My Simple Trading System

After my losses & lack of discipline I went back in, more focussed & made back 2/3 of it back on cable.... ...in future I will remember focus and be patient.


r_e - many thanks for the advice - after getting the account back up to a more tidy sum this afternoon I am out of the markets til at least 2nd week in Jan. I;ll be away from the net & computers for much of the time, so it shouldn't be too hard..


brutusdog - cheers - I have cut back on 2 of the the lower indicators, but for good or bad at the mo I still like the stochastics, although they only work 50% of the time, at least I know which 50% it is.

Mr FX Scalper2 - Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas Mr Happy!! :LOL:try & chill out have a good one!!! !!!
Seriously tho,Please tell me what does work.. I looked at your trading methods posted recently , and they ain't for me (scalpings too short term for me, I wouldn't know where to begin)) as much as mine ain;'t for you.... I see you say on a recent thread 50 pips a day is good going - if thats the case I'm off to a reasonable start, even though I only get the occasional 45 mins in front of a trading screen (partly the reason I sometimes jump in when I shouldn't)....you ask why bbands and emas might work - my post No 12 gives my thoughts (or actually someone elses that I've borrowed) and the answer is that they work as well as anything else that works...or as badly as anything else that doesn't work. Its all in the eye of the beholder, and the finger on the mouse.

I still I have a long way to go before being consistent and happy to increase position size significantly.
A very very merry christmas & happy new year to you all.

Sounds like you are working on the hardest and most important part of trading. The whole getting out of your own way thing. Once you stop making stupid mistakes(ok you might never really stop but you will cut them down ALLOT) your trading will be so much better. It won't matter what gets you into the trade(indicators or price) cause when you can follow YOUR trading rules to a "T" your trading will be much better and consistent.
Then you can start tweaking your rules to make them better.

I do agree with most that as you get to the point where you follow the rules, most if not all of the time, you will start to notice price more and more. in fact I bet you will get to the point where you will start to be able to tell when the indicators will be wrong. Then all of the sudden it will "click" and you will realize you are reading the price action, and in fact doing so better than your indicators can.
Indicators are really training wheels IMHO. I think most people who make it long term in trading will at some point stop using them. Well all except one, price.
Again, that's just MHO.

Good luck and the best of trading to you! YOU CAN DO IT!!
 
I don't have much time for indicators but I do use Bollingers and averages, not because they "work".
Nothing "works", except you. It's all up to you. Bollingers indicate overbought/oversold situations, as do averages, but they work with price action, itself, and it is the trader, who has to decide whether the BB is an indication of a reversal. or if a new trend is starting.

When a price is in an overbought area of a BB based on a long period, reversal patterns on a low TF have particular significance for me. I have, also, found that the trendbreak of a rising trend which is running along the upper Bollinger is a good indication that a setback is about to start.

Anyway, everyone to his own methods, I'm not "married" to any particular style, because they will all let one down in the end.

Split
 
The simplest system I use is the POWER OF 200 EMA for scapling and intra day charts
ABOVE - Long
BELOW - SHORT

MACD is bullish
and it must have broken a trendline support/resistance line

no rocket science! :)
BUT you got to manage the trades.

you will get at least 65% success rate, and on average the risk/reward is 1:7
I have done this repeatedly for the past 6 months, and have not had a losing week
 
while still having time to publish inflammatory messages about muslims/islam on this, a trading forum ....

nice one! LOL
yep the forum sometimes is going out of hand!
though agree with soem posts, but is aboveboard
Not all Muslims are bad, yes agree that majority of terrorists are Muslims
but you have to accept the attrocities against them for the past century.

No one wants to be a suicide bomber, no one wants to be a terrorist
Well recently in India you had the first ever HINDU terrorist!
Why???
This is all out of frustrations, and I believe it is notthe religion to blame
but the governments

Bhavin - where is your Gandhian philosophy
LOL:)

Do you remember in Britain, 25 years ago, we use to to love the word JIHAD!
The sun was full of headlines such as JIHAD and MUJAHADEEN

The West created teh Monster!, and I think the whole world will pay for it!
Bhutto aided this monster as well when it suited her, she went against it when suited her
and monster killed her.

The monster created by the west is on loose, and I think there are dangerous times ahead, and it calls for a collective strong leadership worldwide
and war is not a remedy!
 
Hi Rikrok,

I'm not sure if you have a good system or not, but you're probably ahead of most traders because you have a system at all. I'm not much of a fan of backtesting - to me there's only one good way to test any system - spend a couple of thousand hours dilligenty trading it. If by the end of the time you've made a lot of money, then the system is (probably) good. If you lost money, then all that screentime will certainly give you an idea for a better system.

Best Regards,
Miracletech
TuffTrade- Day Trade Smart
 
Thanks to all for the feedback over the last couple of weeks.
I've had the chance to look around a bit more at various systems. Phil Nells (on another forum) and Mr Spreadbettings system so far as I can see certainly contain elements similar to mine , which is still adapting bit by bit. Now Xmas / NY is over I hope to have more chance for forward testing.

One thing i'm still getting to grips with is this elusive 'price action' that many say is more key to trading than indicators. What does it refer to exactly? Is it the way price behaves around support/resistance and other tecnical patterns (triangles/breakouts), or is it reading the actual price
bars, eg 'pin bars' and other candle formations and taking cues from them?
I guess its both -but would be interested in hearing whether thats right or not and how it works.
 
Well, I've been reading the amazingly helpful Trader Dante thread (Many thanks Mr TD) this seems to get to the heart of price action along with James16 thread at FF. These have a lot on price action..which at the moment I take to mean watching the price bars for 'pin bars' and 'double top/bottom bars' and incorporating this into support/resistance and fib levels.
So far I have managed to stem my losses so I can now break even as often as I used to lose, which is an improvement.
I still find the stochastic useful despite learning more about price action.
Still its going to take something more to crack this trading business, I don't know what this 'something more' is yet- I'm getting closer, but still not there yet.
 
Well time has moved on and my trading has too.
The indicators of my original 'simple trading system' are wiped off my chart.
To tell you the truth it was pretty dull to sit watching & waiting for MA lines to crossover.

I tried to edit my first post, on the thread I thought it only fair to, so noone has to read as far as here to suss that I'm not using the system any more. But the edit button has gone.

I'm now on the road to finding the elusive price action, using support resistance, pin bars & fibs and will later move on to a better understanding of inside/outside bars.

Still plenty of frustrations...reading the market and getting the trading right is one thing, operating against SB company another. Today was up @ 30 points on gold after it had a nice move down from its highs breaking its support level, however, after being kicked out by the system twice when trying to close the position it ended in a loss. The SB Co takes 2 mins to tell me it can't close the trade because the price has moved in the last 3 seconds.!!!! After a couple of times of this it get v dispiriting.

But never mind. My reading of the markets was good, that the most important bit. When I am ready to put more money up I'll move to a more reliable service provider.
 
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Had some good days and bad this week.
The early part of the week went well.

But Today was a terrible trading day for me.
I bought gold on a fantastic daily pin to take only 20 pips out of a total of a 150pip (15$) move. I didn't have the patience to let the trade breathe.
I tried to sell oil, the trade would have worked out but my SB co for some reason requoted and requoted me.So I gave up trying to get in the trade, which then went my way.
Bought GBP/USD for a bounce off strong support, but was stopped out by a few pips before the bounce took off. Same again too tight a stop. Didn't let the trade breathe.
The planned trades didn't go so well so then I took unplanned trades and of course lost on those.

Bad Discipline and impatience = stupid mistakes. Even when I've read the market pretty well. Thats not the same thing as trading it well. really frustrating
My trading techniques was based on price action. PPZ, pin bars, fibs and a degree of Vic Sperandeos 2B (trend break /reversal) thrown in... so at least I am weaned off the indicators and on to price action.

Maybe its time to paper trade for a while. I reallly don't believe in paper trading. It just doesn't feel the same as when there is money on the table, but maybe it will give me another perspective.
 
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Progress report.... I'm now operating pretty much without indicators, looking at price action, support resistance and price pivot zones (discretionary ones, just what the eye can see).
I'm also using aspects and ideas from various other places. I've read so much and been on courses, so hard to say exactly what these factors are.Some are incorporate from the spreadbetting handbook, some from trading in the zone ( I need to read it again for the 4th time now) traders university too - I'm testing some of their 'power plays' but only in conjunction with other aspects of price action. When these are put together it often works quite well.

I'm also an avid player on
Inspectd.com - Tools for Traders

it really helps you get a good feeling for where price is going.
if you play it don;'t forget the 'skip' button its the most important...to avoid the no good trades-

So I had a few good calls on the markets last week using these techniques. I'm not discrminating - FX, FTSE 350, indices, any will do if they look right. Trying to use mainly daily timeframes.
Some trades went well for me Euro/GBP, RRS play on gold going down markets going up

(***and look for a poss double top on RRS at the moment if it breaks the uptrend, maybe this week, around the 3190 level***).


Now for the downside, amongst the trades I spotted last week was HSBC long, following a pin bar reversal at the lows. A gap roughly 100 point ahead was the target. Its reaching it today.
What happened - first sign of profits, I took them, closed the trades. It went on to zoom off and close the gap. without me in the trade.
Same with JDW, it ranged for days. first sign of profits I grabbed them - it went on to a massive leap that later that same day of 40 points. Same with AZN which is speeding ahead as we speak.
Proving my analysis is correct and my trading wrong! - Good but not good enough.
So whats the lesson. ?
Of course run your profits.
Why aren't I doing that?
Probably I'm so pleased to see a profit in the first place that proves I'm right I want to grab it.
And/ or when a trade has sat doing nothing for a while, waiting for the break, I kind of get irritated by it sitting there, I forget the potential is still there and I pull it at the first reasonable opportunity....after which it of course zooms of in the right direction!
Lack of patience.

One way to deal with this might be stick to time frames. Look at dailies only on a daily basis. Don't let the tension/anxiety build by looking hourly.
You can be right in your analysis , but you need to let the market show you that in its own time,.
It won't jump just because I think it will.
This was something taught on the (much maligned here) TU course... if one of their trades opening signals is hit, the rule is let it ride for 7 (I think) days before moving the stop.

Anyway - reading the charts and markets is coming along well.
My discipline still leaves something to be desired. That surprises me considerign what I thought I knew about myself. But its how it is. So I'll now focus on dealing with it.

Good luck with your trading.
 
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Im a price action trader myself but the moving averages and MACD(hourly) just give me an indication of when to start paying attention. Just my two cents.

Happy Trading
 
Im a price action trader myself but the moving averages and MACD(hourly) just give me an indication of when to start paying attention. Just my two cents.

Happy Trading

Thanks ektrader, I'm stil lgetting to grips with a process.
I'm taking time out to follow J16's advice and 'paper trade' daily's and weekly's only until I have 3 months of profitable trades (paper trades).
Its a way to learn to trust my own judgement -thats the psychological part I am most missing - without it costing the earth.

All the best,
 
No indicators ..... !!


Theres NO mathematical correlation between how many indicators you use and how much " MONEY YOU MAKE " - NONE.... !!
The " PRICE ACTION is telling you " ALL " you need to know.... !! :idea:

Hi, I'm in the learning phase of my trading and I hear people talking about "price action". What is price action? Is it the direction of a trend or the speed at which price moves? Or is it something else that I am missing? I would really appreciate your input
 
Hi, I'm in the learning phase of my trading and I hear people talking about "price action". What is price action? Is it the direction of a trend or the speed at which price moves? Or is it something else that I am missing? I would really appreciate your input

Bandit,
I had the same problem...what on earth is this price action???

so far as I am now aware price action involves looking at the shapes and positions of current and recent price bars, and their relationship to past price movements, in particular support and resistance but also pivot zones (where support flips to resistance or vice versa). Some people add fib ratios/retracements and/or round numbers as areas of importance.
Although it feels weird to lose indicators at first, price action is not hugely complicated in itself, but putting it all together successfully is the difficult part, as is staying with your convictions on the trades and having the patience not to over trade

check out this most excellent of threads.....
http://www.trade2win.com/boards/first-steps/26947-making-money-trading.html

all the best
 
Bandit,
I had the same problem...what on earth is this price action???

so far as I am now aware price action involves looking at the shapes and positions of current and recent price bars, and their relationship to past price movements, in particular support and resistance but also pivot zones (where support flips to resistance or vice versa). Some people add fib ratios/retracements and/or round numbers as areas of importance.
Although it feels weird to lose indicators at first, price action is not hugely complicated in itself, but putting it all together successfully is the difficult part, as is staying with your convictions on the trades and having the patience not to over trade

check out this most excellent of threads.....
http://www.trade2win.com/boards/first-steps/26947-making-money-trading.html

all the best

Oh, I see now. I can understand what they mean by price action now. Now that I think about it that is what I look at first and I use the indicators to make me feel confident about jumping in a trade. Thank you for clearing that up for me. I'm still catching up with the trading lingo.
 
The simplest system I use is the POWER OF 200 EMA for scapling and intra day charts
ABOVE - Long
BELOW - SHORT

MACD is bullish
and it must have broken a trendline support/resistance line

no rocket science! :)
BUT you got to manage the trades.

you will get at least 65% success rate, and on average the risk/reward is 1:7
I have done this repeatedly for the past 6 months, and have not had a losing week

bhavin,
Saw your post on using the EMA200. I certainly appreciate the simplicity.
Hoping to understand more of how you use it succesfully.
Sounded like in your post you did not use the MACD. Correct?
Do you only get into a trade when a crossover of the ema200 occurs? If not, what
is your trigger?
Any chance you have a chart that shows a setup you used? Exit too?
Appreciate any comments.

Good Trading!
 
Just another note to anyone still popping in on this thread.
My Simple Trading System was a trial system. It had some success but for reasons outlined in the posts above I have abandoned it. I don't think it could be traded with long term consistency. Indicators basically lag price and give somewhat late entry signals, meaning the best of the move is lost.

I now operate on a price action basis. Please see TD's thread at the following link if you have any interest in how that works. Its some of the very best trading info and advice you will ever read, and it is free!!!

http://www.trade2win.com/boards/first-steps/26947-making-money-trading.html

Meanwhile I may occasionally write updates to my trading here.
 
Price action is the best way to trade with taking out the high or low of the previous bar the nearest support and resistence.
 
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