This makes logical sense. I have an equity $ trailing stop on each of my strategies and I know for sure having analysed your MA Crossover systems that they perform sideways when Volatility is less than 25 (or broadly sideways after dealing and slippage costs).

I am good at coding but not that far advanced to be able to code strategies to the next level whereby they switch themselves off during certain times when its not safe to trade simply because its not easy to classify objectively "unsafe trading periods". I don't think many of us retail investors are being frank

all I can say Joseph is well done. Looks good and keep it going. If its objective, I would code it and get it backtested. Many a strategy manual or automated works for a period of time but over a longer timeframe doesn't cut the grain

If its even partially subjective then of course it can't be backtested easily

using the same trading rules as you did today, what does the equity curve look like for the past 6months? Think thats sufficient data initially to judge an intraday system but to be honest, I judge even intraday systems over 10years but it depends which indicators/symbols you use as it will depend on how long TS has been quoting the tickers for. eg I think VXO.X has only been quotable for the past few years

....the only other point I will make having coded and tested many many strategies (and also from research done by collegues) is that overall, dynamic exits work far better than fixed TPs or TP %s.

For example, the simple MA Crossover systems which in the main use a crossover to enter short or enter long is far better than using the crossover to enter short and then setting a x% TP or $TP

So the question Matt is whether you have tested using a dynamic indicator driven exit? This will be far more robust in dynamic and differing market conditions than one that uses a fixed TP whether it be % or $

no problem with the TP level being set. Good idea given that profit moves to 10% in many cases but as seen in recent trades, this can be given back

If we now have a series of 6 trades which only make it to a 9% profit before giving this back then I would not expect the dynamics of the strategy to change such as to move this TP to 9% with a rerun of historical results to show what 9% would have delivered

Otherwise, yes good system and no problem with a TP provided its not regularly adjusted as per the above example

good chart Marketguy. It would be interesting to see how this performs over the longer term....2-3 years but over the timeframe you have, it does point to a rebound in SRS on ChiOsc rising above the line

curve fitting is when you look at a strategy and its results, see that its not quite where you want it to be, add in some new variables that you know improve it and hey presto the results improve. Thats curve fitting

I think one has to be careful not to go towards optimisation or curve fitting. I think the basic crossover system with no additional filters is one simple option and then any other options with partial TPs need to be forward tested rather than backtested. Thats my opinion any way

ahead of time, how would you know Michael whether to use the indicators on the 10950 contract or the 7500 contract? Its usually rear view mirror stuff.

Thats a good way to sum up the M3 Indicators. Yes there are many different settings one can adopt but its easy to get into a game of "visual optimisation" where you adjust settings as market dynamics change. Looks great in the rear mirror but in live trading, its not as good. My observation from using these.

Reverting back to basics like some of the "simpler approaches" that are on the nightly updates

I think BPT are building in comms of $10 per total trade which seems a tad low. I am on $6.99 flat trade irrespective of # of shares so thats $13 round trip. Also, one should not assume that Slippage is zero which is what I think BPTs strategies do. It really doesn't turn out like that. Call it murphys law or clever TS Back end fill systems, invariably, you will get negative slippage over the long run

So I guess a like for like to compare v BPT for you would be to add in $10 comms round trip but no slippage

From having coded many strategies myself, its imperative to make the strategies realistic and add in commissions and slippage

That may have been an oversight so I am not criticising! Just an observation

Its 2-2 and about 39-38. Thats right. 39-38 in the deciding set

I don't unfortunately have a way to do this. I had a similar problem with some FX Strategies I have written and am combining at present. What i did was merge it all into an excel document which takes a while to set up but once done, its not too difficult to work through. Only problem is the date in the trade list tab which isn't in date format. If you want me to send you the excel spreadsheet, just drop me a PM with your email address and I will send it to you

Depends on broker. Typically $1-$3 per contract for commissions. You make or lose $12.50 for every 0.25 move in futures so $50 for every full point move in futures. Spread typically 0.25 points. Hope this helps

are you sure Peridot your not Prechter in disguise? The stats say it all per the link from one of the other members. Sometimes advice comes in other forms apart from trade ideas

My system for what its worth is short eurgbp, eurchf and eurcad and I am in these positions. I am by the way seeing cad turning positive against several currencies so cad strength generally and euro weakness

For the new 7min system, how much forward testing has been done using the set parameters?

If the market gaps down on NFP Day, then it rallies to close higher than the open and visa versa. So we should rally to some degree today. Thats been the recent pattern

There is actually some stats on this that I have from backtesting (just need to dig this up!) and I think Steve also posted a chart in one of his updates a few months ago ahead of NFP to illustrate

Note I only tested this over the past few years and I really don't put too much credence on testing results unless I have 10 years testing to account for all market conditions

Glad i am short since 1.4450. Will probably close out soon or certainly place trailing stops