trendies FTMO Adventure IV: A New Hope

[IlIlIlIlI]

You seem to have a sort of crystal ball, there.
Are you using Darwinex to gain a directional edge on a delayed FTMO?

When I started writing this post, you had 14977(Darwinex) against 14982(FTMO) for NDX or US100 (same stuff - different names).
Today they switched from 1 pip (Darwinex > FTMO, read as short) in the morning to 3-4 pips difference (Darwinex > FTMO, read as ranging) while I was in a short position at the bottom of my range .. 😒 Usually they didn't change it significantly during the day. Until now.

When the market turned to go long for more than 150 pips, I suddenly saw that Darwinex was below FTMO which would be a clear short signal with my standard interpretation.
It's an indication, but not tradeable and not 100% reliable.

I assume, one CFD provider does not have a proper refinancing and is trading against the brokers and their retail traders so he cuts potential profit and increases the losses of the traders by some pips. Then the difference would depend only on his open positions.

There is also to regard that there is an expiry day tomorrow for some futures, and maybe the CFD providers switch to the later expiring futures for their refinancing model during the day today and they didn't or don't do it simultanously. Then today (and maybe tomorrow) would be exceptional days where this indication is not usuable.

You can also try it out with a Darwinex demo account, they delete it only after some weeks of inactivity. Prices are identical to a real account.

 

[trendie]

Couldn't resist.
Passed the Profit Target of 3,500£.
Pyhrric victory, I know.
EDIT: my one consolation is the Profit was greater than the Max Loss, so good?
However, it does give me an idea.....💡

 

[IlIlIlIlI]

Passed the Profit Target of 3,500£.

... nearly in one day! Wow!

 

[trendie]

... nearly in one day! Wow!

To be fair, the max drawdown was around 1,200 this evening.
If I hadnt started with first position with 2pips, and only 1, I would have been fine. (still would have been around -800).
Also, I wasnt concerned about losses.
I had no pressure on me.
Weird.

EDIT: I meant 2lots, not 2pips.

 

[counter_violent]

Another thing I would add to the post mortem, is how I am more aware of market structure, such as tops and bottoms, and breaks of a level.
Thats when I am watching the tick chart, you can see the consolidation, to determine potential move in one direction or another.
Sometimes the level breaks, but then goes immediately against you, but thats fine.

Really disappointed in blowing the account in one afternoon.
I will certainly try again, as my loss was entirely down to human error, not system error.

I took a short at the smaller box. This isnt bad in itself, but adding every 20 pips was bad.
The correct aggregate trade, which I took eventually, was in the wider box, as it was support from earlier in the day.

One less trade, I could have ridden it out, as the Daily Max Loss is 1,750, but I had accumulated +800, so I had about 2,550 to play with, but hit the limit by a smidge.

View attachment 304740

Yeah, 20 pt add levels (non dynamic) on a market that has made recent significant moves would be the issue. In my experience, when the market makes a large move, then expect more large moves. The problem as always, will it be a continuation or retrace. But certainly, when an outsize move appears, then we must zoom out and expand the grid/ frame of reference and trade based on the dynamic in play.

Well, it makes sense to me anyhow !

 

[trendie]

Yeah, 20 pt add levels (non dynamic) on a market that has made recent significant moves would be the issue. In my experience, when the market makes a large move, then expect more large moves. The problem as always, will it be a continuation or retrace. But certainly, when an outsize move appears, then we must zoom out and expand the grid/ frame of reference and trade based on the dynamic in play.

Well, it makes sense to me anyhow !

View attachment 304755

Makes perfect sense.
Stupid thing is, I know this.
My swing trades are doing fine.
I know to monitor the daily ranges.
I think its because I am in front of the screen, and feel the need to "do something".
Normally, I would be off being busy elsewhere.
If I had stuck to my normal shorting, it would be an entirely different story!

I find it peculiar, that when day-trading, you take oversize trades to scrape 10-20 pips, in which case broader market structure is almost irrelevant, but when trading small size, you have to take bigger bites, in which case market structure becomes important.

Anyway, water under the bridge.
On to the next one....