No programming required... it has already been done for you. Download the Make Grid 193 EA. All the parameters to set grid levels are there. By the way, this is a great approach for sideways action as well. Simply set a TS and bada bing, bada boom. 4 to 8 hours of range action around the S/R areas just booked you a hefty profit. And as always, if there's money when you check up on it... you take it. Nobody likes a speculator .

key notes:

1:1 per position
be smart about grid spacing, in reference to possible draw down.
limit orders only

MM

Mr. M,

I understand what you are saying about grids as I have a lot of experiences with grids. I've blown an account with grids in my past, so I know the dangers and the pitfalls of the grid. Once bitten, twice shy. I'm trying to incorporate my experiences with grids, and avoid the problems I've dealt with.

I still do not feel comfortable with the whole doubling the bet size after every loss. That's just not how I trade. And I don't think I can change my philosphy at this point.

I will check out the Makegrid EA, and hopefully get something out of it. I want to automate more of the entry and exit part of the grid. Although I do have a ton of grid experts to look through in my own bin, as I've used grids before. Most are not suitable for long term trading. You just hope for a good market condition that matches the EA. It's a real gamble.

__________________
Life is a Gamble. You win some. You lose some. And life goes on.

Agreed. You've got to know 'em pretty good in order to use them properly.

Grids can be powerful and gobble up a lot of pips, but it can also be a Chinese water torture device when you don't know what you are doing. The swap and spread is never in your favor, and that's how the brokers win. The brokers just salivate when they see these huge grids building, first they love all the spreads being banked. And they know that eventually, when the grid gets too big, the investor is too deep in the knees to close it out, and they have you by the balls with the swap...and finally for the finishing move, they can spike the market temporarily to trigger a margin call based on their rules of liquidation. I do not mess with the grid unless it is set up properly, and I know exactly how to maintain it.

Running a grid like it was some kind of edge is for fools, and we all know what happens to fools and their money.

Although I do plan on using a grid on short term high profit high risk scenarios. But the risk to ruins is very high. If one can accept that fact, and understand it is purely gambling, then that's fine.

__________________
Life is a Gamble. You win some. You lose some. And life goes on.

I'm working out the bugs of my own hack job. I think I'm at the point where it will actually open trades. Unfortunately, during testing, it only opened 4 trades out of the 14 it was suppose to open. No biggie...slowly getting there is half the fun.

I actually learned a great deal about custom indicator programming with how to pass the buffer to the screen, and using the iCustom function to reference an indicator value from the main program.

And I still do not understand why people make it so difficult with this method. It should be kept simple just as it was intended. I guess it is just human nature to reinvent the wheel.

UPDATE: LOL, the demo account was blown up in less than 6 hrs of testing. Back to the lab. Sigh.

__________________
Life is a Gamble. You win some. You lose some. And life goes on.

More losses. Ugh.

Trend following during chop is just no fun. I guess it's back to see Johnnie for me.

Account #1 Summary (Post Date):

Deposit/Withdrawal: 20 000.00
Balance: 34 608.26
Equity: 34 405.00

__________________
Life is a Gamble. You win some. You lose some. And life goes on.

Okay, I just looked at Mr. M's new scalper, and I'm not going to lie...I'm quite envious. I don't have the capacity to develop a scalper.

I've been trying to branch out to other strategy types in an effort to spread out the risk of my portfolio. I've wrecked my brains to figure out how to build a scalper profitably...especially with an automated solution. Every new strategy I create always becomes a trend following type of strategy when I'm done with it. It doesn't matter if it is a grid or basket, it always becomes a trend following type of strategy...so instead of being the edge, it has become just an entry vehicle to my trending following ways.

I'm not too happy about that. It feels like I'm a one trick pony.

I have a few more things left to do before I really dedicate myself to tackling a non-trend following strategy. I need to tweak my EURGBP strategy and debug 2 basket strategies. I also need to finish some additions to my high risk, high return strategy based on pyramiding, the closure logic is still missing.

On a brighter note, my 2nd account was funded today with $5k. This account, I'm going to be more risky with it. I'll probably fire it up by end of the week.

__________________
Life is a Gamble. You win some. You lose some. And life goes on.

The Euro has been chopping within 100 pips range for 3 days now.

Did I mention how much I hate range?

The market faked the breakout to the top, then came back down and faked a breakout to the bottom. Now we are heading back up into the top of the range.

__________________
Life is a Gamble. You win some. You lose some. And life goes on.

I gave it some thought, and then I put in an application to open another account.

I figure if I'm going to have a high risk, high return account, I might as well open a low risk, low return account.

In this new account, I'm going to practice the turtle method. Not the infamous Turtle Trading strategy, but a very slow methodical earner...trading what else...trend following of course (so in a sense, it is kinda like the Turtle Trading system). No grids, no crazy baskets, no martingale, just simple trades that will make money in trends and lose money in chop. Breakout! I will be happy to see 15%-20%+ ROI annually. Sure as hell beats what the CD's are paying nowadays, 5%-6%.

I've codenamed the 2 accounts as a joke: Tortoise and Hare.

So I will have a Tortoise and a Hare in the game, I like stacking the odds in my favor. Slowly building out my diversification plan. The Tortoise and the Hare accounts will be linked, so one will really ever get too far ahead or behind of the other. I will balance the 2 accounts on a quarterly basis. I don't expect the Tortoise account to be funded until next year, there is too much expenses and events happening for the rest of the month. Hopefully the Hare account won't blow up before I fund this new account.

__________________
Life is a Gamble. You win some. You lose some. And life goes on.

A good tool to keep oneself organized is a TO DO list, especially when you are tweaking and programming multiple projects. Sometimes, I just zone out because I can't remember what I have to do next since there are so many things that needs attention. Debugging this, debugging that, putting closure logic on this script, testing that script on demo, funding account, etc. etc.

I also keep a reminder of strategies that I find on the internet that I really want to take a deeper look at, or even build a strategy around.

For instance, I have at least 12 different things I need to do currently. But if you ask me list them, I can probably only remember 5 off the top of my head.

Therefore, I use a TO DO list. I still carry a paper notebook and pen everywhere I go, but I also use an online TO DO list, which has proven invaluable to me to keep myself up-to-date and efficient with my time. The list can be loaded as the computer background.

To do list, simple, easy, fast, sharable: Ta-da List

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Life is a Gamble. You win some. You lose some. And life goes on.