HGI

[Spudfan]

So what I plan to do for the next week or so is the following:

1. Use H4 charts.
2. Enter on blue wavy signals and large arrows, use RADS to confirm continuation. Ignore small arrows and RADS for entries at this stage. (Also won’t attempt multiple trades yet).
3. Place stops just beyond the entry signals.
4. Enter immediately an alert sounds at market with just these two exceptions: (i) don't enter if the distance from entry to stop is too great and (ii) don't trade into nearby S/R levels.
5. Use the yellow wavy signals and opposite arrows (large or small) for exits.
6. Trade by alert, i.e. if I hear an alert, go to the chart concerned, check for my two exceptions and enter as in point 3. Then minimise Empty4 and let it run. Wait for next alert and enter/exit accordingly. (I know major news events can turn this all upside down so I will keep closer tabs on things at these times.)
7. Review towards the end of each day.

That’s it.

I’d be very interested to find out what other traders think of this and will report back when I have a reasonable idea of how it is going.

I've had a fairly good week, but was distracted by more day-to-day activities than usual - one of the drawbacks of the HGI is that it is a manual system, and signals can appear at any time. Miss them and you miss out or mess up, or something.

On two days I closed all trades a bit after the 'overlap' session (overlap of EUR and US sessions) and banked good profits, so I didn't follow my rule 5 above to exit on yellow wavies or opposite arrows as much as I wanted, but when you already have a personal record number of dollars on the table, it is difficult not to bank them and celebrate. Ignoring the bits and pieces trades, counting only the genuine stop-outs or wins, I had a 7 to 6 win/loss ratio making about 100 to 140 pips per win and losing about 25 to 30 pips per loss.

A big mistake I made on Wednesday (and I've read nanningbob's comment about this) was to sit with a good day's haul but to leave those trades running during the BOC rate statement. It all evaporated and resulted in a B/E and a full stop-out on one trade. That's why it was only a 'fairly' good week. It could have gone my way, of course, and then the week would have been spectacular. I'm in two minds about continuing to ignore such news events (could go either way) or to take decent profits and run.

[nanningbob]

It's nice to see Bob's HGI forum still chugging along. You know there's a good reason for it. I don't know why I ever stopped using it, but recently I accidentally loaded a template with Bob's 10.9 PivotBoxes indi. I turn the daily, monthly and weekly all on and it's amazing how it tells you everything you need to know in a quick glance. I haven't been in the office much lately, but when I am I''ve been scalping AUDUSD with HGI on a 5 minute chart.

Weekly Pivot just below the Monthly pivot, with the daily pivot in between them today. Gosh, AUDUSD loves to always come back to that .7600 mark! Price below all three pivot lines, I keep selling on every HGI big arrow signal, or I sometimes add a trade when price pops up to a resistance line. Then I look to close around support lines.

I'm in the U.S., so I'm using Oanda's manual trade desktop software to enter trades of different sizes (1011, 1012, 1013 etc), so I can close them individually whenever I want.

So far this is working well. I wish I was in the office more to make better use of it.

Bob, you are the best! (and so is your system!)

Thank you

I haven't traded in a while so you are trading hundredths of a penny and can enter different sizes that way ?? So that's a work around. Is there an EA that will automatically adjust lot sizes for multiple entrances?? I'd be interest in a simple EA that would enter of off a MA cross and automatically adjust the lot size so you could enter again.

[cozybooks]

Hi Bob,

It's good to hear from you!

Oanda still insists the U.S. government allows trades of different lot size to be considered different trades and not subject to FIFO, and they still allow trades to be opened with lot sizes in one dollar increments.

The big down side is that you can't do this with their Empty4 platform. You can only do it using their Desktop or Web trade manager software (and probably their mobile software, although I haven't used that). On the Empty4 platform, you have to trade in $1,000 even increments, so that prevents us from doing anything with a standard EA.

Their web page says you can automate trading on their web/desktop platforms by using API something. I took a look at the details and my eyes glazed over, but maybe you can get some of giant programmer minds on the forum interested in figuring out how to make it work. There are many of us who would very much like to tag along if that ever happens.

I've been encouraged with my HGI scalping recently, and it has encouraged me to trade the Big arrow (and occasionally blue wave) signals on H4 and Daily charts, setting up the Empty4 platforms to just email me signals. I'm leaving two copies of Oanda's desktop platform running at all times, one set to the account for buy trades, one set to the account for sell trades. Then when I see a signal, I'll decide to enter a trade or not (or set a stop trade). Depending on the pair or circumstances, I might enter trades of 1001, 1002 etc. or I may do real small trades starting at $100 and incrementing. No SL on my trades. If my losing trades are way off in the distance, I'll use a maximum of 70% of the proceeds of winning trades to close any old losing trades I can.

Best of everything to you, Bob!

[Spudfan]

I've been using HGI for a month now, entering only on big arrows and blue wavies. I had some good results initially, but the last few days have been horrible. Three weeks ago I made about 10% in the week, last week ended up being about evens (due partly to four bad trades in succession on Wednesday 13th), and this week has seen only losses - it just didn't seem to matter what I did, my trades promptly did the opposite!

Having been an active trader for more than 5 years I know that these things happen and also that markets are slowing down now, but I was surprised that the HGI performed so badly in recent days, so I'd like to ask for opinions.

• * When do you shut up shop at year-end? (It seems to me that should have been last week).
  * Is it known that HGI performs badly at times like this?
  * What kinds of 'due diligence' do the more experienced HGI traders use? (The recent poor results have been pushing me to look for 'fixes' even though I've previously stated that HGI isn't broken!)
  * Can I be confident that things will come right next year?

I'd be very grateful to get feedback around these questions. Have a great holiday season all, stay safe.

[DigitalCrypto]

Spudfan,

Nothing is wrong with you or the indicator. What is happening is you are trying to trade a holiday month with very little directional intention behind it as key players are unwinding, reversing positions and taking profits with regard to the fiscal year close out.

Traditionally from Thanksgiving week until about the second week of January you really don't want to be taking serious positions as there will not be much central bank movement or liquidity behind any signal. If you are a scalper you will be lucky to get 10 pips out of any major pair signal you get. Keep this in mind when you are looking to catch a trend on an H4 arrow. Most likely there won't like be anything but slash and chop.

I myself won't take any serious trades after Thanksgiving day and won't enter again until the Tuesday or Wednesday following the New Year week. It's just not worth the hassle and effort for me.

Best regards,
David

[Spudfan]

Spudfan,

Nothing is wrong with you or the indicator. What is happening is you are trying to trade a holiday month with very little directional intention behind it as key players are unwinding, reversing positions and taking profits with regard to the fiscal year close out.

Traditionally from Thanksgiving week until about the second week of January you really don't want to be taking serious positions as there will not be much central bank movement or liquidity behind any signal. If you are a scalper you will be lucky to get 10 pips out of any major pair signal you get. Keep this in mind when you are looking to catch a trend on an H4 arrow. Most likely there won't like be anything but slash and chop.

I myself won't take any serious trades after Thanksgiving day and won't enter again until the Tuesday or Wednesday following the New Year week. It's just not worth the hassle and effort for me.

Best regards,
David

Hi David, thanks for your quick response. Thanksgiving Day in the USA (I had to Google it) is on the fourth Thursday in November, so basically you don't try serious trading for all of December up to around 10 January. That's more 'down' days than I would have thought necessary, but my poor returns recently suggest you are on the right track. Thank you.

You've also answered 3 of my 4 questions very neatly. I'm still keen to hear people's views on my 'due diligence' question, which, for ease of reference, is here:

* What kinds of 'due diligence' do the more experienced HGI traders use? (The recent poor results have been pushing me to look for 'fixes' even though I've previously stated that HGI isn't broken!)

[nanningbob]

I usually quit during the first or second week of December definetly by the 15 th usually by the 10th. I go back on if there is clear direction in January like an opening year run and I'll join in or wait until the first 2 weeks are in. Good Luck.

[DigitalCrypto]

Hi Spudfan,

Usually that is my schedule. I say usually but this year I've not been able to take any serious trades since Hurricane Harvey. I do look forward to some volatility in the coming weeks. December is a good month for testing EAs. They get exposed to conditions you won't usually see for another 9-10 months.

If you will take notice you will see that the action on price is making expanded ranges then turning and burning everyone on the wrong side. Daily opens puts in a high, puts in a low, puts in a new high and then a new low, reverses at the end of day....that's all garbage. Can't really trade that kind of stuff in my opinion. This GBP correction year has been the worst.

Bob pretty much nailed it though. December 15th to January 10th.

[ericjschroeder]

Hi, NB (and all others). Don't know if you remember me; I helped code something for you 4 or 5 years ago while you were still working on this, (and before I started to learn the facts of how to be a serious, dedicated trader). I have also not been able to trade at all for several years so I'm finally back at it and this is where I will start (and end?). Yes it does look really good, and I still have plenty of reading to do. I'm working on this thread (started at the beginning, now going backwards from the end), and your Trading Philosophy, and HGI for beginners and HGI Matrix (which I think will work for me, trading like Al does, trading the H4 trend on the M15, using only the big arrows for entry and wavies for exit), and looking at Holy Graily Bob to at least manage the trades, if not open them. And something else, too I think.

Anyway, it's good to be back here (thanks to Steve's Welcome letter in my email, because I had completely forgotten about this) and will start demo trading as soon as I am sure about the EA I will use to manage the trades when I'm sleeping or at work. Thanks for all your work!

I have also gotten lots of other bits of wisdom and help from other people's posts (and some crap, right?) and hope that when I ask that one question I need to, about the EA (in THAT topic, of course) I won't incur Steve's wrath. I would modify one of my EAs but if HGB does it already, well done!

I know that the past does not matter with this indicator, yet it sure looks like it would have been very profitable during the last month or so, when you guys normally don't trade. Here's to the future!

I saw a recent post here that said this topic is losing steam or momentum, something. Maybe it's because everyone who's been here is being very successful, and the others have been given the boot.

Thanks again. I needed this bit of hope back in my life because my J.O.B. (Just Over Broke) is not going to meet my financial goals or take me where I want to go (like maybe traveling to me you!).

Ok, enough rambling. Back to studying.

Edit: Sorry, thanks to EVERYONE who worked on this and all the other tools for this system!!! I know what a PITA coding can be.

[ericjschroeder]

I am trying a method that appears to help me filter these "false" alerts. I created a template for this indicator. When I get an alert (wavy or arrow) I wait for the candle to close, then I reload the template. I wait till after the candle closes, as the arrow can disappear before the candle closes. After I reloaded the template, if the arrow or wavy line disappear, I ignore the signal and wait for another. If the arrow or wavy line remains I take the trade. I have had some great trades so far.

My logic is that a signal that remains if you refresh (reload template or change time-frames) after the candle closed implies that the market situation is still favorable.

Just saw your post and this is EXACTLY what I am thinking for my trading. I only want solid signals on closed candles.

Also I see the HGI Matrix has 2 versions, one that runs on the Library so is constantly refreshed and I can get alerts from that too. Looking forward to starting the New Year off right!