Abandoning FXEngines?
July 21, 2006 by Trader Rich
After 6 weeks of trading the news with FXEngines, I've seriously considered abandoning the platform. I haven't really been trading the news over the past 2 weeks but I'm having a hard time giving it up considering I'm up 48 pips total. So I'm going to give it a couple of more weeks and see if it pays off. On one hand, the reason why I would give it up is because it just isn't producing enough pips for the time I put in to it. But on the other hand, it's the only profitable system I have right now so I would be an idiot to just throw it away. So my plan going forward is to subscribe to the All Events Ultra-Aggressive EUR/USD. What this means is that I will be mostly on auto-pilot, with the platform automatically trading every news event available. Sometimes I'll intervene to manually exit if I can and sometimes I won't.
My discretionary trading is going no where right now. I only made 1 trade this week, shorting the USD/CAD. This position was up 60 pips before it came back and stopped out at break even. It was a good thing too considering the news out of Canada pushed the pair back in the USD's favor. So I'm still down 225 pips for the month with 1 week of trading in July left.
Being the inexperienced trader that I am, I tend to go between feeling in sync with the market to feeling utterly and totally out of sync with the market. The last couple of weeks, I've felt the latter, totally clueless. I'll stare at the charts everyday and I might as well be staring at a book written in Chinese because it all looks foreign to me. I've had a lot going on but I just don't feel with it lately. I actually feel lost. This has happened to me in the past and I do seem to recover from it. I think it's just time for a vacation because not only do I feel out of sync with the market but I've also been having a case of writers block. I don't really consider myself a writer but I haven't posted much here lately. It isn't only because I've been busy but also because I just haven't had much to say. This also has happened to me in the past and before I know it, I'm posting 5 times a day. So the bottom line is that if you want to make it in anything you do, you just have to keep grinding it out. The most rewarding things sometimes are the hardest and I enjoy learning how to trade and maintaining this blog too much. So I'll get back into the groove sooner than later.
I hope you all had a great trading week.
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Just my wooden nickel’s worth, but if you’re going to trade news events, it’s not in your best interests to automate trading during such violent times.
Get a newswire service like tradethenews, needtoknownews, marketnews, etc. (Bloomberg & Reuters are the best, but very expensive), check out the consensus, and just buy/sell based on the release.
Straddling, especially with FXCM as the broker, is a sucker’s bet. At the very least you should switch to Oanda. No broker is perfect, but their fills are WAY better, plus their platform is transparent.
Made like 65 pips in 2 days trading the UK retail sales release, Canadian CPI & UK GDP. Plenty of news opportunities elsewhere around the globe, too
Sod staring at charts Rich, start thinking out of the box & backtesting! Think of ~chaffcombe.
Rich,
I have to agree with Mike about trading the news manually. I know this clashes with you work schedule but maybe you want to look at news releases when not at work.
I have to say I’ve failed at technical trading over the last six months but I’ve found my niche with news trading. This week I got 100 pips on 6 trades with no losses strictly trading spikes (the previous month has been about the same results). I spent a total of 8 minutes in positions. It takes some strong nerves, a talking news feed, quick deciphering of the numbers and most of all really quick reflexes.
Rich, don’t give up, we’re still rooting for you!
I knew that some would disagree with continuing with FXEngines but I have impatience with certain “systems” and find that sometimes I jump all over the place without fully working through it. It may not be possible to automate news trades but it has been profitable and if the next couple of weeks prove otherwise, I will give it up. I really haven’t been giving it much attention so it’s not going to hurt to keep it going.
On another note, William, I’m impressed that you were able to catch 100 pips on 6 trades. Do you have any specifics on how you did this or is it really an art where your entering on feel? Either way that’s great and I’m glad you had success this week.
Craig, I know… I really have to snap out of it.
Rich, The nice thing about how I trade the news isn’t based on feel, it’s strictly reaction. Here is how I trade:
1) I only trade US reports and I use EUR/USD.
I close as soon as I see a reversal, usually within 10 seconds. If I have time, I will close partial lots but usually, I close all (I have a one touch script that closes all orders. I don’t care if I only get a few pips but the goal is higher leverage and quick gains.
2) I use Newsstrike for audio news (It seems to be faster than the paid services)
3) I use InterbankFX and metatrader, the executions are fast but occasionally during news there are platform delays but not too often.
4) I study and know the expected consensus and only trade when there is a variance. The farther the variance, the more lots I use.
5) I have a piece of paper that has at what variance I will buy/sell and how many lots I will trade at the different levels. As a general rule, I like at least a 10% difference to trade (I never trade if the numbers are at consensus) and I increase lots about every 25% variance.
6) As soon as I hear the numbers I push the button within 2 seconds, I already know in my mind and on paper what I’m going to do and the goal is to get in before anyone else reacts. Usually I get in before any movement and then catch a gap which can go anywhere from 5-30 pips.
7) I use scripts on MT4 that give me instant and one touch trades and closes without any extra dialog boxes to close.
9) I close my platform and wait for the next release, no trying to catch reversals or riding the wave.
This is loosely based on Tom Yeoman’s style but I only play the initial spike and nothing else. I try to get at least 5 trades a week. I’ve had one loss of 10 pips last month because my platform froze (my order script has a 10 pip loss for emergencies) but I never expect to stop out because I am focusing on the spike and getting out quickly.
This is very high pressure trading because you have to think and decide instantly but I try to make it as smooth as possible. This style may be too stressful for some, but it works perfect for me. It just requires strict discipline and a few minutes of pre-trade preparation.
Hope that helps.
Don’t worry dog, Take a break, this moments will go away. You sound like you need to call suicide help hotline.
1. Be happy FxEngines lost none of your money. ( That’s a good point, right? )
2. Ussually the automated trading isn’t working right, that’s why major player still hire traders. ( I know you’re a programer and you believe in machines,) I have a book on neural networks trading, if you want it lemme know, Ill email it to you.
3. 200 pips ain’t such a bad loss.I am not aware of what is the percent of your money you loose when you hit a stop loss order.If your SL is at 45 pips and a loss wipes out 1.5 percent of your account, than your loss shouldn’t be larger than 8 percent, which, is not the end of the world.
Keep walking man. Lot of people is watching you to Make it!
Give it more time, 1 year is not enought.
To become a very good:
-surgeon you need 15 years
-lawer…at least 6-8
-programmer… at least 3
-carpenter……at least 3
and you wanna make it out of Forex in …you hurt all the Wall Street guys feelings, man
There are more people that are standing where you are standing than you think.
4. I don’t get it why do you always
MG, no suicide hotline… You make a good point though regarding occupations and the amount of years to become proficient… You never finished your comment #4. ???
4. I don’t understand why you close an order before the SL or TP is hit. You have to spend time finding an oportunity and placing the trade.
The trade must not be touched after opening it, because there are a lot of feelings involved, greed, fear, you know the rest.
:thumbup: Have you read the trading for a living brochure? I insist on you, reading the brochure. I will send it to you by email.
The mindset for trading is 80% of the success.
You got the knowledge but you also need to control your feelings.
Keep in touch.