How to be a MOnster

[Mira]

so i start off with a risk box and the i split that risk box into ten lines.

should the risk box be a certain percentage of your account size?

how do i determine how many pips one line of risk is? can i say its 15 pips? risk per line automatically goes up by timeframe right? the higher the TF the wider the lines and the smaller my position size?

so i can back out my initial lot size from 0.1666% of account = 30p SL x lot size

if i lose my first trade i do not decrease my lot size because that is my min lot size?

is there a cap at what lot size you use if you keep winning?

thanks MO!

I start with 8 lines but you can start with any number that you feel comfortable with so
long as you understand how stacking speed is affected.

You can use up to 2.5% of your highest account balance to start a risk box.

I 'line' is around 40% of the hourly ATR:
40% x 02 for H4 (H1 position size / 02)
40% x 04 for D1 (H1 position size / 04)
40% x 08 for W1 (H1 position size / 08)
40% x 16 for MN (H1 position size / 16)

If an H1 line = $25 then 1 line in every other period should = $25. If you stack to $75/line then every period = $75/line regardless of whether you move up or down the periods or switch charts.

There is not a cap on size but there is a cap on how valuable a line of a certain width can be:
H1: $100/line
H4: $200
etc.
Reason being that the chart is more likely to unexpectedly take out multiple lines on smaller chart than on a larger chart.

These are guidelines, you should always do what is right for you.

PS: I just now saw Mira's post.

lets say i adjust my lot size up after a 2 line win: 12/10 x lot size = 1.2* initial lot size I still have 10 lines.

but those 10 lines are still worth the same number of pips as the first trade right? the only thing im changing is the lot size after a win or loss but no changes to the width of the lines?

at first i was thinking when we win we adjust the lot size up but to keep a consistent % of risk of the new balance we need to risk less lines the next trade.

Also what is your opinion of not using a stop loss and hedging? lets say for a long at my normal SL of 40 pips i hedge with a short and the next trade if its long i will close my short hedge and vice versa? if my trading has a good win ratio can i get away with not taking losses like this given that the overnight fees are not too high?

Hi ThePark

I’m NOT trying to reply for MO, I just want to share my opinion about this kind of “hedging”.
I spent many months on hedging strategies and they never worked for me.. now I think that buying and selling at the same time an instrument is not hedging.

If you are really sure that price will come back or reverse then just take your loss and trade what you see.. IMHO.
If there is a difference of 40p between your entry and your SL, and price comes back to your entry price (long), you are down of 40p on the short position with no certainty that price will go over your long entry price.
It’s like saying that you took a loss on a short and now you have a long that maybe you don’t even want no more.

May you could cut your size in half when you see that things are not going well but you still believe in your trade

However, defining when I’m wrong about a trade opened my eyes

[MightyOne]

lets say i adjust my lot size up after a 2 line win: 12/10 x lot size = 1.2* initial lot size I still have 10 lines.

1. but those 10 lines are still worth the same number of pips as the first trade right? the only thing im changing is the lot size after a win or loss but no changes to the width of the lines?

2. at first i was thinking when we win we adjust the lot size up but to keep a consistent % of risk of the new balance we need to risk less lines the next trade.

3. Also what is your opinion of not using a stop loss and hedging? lets say for a long at my normal SL of 40 pips i hedge with a short and the next trade if its long i will close my short hedge and vice versa? if my trading has a good win ratio can i get away with not taking losses like this given that the overnight fees are not too high?

1. The line width is based on a percentage of the hourly ATR and the period that is being traded. If you decide to move up to an H4 chart after increasing your size from 10 to 12 on the hourly then your new size will be 6 lots, because the lines are twice as wide, and you will have as many
lines as you had before.

2. I do not consider OPM to be risk the same as one who does not consider a retracement from the highest possible price to be a loss: it's all fluctuation until you either hit your win goal or your loss limit.

3. Hedging in FX has never made sense to me.
If you are trading Futures then you could leg into a intermonth spread and continue to make money.

[Mira]

First one of the week, just waiting for the last little effort

Edit: I took profits at the candle close (a few minutes after the screen, some pips lower)

896C1EA2-2851-4D26-B417-87C559655F0C.png (80.72 KiB) Viewed 2468 times

[thepark]

I start with 8 lines but you can start with any number that you feel comfortable with so
long as you understand how stacking speed is affected.

You can use up to 2.5% of your highest account balance to start a risk box.

I 'line' is around 40% of the hourly ATR:
40% x 02 for H4 (H1 position size / 02)
40% x 04 for D1 (H1 position size / 04)
40% x 08 for W1 (H1 position size / 08)
40% x 16 for MN (H1 position size / 16)

If an H1 line = $25 then 1 line in every other period should = $25. If you stack to $75/line then every period = $75/line regardless of whether you move up or down the periods or switch charts.

There is not a cap on size but there is a cap on how valuable a line of a certain width can be:
H1: $100/line
H4: $200
etc.
Reason being that the chart is more likely to unexpectedly take out multiple lines on smaller chart than on a larger chart.

These are guidelines, you should always do what is right for you.

PS: I just now saw Mira's post.

lets say i adjust my lot size up after a 2 line win: 12/10 x lot size = 1.2* initial lot size I still have 10 lines.

but those 10 lines are still worth the same number of pips as the first trade right? the only thing im changing is the lot size after a win or loss but no changes to the width of the lines?

at first i was thinking when we win we adjust the lot size up but to keep a consistent % of risk of the new balance we need to risk less lines the next trade.

Also what is your opinion of not using a stop loss and hedging? lets say for a long at my normal SL of 40 pips i hedge with a short and the next trade if its long i will close my short hedge and vice versa? if my trading has a good win ratio can i get away with not taking losses like this given that the overnight fees are not too high?

Hi ThePark

I’m NOT trying to reply for MO, I just want to share my opinion about this kind of “hedging”.
I spent many months on hedging strategies and they never worked for me.. now I think that buying and selling at the same time an instrument is not hedging.

If you are really sure that price will come back or reverse then just take your loss and trade what you see.. IMHO.
If there is a difference of 40p between your entry and your SL, and price comes back to your entry price (long), you are down of 40p on the short position with no certainty that price will go over your long entry price.
It’s like saying that you took a loss on a short and now you have a long that maybe you don’t even want no more.

May you could cut your size in half when you see that things are not going well but you still believe in your trade

However, defining when I’m wrong about a trade opened my eyes

the rationale my friend had for hedging was theres no need to take a loss if you know how to trade, you will eventually gain it back but locking in a floating loss kind of scares me while others may think taking a loss is harder on their mental game.

[thepark]

lets say i adjust my lot size up after a 2 line win: 12/10 x lot size = 1.2* initial lot size I still have 10 lines.

1. but those 10 lines are still worth the same number of pips as the first trade right? the only thing im changing is the lot size after a win or loss but no changes to the width of the lines?

2. at first i was thinking when we win we adjust the lot size up but to keep a consistent % of risk of the new balance we need to risk less lines the next trade.

3. Also what is your opinion of not using a stop loss and hedging? lets say for a long at my normal SL of 40 pips i hedge with a short and the next trade if its long i will close my short hedge and vice versa? if my trading has a good win ratio can i get away with not taking losses like this given that the overnight fees are not too high?

1. The line width is based on a percentage of the hourly ATR and the period that is being traded. If you decide to move up to an H4 chart after increasing your size from 10 to 12 on the hourly then your new size will be 6 lots, because the lines are twice as wide, and you will have as many
lines as you had before.

2. I do not consider OPM to be risk the same as one who does not consider a retracement from the highest possible price to be a loss: it's all fluctuation until you either hit your win goal or your loss limit.

3. Hedging in FX has never made sense to me.
If you are trading Futures then you could leg into a intermonth spread and continue to make money.

i think i get it now.... i used it today and think its brilliant. one question though, if you are trading more than one pair what lot size do you use if an open trade has not reached its conclusion? starting with 8 lines and you risked 2 lines and you are currently down one line. do you adjust your lot size here for your floating loss of one line or the fact that you could lose 2 lines?

[MightyOne]

i think i get it now.... i used it today and think its brilliant. one question though, if you are trading more than one pair what lot size do you use if an open trade has not reached its conclusion? starting with 8 lines and you risked 2 lines and you are currently down one line. do you adjust your lot size here for your floating loss of one line or the fact that you could lose 2 lines?

I only make adjustments after trades are closed.

If you are going to be trading multiple pairs then you might: have 2 trades going in H1, halve the size of the first trade (turning it into H4), quarter the other (turning it into a D1 trade), and look for another H1- entry.

The profit taking frees up margin and the more passive income of the larger charts allows you to focus on other things.

EURJPYDaily.png (25.23 KiB) Viewed 2432 times

[nat]

i think i get it now.... i used it today and think its brilliant. one question though, if you are trading more than one pair what lot size do you use if an open trade has not reached its conclusion? starting with 8 lines and you risked 2 lines and you are currently down one line. do you adjust your lot size here for your floating loss of one line or the fact that you could lose 2 lines?

I only make adjustments after trades are closed.

If you are going to be trading multiple pairs then you might: have 2 trades going in H1, halve the size of the first trade (turning it into H4), quarter the other (turning it into a D1 trade), and look for another H1- entry.

The profit taking frees up margin and the more passive income of the larger charts allows you to focus on other things.

EURJPYDaily.png

is there anything else that made you decide eur/jpy was short? it first went long like i thought from my black line. where candle labeled 1 closed it looked like it would be long again. but candle 2 (sunday candle) closed lower. since my black line already got zeroed out would it have been smarter to go short from the return to the pink line?

92517.png (26.72 KiB) Viewed 2402 times

[Mira]

It looks like price was trying to fall there.. but then it breaks out and in.
A break out and in is there at the bottom too, but I can't see it at the top. What am I missing?

Thank you much for helping!

The definition of a Rat "flip-flop" is simply this:

1) price makes a new high
2) a bearish candle closes
3) enter when the BID touches the low of said bearish candle

Then there are nuances:
1) Rats with full bellies have lazy feet: when the reversal bar is almost entirely a body then don't expect much.
2) When the reversal bar is long, the cheese is far-gone: price has likely raced to a pattern and will return to the prev. pattern.

Then there are continuation Rats, but lets not get into that just yet.

flip-flop.png

LOL now that I go back on these charts I SEE!

but

What is a continuation Rat?
Thanks MO!

[Mira]

i think i get it now.... i used it today and think its brilliant. one question though, if you are trading more than one pair what lot size do you use if an open trade has not reached its conclusion? starting with 8 lines and you risked 2 lines and you are currently down one line. do you adjust your lot size here for your floating loss of one line or the fact that you could lose 2 lines?

I only make adjustments after trades are closed.

If you are going to be trading multiple pairs then you might: have 2 trades going in H1, halve the size of the first trade (turning it into H4), quarter the other (turning it into a D1 trade), and look for another H1- entry.

The profit taking frees up margin and the more passive income of the larger charts allows you to focus on other things.

EURJPYDaily.png

is there anything else that made you decide eur/jpy was short? it first went long like i thought from my black line. where candle labeled 1 closed it looked like it would be long again. but candle 2 (sunday candle) closed lower. since my black line already got zeroed out would it have been smarter to go short from the return to the pink line?

92517.png

Hi nat!

Can I ask you how do you see price levels?

I focused very much on reversal trades and now they are working for me, but your entry style looks different and I’d like to learn.

Thank you much!

[Captain Pugwash]

i think i get it now.... i used it today and think its brilliant. one question though, if you are trading more than one pair what lot size do you use if an open trade has not reached its conclusion? starting with 8 lines and you risked 2 lines and you are currently down one line. do you adjust your lot size here for your floating loss of one line or the fact that you could lose 2 lines?

I only make adjustments after trades are closed.

If you are going to be trading multiple pairs then you might: have 2 trades going in H1, halve the size of the first trade (turning it into H4), quarter the other (turning it into a D1 trade), and look for another H1- entry.

The profit taking frees up margin and the more passive income of the larger charts allows you to focus on other things.

EURJPYDaily.png

is there anything else that made you decide eur/jpy was short? it first went long like i thought from my black line. where candle labeled 1 closed it looked like it would be long again. but candle 2 (sunday candle) closed lower. since my black line already got zeroed out would it have been smarter to go short from the return to the pink line?

92517.png

2017-09-25_1804.png (74.69 KiB) Viewed 2393 times

use the chart then look for a double failure EDIT or i should say a failure, as the line is the first to fail to close over)