Take a break

[Wideboy]

Hi all,

I've been trading for about a year now and been a 'lurker' on these boards for several months. I was experimenting with various 'daytrading' techniques which gave some form of success but were not consistent enough.
I found a big problem was trying to devote enough attention to daytrading whilst still doing my fulltime job (I work in I.T). I finally decided that trading the Dow would suit me best, but on a longer time scale than intraday.
A few weeks before Christmas I took a step back from trading and did a bit of research and system testing. Now I am back!
I now trade a trend following strategy using a daily chart. The only indicators I use are EMA's and ADX (DI), and the most important one - PRICE. A lot of emphasise on entry is based on divergence of price from the EMA's, only entering within say 1% of the 10EMA in the direction of the trend. 'Let the trend be your friend' is paramount for my strategy. I only enter in the direction of the trend. However I do consider reversal trades if price has diverged a large amount from the EMA's - say >2.5%, but then ony with tight stops. Of course support and resistance are of upmost important and also fibs which the Dow adheres to quite well.
I have found that moving from intraday trading has greatly improved my results. I now mainly use EOD data and can spend time in the evening to determine my next entry/exit points.

My point in all this is that it is important that you find a style of trading that suits your lifestyle and personality. If you can devote 8 hours a day infront of a screen then daytrading is for you, but if you're like me then maybe a different method is more suitable.
Instead of 10-20 trades a day I now make 2 or 3 a week. Not as exciting as trading intraday and scalping but it works for me!

Wideboy

 

[delboy trotter]

Wideboy,

Would you be so kind as to answer a few questions please?

I was just thinking recently, along similar lines to yourself, with regard to longer term trading. Tell me what settings do you have for your EMA's and ADX? Do you wait for the EOD data in the evening and then place your trades or do you wait until the following day? What is your stop loss strategy and do you place stop orders or market orders? How do you set up your charts to measure the percentage divergence from the EMA? You say you make 2 or 3 trades a week, what are your average results for this period?

many thanks,

db-t

 

[Wideboy]

delboy,

In answer to your questions:
I use 10,20,30 emas and a 14 period ADX. I don't refer to ADX much as it normally stays quite low for the Dow however I treat a +ve DI as an uptrend confirmatiion and -ve DI a downtrend.

I tend to do most of my analysis and decide on entry and exit points in the evenings after close or early morning before the futures start to move too much.

To measure the % divergence from the ema's i work it out manually.

Stop losses are normally at the previous 2 days high or low but i take into consideration the ema's too as the price tends to bounce off of these on the way up/ down.

Hope this gives you something to work with.

Regards

Wideboy

 

[brooks79]

Excellent information "wideboy". I have personally found that you have to find "YOUR" system. There are a million systems out there that promise the world. Some are very good systems, some are bad, but the most important part for individual success is to make any system "YOUR" system!

 

[Adamus]

I wonder if WideBoy is still doing that, five years on. If it worked, he should be really getting somewhere now.

 

[trader_dante]

Well his last login was Friday so it hopefully won't be long till we all find out!

 

[Wideboy]

OK guys, I've been away a long time. Basically no it didn't work

I've recently come back to spreadbetting part time.
Looked a bit at forex, couldn't really get to grasp with the volatility.
Been taking a look at gold recently and doing ok. For some reason I just seem to understand the delicate price movements better than any other market I've looked at.

Basically there is no system that can make you good money, you need to get a good feel for the markets in which you trade.

I base my trading purely on sup/res levels which are derived from fib levels, and look for price action and behaviour at these levels. I start off with the fib levels from the previous week candle and then also draw in perhaps another fib from a significant high/low on the hourly. I trade off the hourly chart.

You can find me over at the http://www.trade2win.com/boards/metals/33669-gold-calls-long-term-medium-term-intraday-calls-gold-here-160.html#post487672'Gold calls.Long term -medium term and intraday calls in gold is here !.' thread in the Metals forum of T2W Day Trading & Forex Forums.

 

[Adamus]

thanks for the feedback

 

[littlemog]

Hi Wideboy, wow... a post that had an update after 5 years... neat. Just a few questions:

1. After 5 years, which timeframe for trading did you end up taking? Or does it depend on the opportunity?
2. What did you find out about making money consistently from the market?

Thanks!

 

[Wideboy]

Hi Wideboy, wow... a post that had an update after 5 years... neat. Just a few questions:

1. After 5 years, which timeframe for trading did you end up taking? Or does it depend on the opportunity?
2. What did you find out about making money consistently from the market?

Thanks!

To be honest, I took a step away from trading for several years due to personal circumstances.
Only been back part-time for a few months and I'm still trying to find the best time scales to suit me. Being that I work fulltime, I'm looking at longer term trades, using the daily/4hr/1hr charts.

 

[Thetechnicalguru]

Finding what fits a personality is important too.