Easy Does It (EDI) TDI

[spyderman]

Hello all,

I would like to submit a trading strategy for discussion that I think has a lot of potential. It would no doubt be very easy to turn into an EA. The strategy stems off of Xman’s S3 system at FF, which is in turn an offshoot of Big E’s TMS system. No doubt many of you are already familiar with these strategies and there are already some EA’s in place, written by Mr. Hopwood I believe, that you may have tried.

So first the dessert, before the meat and potatoes:

I did a visual backtest of the strategy on the E/U from the first of the year forward. I’m proposing it to be traded on the H4, so not a large data set but it shows a lot of promise.
Now a caveat here, I’m using the Heiken-Ashi and the Trader’s Dynamic Index, so for the backtest it was a bit difficult to tell exactly where the entries and exits would fall in relation to the TDI. I tried to be conservative in my estimates, going with the nearest hew bar opening, as that’s when the TDI updates.

Having said that, the attached pdf is an excel file of the trades that would have been taken this year and the results. Lot sizes were a bit difficult to decide on as I didn’t want to try and adjust them to each trade, so I went with an average of about 50 pips. Based on that I figured a risk factor of 1% per trade to determine lot size. I do feel in live trading, which I have begun, the actual stops may be lower, allowing a larger lot size for the same risk %, enabling a faster equity growth.

From Jan 1st through April 23rd there were 22 trades taken. There were 16 winning trades for a total of 1,344.4 pips and 6 losing trades for -92.8 pips. Total account equity increased by 35.44 % during that time.

The Strategy:

As mentioned I’m using the Trader’s Dynamic Index with alerts as my only indicator (other then trade info indi’s) and the Heiken-Ashi synergy bars. I trade it on the H4 as I feel that gives more opportunity for trending then shorter time frames. While I have done a cursory eyeball on other pairs (and they look promising) the backtesting is on the E/U. Low spreads are always a plus. All indi’s and template are attached.

Entry:
Quite simple. When the green TDI comes out of the blue bands and then crosses red we buy/sell. Stop loss is set below/above the last swing low/high which will be nearby.

Exit:
Exit when green crosses back over red in the other direction. Occasionally, after a long run, our exit will be an entry in the opposite direction (providing that the green has traveled all the way back outside the blue bands before crossing back through.

It’s that simple! Maybe too simple. Time, and further forward and back testing, will tell whether these few months were an anomaly or not. I think that as pairs transition from trending to ranging we would have to adjust which ones we will trade.

Let the wrangling begin.

[spyderman]

Well, I had two good trades going last night on AUD/USD and GBP/USD. Didn't know what to do with them so I put a 20 pip trailing stop on them just to be safe. I figured any retracement of 20 pips would give me a reverse cross anyway. I was wrong. Priced spiked and took out both orders (5 hrs. apart).

As you can see from the screenshots, neither order had a closing cross. I would have currently been up another 95 pips on the AUD/USD trade.

That's why we need an EA for this. Not because it's complicated, just to enter and exit at the right times.

[spyderman]

Just entered long on the EUR/JPY

[spyderman]

New trades on U/J long and U/C short.

[SteveHopwood]

Just checking here, because your charts are a masterpiece of confusion.

Your zipfile contains about 8000 indi's. The only one used in actual trading is TDI?

You mention Heiken-Ashi Synergy in post 1, but not actually how you use them. Do you use them?

[SteveHopwood]

Hehe. Yep, I have read your description several times and glared at the charts until the shrivelled.

I have no idea what you are talking about. Tidying up your charts and indicating where you took the trades rather than merely writing, "UJ trade" or somesuch, would be a start.

[spyderman]

Just checking here, because your charts are a masterpiece of confusion.

Your zipfile contains about 8000 indi's. The only one used in actual trading is TDI?

You mention Heiken-Ashi Synergy in post 1, but not actually how you use them. Do you use them?

Ouch...I'm cut to the heart.

The only indi that the strategy employs is the TDI. All the other indis are ones I put on my charts for trade info. They can be removed or kept as each likes. You can even add to them...

The Heiken-Ashi are a hold over from Big E's TMS. Not necessary, just use to having them in concert with the TDI.

Sometimes I expand the TDI to full screen to get a better perspective. You could trade that this way, kind of like flying with instruments only.

[spyderman]

Hehe. Yep, I have read your description several times and glared at the charts until the shrivelled.

I have no idea what you are talking about. Tidying up your charts and indicating where you took the trades rather than merely writing, "UJ trade" or somesuch, would be a start.

Sorry about the confusion.

Here's the U/J again, stripped of all its glory.

So again, the only entry criteria is, the green signal line comes from outside the pink bands and crosses the red. Any crosses that take place without the green having "just" entered from outside the bands, would not be a trade. I define "just" as having occured since the last cross.

Exit is on the next cross in after entry.

I'll mark one up with entries and exits and post in a bit.

[garyfritz]

FWIW I agree 1000% with Steve. I glanced at your post, said "I have no idea what he's talking about, I don't know what indicators he's using, I can't tell what he's doing on his charts," and moved on. If you want other people to understand and do something with your idea, you need to present it clearly with a minimum of extraneous distraction.

So in the chart you posted, there are two entries? (yellow lines)

EDI.gif

Any crosses that take place without the green having "just" entered from outside the bands, would not be a trade. I define "just" as having occured since the last cross.

That makes no sense to me. How could it cross inside the pink lines **WITHOUT** having crossed from outside? You'll have to re-phrase that one.

[SteveHopwood]

Hehe. Yep, I have read your description several times and glared at the charts until the shrivelled.

I have no idea what you are talking about. Tidying up your charts and indicating where you took the trades rather than merely writing, "UJ trade" or somesuch, would be a start.

Sorry about the confusion.

Here's the U/J again, stripped of all its glory.

So again, the only entry criteria is, the green signal line comes from outside the pink bands and crosses the red. Any crosses that take place without the green having "just" entered from outside the bands, would not be a trade. I define "just" as having occured since the last cross.

Exit is on the next cross in after entry.

I'll mark one up with entries and exits and post in a bit.

Much better.

Sorry to be so picky, but traders often appear to expect coders to read their minds and so not have to be clear in what they are doing. This leads to endless confusion in very short order. I have learned to pin people down into describing and showing exactly what they are talking about.

Especially here. This is actually a nightmare to code. TDI is a visual thingy and mql4 does not facilitate coding visual thingies. Leave it with me. More later. First thing to do is to drag information kicking and screaming from yet another bloody custom indi. Yippee.