Scalping FX with Cyrox Rainbow

[tayser]

getting my mojo back... yep add me to the list of people who are learning money management the hard way

First trade - should have waited, luckily the trailing (10pip) stop is set (my default orders are now Market + Trailing) as it moved very fast against me - how I got burned over the past couple of weeks. Suck it up tays (I have).

Pretty happy with 2nd trade, could have entered earlier, exit is perfect (mini-triple top and exited on the third - luckily the price stuck around).

Time Order ID Message Event TIF Orig Trader ID
16:58:20 Sell Short 5000 GBP/JPY @ Mkt.+Trail [+Trail 0.10] on MBTX [expiring: 8/09/2008] (5000 traded at 206.89) Filled GTC
16:58:22 Buy 5000 GBP/JPY Trail 0.10 on MBTX [expiring: 8/09/2008] (5000 traded at 207.02) Filled GTC
17:02:02 Buy 5000 GBP/JPY @ Mkt.+Trail [+Trail 0.10] on MBTX [expiring: 8/09/2008] (5000 traded at 207.29) Filled GTC
17:02:05 Sell 5000 GBP/JPY Trail 0.10 on MBTX [expiring: 8/09/2008] Cancelled GTC
17:03:24 Sell 5000 GBP/JPY @ Market on MBTX [expiring: 8/09/2008] (5000 traded at 207.38) Filled GTC

 

[tayser]

finishing the day 4 pips down.

Time Order ID Message Event TIF Orig Trader ID
18:32:22 Buy 5000 EUR/USD @ Mkt.+Trail [+Trail 0.0010] on MBTX [expiring: 8/09/2008] (5000 traded at 1.5823) Filled GTC
18:32:24 Sell 5000 EUR/USD Trail 0.0010 on MBTX [expiring: 8/09/2008] Cancelled GTC
18:34:04 Sell 5000 EUR/USD @ Market on MBTX [expiring: 8/09/2008] (5000 traded at 1.5831) Filled GTC

 

[Euler]

getting my mojo back... yep add me to the list of people who are learning money management the hard way

First trade - should have waited, luckily the trailing (10pip) stop is set (my default orders are now Market + Trailing) as it moved very fast against me - how I got burned over the past couple of weeks. Suck it up tays (I have).

Pretty happy with 2nd trade, could have entered earlier, exit is perfect (mini-triple top and exited on the third - luckily the price stuck around).

Tayser, congrats ... an innovative thread to read and some great trades ... talk about short time frames!!

Re the GBP/JPY first trade, I see why you took this entry, however, after you noticed it moving to your S/L, did you consider after it hit your stop to go long immediately ... or do you consider this too risky? I do understand that all this is obvious in hindsight and without cold-hard-cash on the line!

Keep up the work and posts .... makes intriguing reading following your trades.

 

[tayser]

Tayser, congrats ... an innovative thread to read and some great trades ... talk about short time frames!!

Re the GBP/JPY first trade, I see why you took this entry, however, after you noticed it moving to your S/L, did you consider after it hit your stop to go long immediately ... or do you consider this too risky? I do understand that all this is obvious in hindsight and without cold-hard-cash on the line!

Keep up the work and posts .... makes intriguing reading following your trades.

I did actually consider jumping straight in yes - although, I'm being a little bit more conservative.

Hindsight is beautiful yeah, however in saying that, I should have waited a little longer on that first trade because GBP/'JPY is known to range a lot and being only 10-15 pips from a .00 (or .50) level is introducing more risk. Your best trades are always going to be when the price is between .15 and .35 & .65 and .85 as the pair always gravitates to the natural support levels (.50 and .00).

 

[Euler]

I did actually consider jumping straight in yes - although, I'm being a little bit more conservative.

Hindsight is beautiful yeah, however in saying that, I should have waited a little longer on that first trade because GBP/'JPY is known to range a lot and being only 10-15 pips from a .00 (or .50) level is introducing more risk. Your best trades are always going to be when the price is between .15 and .35 & .65 and .85 as the pair always gravitates to the natural support levels (.50 and .00).

I seldom trade a "mature" leg (eg. a stock/derivative that has put in several bars move in a direction ... depending on the vehicle could be 6-8+ bars), for a retracement may be imminent. In doing this I may miss a move, but would prefer not chasing it, to getting caught in a correction/retracement move. It is especially profitable, when used with breakout entries as is the case with your second trade ... as you said "could have entered earlier" @ around 207.20 ... but none-the-less a good trade and exit.

Do you use a minimum brokerage/spread broker, or fixed spread MM (eg. IG, CMC eek (... I did read something about this but am in info overload with this thread, so excuse any repition of an earlier question/reply)

 

[tayser]

ECN broker (MBTrading / EFX) - don't use a Market Maker for scalping.

 

[prawn_86]

Short 1: -2.5

Should have stuck with my instinct. Would have been profitable if i held 1 second (literally) longer


Short 2: +8.5

Now thats more like it

Long 1: +2.5

Was originally targeting just 1 quickish pip on the bounce but it went higher than expected.


Total = 8.5

 

[tayser]

doesn't inspire much confidence when a dramatic quote change (I thought I'd missed a news event at first - spread widened to 50 pips) fails to take out a trailing stop lol!!

Time Order ID Message Event TIF Orig Trader ID
20:03:57 Buy 5000 EUR/USD @ 1.5511 Stop+Trail [+Trail 0.0010] on MBTX [expiring: 9/09/2008] (5000 traded at 1.5511) Filled GTC
20:04:30 Sell 5000 EUR/USD Trail 0.0010 on MBTX [expiring: 9/09/2008] Cancelled GTC
20:10:33 Sell 5000 EUR/USD @ Market on MBTX [expiring: 9/09/2008] (5000 traded at 1.5516) Filled GTC

used a stop market + trailing order for the entry.

finished with 3.5.

 

[tayser]

actually, look at that time on the cancelled trail - that's when the price spike happened... (although afterwards I was watching the trail rise with the bid...)

Usually to exit a trade I hit F3 and F2 (I've assigned them Cancel all orders and Close all positions (market) respectively) thus the cancelled order should be a few seconds before the Sell...

bizarre.

 

[julius]

tayser - are you trading live or demo ?

 

[tayser]

live.

 

[Euler]

ECN broker (MBTrading / EFX) - don't use a Market Maker for scalping.

Tayser, don't want to harp on this point, but would like your further views. Have you used a MM and tried your system on their quotes, even in demo mode. I do understand your thinking behind your stance, but wonder if there is some scope in that area.

Keep up your input ... it's very illuminating.

 

[tayser]

With an ECN:

- You can trade between the spread
- have many more order types for entries / exits
- execute orders against real market makers (which are banks in an FX ECN as opposed to broker market makers) as well as other users on the platform - never underestimate how useful this is, the amount of times I've whitnessed another user on the platform narrowing the spread on a pair is mindboggling.
- you invariably have tighter spreads (owing to the above).

With a Market Maker:

- you're constrained with order types and spread
- the broker hedges against your trades and IMO therefore has a higher probability of manipulating quotes/executions or even your positions in order for them not to lose as much.
- you'll probably get a better swap on an MM however (this isn't a concern for me or this method though).

I have a live Oanda account and a live MBT/EFX account.

If you're interested in the method, you really should get involved with the whole Cyrox forum - there's plenty of threads on this type of discussion.

cheers.

 

[Euler]

With an ECN:

- You can trade between the spread
- have many more order types for entries / exits
- execute orders against real market makers (which are banks in an FX ECN as opposed to broker market makers) as well as other users on the platform - never underestimate how useful this is, the amount of times I've whitnessed another user on the platform narrowing the spread on a pair is mindboggling.
- you invariably have tighter spreads (owing to the above) ................................................. cheers.

Very powerful considerations ...... many thanks

 

[Largesse]

i'm having trouble setting up the live feed into Ninjatrader.

have downloade Ninjatrader, i have the MBT account what else do i need to do?

 

[disarray]

in ninjatrader go Tools - Account Connections - make a new account and use MBTrading as the data source. it will ask you for your credentials as you go in. the help file in ninjatrader under account connections has a walkthrough.

there is a check box for Launch Navigator as you create the account. if you use efx / mbtrader then you need to tick this box because you can't connect with ninjatrader and efx on the same account at the same time. ticking the box will launch another navigator window you can use but it can't be resized so its a pain in the ass. there is no eta on a fix for this. you could use a demo account for the ninjatrader account but its a crappy feed which you don't really want.

 

[tayser]

post US CPI release:

Time Order ID Message Event TIF Orig Trader ID
22:37:36 Sell Short 7500 EUR/USD @ Mkt.+Trail [+Trail 0.0010] on MBTX [expiring: 12/09/2008] (7500 traded at 1.5334) Filled GTC
22:37:38 Buy 7500 EUR/USD Trail 0.0010 on MBTX [expiring: 12/09/2008] Cancelled GTC
22:40:08 Buy 7500 EUR/USD @ Market on MBTX [expiring: 12/09/2008] (7500 traded at 1.5310) Filled GTC

 

[tayser]

Very powerful considerations ...... many thanks

The only other thing I'd say about using a Market Maker broker - specifically Oanda, the only pair worth scalping on it is EUR/USD - the spread is primarily fixed at 0.9 pips and if you focus on early contrarian entries you'll probably do just as well than on an ECN (biggest bonus with Oanda is AUD denomination).

You really don't want to be chasing the market with a market maker even though the spread and no commission can be an advantage - to a point, so focus on early entries (I basically look for when the price disappears back into the rainbow - this is on my 1sec ninja charts with the EFX feed and executing on Oanda) and jump out when you feel it start to go against you.

Usually if I see a surge on EFX, I prepare to get out on Oanda - Market makers's quotes don't flow smoothly like an ECN's so when you see the Oanda quote react to the surge in the real market on the ECN, that's invariably an exit signal.

 

[prawn_86]

Went fishing in a slow moving market. Not to be unfortunately.

-2.5 pips

 

[prawn_86]

2 more trades for 5.5 pips each

Nett of 8.5 pips for the night.