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Archive for the ‘systems’ Category

On building Trading Systems

Wednesday, December 5th, 2007

A member named Leth at Trading-Lab.com crafted a nice post on building two simple trading systems. Leth calls them System1 and System 2.

Simple System 1
Simple EMA (Exponential Moving Average) Crossover with a set period of 20 days (fast EMA) and 55 days (slow EMA); using daily charts. This system is always in the market and is considered a Mid-Term Trend Following Method.

System Rules:
1. Check your positions EOD only.
2. Go long at the market the day after the fast 20 day EMA crosses above the slow 55 day EMA.
3. Go short at the market the day after the fast 20 day EMA crosses below the slow 55 day EMA.
4. Always exit and reverse position the day after the fast EMA and the slow EMA cross.

Bet Size:
1. Minimum Starting Capital: $10,000.00
2. Add only as much outside capital to your trading account as you can afford to risk.
3. Bet no more than 2% of total capital on any one position depending on your risk threshold.

How Many Assets to Trade:
1. Trade only 20 equities/commodities of your choice (using a diverse portfolio).
Failsafe:
1. If you have more than 10 losing trades in a row, cut back .5% of your total per trade capital.
2. When you feel that your trading is going well again, add .5% back to your total per trade capital.
Alternatives:
For a shorter term method: Set parameters to fast EMA (10); slow EMA (30) and risk only 2% of your total capital per trade.
For a longer term method: Set parameters to fast EMA (55); slow EMA (100) and risk no more than 2.5% of your total capital per trade.

Simple System 2

Simple price breakout system using Bollinger Bands with a set period of 40 days; using daily charts.

Using Bollinger Bands can accomplish 2 things:
1. Provide support and resistance, and
2. Measure volatility.
The BB overlay can help you choose whether or not you want to be in the market based on your volatility threshold. This system is considered a Mid-Term Trend Following Method.

System Rules
1. Check your positions EOD only.
2. Go long at the market the day after the price closes above the upper Bollinger Band.
3. Go short at the market the day after the price closes below the lower Bollinger Band.
4. Always exit and reverse position the day after the price closes above/below the upper or lower Bollinger Bands.

Bet Size:
1. Minimum Starting Capital: $10,000.00
2. Add only as much outside capital to your trading account as you can afford to risk.
3. Bet no more than 2% of total capital on any one position depending on your risk threshold.

How Many Assets to Trade:
1. Trade only 20 equities/commodities of your choice (using a diverse portfolio).
Failsafe:
1. If you have more than 10 losing trades in a row, cut back .5% of your total per trade capital.
2. When you feel your trading is going well again, add .5% back to your total per trade capital.

Alternatives:
For a shorter term method: Set parameter to a period of (20) days and risk only 2% of your total capital per trade.
For a longer term method: Set parameter to a period of (100) days and risk no more than 2.5% of your total capital per trade.
As you can see, these systems are trend following in nature and therefore are not conducive to intra-day trading. I chose to create these particular systems (as examples) because trend following works in harmony with my personal trading psychology and philosophy. However, the same building blocks can be used in creating any trading system.
*Disclaimer: Your personal choice in trading methods should be based on your evaluation and understanding of risk. The author of this article (Leth) is not liable for any personal losses accrued as a result of the above system(s) utilization.

Please go to trading-lab.com for more excellent trading system articles.

Other trading systems resources: Tradery, Collective, Wealth-Lab, TradingBlox