The Daily Index Trader

[SteveBanks]

Had problems getting both trades on Gekko today!

Dax went on ok, cac took several attempts and evntually went on 4 minutes later!

Hope this does not have an adverse effect on todays trades!

I'm not a big fan of Gekko I have to say. I mentioned to them the other day that having a multiple ticket facility (like IG Index) so that you can raise two tickets and enter your limit and stops ready to enter trades would be a vast improvement on their present platform. They told me that they were working on the development of the software at the moment.

Although they give a free guaranteed stop they are placed far further away than we require hence having to fuss around quickly to move them after entering the trades.

 

[Richmond3]

Hi princetrader

Thats not a nice comment about Richmond3, and he does have a valid point. On the net trap private forum guys have come up with variations to improve the system. Whats wrong with people doing the same thing for DIT

Hi Neil-Pilky, thanks for your support on this, and its exactly what I meant. I am not going to get into a ruck with PissTaker....sorry Prince Trader, but I will send him a response shortly.

Good luck to all today. Rich 3

 

[Richmond3]

"the private forum will be the venue for improving the system"

Which planet are you living in? I thought I purchased a tried & tested system!!! if I have to tinker with it, what is the use of paying good money? I sometimes wonder about some of the people who contibute here!!!

Hi P-T, please be courteous when responding, and others will treat you accordingly. From your posts, I know you bought this system only 2 weeks ago, and you are risking 8%. Whilst we all would like this system to not have wobbled, unless you reduce your risk or demo trade, you will be wiped out. If this system was fool proof, I think Thames Publishing would have added at least another 0 to the cost. The private forum is where eventually, we can all benefit from the good work that some of the others on this forum, and yes it does work on the other forum that Neil-Pilky mentioned.

Whilst I tend to be positive, this I found is reflected in how I get treated too. So to answer your question, I live on Planet Reality and I too have a healthy skeptism of DIT, but will temper my judgement with sound money management and advice from colleagues on T2W which I have found very helpful.

Good luck to all today, Cheers rich 3

 

[Astarte3141]

Good Morning Chaps - yesterday I posted that I was now in a small loss after 6 weeks and there were expressions of concern (rightly) about the system. I was out in the afternoon hence my response now.

I started using this on 13/8 and for sake of assumptions we'll assume a £1,000 starting bank. I was using 7.2% risk and the enhanced staking method. My bank now stands at £938 ie the small loss. Now whereas I don't un derstand the maths behind the enhanced staking plan I think Steve B discussed it earlier but yesterday (Wednedsay) I had had a previous run of 7 winners so Wednesdays were proving (from my limited stats to be good days). As with all it will not win every wednesday so was due a loser. With some poor other results then that has tipped me into a small loss.

Consequently I had a look at the other plans and different risks and this is what I found

I've had 39 trades, 28 winners and 11 losers for a strike rate of 72% - I did make a mess of 1 trade so it should read 29 winners & 10 losers s/r 74% but I'm using my data that I traded real money on as in my mind and as has been pointed out backtesting can be used to make a system fit the market. The only real way is forward testing and lets accept that systems that worked 3,6,9 or 12 months ago maynot work now (look at Net Trap). Anyway the results from the different staking plans from a £1000 starting bank
Risk 7.2% 5% 2%
Enhanced £937 £954 £980
Compound £1201 £1149 £1063
Flat £1225 £1145 £1047

So it is my staking plan that has caused this loss of mine.

I only present these facts as that is what they are from my limited experience of the system - don't shoot me down for posting my actual results.

Leonardos comments are welcomed regarding his experiences and I will certainly take them on board. Have a good day

Well I decided today I had been being too bullish and reduced my stake to 4% simple compound from 6% enhanced. I decided to wipe the slate clean and start again while I am still using the Gekko bonus. Only problem is, changing things in the evaluator seems to rewrite the history. It would be better if it just kept a record of everything you had done and which system and stake you were on at the time. Anyone know a way round that? As it is I have just started on a new day one today. I want it to be 'real' with real money on it, but I want to make sure it works rather than spend all of it finding out!

 

[annicx]

The advice to be out of all trades by 1.30 on Friday is sound, although we could take advantage of it if things go our way! Usually nothing much happens in the morning as everyone is waiting for those US numbers. The one thing you don't want is to have already had one side of the trade stopped out and still be in the other when this news comes out, (unless you're showing a net profit- then you could tighten your stop.)

I will do one of two things tomorrow with DIT- 1, nothing! or 2, delay entry until about 1.25 and use smaller stakes. Baldeagle is right- there is no reason why you can't modify this to suit your trading style- it's your system after all! I know this is a set & forget system, but I never trade anything with out checking support/resistance, news announcemets due out, etc.

I was a Beta tester for this system and it worked brilliantly, at one point it produced 17 winners in a row for me, but if we find ourselves in range-bound markets there's no reason why we can't use DIT selectively, (if there's a chance of a big spike for example), rather than just punch in the numbers blindly!

 

[chronicsys]

Some computer tips. Never take your internet connection for granted. It will fail when you need it the most. I personally have a backup 3G dongle that can be deployed very quickly (Orange gave me this for free with 500MB allowance ;] ). Always have telephone numbers handy to place / amend trades over the phone - as you never know when u will need it. I have noticed that the Gekko platform bombs out completely at least once every day - leaving you with 'HTTP Service Unavailable' messages whilst they reboot their server(s). If you expect these things - then you wont be so surprised when they happen!

I thought trading news was actually encouraged by Martin? As we are market neutral?

Good luck today everyone.

 

[Gromit]

Well I decided today I had been being too bullish and reduced my stake to 4% simple compound from 6% enhanced. I decided to wipe the slate clean and start again while I am still using the Gekko bonus. Only problem is, changing things in the evaluator seems to rewrite the history. It would be better if it just kept a record of everything you had done and which system and stake you were on at the time. Anyone know a way round that? As it is I have just started on a new day one today. I want it to be 'real' with real money on it, but I want to make sure it works rather than spend all of it finding out!

Like you say changing the evaluator will rewrite the history. The only way round this that I have found is to save the original spreadsheet under a different name for your records. Then carry on with the new staking plan.

 

[Astarte3141]

Like you say changing the evaluator will rewrite the history. The only way round this that I have found is to save the original spreadsheet under a different name for your records. Then carry on with the new staking plan.

Thanks Gromit, that's what I thought, and that's what I did! Best of luck.

 

[Gromit]

Thanks Gromit, that's what I thought, and that's what I did! Best of luck.

Best of luck to all of us, we need a winner!

 

[Baldeaglebloke]

The advice to be out of all trades by 1.30 on Friday is sound, although we could take advantage of it if things go our way! Usually nothing much happens in the morning as everyone is waiting for those US numbers. The one thing you don't want is to have already had one side of the trade stopped out and still be in the other when this news comes out, (unless you're showing a net profit- then you could tighten your stop.)

I will do one of two things tomorrow with DIT- 1, nothing! or 2, delay entry until about 1.25 and use smaller stakes. Baldeagle is right- there is no reason why you can't modify this to suit your trading style- it's your system after all! I know this is a set & forget system, but I never trade anything with out checking support/resistance, news announcemets due out, etc.

I was a Beta tester for this system and it worked brilliantly, at one point it produced 17 winners in a row for me, but if we find ourselves in range-bound markets there's no reason why we can't use DIT selectively, (if there's a chance of a big spike for example), rather than just punch in the numbers blindly!

Great to have a Beta Tester looking at the forum. Can I ask please how long you tested it for? and also I presume it showed profit for you? Thanks

 

[Giriram99]

Dax trade stopped!

 

[Gromit]

Great to have a Beta Tester looking at the forum. Can I ask please how long you tested it for? and also I presume it showed profit for you? Thanks

I also was a beta tester from the beginning of July. At the end of August my (live) account was up by 31.79% using simple compound staking with a risk factor of 3.5%.

My account is not looking so good now but at least I have been losing the won money rather than my original stake.

 

[sarnia cherie]

Yup - DAX stopped here too. I only risk 2% on simple compound. Unless you have a few winners under your belt and are showing a profit the enhanced system is too risky in my opinion.

 

[Giriram99]

Stopped out on CAC too now so another losing day!

 

[SRC]

Me too Giri, glad i reduced my stake levels today, ive gone from 7.2% down to 4% now and sticking at that. A very frustrating couple of weeks.

 

[c0py]

Yeah im out too! 75% losing rate this week so far

 

[leonarda]

Yeah im out too! 75% losing rate this week so far

given the stated odds of a losing day is supposedly 24%, the odds of having as many losing days in a row as you have had in the last 3 weeks seems statistically unusual...?
The odds of having 3 losing days in a row should be 1 in 72, so you've been quite unlucky!

 

[annicx]

Hi Baldeagle,

I tested it from the 12th of July, (missed the first week), for almost 3 months and the worst week was with 2 winners and three losers. All the other weeks were profitable, some with 5 winners. My strike rate was almost 80% with only 10 losing trades, so it's very unfortunate that things aren't working out at present. I think the system has long term merit but if the market conditions change, (which they have), then I have no problem being more selective with my trades.

 

[Ian HDIT]

At this rate it will be Xmas before we even break even... Not impressed

 

[leonarda]

At this rate it will be Xmas before we even break even... Not impressed

that is what might worry people, if market conditions change and you don't hit the min 66% min hit rate then those losing trades need twice as many winning ones to just get back even. Which is why a risk:reward of 2:1 is not a good thing unless you are "very" sure on a high win rate...