Old and defunct Holy Graily Bob

[boinvest]

V 2k is in post 1. The pending deletion code was not quite correct - fixed now.

I noticed different sets, OOTB lovers, be carefull.
As the OOTB sets do sometimes changes.

Should use your own sets anyway.

[SuperSonic]

Hi Steve, Boinvest,

First off I'd also like to express my appreciation for the amount of effort that the HGI/HBG dream team has made to get to this point. The insight and programming that is going into this indi and bot is clearly paying off, many thanks and congratulations to you all! Keep up the work!

Steve I read a while back that you are not a great fan of ATR based SL/TP settings, however you did go through the effort to add them to the EA at that point in time, for the trade methods it had back then. Many thanks for that, as I am one of the users of this feature, and I am sure there are others.
I noticed however that for the Wave and TrendWave types the ATR SL/TP is not present, although we can always revert to a fixed setting. The multiposition trades are covered with their own fixed settings, so all is good there.

Given the versatile nature of the indicator over various instruments, I would like to make a case for adding the ATR calculations to the last 2 trading methods as well? After today's events with the CFH pairs, it no longer feels comfortable without (at least an emergency) SL in place. I was warming up to the idea of no SL, but then comes reality and the black swan to change our minds . Having a stop in place would at least prevent open trades of more than -1700 pips in the red as witnessed today in the thread, if your crim has a decent infrastructure (was OK on GP using my fixed SL settings).

As a recommendation, if a stop loss needs to be set, would you consider adding the ATR option to the last 2 trade types? This way the input does not need to be changed to the pair's characteristics but adapts dynamically, like the rest of the EA settings?

Thanks coders for your efforts on this, 2015 sure looks promising already

[qvintus]

Wow, home from work and I am looking at almost -11.000pips in 45 open trades. And +878 pips in closed trades. OOTB.
Thanks God it is only a demo. I have several trades open of more than 1500 pips loss each. No opposite arrows that could close any of them yet?

https://www.myfxbook.com/portfolio/glob ... tb/1109327

(sorry for my bad English)

[SteveHopwood]

Given the versatile nature of the indicator over various instruments, I would like to make a case for adding the ATR calculations to the last 2 trading methods as well? After today's events with the CFH pairs, it no longer feels comfortable without (at least an emergency) SL in place. I was warming up to the idea of no SL, but then comes reality and the black swan to change our minds . Having a stop in place would at least prevent open trades of more than -1700 pips in the red as witnessed today in the thread, if your crim has a decent infrastructure (was OK on GP using my fixed SL settings).

As a recommendation, if a stop loss needs to be set, would you consider adding the ATR option to the last 2 trade types? This way the input does not need to be changed to the pair's characteristics but adapts dynamically, like the rest of the EA settings?

Thanks coders for your efforts on this, 2015 sure looks promising already

It didn't take a lot of effort to accommodate this - V 2l in post 1. You do not need 2l if you already have 2k and do not want ATR as described.

Be warned that adding this involved a fair amount of copy/paste/edit. Given that one of my top skills is copy/paste/forgot-to-edit, check these features out on demo before setting them loose on a live account.

[SuperSonic]

It didn't take a lot of effort to accommodate this - V 2l in post 1. You do not need 2l if you already have 2k and do not want ATR as described.

Be warned that adding this involved a fair amount of copy/paste/edit. Given that one of my top skills is copy/paste/forgot-to-edit, check these features out on demo before setting them loose on a live account.

Wow Steve, that was a fast fix. Even with forgot-to-edit included those are mad skillz
Many thanks for your effort, I'll be sure to report if there are any bloops. :hi:

[SteveHopwood]

This post is for the noobs.

I am really glad that today happened. I feel sympathy for those of you who lost actual cash; I was just plain lucky that I happened to set HGB up at precisely the right moment. This is the first time I have enjoyed this level of trading fortune during my 8 years associated with the train wreck that is Retail Forex trading. Think about that for a few seconds guys, and let its import sink in.

My 'Welcome' message to new members here begins with this statement: "Newbie traders, you are the most fortunate beginners in the whole history of retail forex trading." Reason being, you have stumbled upon the greatest collection of minds pulling in the same direction and offering their expertise for free that you will ever come across.

Those noobs who have been bitten on the bum on demo today are doubly fortunate. You have learned a harsh lesson the easy way. Us old stagers learned it the hard way, by blowing real cash accounts.

Many noobs here will have been lulled into a sense of security by HGB's performance that is so false it is beyond your understanding. The Forex market is a vicious beast. It will ruthlessly punish every mistake you make. Unfailingly. Every time.

Time to repeat my mantra. Emblazon this upon your souls noobs. It is this: if something can happen, and it is bad for you, then it will happen and sooner rather than later.

Those of you who got wiped out today did so because you over-traded. Don't argue with this - I will delete your post. Here is how you avoid over-trading:

• tiny lot sizes. Do not increase them as your confidence grows into overconfidence after a few weeks success. Maximum of 0.01 lots per $1000 (please see the edit at the bottom of this post).
• limit the pairs you trade to the majors - perhaps throw GJ into the mix.
• do not attempt to overcome the over-trading filters in HGB. Accept them. Embrace them. Make them even more stringent.

Perhaps some of you now have a better understanding of why I am so fierce here. It is better that you feel hurt by me but perhaps a tad more thoughtful, than broke.

What happened today was this: the Swiss decoupled their currency from the Euro instead of shadowing it as it had been for months. The SNB did this without warning and pairs such as the EC plunged thousands of pips in seconds. Look at what happened. This is an H1 chart because I only thought to add this 18 months after the event, and there is only so far back in time that lower time frames will go:

EURCHFH1.png

See how the pair had bobbled around for ages? It had bobbled around for a lot more ages in the lead up to the decoupling. Then wham. EChf dropped 3,500, in round numbers, in seconds. Really. Seconds. It was that fast.

I looked at my tiny account at the start of all this and it was a few dollars in credit, prices were changing rapidly and I wondered whether to close the position. I looked away, then looked back and the account equity had quadrupled - yes, it really did happen that fast. I dragged the close all script immediately but even then there was one trade that resolutely refused to close - happily Jem was on patrol at GP and closed it for me.

A lot of members here were caught on the wrong side of that move. A lot of stop losses were blown clear through and many accounts were blown in seconds.

Those of you arriving at this post from the link in post 1, now travel back to http://www.stevehopwoodforex.com/phpBB3 ... 81#p111081 and read from there to get a sense of the confusion that reigned today. This sort of massacre can arise at the drop of a hat. It did today.



EDIT 9th August 2019
Experience has shown that 0.01 lots per $1,000 is reasonably safe. I reckon that you can thrive and prosper with an opening balance of $10,000. You stand a chance with $5,000. Do some saving up, folks.

[matrixebiz]

Those of you who got wiped out today did so because you over-traded. Don't argue with this - I will delete your post. Here is how you avoid over-trading:

• tiny lot sizes. Do not increase them as your confidence grows into overconfidence after a few weeks success. Maximum of 0.01 lots per $1000.
• limit the pairs you trade to the majors - perhaps throw GJ into the mix.
• do not attempt to overcome the over-trading filters in HGB. Accept them. Embrace them. Make them even more stringent.

You got that right I've been around long enough to also agree with these 3 very important things
I actually made $60 profit so far this week and no trades currently open

[ariel]

Maybe after today, is a good idea start Zeljko :hi:

[SteveHopwood]

You got that right I've been around long enough to also agree with these 3 very important things
I actually made $60 profit so far this week and no trades currently open

Fantastic. Nice one.

[SuperSonic]

Just a quick note for those that wish to use ATR (if you know this, please skip):
ATR will help you to be more dynamic in SL/TP placement as long as instruments go about their regular cyclic nature. Being so, it should help you limit risk on instruments that jump 100s of pips a day, and ones that only jump 10s of pips a day. On an event such as today, where CHF moved 30% in relation to other currencies, you should have been protected with a decent-sized stop, given it was executed somewhat correctly.

After that event however, the case might well be reversed. ATR values are now so skewed due to the CHF lapse, that your SL/TP values might have increased to a point you do not find tolerable. Do be aware of this if you allow the EA to continue trading with the same settings as before shortly after such events. You might get that bigger move in the correct direction but it might well be reversed, meaning your stop is now way further off than it used to be.

Unfortunately this is the downside of lagging indicators, not much we can do about it. If there is a better way (and I recall an indi named PriceChannelStop that could work) please contribute. Also, we still have the HGI indicator to keep an eye on the market, but it might suffer the same issue, being reliant on historical data?