Starting in Fx - System Advice Please?

Hi

My first post. I have been trading commodity futures using systems for a number of years. A fairly familiar pattern occurs whereby a system tends to work for a while, then performance deteriorates. So I have invested more than enough in systems. Also some of the markets are relatively illiquid, which can cause issues.

I have been interested in learning to trade Forex for a while, attracted by the high liquidity and all the advantages that come with that. So I started to search the internet and came up with a lot of poor systems or even scams. I found this site and it seems to be populated by some genuine people, and I see the moderators weed out the scammers as well.

I wondered if anyone had any advice on a decent starting place for a trading system? I tend to favour systems as they keep me disciplined.

Many thanks
Stephen

snm2205 said:

I see the moderators weed out the scammers as well.

Click to expand...

That's one way of describing it. More a case of the regulars tear them apart.
:medieval:

Your best bet is to learn to trade and develop your own system. The problem with all systems is that as the market changes its behaviour (usually through changes in economic climate), your system's performance slowly dies and unless you monitor things carefully or know how a system works, you will end up giving too much money away before you realise that it isn't just a series of drawdowns but complete failure of a once-profitable system. I speak from experience.

I've tried the Stealth Forex System and think it's good for beginners. Don't use it any more but it's useful for learning...

There's a review here: Forex Forums

Thanks guys

Great point on drawdowns actually being broken systems ... I've been burn there as well. The issue is they are so over-optimised that when something changes in the market, bang, you're done.

snm2205 said:

... when something changes in the market, bang, you're done.

Click to expand...

Cilit Bang...BANG! And your money is gone!

Whilst I'm still manually backtesting possible systems and am yet to reach the point of demo trading one I've found it very useful to follow the K.I.S.S approach: Simple is better.

Picking a couple of different MAs and trading on the crossover when a couple of different indicators confirm the trend seems to be working well for me so far in the sense that I'm starting to make serious progress rather than going in circles:whistling

Vrothdar said:

Cilit Bang...BANG! And your money is gone!

Click to expand...

Definitely KISS. See my shopping trolley analogy elsewhere.

You are not going to find a good reliable system which can be bought for few $$

Backtesting forex markets is not easy and not quick.

Good luck

Baldur

Have a look at www.Kreslik.com - Lots of long-time traders on there. One of the guys even has a book out called Forex for Dummies or some such title. Anyway, the author is Avery Horton (or TRO on that website). I haven't read it because I don't trade Forex. Anyway, it's another nice board of traders talking trade! And, the moderator is Michal. He's made his own server to process all his data - I'm floored!

you have to creating your own trading system!
and Know The Goals of your trading system is 2
1- The System should be able to identify trends as early as possible.
2- The System should be able to avoid you from whipsaws.

and remember On the other hand, if you have a system in which its sole purpose is to avoid whipsaws, then you will be late on many trades and will also probably miss out on a lot of trades.

shadowninja said:

That's one way of describing it. More a case of the regulars tear them apart.
:medieval:

Your best bet is to learn to trade and develop your own system. The problem with all systems is that as the market changes its behaviour (usually through changes in economic climate), your system's performance slowly dies and unless you monitor things carefully or know how a system works, you will end up giving too much money away before you realise that it isn't just a series of drawdowns but complete failure of a once-profitable system. I speak from experience.

Click to expand...

great video!
has happened to me before many times, and yes have used the same language myself!!!
guess it has happened to all of us!