Mag, There is no stupid question. John Sweeny coined the phrase in his book "Maximum Adverse Excursion" MFE=Maximum Favorable Excursion Michael B.
And you assume we all read his book? BTW the "Can" did not work today for ES. The parameters were way off. The long trigger at 89.50 was stop/reversed at 1083.50 to almost breakeven if covered at the LOD! Good luck with this.
MAE/MFE: 'In other words, once you enter a trade, how far against you did it go? If you take a bunch of trades genetared by an entry technique and separate winning trades from losing trades and plot the MAEs for each (let's say 10 days after entry for example), you'll find that the MAEs for each are different. If you plot a scattergram of the MAEs for winning trades using any spreadsheet, you'll get a good idea of just how far winning trades normally go against you and you can use this to figure out where to best place your stops'. opposite is MFE.
If you were the trader you say your are, you would know what this is. I thought it was required reading for a systems trader. MAE and MFE are even indicators in charting programs such as Fibonacci Trader and others. Michael B.
I did not know it worked everyday in any instrument! If it fails in the YM I will surley drop it like a rock. But all I am looking for is breakeven and through money management to gain profits. This makes for a longer standing system, rather than a flash in the pan. Or a gazebo in the Ebo. Michael B.
Many Robust systems seem to be profitable for the wrong reasons. Most all of them have failed now. I want a system that is profitable for the right reasons. If it will be this one, so be it. Michael B.
Since you represent the negative side of trading. This system has had two losing days in the YM out of ten trading days. Here are the losing levels. Michael B. P.S. It lost 72 YM points in total