I think there are plenty of winning methods out there. Take "retracements" for example. I believe a disiplined trader can make money with this method over the long run. But, if you ask..."How do I trade retracements?", only you can answer that. There must be a hundred ways, and my way may not be to your liking. I know a guy that trades retracements, and he has his chart set up with a few common indicators on a 133T timeframe. He's traded that chart for so long, honestly you could probably take all the indicators off, and he would still see them in his mind and take the same setups he normally does. But, that's because he's traded the same chart for years, he doesn't bounce back and forth from method to method every time he has a bad day or week. And, I'll tell you, some days this guy just can't miss. It's like he has a crystal ball or something. For example, last Friday (10-1), that puss went long on the first pullback at 1121.50, and the market never looked back. But, then other days he feels like some kind of an idiot. But, when he has a bad day he doesn't throw in the towel and start looking for another method. He sticks to his plan.
maczter, I like your idea. I found myself leaning in this direction recently. I've collected some 150 symbols that look healthy for possible longs, and have them ticking away in an Excel spreadsheet in real time. I can then bring to the top the ones that are moving *now* from any time/previous price reference. I want to add volume to this screen as well. Do you think that would help? About what size is your watchlist and/or universe? And what other indicators do you use besides the visuals? Thanks, JohnnyK
Thanks a lot for the suggestion. I think all net profitable strategies are to my liking since i simply chuck them into a software and let them run automatically. So if you don't mind...wanna share? Hmmm...he must have a specific set of rules in his mind that he follows. We can't really blame people from bouncing back and forth from method to method because if a method sux, thats what we shld be doing...switching methods. I'm sure many system testers ran thru thousands of systems before. Obviously ur fren's method works for him and so he doesn't switch. (I doubt he'll stick with it if thorough backtesting shows breakeven or losing results) Thanks for all the help dude. I'll try to see i can do anything with retracements.
No problem...I can't really explain how he trades, tho. He's about 75% rules and 25% gut feelings. If you do a search on "retracements" on this site, I'd imagine you'd get plenty of results to read over. But, I think you'll discover retracements is a good trend following approach, and you should be able to catch some big moves, now and then. Good Luck...
I posted the EL code & results at http://elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=39031 Needs work. In trading from 04/28/2004 till date, it made $3946.01, after commisions & some slippage. But had a whopper of a loser on 05/12 - $1354.80. That is almost a third of all the profits in a period of 5 months. I am not aware of any beginner futures trader who can sit through a 13+ point loss in ER2. :eek: If you are a beginner futures trader, and *can* sit through a 13+ point loss, I personally guarantee that you would never become a seasoned, profitable futures trader. Jokes apart. Nice concept, but don't want to see anyone getting fried on this. You can probably tweak this and get something worthwhile.
Open Pice 590.20 (930am ET) Buy Sig 592.10 Short Sig 588.20 Neither of the Signals was triggered after 2pm ET (1pm CT) Better Luck tomorrow
Open Pice 589.00 (930am ET) Buy Sig 590.9 Short Sig 587.10 Triggered: Short 587.10 @230 pm ET Closed: 588 @4:00 pm ET P&L -0.9 P&L -$95
ER2 Open Pice 588.50 (930am ET) Buy Sig 590.40 Short Sig 586.60 Triggered: Long 590.40 @3:10 pm ET Closed: 593.50 @4:00 pm ET P&L +3.10 P&L +$305 ____________________________________ Total Running P&L for October + $210
Sashe, You missed the 10/1 trade in your results. This adds an additional $420. 10/1: Buy signal 573.70, triggered at 2pm EST (581.8); exit at 4pm EST @586.