This is the holy grail!!!

[SoarAndEnvision]

Originally Posted by golhuntsleep

God I wish they stayed that age!! without the hypodermic needles for teeth!
but alas it won't...first chewing everything you own to shreads, then the "teenager" stage. after that, if he/she is still alive...the good times start again.......

man dude it took me sooo long to realize you were talking about the puppy i posted - lol ...

yeah that guy just looks how I feel right now

[golhuntsleep]

LOL...

[TRADE]

Originally Posted by SoarAndEnvision

I keep hearing this and i'm trying to figure out what it means :

the poster is trying to tell you in a round about way, that predicting direction and using all the wonderfull methods to anticipate direction in and of themselves only gives you a marginally better than 50:50 of being correct,

your main edge comes from implementing and focusing your time and attention on, money management, risk management, leverage etc, and your psychology.

as these components alone make up approx 80% of your system/method. so you might as well just flip a coin and enter the market at any time long or short, account for the risk and learning as quickly as possible when the trade is a loser and close it automatically or let it run, if it comes good..

I'm sure someone or he will correct me if I am wrong.

all the best

[LogicRules]

Originally Posted by Dr. Zogg

There is a grail, but it has nothing to do with market prediction, which of course is what everybody tries to do.

You can trade random and make money. in fact, that's a very good idea. Try to make it work and you'll learn all the lessons you need to, to make this work.

I'm of this school of thought. There are several grails, in fact. They are variations on one basic concept.

The concept is that you trade with strong directional action, not against it (although some do); and in chop (meaning whatever trend indicator you look at indicates a neutral condition), you short upward movement and go long on downward movement. You will end up with quite a few open trades (maybe a dozen to a couple dozen). You want to make sure you don't use lot sizes that are too big, of course. I like to keep 1,000% of my margin available.

As you do this systematically, you close your winners when the opportunities arise. When the winners you've closed are enough to cover the biggest open loser, plus a little extra (say, one-third of one percent of your account), you close the biggest loser.

You repeat this over time and eventually your equity will rise. This is a mechanical system that I refer to as "reactive-corrective".

This basic concept can be made to work by only trading within the strong directional movement, or only in the chop. I like both. Some may want to go contrary to strong directional movement and for the patient, steely-nerved trader this can be made to work, but it is too racey for most.

I find it best to automate it with MetaTrader Expert Advisors. It's tiring to do this manually. You need to trade with a broker that allows hedging, so that eliminates F_X_C_M (unless they've started allowing hedging).

[LogicRules]

Originally Posted by MickMason

So if it's nothing to do with prediction tell everyone what the grail really is, don't be shy, be helpful

If one got nit-picky, one could say that by using any kind of indicator, you are trying to be predictive. But indicators only show what happened in hindsight anyway. Just an indicator that shows when there is recent strong directional action is all that is needed. And then trade in a distinctly different way in strong directional action versus sideways action, not worrying about the inevitable losers that will accumulate, knowing that as you book winners and keep track of how much you need to close the biggest loser plus that little bit extra, you will achieve equity gains.

[LogicRules]

>only trade one pair?

Yes, just one - EURUSD.

>use no indicators?

Just one simple indicator. Trade in direction of indicator when strong directional action is seen. Take no more than 3 trades in indicated direction, close any other profitable trades that were opened during sideways trading. Take new longs on 5 to 10 pip pullbacks when the trend is in force, but do not exceed three trades in that direction. Close winning trades opportunistically - watch for 10 pips in the good during trends, use no stop nor take-profit orders. If all profitable trades are closed in strong direction, open one new one. Don't open another unless pullback is seen with trend still in force.

>use many indicators?

See above.

>only trade on pure price action?

When the indicator shows "neutral", yes trade on pure price action -- short on rises, long on dips. This is done per predetermined price action intervals, using last-trade-level anchors as reference points. Close winning trades opportunistically - watch for 4 pips in the good during sideways action, use no stop nor take-profit orders.

>look for chart patterns?

No, that's a waste.

>have a favorite time frame?

H1 is fine, need no others.

>Also, who or what has been your greatest mentor or influence?

LOGIC and ACCOUNTING are my greatest influences. You have to keep track of how much in profits you've booked in relation to the biggest losing trade, and close that biggest loser when your recently closed winners have exceed it by a certain amount (I like one-third of one percent of the account).

This method is hard to trade manually; software is far superior. The logic is simple, but the nuances are devilish to those who aren't accustomed to thinking logically. Most software weenies are busy chasing "artificial intelligence" and "genetic algorithms"...poor saps...simple but clever tactics are much better.

You will not get rich quick with this type of trading, but steady equity gains are possible, and slowly increasing lots in proportion to gains has tremendous power. I like to trade with brokers who provide very small lot size granularity, like nanolot (penny-per-pip) on mini accounts and microlot (10-pennies-per-pip) on standard accounts, and who also allow hedging. No hedging, no trading this way.

Stay away from F_X_C_M.

[fxtrader10]

Originally Posted by Chris Grace

>only trade one pair?

Majors only.

Originally Posted by Chris Grace

>use no indicators?
>use many indicators?

MACD and RSI are my favorites.

Originally Posted by Chris Grace

>have a favorite time frame?

D and H4. Sometimes H1.

I've implemented different trading strategies in 2 EAs. One of them is good when market is trendy. The other uses scalper's tactics.

[azukar]

Hi Chris,

Comments inserted.

"Knowing that no one that has a winning strategy would ever share their secret, I am just looking for you to share just a basic strategy without compromising what took you years to develop!"

I don't believe this is true. Sure there are some who wouldn't, but it's what you do after you get your fill that determines your success or lack thereof, and methods only play a small role in this aspect of learning how to trade. As a result, anyone who truly understands trading isn't likely to be reluctant in sharing his/her methods - the question is whether they want to devote their time to do so.

For example do you:
>only trade one pair?

I know you asked specifically about Forex but let me throw a different approach at you. Volatility = opportunities to profit, and the more the better. We can never know where the volatility will occur each day, if any, so in my experience the best approach is to watch a basket of markets that cover the different segments, e.g. a bond, a currency or two, a commodity or two and a stock index or equivalent. Personally I like Bund, BP & Euro, QM/C and YM/Dax, but regardless of which ones you choose this will put you in a position to take advantage of whatever volatility occurs on a given day.


>use no indicators?
>use many indicators?
>only trade on pure price action?

I only use Price action and would never consider putting an indicator on any chart, but this is one of those "left/right" or "discretionary/mechanical" black holes so I'm reluctant to comment any further. Most people use indicators but most traders lose too.....

>look for chart patterns?

Yes, but I think using the term 'patterns' is flawed. It's better to think in terms of structure. A particular 'pattern', or structure can put you in a trade or take you out of a trade, but this is the easy part. The hard part is knowing how to manage the "in between" and that has little to do with patterns and much to do with structure and proper stop placement.

For example, a retracement/bull-bear flag/continuation pattern or whatever you want to call it (and there are many colorful terms out there) can take on many different shapes/sizes and can take minutes to hours to days to complete. However, the 'pattern' is irrelevant as is the amount of time it takes to form. All that matters is whether or not the structure remains intact....if so you stay with it, if not you close it.

>have a favorite time frame?

Yes, but this depends on the market and on a traders personal preferences. I believe this is an improper way to look at it though. All timeframe does is determine frequency of trades, nothing more, and there isn't anything magical about any particular timeframe. IMO you should avoid the small timeframes (scalping) and focus on trading less on a higher timeframe, but most people are going to disagree with me on this. However, over 90% of people who try their hand at trading lose.....

Hope you find this helpful.

B.

Also, who or what has been your greatest mentor or influence?

I have been trading for a couple years now and I desperately want to become profitable I appreciate any feedback!

-thread from FXStreet[/quote]