 3rd, for part of the day. You will notice the USD/JPY has average win:loss of 1.42. The GBP/USD much higher, but a lower win rate. Expectancy of both on this set of trades is about the same. This is amateur backtesting, but before I get to coding this system I feel I still need a greater exposure through looking at as many charts as I can to get a feel of this market. Im in no hurry. I probably won't trade forex until a couple of years minimum. Just some details on how this system works. Long entry: AFTER a white candle, we look to enter long. If the next bar makes a high higher than the high of the previous bar then an entry is triggered and we buy 1 standard lot. The stop is 1 tick below the low of the the initial white candle, and trails. Short entry: AFTER a red candle, we look to enter short. If the next bar makes a low lower than the low of the previous bar, then an entry is triggered we sell 1 standard lot. The stop is at 1 tick above the high of the initial red candle, and trails. NOTE: my chart as attached and my whole method is actually incorrectly tested because at this stage (as I havent got serious software yet) if the initial stop is breached BEFORE the entry is supposed to have been made, then the trade will be recorded as having entered and then exited on the same bar. A candlestick chart really isnt enough for testing because the sequence of trades is not known. But i still think this idea has potential.
Yeah cabletrader, you are probably right. This is more like intraday trading and not scalping. What exactly does scalping mean? Holding time of seconds?? Below is a screenshot of realtime action and some trades. Yellow dot is for long entries, green dots for short entries. Notice how the stop trails.