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If you have a working system you dont need TST as the splits and position limits dont seem to really be rewarding enough for all the effort. You'd be better off trading your own account, building it up for a few months, increasing your own size, then keeping all your profit rather than a lousy split.
You are absolutely right. I just got somehow hooked on it like on a drug. Doing one Combine was fun since it proved myself as disciplined trader and did increase my discipline. I benefited from it. But I lost a lot of time, as combine took away 1.5 month and then all their super slow administrative procedures took another month and then it was a summer market. Definitely it not worth doing it all over again. I planned to use free combine I have as a test bed for my new system, but it aggravated me so much with incapable toolset, I see it now as a hurdle, not advantage. After all my own excel reports and analysis are far more superior than their trade report. The only advantage they have is 3rd party credibility and this is why they are so regarded by other, as with anyone's own report you can exclude trades you don't want to see in it or cook it altogether. However as I am not seeking capital nor paid followers it should matter not.
Lets hope this is a good warning to others thinking of going down this route. Even the free combine will cost you money (lost opportunity).
Sometimes we all forget the basics like 'never marry a trade'!
If anyone wants to be funded, they should IMO get a job in an arcade/prop firm. They will get a better crack of the whip that what TST will offer with their tedious risk management metrics that seem to stop people being able to really gear up when the opportunity is available. I think TST is a great idea in principal, but in practise it's just doesnt work. It needs a rethink.
I highly suggest you at least try using Sierra Charts being they are both CTS software. They have a ~90 day free trial you could use for another Combine. With your momentum based method, you can configure your OCOs to auto move your SL to a set offset amount after price has moved X ticks in your favor, as well as implement the standard trailing stop. Best of trading to you Xelaar!
Thanks. I might check Sierra out sometimes in future. For the moment it won't solve anything, as I simply don't want to scalp gold again. It wasn't my intention originally, I just somehow got dragged to it pretty much by TST requirements and expectations. An attempt to get away from scalping cost me a live account, there simply wasn't enough leeway to get it working properly.
For the moment I want to focus on developing robust trading systems and slowly taking them live. TST adds too much additional strain, stress and very restrictive schedule. I have already been there and know what to expect. This is the case where journey is better than a destination. IMO.
Yeah, I have good results in DAX, did quite a few trades today, up and down, in the end +175 eur but would be even with commissions. Given that it is still very new to me and I constantly try different ideas and do lot more trades than I would do when I settle with rules, it is not bad at all.
Gold wise, I was trying to find signals I used in my orginal combine, and apparently market has changed quite a bit since spring/early summer. These pushes are more shallow, there are no more candles 500-100 ticks wide in range. I can't see any profitable opportunity by joining the market after large move has started - there is a lot of whipsaw even when market is very biased, and I don't want to use large stops because in gold any large stop can be too small for the whipsaw trick market is giving out. So I only consider for the moment fading levels and after the break out fading break out levels retest (kiss goodbye). It's low intesity trading and could easily be done at T4. But let's see first what sort of feedback market will give me.
Crude, I am still unsure how to trade it, it's half way between DAX and GOLD, less volatile than gold and more orderly, but has bigger swings than DAX. So it is decent. I will look for same rules as for DAX for the moment. I also updated my Jigsaw tools for OEC Trader and starting to use strength meter.
Is it a suggestion? I know I promised one to Mike but following my fallout from TST I really did not have it on my mind. However I might put something together in next few weeks as I keep getting good results.