Best Thread The 3 Duck's Trading System

[clissold345]

Hi Chris, sounds like a good way of doing it. Ive also been trading the 3 ducks, successfully in demo but now live. Problem I found is that if I use a trailing stop it doesnt give enough room for the trade to breath, and often what would have been a small profit ends up being a small loss. Manually watching the trades mean I get nervous and end up taking profits far too soon and then watch it gain another 30-40 pips! It seems weird but when I was demo'ing the system emotion didnt come into it but now its real capital I seem to be failing to make optimal decisions.
Anyway I hope you keep posting, nice to see someone else trading the system. I miss alot of the very early morning signals as I'm generally getting the kids up and ready for school so its nice to see you catching those ;-)

Hi geewcee, thanks for your reply. It sounds like you and I may be at roughly the same level of experience. Perhaps we can help each other and encourage each other?

I'm trying out a Trailing Stop now (long on AUD/USD). I see what you mean about the problem with Trailing Stops. The price spiked up briefly and has now come back down a bit, and the Trailing Stop is now closer to the price than I would like.

So you're no longer exactly following your trading system now that you're trading live? I've read the advice that a forex trader should write out his trading system as clearly as he can and then follow it to the letter. It's easy for me to say this at present because I'm just using a demo account!

I'm probably going to try a live account soon (capital probably £100, so that would be max loss per trade of £2 or £3). Can you recommend an online forex broker? I need a web-based platform since I don't want to use the Windows operating system. The Oanda demo account is quite good, but perhaps I can find better?

The Oanda account seems to provide all the basic charting that I need to trade 3 Ducks manually. Oanda crashes occasionally (once approximately every six hours of use) but that's not a major problem. A minor irritation is that the times in the Transaction History are always in EDT, so when I post my results on this thread I have to change the times to my local time (my brain doesn't work in EDT). I reported the problem to Oanda about four weeks ago but they haven't fixed it yet.

Regards,

Chris.

 

[geewcee]

Chris,
I missed the AUD/USD signal earlier as I had to nip out to get supplies for my company year end! *yawn* Whilst there I bought a new notepad for my 3 ducks trades. Plus I think I remember the general advice was to avoid trading on a Friday as the volume is lower as people wind down for the weekend. This may/may not still be a valid opinion, one of the regular forex guys might be able to clarify.
I'm obviously trying to put the fact theres now real money at stake to the back of my mind and acting like I'm still on demo, but sometimes I am failing to pull the trigger. Anyway I think making a note of my trades as you say will help the mechanical side of things for me and get me into the trades if I can see a valid entry signal written down.
I cant recommend a forex broker, I'm actually using a spread betting account to try my forex trading on. I have spread bet UK stocks for a while and been relatively successful so forex was just another trading area to try out. I position trade longer term so most days I have nothing else to do inbetween watching my stocks so the 3 ducks is perfect for me. I use IG Index and their advanced charting software is very good (prorealtime), so for now I'm going to trade forex using their platform. If after a year or so my forex trades were very profitable I would think about getting a proper account.
By that time you can advise me on the best one ;-)
PM me anytime if you want, see if we get into the same trades cos in theory we should.
Better get back to the boring tax stuff! Best of luck in todays trades.

 

[clissold345]

My 3 Ducks trades for today. Oanda practice account.

April 1 10:11:17 2011 BST Buy Market EUR/GBP 0.88421 45,000
April 1 11:05:46 2011 BST Stop Loss EUR/GBP 0.88199 45,000
Loss £99.89

April 1 11:52:30 2011 BST Buy Market AUD/USD 1.03554 85,000
April 1 13:26:27 2011 BST Trailing Stop AUD/USD 1.03502 85,000
Loss £27.20

 

[clissold345]

Chris,
I missed the AUD/USD signal earlier as I had to nip out to get supplies for my company year end! *yawn* Whilst there I bought a new notepad for my 3 ducks trades. Plus I think I remember the general advice was to avoid trading on a Friday as the volume is lower as people wind down for the weekend. This may/may not still be a valid opinion, one of the regular forex guys might be able to clarify.
I'm obviously trying to put the fact theres now real money at stake to the back of my mind and acting like I'm still on demo, but sometimes I am failing to pull the trigger. Anyway I think making a note of my trades as you say will help the mechanical side of things for me and get me into the trades if I can see a valid entry signal written down.
I cant recommend a forex broker, I'm actually using a spread betting account to try my forex trading on. I have spread bet UK stocks for a while and been relatively successful so forex was just another trading area to try out. I position trade longer term so most days I have nothing else to do inbetween watching my stocks so the 3 ducks is perfect for me. I use IG Index and their advanced charting software is very good (prorealtime), so for now I'm going to trade forex using their platform. If after a year or so my forex trades were very profitable I would think about getting a proper account.
By that time you can advise me on the best one ;-)
PM me anytime if you want, see if we get into the same trades cos in theory we should.
Better get back to the boring tax stuff! Best of luck in todays trades.

Hi geewcee, a spreadbetting website may be fine for me. I'll try IG Index. Thanks for the suggestion.

Thanks for the idea of avoiding trading on Fridays. I'm not going to stop trading on Fridays but I might stop trading on volatile days (including some Fridays). I'll try to revise my trading system (that sounds very grand - I mean I'll revise my notes about how to trade) to take this into account.

Yes, if we're trading on the same day, we could get into the same trades. We could text each other when we spot a buy signal? How do you feel about doing that?

I'm finishing for the day now but I'll be back on Monday morning. Perhaps I'll see you then?

Regards,

Chris.

 

[geewcee]

Chris, its a shame you lost on the AUD/USD trade, what size trailing stop did you have in place there?

 

[forexkunta]

Why not let it run until it crosses the 60sma again? That way you will catch the longer runs and maximize your profits on good trades.

Hi geewcee, I'm still trying to work out a method that works, so at present I don't really have a method about when to take profits. However, I'll give you a description of what I'm doing at present. Please tell me if you have any suggestions about how I can improve on what I'm doing.

Once I've seen a 3 Ducks buy signal, and opened the position, I generally let a trade run (not for longer than three or four hours though). I check the trade approximately every half an hour. If a trade turns strongly against me, I'll close it before it hits the Stop Loss. I generally want to let a trade run, so when I check a trade (a trade that is in profit) I often move Take Profit fifteen or twenty pips away from the current price. This means that, if I'm away from my computer, a strong price movement in my favour will hit Take Profit.

Since I'm risking a max loss of £100 (demo account only) I think I need to aim at a profit of more than £100 in a significant number of my profitable trades, otherwise I will never make a profit medium term (months) or long term (years).

Regards,

Chris.

 

[markcjt]

my name is Mark I live in Toronto Canada

I have been trading for about 6 years I do ok.

I use the 60sma.
I like Jimmy Young and of coarse Andy Perry's stuff
I normally use the 4 hour, 1 hour, 5 mins of the 3 ducks
but at markets open and news reports I will use the 1 hour, 15 min 5 min of jimmy young

I do try and rate the 7 main currances like Andy does.
I do this before the NY open 1st thing in the morning
but I use the pair angle and last swing as well to give me 1 to 3 rating
( I use 4 hour line graph)
1. under/over 60SMA =1 point
2. see a clear angle on 60SMA in line with 1.=1point
3. last swing in line with 1. and 2.=1point
total of 3 possible points
I have a real job so I tend to set and forget
looking forward to seeing what others do

mark

 

[markcjt]

looking at nzdjap to enter at 64.74 (set an forget) (6:44 est toronto)
I am also watching audjap and the cadjap
if you want to trade the main I would look at
nzd/usd buy
usd/jpy buy

Cjt

 

[markcjt]

looking at nzdjap to enter at 64.74 (set an forget) (6:44 est toronto)
I am also watching audjap and the cadjap
if you want to trade the main I would look at
nzd/usd buy
usd/jpy buy

Cjt

lowered the entry on the nzdjap down to 64.54

 

[markcjt]

using the day, 4 hours, hour charts

I have a set and forget sell at on the usdcad at .9660

 

[clissold345]

Why not let it run until it crosses the 60sma again? That way you will catch the longer runs and maximize your profits on good trades.

Hi forexkunta, yes the Captain suggests exiting a winning trade when the 3 ducks no longer line up (which probably means when the price crosses the 60sma on the 5 min chart). I'm trying to day trade at present and I'm not sure this exit strategy will work for day trading (the losses seem too frequent and the winners too rare).

For day trading one of the Captain's suggestions in his ebook is to use fixed stops (eg stop loss 20 pips, take profit 30 pips - the exact stops depend on support levels, etc). At present for day trading I'm more inclined to investigate fixed stops. Regards, Chris.

 

[markcjt]

does anyone know where there is an active trading group using 60sma

looking at eurnzd sell at 1.8424

 

[clissold345]

My 3 Ducks trades for yesterday (Monday). Oanda practice account.

April 4 06:35:41 2011 BST Buy Market GBP/USD 1.61594 65,000
April 4 08:45:36 2011 BST Stop Loss GBP/USD 1.61350 65,000
Loss £98.35

 

[clissold345]

My 3 Ducks trades for today. Oanda practice account.

April 5 08:09:56 2011 BST Sell Market EUR/GBP 0.87935 60,000
April 5 09:28:00 2011 BST Take Profit EUR/GBP 0.87708 60,000
Profit £136.11

April 5 15:51:05 2011 BST Buy Market EUR/JPY 120.07700 23,000
April 5 17:19:22 2011 BST Close Trade EUR/JPY 120.45100 23,000
Profit £62.37

April 5 16:03:48 2011 BST Buy Market GBP/USD 1.62749 28,000
April 5 17:21:55 2011 BST Close Trade GBP/USD 1.62896 28,000
Profit £25.24

 

[clissold345]

does anyone know where there is an active trading group using 60sma

looking at eurnzd sell at 1.8424

Hi Mark, welcome to the thread. I guess we all make it an active thread by taking an interest in one another's posts!

Can I ask you why you looked at EUR/NZD today? The spread on Oanda is currently 6.4 pips so I wouldn't usually consider trading EUR/NZD. I looked at the chart and I think you got the buy signal you were looking for. So you traded? And you will close the trade when the 3 ducks no longer line up? Regards, Chris.

 

[jondgls]

Hi thanks for this. There is a virus in your .exe downloader (WS.Reputation). My antivirus software deleted the downloaded installer immediately, Please could you try reposting the .exe installer again?It may be that you have created this on an infected computer, so may be worth checking your machine for infection as well. Thanks.

Hello mcclaine,

I built the installer myself and can say without a doubt there is no virus in there. lol It is simply an installer with a few MT4 files. In actual fact, the "WS.Reputation" is a pretty silly false positive invented by Norton which flags .exe's that are not made by popular companies.

For more info see here:
http://www.symantec.com/en/uk/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2010-051308-1854-99

Once again .. no virus here.

Regards,
JonDgls

 

[Piperman]

My 3 Ducks trades for today. Oanda practice account.

April 5 08:09:56 2011 BST Sell Market EUR/GBP 0.87935 60,000
April 5 09:28:00 2011 BST Take Profit EUR/GBP 0.87708 60,000
Profit £136.11

April 5 15:51:05 2011 BST Buy Market EUR/JPY 120.07700 23,000
April 5 17:19:22 2011 BST Close Trade EUR/JPY 120.45100 23,000
Profit £62.37

April 5 16:03:48 2011 BST Buy Market GBP/USD 1.62749 28,000
April 5 17:21:55 2011 BST Close Trade GBP/USD 1.62896 28,000
Profit £25.24

Hi Clissold,

I see that you are having some success here with demo trading using the system. Other than the basic rules, do you have any additional filters? e.g. like Major S/R levels, etc?

Thanks.

 

[clissold345]

Hi Clissold,

I see that you are having some success here with demo trading using the system. Other than the basic rules, do you have any additional filters? e.g. like Major S/R levels, etc?

Thanks.

Hi Piperman, I'm just following the basic rules. I've made a modest profit over the last week (demo account only). Perhaps I've been lucky? Or perhaps the Captain's system works? Regards, Chris.

 

[Piperman]

Hi Piperman, I'm just following the basic rules. I've made a modest profit over the last week (demo account only). Perhaps I've been lucky? Or perhaps the Captain's system works? Regards, Chris.

Hi Chris, thanks for the reply. I hope i can get started soon (with demo 1st of course). However, I m in the Asia timezone meaning that just before the European session I will be working . Have you consider taking up Capt's 1 on 1 course?

Seems like there are some bits and pieces of jig saw puzzle that i need to fill in.

 

[markcjt]

Hi Mark, welcome to the thread. I guess we all make it an active thread by taking an interest in one another's posts!

Can I ask you why you looked at EUR/NZD today? The spread on Oanda is currently 6.4 pips so I wouldn't usually consider trading EUR/NZD. I looked at the chart and I think you got the buy signal you were looking for. So you traded? And you will close the trade when the 3 ducks no longer line up? Regards, Chris.

I am still in all 3 trades
for the eurnzd trends well/... I got in at 2.3 I believe
will let them run we trading on the 4 hour chart really

I am looking for real trades demo guys are great as an add on
... but real money trades do trade a little differant