Message For Ftse Traders......

Hey; I've just been looking through my FTSE100 trade journal (graphs/details) and it arose a few questions... I thought you guys may be able to help as seasonal Ftse traders ^^

1. I haven't made up my mind as to whether enter on the actual support and resistance/Fibonacci/Trendlines or to wait for a high test bar touching them... Whats your experiences in this? Do you just enter or do you wait for certain formations at the S/R
2. I've noticed that the 7am breakout often goes about 30 pips one way and then the rest of the day is spent heading in the opposite direction (I haven't been trading long so i don't know if this is recurring?)
3. I know how to play bounces pretty well, but i'm a bit confused about breakouts, whats the best way to go about playing breakouts on the FTSE100, i notice quite a few fake ones and i'm not sure which lines are significant enough to call a 'breakout'
4. Do you guys trade just using Pivot levels, Fibonacci, Support and resistance and trade the bounces and stuff or other methods, because i find that when the FTSE100 5-minute/hourly starts trending down for say 4-hours, i always miss the big move due to not having a reason to enter...

Thanks for any help, appreciate ^^

-Halo

I'm inclined to trade what comes first, put a closer stop on it until some other line confirms it. However, my experience is that if you have too many signal points one will
contradict the other. My advice is, get a favourite and stick with it, because this is a numbers game, based on statistical evidence.
 
Hey; I've just been looking through my FTSE100 trade journal (graphs/details) and it arose a few questions... I thought you guys may be able to help as seasonal Ftse traders ^^

1. I haven't made up my mind as to whether enter on the actual support and resistance/Fibonacci/Trendlines or to wait for a high test bar touching them... Whats your experiences in this? Do you just enter or do you wait for certain formations at the S/R
2. I've noticed that the 7am breakout often goes about 30 pips one way and then the rest of the day is spent heading in the opposite direction (I haven't been trading long so i don't know if this is recurring?)
3. I know how to play bounces pretty well, but i'm a bit confused about breakouts, whats the best way to go about playing breakouts on the FTSE100, i notice quite a few fake ones and i'm not sure which lines are significant enough to call a 'breakout'
4. Do you guys trade just using Pivot levels, Fibonacci, Support and resistance and trade the bounces and stuff or other methods, because i find that when the FTSE100 5-minute/hourly starts trending down for say 4-hours, i always miss the big move due to not having a reason to enter...

Thanks for any help, appreciate ^^

-Halo


Despite being labelled a senior member (which just means I chat a lot and ratchet up the posts) I am very very wet behind the ears. Still geting to grips with Fibs, but def use resistance/support levels - check out wallstreets posts its illuminating for these, as is francis finleys blog (you can search on the forum for him).

Waiting for confirmation a certain R/S has been tested and will hold is key in my book - confirmation I guess depends on what works for you, a three bar close on 10 minute for example, etc- although I post my scalps on short moves being able to establish your channel / trend lines are vital to understand your risks and market direction and 'reaction zones' (love that phrase)

All I will add which i can say from experience, is be very careful with seeing those patterns of early morning moves and reversals in ftse openings/pre-opening hour- I have lost a lot of money trying to catch them and read things into them without understanding what they represent- automated orders, over night orders, Globex trading in after hours, market movers manipulating the opening, etc.

There are strategies to catch these moves by hedging on related indices / opening positions either way on ftse and riding the winner etc, something a bit more sophisticated than I am up to right now, but research it properly before thinking it may represent 'easy' money from the start. As with anything, understand it, backtest, see what you can see.

Hope that's helpful, I don't know much yet to be really of any more use!
 
Hey; I've just been looking through my FTSE100 trade journal (graphs/details) and it arose a few questions... I thought you guys may be able to help as seasonal Ftse traders ^^

1. I haven't made up my mind as to whether enter on the actual support and resistance/Fibonacci/Trendlines or to wait for a high test bar touching them... Whats your experiences in this? Do you just enter or do you wait for certain formations at the S/R
2. I've noticed that the 7am breakout often goes about 30 pips one way and then the rest of the day is spent heading in the opposite direction (I haven't been trading long so i don't know if this is recurring?)
3. I know how to play bounces pretty well, but i'm a bit confused about breakouts, whats the best way to go about playing breakouts on the FTSE100, i notice quite a few fake ones and i'm not sure which lines are significant enough to call a 'breakout'
4. Do you guys trade just using Pivot levels, Fibonacci, Support and resistance and trade the bounces and stuff or other methods, because i find that when the FTSE100 5-minute/hourly starts trending down for say 4-hours, i always miss the big move due to not having a reason to enter...

Thanks for any help, appreciate ^^

-Halo

1. i wait for several pieces of the puzzle to be in alignment
2. nope it dont happen all the time, it has been known to start a tend down for example and continue all day. I dont really open any trades before the official open as it can whip you quite hard.as it can go either way frm the open i find it a hard palce to be. But i do play open form time to time.
3. cant answer that one im afraid
4. I use a couple of indicators, chart patterns etc and what I see in front of me to form an opinion, Like most people in that past I have prob used most at somepoint until I got a mix that i liked and understood using the settings I found helped although i may not use them in the same way as other people. I have a excel spreasheet which I use to give an idea of where support and resistance can be found but is not the same as the ones you can find on the net. I tend to use a 5min TF to enter and mange trades but also look at 15min to confirm although how i trade can does work just from the 5 min. I never got my head around fibs as i found that people would draw them from diff points which confused me. I also pay attention to news breaks especially when people start to talk about greenshoots of recovery.

lap has been using a pivot calc to good effect by the sounds of it similar to your self although the pivot calc will be arbitory as each platform will have a diff high low close so an element of discreation to enter would be needed i guess. you metioned in the previous thread you entered at 3065 I had 3966 as a point as my high low close is more than likely a point ot two away from yours

I hope this helps

and your another one with a lot of green stuff under the name boooooooo

ongoing joke with lap and split
 
1. i wait for several pieces of the puzzle to be in alignment
2. nope it dont happen all the time, it has been known to start a tend down for example and continue all day. I dont really open any trades before the official open as it can whip you quite hard.as it can go either way frm the open i find it a hard palce to be. But i do play open form time to time.
3. cant answer that one im afraid
4. I use a couple of indicators, chart patterns etc and what I see in front of me to form an opinion, Like most people in that past I have prob used most at somepoint until I got a mix that i liked and understood using the settings I found helped although i may not use them in the same way as other people. I have a excel spreasheet which I use to give an idea of where support and resistance can be found but is not the same as the ones you can find on the net. I tend to use a 5min TF to enter and mange trades but also look at 15min to confirm although how i trade can does work just from the 5 min. I never got my head around fibs as i found that people would draw them from diff points which confused me. I also pay attention to news breaks especially when people start to talk about greenshoots of recovery.

lap has been using a pivot calc to good effect by the sounds of it similar to your self although the pivot calc will be arbitory as each platform will have a diff high low close so an element of discreation to enter would be needed i guess. you metioned in the previous thread you entered at 3065 I had 3966 as a point as my high low close is more than likely a point ot two away from yours

I hope this helps

and your another one with a lot of green stuff under the name boooooooo

ongoing joke with lap and split


I can see your disciplined trading is feeding through to your answers- very concise and organised as opposed to my ramble!

And ignore Keiths comment about not playing the open, he has a magic crystall ball under his bed which he uses to nail the ftse every morning. He's done it ever since I got to this forum.

ps. keith did you get my emails re: pivot calc?
 
Haha, yeah i see you've got one green gem - Sorry but i've positive repped you for your post, hopefully that doesn't add another one gem to your arsenal.

Very helpful stuff boys! Thanks.

I've been trading the FTSE100 since last Tuesday and currently at 99.5, is that reasonable?

Also how many lots do you trade, or £ per point? Do you spreadbet or use CFD's or ETFS?

I don't particularily like Pivot points - i just use them as possible resistance/support to be aware of because i know others use them... I like Fibonacci though ^^ Works like a dream on FTSE100 i've noticed.

Sorry for all the questions... How long you guys been trading FTSE100? and is there a limit to how much can be made day trading it?

- Thanks so much, Halo.
 
Haha, yeah i see you've got one green gem - Sorry but i've positive repped you for your post, hopefully that doesn't add another one gem to your arsenal.

Very helpful stuff boys! Thanks.

I've been trading the FTSE100 since last Tuesday and currently at 99.5, is that reasonable?

Also how many lots do you trade, or £ per point? Do you spreadbet or use CFD's or ETFS?

I don't particularily like Pivot points - i just use them as possible resistance/support to be aware of because i know others use them... I like Fibonacci though ^^ Works like a dream on FTSE100 i've noticed.

Sorry for all the questions... How long you guys been trading FTSE100? and is there a limit to how much can be made day trading it?

- Thanks so much, Halo.

if you can teach me how to use fibs properly that would be good and appreciated.

Aas for £ per pt I trade depending on my risk, im sure I dont need to go through risk/ reward etc with you as I believe you are an accomplished trader already. so the spread bet size can vary as I am only prepared to risk so much dosh on any trade. typically it can range from 10- 20 per pt, I have an inital target of 2:1 R/R but as you know sometimes its more sometimes its less sometimes it's a loss.

how long on the ftse. I have spent 3 years playing and defining my understanding of how to trade that suits my current style. so i have lost, won lost and won developing. although its been 3 years im still learning and still say I am a novice in all of this. in only the last week i have developed another string to my bow which when i noticed it i thought how on earth did not see it before, but thats life.

as for limit well thats down to you as a trader. what i do know is that the ftse moves form the high to the low of the day around 100pts day in day out, sometimes more sometimes less. I keep that info in my trading log. not that any two days are the same. but at least it tells me that im not really going to get 200 pts if i catch the bottom or the high of the say
 
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I can see your disciplined trading is feeding through to your answers- very concise and organised as opposed to my ramble!

And ignore Keiths comment about not playing the open, he has a magic crystall ball under his bed which he uses to nail the ftse every morning. He's done it ever since I got to this forum.

ps. keith did you get my emails re: pivot calc?

yes i did get your e-mail thanks I replied to it so you should have had it?????

as for the ftse morning, Sceptic Peg that's who I use.
 
if you can teach me how to use fibs properly that would be good and appreciated.

Aas for £ per pt I trade depending on my risk, im sure I dont need to go through risk/ reward etc with you as I believe you are an accomplished trader already. so the spread bet size can vary as I am only prepared to risk so much dosh on any trade. typically it can range from 10- 20 per pt, I have an inital target of 2:1 R/R but as you know sometimes its more sometimes its less sometimes it's a loss.

Yeah i'm the same, i trade 1% of my account on any trade depending on my stop loss size... Alot of people on these forums don't follow the same rules... Similarily i aim for 2:1 very realistic target (no resistance or support) and then try push for them important lines ^^
So do you use a spreadbetting account?

As for Fibonacci, yeah i will try explain how i personally use them over time, give a few examples of trades i do using them over the next few weeks. I only use Fib when either, price bounces of an exact fib number, not slightly under or over/fib levels are inline with important S/R levels and the other variant is when Fibonacci 0.618,0.38 become a trading range, then i play the bounces and also the breakout with the 0/100 line as target, it can be very effective for retracement bounces, as for breakouts, its difficult to place a stop that gives great reward/risk sometimes.

I calculate Fib my using the most recent, relevant unbroken Fibonacci... I'll explain that over time. I'm finished now, going to watch the Arsenal highlights from last night ^^

Arshivan scored 4 goals!

So for example a fibonacci trade i did today on the FTSE100 is...

Take the high of yesterday as the High fib line and the low of today as the low... Draw in the fibonacci from them levels...then at 8.55 on the 5-minute notice the bounce of the 0.618% Fibonacci line, perfect.
Thats short-term fibonacci...

You just draw them were they are most recently valid, once 0.618% broken, there isn't a fib in my books...

So at the moment, if you take the recent high of the last couple of days ....which was on the 17th and the low at which was on the 21st, then draw in you're fib level, you will see that prices had a large bounce of the 0.618% fib level.

Problem with fibonacci sometimes is that you can draw so many... But draw the revelant ones and if prices reacts to them perfectly, its often a good bounce to trade. Since trading FTSE100 a fibonacci trade has never failed me ^^

Hope that helps, we can cover some examples later.
 
Yeah i'm the same, i trade 1% of my account on any trade depending on my stop loss size... Alot of people on these forums don't follow the same rules... Similarily i aim for 2:1 very realistic target (no resistance or support) and then try push for them important lines ^^
So do you use a spreadbetting account?

As for Fibonacci, yeah i will try explain how i personally use them over time, give a few examples of trades i do using them over the next few weeks. I only use Fib when either, price bounces of an exact fib number, not slightly under or over/fib levels are inline with important S/R levels and the other variant is when Fibonacci 0.618,0.38 become a trading range, then i play the bounces and also the breakout with the 0/100 line as target, it can be very effective for retracement bounces, as for breakouts, its difficult to place a stop that gives great reward/risk sometimes.

I calculate Fib my using the most recent, relevant unbroken Fibonacci... I'll explain that over time. I'm finished now, going to watch the Arsenal highlights from last night ^^

Arshivan scored 4 goals!

So for example a fibonacci trade i did today on the FTSE100 is...

Take the high of yesterday as the High fib line and the low of today as the low... Draw in the fibonacci from them levels...then at 8.55 on the 5-minute notice the bounce of the 0.618% Fibonacci line, perfect.
Thats short-term fibonacci...

You just draw them were they are most recently valid, once 0.618% broken, there isn't a fib in my books...

So at the moment, if you take the recent high of the last couple of days ....which was on the 17th and the low at which was on the 21st, then draw in you're fib level, you will see that prices had a large bounce of the 0.618% fib level.

Problem with fibonacci sometimes is that you can draw so many... But draw the revelant ones and if prices reacts to them perfectly, its often a good bounce to trade. Since trading FTSE100 a fibonacci trade has never failed me ^^

Hope that helps, we can cover some examples later.

good stuff, I have an sb account with GFT, enjoy the football.
 
So £10-£20 per point in a spreadbetting account is reasonable?...
It doesn't give you really bad fills and stuff ?
I'm not at that stage yet, working up to it ....

What do you guys think the maximum you can place on an Intra-day FTSE100 trade before the fill takes too long and there is not enough volume, would £100 per point be okay for the FTSE100 ?

I'm just thinking what the potential money could be in day-trading the FTSE100, thankyou.
(I've been learning to trade for 3 months now and finally gone live so i'm relatively new to trading really, although i feel i have learnt very quickly... I'm 18 btw so my thoughts are still fast and upbeat since i just finished my education lol)
 
So £10-£20 per point in a spreadbetting account is reasonable?...
It doesn't give you really bad fills and stuff ?
I'm not at that stage yet, working up to it ....

What do you guys think the maximum you can place on an Intra-day FTSE100 trade before the fill takes too long and there is not enough volume, would £100 per point be okay for the FTSE100 ?

I'm just thinking what the potential money could be in day-trading the FTSE100, thankyou.
(I've been learning to trade for 3 months now and finally gone live so i'm relatively new to trading really, although i feel i have learnt very quickly... I'm 18 btw so my thoughts are still fast and upbeat since i just finished my education lol)

dont think of potential, dont think of woulds and coulds.

dont think of £10's or £20s until you can answer all the questions you have asked today. Trust me, you will be able to if you put in the hard work required. Every day 5 days a week and weekend homework for a year / 2 years.

Think points. think nailing 20 points a day consistently from 1 or 2 trades only a day.

once you get 2 winning days in a row go for 3, once you get 3 in a row go for 4, then 5.

then go for getting 2 full winning weeks in a row.

do not put in any more money. put in £150 and see how long you can make it last by taking out profit @ £300 then go from £200 to £400 back to £300 to £600.

you only have to trade £1 per point until you can do upto 2 consecutive 5 days in a row.

once you have the confidence and can answer the very questions you have asked you will be ready to reach monetary potential.

Its a hell of a journey, im only 1.5 years in.

Game of probabilites. win more than you lose every day consistently.
 
dont think of potential, dont think of woulds and coulds.

dont think of £10's or £20s until you can answer all the questions you have asked today. Trust me, you will be able to if you put in the hard work required. Every day 5 days a week and weekend homework for a year / 2 years.

Think points. think nailing 20 points a day consistently from 1 or 2 trades only a day.

once you get 2 winning days in a row go for 3, once you get 3 in a row go for 4, then 5.

then go for getting 2 full winning weeks in a row.

do not put in any more money. put in £150 and see how long you can make it last by taking out profit @ £300 then go from £200 to £400 back to £300 to £600.

you only have to trade £1 per point until you can do upto 2 consecutive 5 days in a row.

once you have the confidence and can answer the very questions you have asked you will be ready to reach monetary potential.

Its a hell of a journey, im only 1.5 years in.

Game of probabilites. win more than you lose every day consistently.

I already make quite a lot of money trading forex, trading the FTSE100 is just a new venture for me... You made me sound like a noob, i may not have traded very long but i find that i am far ahead of most traders who have done only a few months on these forums.

To rephrase my question, i know i sounded like a noob asking 'How much can i make?' but thats not what i meant, what i was asking was whether the liquidity of the FTSE100 is big enough to allow large lot sized trades without creating terrible fills?

''you only have to trade £1 per point until you can do upto 2 consecutive 5 days in a row. ''
I know you were only trying to help, i just feel patronised. :rolleyes: I think you'll find i'm ready to trade more than £1 per point, although i'm sensible and learning to trade the FTSE100 using 0.33per point trade size before upping.
 
I already make quite a lot of money trading forex, trading the FTSE100 is just a new venture for me... You made me sound like a noob, i may not have traded very long but i find that i am far ahead of most traders who have done only a few months on these forums.

To rephrase my question, i know i sounded like a noob asking 'How much can i make?' but thats not what i meant, what i was asking was whether the liquidity of the FTSE100 is big enough to allow large lot sized trades without creating terrible fills?

''you only have to trade £1 per point until you can do upto 2 consecutive 5 days in a row. ''
I know you were only trying to help, i just feel patronised. :rolleyes: I think you'll find i'm ready to trade more than £1 per point, although i'm sensible and learning to trade the FTSE100 using 0.33per point trade size before upping.


well in that case there was a guy on here that traded just the ftse @ £100 per point. his stop loss was 10 points and he took at least 10 points each time. he got his account upto 15k very quickly under 6 months...

you would probably want to go with futuresbetting.com if you are spreadbetting or at that size.

hope that helps.
 
well in that case there was a guy on here that traded just the ftse @ £100 per point. his stop loss was 10 points and he took at least 10 points each time. he got his account upto 15k very quickly under 6 months...

you would probably want to go with futuresbetting.com if you are spreadbetting or at that size.

hope that helps.

Okay brilliant thanks FrancisFinley - Very interesting blog you have there, loads of lines heehee i like to keep it simple ^^

Thanks for the recommendations, When i get to £10 per point (and eventually £100 ^^) were would be the best place to trade the FTSE100?

Barclays CFDs? I don't particularily like spreadbetting, its just a good start when you have a small pot to begin with... What do you recommend, CFD's, ETF's ???

Thanks ^^
 
Okay brilliant thanks FrancisFinley - Very interesting blog you have there, loads of lines heehee i like to keep it simple ^^

Thanks for the recommendations, When i get to £10 per point (and eventually £100 ^^) were would be the best place to trade the FTSE100?

Barclays CFDs? I don't particularily like spreadbetting, its just a good start when you have a small pot to begin with... What do you recommend, CFD's, ETF's ???

Thanks ^^

Barclays is good. very well recommended on the BARX platform. i have read all your posts now so im up to speed. all 50 of em.

you said a couple of times you dont like spreadbetting. remember you will have to pay some government nasties for that. im still spreadbetting as it is tax free.

i think from what i can see you are concerned of horror stories on fills and exits. i dont think spreadbetting is for you.

a lot of the guys in the US do a hell of a lot of the ETF's.... im a spreadbettor and closed my CFD account so im not really much use after spreadbetting.

my advice is get onto BARX BARX home have a dabble with the various instruments see how you like it. Its an instituion so no bucket shop "is he watching my trades" "will they let me close the position" type shennanigans, and from what experienced spreadbettors say is total bull anyway if you go with someone reputable.

There is also http://www.interactivebrokers.co.uk which is worth a look. well recommended everywhere. unfortunately you have to have a play in each vendors yard to get a feel.

I blew off IG too!!

let me know how you go and i might do the same bud...

also get some 3d glasses when you look at my charts!!! :LOL:
 
So £10-£20 per point in a spreadbetting account is reasonable?...
It doesn't give you really bad fills and stuff ?
I'm not at that stage yet, working up to it ....

What do you guys think the maximum you can place on an Intra-day FTSE100 trade before the fill takes too long and there is not enough volume, would £100 per point be okay for the FTSE100 ?

I'm just thinking what the potential money could be in day-trading the FTSE100, thankyou.
(I've been learning to trade for 3 months now and finally gone live so i'm relatively new to trading really, although i feel i have learnt very quickly... I'm 18 btw so my thoughts are still fast and upbeat since i just finished my education lol)

OK my experiance.

Generally I do not have much of a problem placing trades on my platform. but it does depend on how I place my trades. if I place a market order it goes in quite quickly. sometimes there is a lag due to the number of actions happening at that time but he price is generally the same as i hit the button. i sometimes get requotes but again this is usually in my favour. if I place a limit or stop order it always fills at that time not had a problem yet.

Ive spent sometime with my account manger asking such questions such as when will ban me if i'm to successful, At what point do you start to take notice of my trading etc.

I gave an example of if I traded at £20 per pt and took 50pts a day out would that alert you? the answer was with a laugh and during we have traders placing £500 per pt and making money so no it would not bother us. £500 per pt is the limit they have

if you are that good we will mirror your trades.

Now I can’t say the same for every provider i guess all are different, and i have heard some horror stories of peoples accounts being closed limited etc. It may happen to me but I'm not there yet. all I can do is trust in the relationship I have with them.
they do provide some indictors etc for traders and I have acted in the past as a tester for them so I hope and trust it works in my favour but time will tell.

as far as making money as you have traded forex, you can make your money on any instrument. the diffs are what margin you need to need trade, what bank size in relation to risk/ reward to amount that you can afford to bet. as you mentioned before you risk 1% of you bank so as long as the rest of the maths work out your good to go.

on the ftse you can take 10pt trades and they can seem to be rather heavy where as 10pips on forex is nothing and trades 24 hrs with the same spread on bid and ask as far as i know. The ftse depending on provider can range from 1pt spread to 3 during market hours on the cash 8:00 - 16:30 then change to up to 6pt spread overnight if they allow extended hours trading. ODL and some other s close at 16:30 and open at 8 with a 2 pt spread all day.

So what I’m trying to say it is relative, for me i trade the ftse because it suits the time I want to trade. I looked and had a ago at forex and found I was getting annoyed that i missed a good move at 2am or 6am , 8pm when i was either asleep, watching TV or socialising. It also boils down to what kind of trader you are? A friend of mine can’t trade intraday it does his head in, he trades more longer term. One of his trades can last weeks or months but he makes money does he make more than me sometimes yes sometimes no. Does he risk more than me? His R/R is the same 2:1 does he risk more per trade in pound notes yes he does.
In that respect Francis is right as you will see from my previous posts I only talk in the amount of points I am making risking losing, But I know you understand that as I said before I believe you are an experienced trader even if it has been only a few months, time and age is not really an issue its about what you have been exposed to in that time and how you handle those experiences.
I spent some time with a new trader going through how I trade what I do etc to get him started, now he’s coming to me saying have you tried this and that have noticed, I tell you what I hadn’t. Anyway going of track.
To sum up can money be made out the ftse YES how much is down to you and to your platform provider. How quickly is a question? Don’t be in too much of a rush to reach the moon there is always tomorrow.
Find a provider you like and ask them the what if questions. Cultivate a relationship with them it might pay you dividends. There is a consensus of opinion that SB’s and brokers are the enemy. They need us as much as we need them so we have to find a balance, so they can win and we can win and of course some are better than others.
I hope this answers you question. A bit more long winded than I wanted but hey.

keith
 
sorry if i've got the wrong end of the stick halo, but your question about filling an order size with an SB firm doesn't apply as you're not actually buying/selling anything? correct me if i'm wrong plz anyone!
 
sorry if i've got the wrong end of the stick halo, but your question about filling an order size with an SB firm doesn't apply as you're not actually buying/selling anything? correct me if i'm wrong plz anyone!

A good point and one that I had not considered. Mine are fast or. when they are not, they tell me that the price has moved and to try again. I am just as likely to get a better price, as not, though.
 
this mornings plan so to speak

Short 4056.1
Target1 4047.6 stop to b/e
Target2 4039.1
Target2 4022.1
Target1 4013.6 stop to b/e
Long 4005.1
providing the setup is right currently long from 4005.1
 
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