Anyone know a good 'set-and-forget' strategy?

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MitchT

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I've been reading Trader_Dante's excellent thread and would love to trade in the same way, but having to work full-time makes this impossible. Therefore, I was wondering if anyone knew of a good 'set-and-forget' strategy that would enable me to place a trade between 7 and 8am on a morning, or late (up until about 11pm) on the previous night, and then forget about it until 5pm or later. I work from 7am until 4:30pm and have half-an-hour for lunch when I could check my positions if necessary. Realistically I can probably access my account until 8am on a morning, maybe even 9am, but other than that I can't open the dealing screen without someone hauling me over hot coals.

I'm spread-betting with IG Index so there's plenty to choose from, but having sifted through everything - dailies, futures, options, binaries - I can't see an obvious way of achieving my aims.
 
I don't know the mechanics of the IG Index site but surely they have markets in the major indices, commodities and stocks with expiry dates months into the future? You should be able to use these over any lesser time period, i.e. youare not locked in until the expiry date. You should be able to set stop-loss or limit orders to close your positions at pre-set levels of loss or gain.

As a strategy I suspect you are seeking swing trading - lots of references to this on this site. See 'Marc Rivalland on Swing Trading' if you want a good manual on this, and adapt according to your work circumstances and risk aversion.
 
Hi MitchT,
In the event that you'd prefer to be in front of your screen and monitor your trades live, your work day is suited perfectly to trading the U.S. late session, i.e. 7-9pm U.K. time. (2-4pm EST.) I'd imagine that IG have a decent range of stocks to chose from or, alternatively, there are the index futures which are likely to have tighter spreads than individual stocks. Either way, lots of opportunities in the U.S. during these two hours.
Tim.
 
Yes, very good point. I have oft wondered about the feasibility of concentrating on the US during the 7pm-9pm period. Are there any pointers you could give me about spotting and trading opportunities during these two hours? I prefer Indices as the spreads are tighter and the minimum stop requirements are much smaller.
 
MitchT said:
Yes, very good point. I have oft wondered about the feasibility of concentrating on the US during the 7pm-9pm period. Are there any pointers you could give me about spotting and trading opportunities during these two hours? I prefer Indices as the spreads are tighter and the minimum stop requirements are much smaller.
Click to expand...

Yes, set the screen up so that you can also see what happened over the past few days and then do nothing but watch your live market move.
 
MitchT,

Look more into investing in the markets or stock as to call yourself a trader would be to mean you were actively trading, as you cannot do this full time the chance of being successful become remotely slim.

Remember who you are up against....The rest who play the markets, full time inc city traders, hedgefund companies and company buybacks. They do this full time for a reason other wise they would all set 'stop and forget' targets and all go down the pub.

Look into over sold company stocks to buy now and settle at a future date.

Either that all just trade anyway, your money goes into the big pot that someone else will take if your not careful..Give it a go.

MitchT said:
I've been reading Trader_Dante's excellent thread and would love to trade in the same way, but having to work full-time makes this impossible. Therefore, I was wondering if anyone knew of a good 'set-and-forget' strategy that would enable me to place a trade between 7 and 8am on a morning, or late (up until about 11pm) on the previous night, and then forget about it until 5pm or later. I work from 7am until 4:30pm and have half-an-hour for lunch when I could check my positions if necessary. Realistically I can probably access my account until 8am on a morning, maybe even 9am, but other than that I can't open the dealing screen without someone hauling me over hot coals.

I'm spread-betting with IG Index so there's plenty to choose from, but having sifted through everything - dailies, futures, options, binaries - I can't see an obvious way of achieving my aims.
Click to expand...
 
MitchT said:
Are there any pointers you could give me about spotting and trading opportunities during these two hours?
Click to expand...
Hi Mitch,
This is tantamount to asking how to trade; it's a big question! The short answer is that you need to develop a methodical trading strategy combined with cast iron discipline. The strategy can be one you've developed yourself (difficult for newbies) or one based on an existing system - e.g. the Rivalland book Tom mentioned in his post. But first, before you think about the specifics of your strategy, you need to decide on the type of trader you are and the timeframe you want to trade in. The mechanics of swing trading strategies (i.e. Rivalland) are, for the most part, very different from those employed for day trading. To help you get you head around all of this in more detail, have a gander at this:
T2W Day Trading & Forex Community
These will also be useful:
T2W Day Trading & Forex Community
T2W Day Trading & Forex Community
Rather than me prattle on ad nauseum, it's better that you have a read and a think and then come back with some more detailed questions - if you have any!
Enjoy.
Tim.
 
not back tested proper but......I did ok with it, still do when I get a minute

MitchT said:
I've been reading Trader_Dante's excellent thread and would love to trade in the same way, but having to work full-time makes this impossible. Therefore, I was wondering if anyone knew of a good 'set-and-forget' strategy that would enable me to place a trade between 7 and 8am on a morning, or late (up until about 11pm) on the previous night, and then forget about it until 5pm or later. I work from 7am until 4:30pm and have half-an-hour for lunch when I could check my positions if necessary. Realistically I can probably access my account until 8am on a morning, maybe even 9am, but other than that I can't open the dealing screen without someone hauling me over hot coals.

I'm spread-betting with IG Index so there's plenty to choose from, but having sifted through everything - dailies, futures, options, binaries - I can't see an obvious way of achieving my aims.
Click to expand...


Hi Mitch

I am pretty much at screen in trades, its the only way I sort of function but I used to trade the week candle for the Dow and Ftse to small stakes when in a similer position to yourself

I would have thought you could trade the Dow week candle quite easy on hours available

I used to wait for test on the low or high (must go a little higher or lower and just enter on price acceptance/rejection in the 15 min timeframe with stop over the top of the week candle or under depending on which way your going.

Check progress in the hours later if you get of to a good start, (manual S&R) think the stop usually about 50 pts on the Dow. could get away with less if your good with S&R in your timeframe I guess if you do not mind dancing a bit :cheesy:

Get a good one and move stop in, you even get chances to add later in the week if you do not mind waiting for the one good one that follows through (churn account while waiting, well thats how I did it) Bsd would advise

STOP in and left till hit or mission accomplished :clap:


http://www.trade2win.com/boards/uk-indices/28003-swingin-ftse-2008-a-22.html

Its not a finished project because I prefer intra day and clear head when not trading (no open positions) but it might suit you with a bit of work. I learnt plenty from trading the method and had loads of Fun to.

Don"t enter on a week if you can not afford the stop, plenty of weeks will allow you to enter and remember the candle takes a week to print and the other end is your target, you might get a shock just how fast the weeks range is printed in some weeks.

I found or find the ftse is a bit more of a pain because it prints lots of spiky candles with long tails and its a bit of an art taking profits

my last indian from above link is under attack as I typo :mad:

good luck with your search mitch :clover:
 
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One of the simplest and profitable trading systems is the weekly breakout system. Im fortunate to be able to watch the screen if i want as i trade full time.

But for you working then its a good system. Basically it exploits the fact that most weeks go somewhere and once the trend kicks off usually by about Tuesday it will continue till the bell goes Friday. I have to confess i dont trade stocks only forex and then mostly majors. By using black scholes i find the IV of a pair this gives me weekly targets. Use option brokers to find their IV. I divide by 5 days to give me breakout levels hi lo from the closing price friday. I set these as soon as the market opens sunday night. Once a level breaks out the other side becomes stop reverse. I allow a max of 4 times a week although usually 1 or 2 reversals is all required to see me through to friday. It can be traded manually using OCO orders as once a stop and reverse is hit you generally have at least 8 hours to get the other side setup ready.

Well there are plenty more rules tweaks but thats the general idea. It works extremely well in trending markets like the major now and easily grabs 400+ pips a month. My advice don't look for intraday unless your full time you will lose money for sure. BTW i have an IGindex account and this system can be traded on daily spot rolled is still cheaper then futures.

Here is this weeks euro example.

IV 9.75% RR Skew 0.003%

ATM's

15450
14900

278 pip divergence / 5 days = 55 pip break

= 15178 + 55 = 15233 go long
15178 - 55 = 15123 go short

110 pips

278 - 55 = 223 pip potential profit in place for this week.

if targets not met by friday 7.30 pm london time then close wherever.
 
Placing a trade that early in the UK session and leaving to run for the day has some major drawbacks you don't know what the days sentiment is going to be for a start or how news events might skew a trade or what black swan events might ruin a trade. You would need very wide stops probably better trading the daily chart where stops can be set at 2xATR or well above major swing pivots avoiding any wild intraday swings due to news events etc imo
 
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