Do whatever you need CF,of course, .... and I'm sure many of us will keep the journal going. Its been immensly helpful. and I hope Yoohoo will still check in and keep posting for the rest of us...... (begging...lol).... Bkeeven....I understand what youre saying about the oanda platform....Ive been using it as a new trader....and finding it feels good in some user friendly ways...yes,you can trade off the charts...but If you draw extensive trendlines on the chart....and it gets messy...the cursor wont hit the 'trade arrow' if there's a trendline sitting on it....which can play havoc with your instant decision to modify or close a trade at the precise moment... you'd have to click,and then remove the line, and then click again to close the trade and those seconds can be precious,as I'm sure you know.... so sometimes it may be best to trade from the "primary screen" which will have the small chart,and the trade ticket,and faster action to close. I dont know what other platforms look of work like....I'm sure the ones you pay for must be better...but I'm just not ready to spend more money for the services , unless, somebody chimes in and tells me that the investment will pay rewards much better and faster...and I'm stupid not to pay for a good platform. So I'm learning to work with Oanda's platform. Some things about it are a bit tedious... switching from one TF to another...I havent learned to put several screens up on the screen yet....my mind wants to look at one big chart still.... one thing I'm noticing that is irritating me...is that when I move my stop to what looks like the break even point at the trade arrow..... I must be careful to see the Price where my stop loss is exactly placed..... because in the heat of speedy action..... if you just place it quick at the arrow tip...... thats Not the Break even point...and if you get stopped out....you'll notice that you actually lost a few pips..... the true B/E point is a little above the 'arrow point'.....tricky little thing isnt that ?? they nickel and dime you that way,I guess...... I think Ive lost 20 dollars that way so far.....but I'm onto it now. So,I dunno, the platform is ok ....but I havent anything to compare it with. there are several places to execute your transactions in the platform , which seems good to me...clicking in more than one place to work the transaction. Now,I understand....Oanda is using this new platform....fx spyder....is that right? ...which is supposed to be 'private' ...in the way that prevents Oanda from knowing your stop loss settings....nice idea.....so I downloaded it last nite, and honestly, it looks terrible to me....the colors of the candlestick are pukey...I couldnt find a good one after half an hour..... I could never stare at this screen all day.... and I couldnt fix it by playing around with the buttons....it doesnt seem user friendly that way.... so I have to find some user guide now..... the platform looks very different from Oanda's ....I couldnt get the candlesticks to size up the way I like.... how much time should I waste trying to get the settings right....geez.... but anyway, thats something to play with....instead of making money trading... I'd like to know if anybody else has started using the fx spyder platform with Oanda...... it looks awful to my first impression so far..... I remember Yoohoo said a while back....about software platforms and charts....that he would not use a new one unless it looked the same as what he's comfortable with....something like that....and thats how I feel so far about this fx spyder..... bizarre neon canclesticks....and no easiness of use to change the look....
good luck with your 'new' timeframe CF, please keep us updated on how the progress goes. At this moment I'm mainly focusing now on the 5 min and intend to spent more time on the 1 min again in the future (I seem to have lost my touch there looking at all he other timeframes now, my mind seems to want to focus on either one or the other ...both seems very difficult) so I'm very much interested in seeing how you make the transition. At this moment I mainly restrict myself to the 1 min timeframe if we have a very fast moving market or if I see double horns or a very rare pinbar ... to be honest I probably miss half (if not more) of the setups in the hours I trade. So that's something I want to spend more attention too in the near future. Charts are always nice: a picture speaks a thousand words as they say
The markets just opened in asia and Oanda is still showing a spread of 10 pips. Is this normal. I like to trade pretty much all day so I would like to have a broker that has good rates from 7pm - 5pm est. Thats all three sessions. I never thought my rates at ****** firm were that great but 10? Thats ridiculous.
Alright so its fallen back down to two. The site advertises pip spread as low as .9 on eurusd. What time frame can i expect this kind of spread?
Monday 8:00 GMT to Friday 20:00 GMT. But sometimes Oanda increqses wpread during periods of high volatility.Usualy at the time important news releases.
IB is great according most user i encountered, personally I find TWS not good for single market trader, there are better platform, out there for that purpose. CF, is there anyway to change the page? quick buy and sell bottoms etc? LOL
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: TIME TO TRADE â GET A CLOCK! Watched the movie â21â over the weekend and as I used to be speculator (or as some call i.e. pro gambler) I thoroughly enjoyed it. It shows how a speculator differs from a gambler by knowing they had the skills to beat the table when the time was in their favour. In other words there was a time to take on the table and a time to observe. Earlier in the thread I took as a topic the fact that Indicators Lead Price Action and discussed PTV as the 3 components that make up the trade ticket. It amuses me when traders on ET shout down everything but PA and claim Price is King and Time is nothing while not realising on most of the charts they use Time is King. As discussed before, if we use Price Action as King then Time & Volume are disregarded and that means something like P&F or Range charts to emphasise Price. However if we use Time Charts like a 1 min or 5 min or any TIME Chart then Time is King. In other words Price can be miniscule on a 1 min bar and the next spike into a giant bar. The size of the bar⦠the High, Low, Open & Close are all determined by Time and not Price. So itâs Time that is King and itâs Time-Price action that is being observed. If we waken up and realise what we are doing by putting emphasise on Time it begs many other questions like what is the best Time and the best Timeframe etc. I think Gann was the 1st to discover the need to use multiple timeframes to understand Timeâs impact on price. Instead of using Daily, Weekly, Monthly as the norm (sad most S/w today sticks to this) Gann used 1-Day, 2-day, 3-Day, Weekly, 7-Day, 2-Week, Monthly, Quarterly and 12-Month Charts (and others). In order to see the effect of Time and to see how Time Rules Price, Gann also used Swing Charts to see if a price Zig-Zig should be counted as a swing⦠PA needed to qualify on Time as well as Price. Gann also used intraday multiple TFâs so he could refine his entries and exits and it made him hungry for more information leading him into researching space-time, planetary influences and numerical relationships. Sticking with Time Rules Price he came up with different ways to explore the effects of Time: Swing Charts was one method but he also used 1 unit of time to one unit of price and found a 45 degree angle split Time & Price perfectly and then came the ¼âs and 1/8âs Gann Angles. When you apply standard Gann angles on Range charts you are using Space-Time! So back to the movie: the card counter needs to know when the deck is âhotâ because itâs the best Time to take a position. For me the dayâs best hot runs are shown on the 1 Hr & the 4 Hr because that gives me the best RR. But to play my âsystemâ I want to make it as low risk as possible and that means getting down to the 1 min charts and trading my way into a position so that when the 1 hr shows itâs hand on the chart roll-over I am already riding it. Also if PA turns to mush in everything below 15 mins I know what they are up to and just ride it out from an easily defended position. So whatâs my point? Well several actually! 1st using multiple timeframes is old-hat and goes way back close on a century. 2nd Gann understood the need to let time play itâs part and those of you who are learning to make good use of multiple TFâs are pulling out too soon because you are not letting Time play itâs part. You are getting the gameplan correct and then playing a lower Time so you get bundled off the table. The trader and the analyst in you are opposing each other because the analyst is moved by Time and understood Time/Price while Price moves the Trader. 3rd we are playing a game of emotions and you can get yourself into a winning mindset with robust emotions by getting some PIB and then playing all-in for a position trade on the gameplan with a close stop. Let it fulfil Time and pick up a min of 40 pips (more like 50-150) while your PIB and stop makes it risk free. When you get the hang of it then the let the trader loose and counter trade the swings to increase returns and get close to always-in, but for now let the analyst's Time rule your Price (apart from news events). For fun watch the movies Pi for price (Gann worked on a theory like this and I used it) and 21 for the Time to trade. Finally, Iâve been pretty active in this thread since page 21 but increasing commitments are going to curtail my future involvement but I will still look in as and when I can. Remember Price isnât king; nor is Time nor is Volume. Everything works and itâs the trader who can capitalise on what he uses that is king. Always learn, always develop and always enjoy but if you get stuck and think I can help PM me. Some of you have become friends and I will stay in contact. Friends are priceless. Good trading
Good afternoon all! Yoohoo, Great post and I still hope you'll participate to the degree of when it doesn't bother you, because your contributions are absolutely invaluable... I won't be very active this week as I said, but will keep an eye on thread and try to keep all you informed on how it goes for me... And am sure you guys will still actively discuss our trading here!
Thanks a lot YH, for this mighty mighty post. Time to digest, and preview what we are doing and see if we are cloes to your teaching in this tread.