Futures Demo Update and Some Trade Jest

My demo with Mirus is going very well. Im liking the platform very much. The price feeds are superb, no lags and stuff. And Ninjatrader seamlessly integrates a multibroker platform for me, essentially i can trade FX and futures all by just using ninjatrader. Its saves time and alot computer memory by reducing the amount of programs running. No trades for today, but i had a euro trade i made which i did not update here. I’m not in the mood to post the chart but its basically a 1.5R gain earned by going long YEN during the US session.

I love the chart trader, it allows me to move my stops by just clicking and dragging it on the chart, it takes seconds.

Below is an image of how I arrange my trading platform using ninjatrader. I am currently using 3monitors, its splendid, and im considering the option of getting one more lol. Anyway, extrem right is my default monitor, those are manily managing my intrday fx trades. Screen in the middle has the market watch, some longer term analysis of the currencies and IE. Left is where i use to check my emails and trace the chart movements of YM. Cool huh. I know.

An idea, I call it the “Dynamic Hedge”

As some of you know i mainly trade the majors on an intraday basis. I am trying to set up a holistic trading approach to my entire trading setup and i plan on using a method i devised called the dynamic hedge. The schematics will require the system to be in the market 24*7. It should be able to withstand minimum drawdowns of 500pips. It follows the trend of a bi-weekly moving average. Its purpose is there not for major profits but essentially used as complementary to my intraday methods.

Trade on EURUSD

Okay, I don’t have much time to talk abt the trade. Im pretty tired and i wanna get some sleep so that i could catch Liverpool’s Clash with Chelsea. Go Reds.

On the charts I bought Euro at 13 and re-avged at 43 sold half at 88 and the other half at 600. The white arrow suggested that i should have added my final lot (which i don’t have the guts to) at that area. A 2.5R gain.

4 Types of Traders

There are essentially 4 types of Informed Traders. (identified by Larry Harris in his book, Trading & Exchanges)

• Value Traders
• News Traders
• Information Oriented Technical Traders
• Arbitrageurs

I figured that most of us falls under the ‘Information Oriented Technical Traders’ category. Which makes me wonder, how many of us will really have the edge against the other, there are plenty of technical strategies out there but i bet the most successful ones are mainly the types where most technical traders look at. So which one is it? Anyone care to invite me to the club?

Anyway i would love to post more information abt the 4 types of traders, but i figured i might just be wasting my time, also if one is interested in finding out more, why not pick it off the racks instead?

Euro & Yen, they’re never a couple.

Back to my normal routine i guess, as usual the plan is to always trade Euro & Yen on opposite directions. Euro had a heavy selldown which started in the afternoon thru the evening of (GMT +8). The retracement it made was wild which promtped my shorts and automatic longs on the Yen. Well its worth it, their PA has decide to be inversely identical today, with Yen carrying the bulk of the volatility.

My horrendous Euro Trade

Allright, i start the week with a BE turned loser due to massive comms fee. Where did i go wrong? Euro looked mighty fine for a long trade but i was trading in the US market hour. What was perceived to be aperfect entry turned into a day where i was forced to make rescues after rescues. I managed to re-average until price decided to retrace my way and dumped everthing at 1.5815 for a break even and a 0.5% worth of comm fees.

Things that i should have considered, euro has completed quite a range for the day, i should have waited and see how the bullish retracement act before jumping on the LONG wagon. I should have left some lots in to ride the retracement instead of dumping all at 1.5815, i sensed that the hourly have reached a point where buyers would come streaming in, it could have paid up for the hefty commision fees. Day 1 of the week looked bleak eh.

Finding a Futures Broker

Its never an easy job to get yourself to decide what works and what doesn’t. So here I am figuring which broker would suit me best for trading. As usual, all of us would have a similar wish list;

- high intraday margin
- low comms/discount
- good and cheap data
- good execution
- no platform freezing

From the above, one could forget abt getting these offers from any SIngapore brokerage, I can’t believe MFGlobal sg charge me $12 per round turn! Thats daylight robbery. So this is my new list of possible brokers,

Interactive Brokers
World reknowned discount brokerage, unbelieavably low commisions, fairly okay data but bad platform. TWS sucks, but one thing to  note is that their data is compatible with Ninjatrader, which has one of the best excution platform to date, oh did i tell you that HSI futures are also tradeable though IB. IB will definitely one of the top choices, provided i get to integrate Ninjatrader with it.

TradeStation
Well she’s the mammoth when it comes to providing charting solutions & data vendoring, from that, they have now took a further stepp forward to become a competitive discount broker, which rivals IB in terms of commision and product range. Yet as a broker, their reliability and new platform has come under much scrutiny. I’ve heard complains about bad fills, freezing platforms etc. I’m gonna be very careful in selecting them now, but nevertheless, these guys used to be the market leader and to me tradestation platform is still very very desirable.

Mirus Futures & AMP Futures
These two brokers came under my radars only recently, well they don’t offer stocks trading but what sets them apart is the data and platform that they are offering, not forgetting the cheap comms (not as cheap as IB but i’ll explain why). Data using Zen-fire;

Here are a few of the advantages of the Zen-Fire solution:

• Redundancy & Reliability: co-located on the data center floor with the exchanges
  and over 18 major Internet providers on a fully redundant network managed by a leading IT service provider
• Always-On-Technology: no more ‘end of day’ processing down-time; the system
  is available whenever there is an exchange open for trading.
• Global Network: connect to exchanges around the world on the same
  reliable network
• Open API: automate your systems directly to the API
• Speed and Unfiltered Data: receive every market update at unprecedented speed
• Alternative Connectivity Options : connect using the Internet, directly to
  the data center or have your systems hosted on-site
• Advanced Risk Management and Order Entry Features: built in features that allow risk managers and  order desks to quickly and efficiently manage accounts, liquidate positions and enter orders
• Excess Capacity: the system is constantly monitored and easily expandable to accommodate massive amounts of users and products
• Option Trading: access to trade all electronic options on futures

If thats not good enough, they offer ninjatrader as a trading platform FREE! OMG! I’ve always loved NT’s Dynamic Superdom and their order management controls, they have gone a long way to improve their charts too. I would suggest one to demo with NT to find out more on the pearls that this team of trading solution provider is offering. NT is the real deal guys and you get it free by trading with Mirus and AMP. The charges for this platform have already been factored into comms. You have the choice to use Dorman or Rosenthal Collins Group as your clearing party. Definitely TOP in my shopping list now!

MB Trading
Well i have a soft spot with them coz they are essentially the broker is use to trade fx. While I believe that their commissions for FX should be revised to rival brokers like dukas and IB, nevertheless they offered one of the best data feeds and allows you to trade in between spreads. Thats totally cool. They have a futures platform which runs on navigator, a platform that I am very familiar with and have data compatible with Ninjatrader but you only get to use the simulated version, so no superdoms and all those magic, just charts and a tabbed style navigator (sucks!). They trade through Penson. Hmmm and their comms for stocks trading, is fairly okay, feedbacks suggest that MBT is not suitable for the average day trader.

So now, its time to call each and everyone of them…lets see who is more enthusiastic to offer me their services. I’m after all a potential client…lol.

Gold Play, Done?

Is the gold play, done?

Looks like the chairman has called it correctly. Well so far, yes.

Remind me of a Gann article shared by a known trader
http://www.tradingfives.com/gann/wd-gann-newspaper-1922.htm

secrets…..