Ducks In A Row

[Aussiedoc]

Gday! Thanks for the opportunity to be here.

I have been trading E-minis reasonably successfully this past few years. Living in AUS though - my biggest problem has been that, as NY trades from from 1:30AM - 8AM our time and my business hours are 8AM - 5PM, being 70; my body wasn't handling 16-18 hours days as well as it used to!

In answer to a prayer, last December, I discovered Forex; Forex Forums & Steve Hopwood (in that order). Being an absolute Newbie I began to reinvent the wheel. I researched and built a 7x indicator system that closely replicated what I had already been using on 5M E-Minis... comprising of a 3, 8 & 50 MA; an EMA Crossover Signal indicator (to alert me to a cross on a particular pair); an RSI (to get me out of the sideways chop); plus a couple of Trend direction indicators (to make sure that I was trading WITH the trend).

I call my system 'Ducks In A Row' because, when all the indicators line up, like the target ducks in a shooting gallery, placing a successful trade is a pretty easy shot. (Ducks.jpg)

Little did I realize what I had gotten myself into when I asked Steve's assistance in converting my system into an EA; so I could trade AND get some sleep.

Recognizing the potential of my system, he and George, got stuck into building my system. After some considerable "to-ing and fro-ing", (belting me with a piece of 4"x2" until I was able to describe my system "in terms they could understand"), we dropped 3 of the indicators.

Ducks is now substantially simpler - and just as effective. You will find details at http://www.stevehopwoodforex.com/phpBB3 ... 9227#p9227

Thanks now! Take care.
Cheers, Mark (aka Doc)

[mydone]

I've made some quik tests. Good system, thank you Doc.

[SteveHopwood]

Now that us Poms are occasionally beating you Aussies in the odd Test match or two, I don't mind helping my poor upside-down colleagues in your attempts to cling onto the planet.

Plus, I have some down-time coming up, when my occd will become unbearable. Ok, so others call this down-time, "The Christmas break" but I make Scrooge look like the milk and honey of human kindness.

Having said that, there are only so many ducks I am prepared to work out how to do battle with. In your case, I have no idea what ducks 5 and 6 are about. Would you care to post the indicators and a brief explanation of what they do? In post 1 please, so they are all together in the same place, with an '"I have added......, ok dimwit?" additional post so you beat me over the head with the fact that you have updated post 1.

Oh, and no payment necessary, thanks. You have posted an entire system freely, so if I can, I will code the ea freely.

[Antra]

I like the way you use the RSI, both the angle and the 45/55 line.

[Aussiedoc]

Steve, the way things are at the minute with our cricket team; I think you blokes might just win a few more matches.

I really appreciate your quick reply to my original post. I hope that my somewhat inverted view of the world from down here makes sense.

Duck$5 (Lawgirl's Trend Display) Steve, maybe this and Duck #6 are overkill. After all these years; the cross-checking I employ when operating on my clients has become an habitual way of life. I learned the hard way about retracements and counter-trends. I adopted these indis because I wanted to ensure that I was trading with the trend. I have made up different templates for the M5, H1 and D1. I like simple! So, rather than have Lawgirl's, indi display all the different time frames, I have edited the display on each respective template so that only 2 time frames are shown EG M5 (M5 & M15); H1 (H1,H4), D1 (D1, W1). If both time frames are the same I know that I am pretty well assured of a good trade in that direction.

Duck#6 (Signal Bars V8) In practice I found Lawgirl's indi to be very fluid. In FF I found quite a few good words said about the Signal_Bars indi. Because this indi allowed me to set the MA, RSI, MACD & STOCH values to match my MA values. I feel more secure when both displays are saying the same thing. Results usually turn out to be better too.

Steve, I hope my explanation makes sense.
To you and yours a very safe and happy Christmas & New Year.
Thanks now, Mark

[Aussiedoc]

Mydone & Antra...Thanks! To me simple is elegant! Cross-checking is a way of life. I hope that my system works well for you.
Cheers

[Antra]

Just having at look at the higher time frames and just 4 ducks (as I had not yet downloaded the lawgirl indi's) the signals seemed to work quite well.
I will now go back and see what difference duck 5 and 6 make.

Best not to talk about Aussie cricket...perhaps we are just in a period of adjustment for our team?
I really like simple systems and detest adding indicators to eradicate the inevitable odd loss.

Losses are character building!!!!!

[garyfritz]

4th Duck - the RSI angle is between 12 and 2 o'clock or 4 and 6 o'clock.

Maybe Steve can work with that, but I'd want a more precise definition. In particular, the angle of the indicator is going to change depending on how tightly your bars are displayed! Hit the zoom in / zoom out buttons and the angle will change. Maybe you could express it as "the RSI value increases or decreases at least 5 per bar" or something like that?

Also, RSI is a very noisy beast, with lots of jiggles and wiggles. When you say it has to be between 12-2 or 4-6, do you mean just the last line segment, or a line approximation drawn through the last howevermany bars of RSI, or...? E.g. in this example would you use the angle of the red line, the yellow line, or the green?

[Aussiedoc]

Gary, thank you! Brilliant question!

The angle of the RSI as it traverses the 45/55 RSI lines is indicative of market strength/volatility. My only consideration is the angle...the steeper the angle the stronger PA.

To answer your question:-
On the chart below; I had gotten my 1st (Red Arrow) and 2nd Ducks (The 3MA below the 8MA...and both below the 50MA. 3rd Duck - The RSI had broken down through the 45 at an angle between 4 & 6 on an imaginary clock face. 4th Duck This corresponded with the first candle opening below the 3MA. Assuming that Lawgirl (TL) had showed 2 RED arrows and both the H1 & H4 lines on Signals (TR) were completely RED I would gotten my 5th & 6th Ducks - and entered the trade.

I would have exited at the next signal (green arrow)/MA cross/RSI breaking above the 55 line.... for a 100 pips profit... and checked all my Ducks to see if they lined up again for another trade.

Hope this makes sense.
Cheers, Doc

[garyfritz]

OK Doc, to clarify: in your signal shown above, the RSI was between 4 & 6 oclock. How did you measure that angle? Did you count the yellow line, or the green line, or something else?

RSIangles2.gif