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BTW that was on Forex, trading these tight entries is much better on Futures since on Forex you can and will get triggered into a trade by dramatically widened spread, brokers do that all the time. One exception that I know is Dukascopy, where you can trade on jForex and can actually chose by which price you can be triggered into a trade with pending stop order: bid or ask. Naturally you would select for a buy stop trade to be triggered by bid and sell by ask, thus avoiding fake outs, but of course still paying the price of spread.
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
I decided to post my non-TST related things here where it belongs. Some more trading live today on my personal real account.
----- Post from yesterday, 04.06.13 --------------
I traded live today with my personal account. I started before the LTP, market was very slow, so I got stopped out on trades that did not move fast but got stopped by a very small stop loss. I was experimenting after all. I got some proper moves too. I traded with 1 contract only and my net result is 120$ less commissions today (some 105 probably), but I did get slippage, one zero on initial slow trades to 2 ticks on faster trade and up to 8 ticks on last trade on the move below 390.
My intention now is to start using stop limit instead of stop market, so I get filled right on slower trades, and I won't get filled right away on faster but I will get filled without slippage of those snap backs. I will start trading with 2 cars and 5 tick stop loss targeting 15-30 ticks.
Another type of entry I will test - instead of going 2 ticks beyond the level, I will place a stop market entry right on the level in a presence of very strong market sentiment and confirming indications on Jigsaw toolset. This should help to limit slippage to minimal. I will try both approaches. Another thing is to try fading these levels when market is more neutral and approaches level without strength. The only problem with fading is if I place a stop again beyond the level, I can get a bad slippage on stop out. So I need to look for cases where I can enter 2-3 ticks in advance of the level and have my stop right on it. So 3 things to work on:
1. Strong market: stop market entry right on the level for break out, stop loss 2-3 ticks
2. Weak market: limit entry 3 ticks prior to level, stop loss - 3 ticks right on the level
3. On a break place a limit entry (can be stop limit combining with type 1) with 3 ticks stop, have limit configured for 2 ticks worse price feel, limiting slippage and allowing a limit entry prior to level retest
---------- Today, 05.06.13 ------------
Another attempt to jump on the bandwagon (low volume market again!), now placed entry not below the sell level but right on it to minimize the slippage, still got slipped 6 ticks on 8 ticks pop. Not good. And there was no real strong selling pressure. Have to blame illiquid market.
Now, I do find more and more attractive to just trade around those levels before the pop and after the pop, instead of during the pop. I lost 5 ticks on the pop trade, stop was 2 but got slipped 3 ticks on exit but I faded the level on retest, too bad I tried it on somewhat 3rd retest, price moved my way like 5 ticks and BE was put but went back, stopped at BE and slipped 1 tick, so another -1. Price moved above with some buying pressure, so I faded the move down to the level again and netted 15 ticks. During this move my internet went off, so it was a moment of tension. Still on mobile tethering access. But this seems to be a nicer way to trade my levels. Here Jigsaw tools come to real life, as market trades much slower outside of events, and ladder number are a big help actually, so are real traded contract numbers and added/removed limits.
Still I plan to work to find a way to get filled without slippage (stop limit apparently) right before the pop. I will see if I can enter 1-2 ticks before the level with a strong indication from Jigsaw toolset, still keeping stops minimal.
I did some stupid things today on my live account. I started to trade not well-tested setup, besides it was a limit-based setup that can be tested on demo with all the reality of results, I put money into the real account to test slippage and stop entries after all. Took 3 small losers, overall including slippage on exits down 200 bucks with 1 car. Pretty much gave back winnings of two previous days. But at least I stopped, put brakes on and re-configured my platform to demo account. I will only continue to trade live setups that are well-tested on TST program and where I need to get a realistic fill to evaluate further.
No live trades today. I had one prepared but seeing crazy price action from NFP decided to hold off and work on demo before I am sure. In any case results from around NFP would be atypical.
A live trade today. I tested the premise that with a strong supporting order flow an entry prior to level (not past level) will endure less slippage and provide with a better fill, while if wrong allowing to bail quickly, as price is likely to stop there for a few moments anyway.
I have got a great fill today, actually no slippage, exact fill, and despite the fact price action was direction, no pullbacks even for 1 ticks. It was not super fast, I have to admit, but still was strong. I took just 4 ticks profit, because my trail stop kicked in, bar the trail stop 10 ticks target would be hit very fast. Order strategy worked very fast today, all was done in sub-second time.
My next planned live experiment will with using stop limit order, that will require larger stop, 10 ticks, rather than 3 ticks I used now, but should be interesting to see when it will fill. Good thing about it is that you can have an idea of worst case before hand, by analyzing statistics. Usually price bounce at the break area for a bit, not pulling back right away, so trail stop can limit loss or lock profit. Also on slower break there is also a possibility to get a fill on the first move.
Today I have traded my new practice account at TST. They encourage to use this account for testing and development but urge still to treat it like a live account to avoid any bad habits. I fully agree with it. Shooting trades from the hip in demo makes very bad habits difficult to get rid of when moving live.
So while my goal is to test new strategies, I still try not to shoot from the hip. I started with 1 lot and impose 3 consecutive losers as a signal to stop. Not for the day, but to pause for 1 hour minimum and do a full review of trades completed, log them, do screen shots. Job I would do otherwise by the end of the day.
I was practice fading strategies working with limit order entry ensuring no slippage on entry. It doesn't look to bad at the end, but I definitely need to hold on to winners. Recording MAE and MFE gives vital clues.