Friday close

October 16, 2009

Well here's how our week ended about 10 minutes ago at 17:00 EST. Remember that eurgbp should be about +120 more than what is showing:



Alright, another week-end coming up, hope it's nice where you are, we've been having rainy weather all week !

Have a great WEEK-END !!!

Nice week again

October 15, 2009

Here are this week’s trades so far :



The EURGBP should actually be about + 120, not 4 – this is due to a double technical glitch I had with this one (invalid price).

As you can see below, there was a sell on oct 8 followed by a cross up but my trade didn’t exit. If things went ok on your side, you should have taken the first long for some nice profit then re-entered short at about 93.03 and would currently be about + 120 pips (don’t forget, eurgpb’s pips are currently worth $1.63 US, so you need to multiply).



We’ll see how the week unwinds tomorrow

MT4 error messages and descriptions

There are 2 files for which you have access in your MT4 platform which are related to error messages. The 2 files are located here:

1. C:\Program files\Your_MT4_Directory\Experts\Include\stderror.mqh
2. C:\Program files\Your_MT4_Directory\Experts\Librairies\stdlib.mq4

First, you’ve got a list of codes returned from the trade server, followed by MQL4 errors. You can see the number of the error and the code description – see below:

//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
// return error description
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+

//---- codes returned from trade server
case 0:
case 1: error_string="no error";
case 2: error_string="common error";
case 3: error_string="invalid trade parameters";
case 4: error_string="trade server is busy";
case 5: error_string="old version of the client terminal";
case 6: error_string="no connection with trade server";
case 7: error_string="not enough rights";
case 8: error_string="too frequent requests";
case 9: error_string="malfunctional trade operation (never returned error)";
case 64: error_string="account disabled";
case 65: error_string="invalid account";
case 128: error_string="trade timeout";
case 129: error_string="invalid price";
case 130: error_string="invalid stops";
case 131: error_string="invalid trade volume";
case 132: error_string="market is closed";
case 133: error_string="trade is disabled";
case 134: error_string="not enough money";
case 135: error_string="price changed";
case 136: error_string="off quotes";
case 137: error_string="broker is busy (never returned error)";
case 138: error_string="requote";
case 139: error_string="order is locked";
case 140: error_string="long positions only allowed";
case 141: error_string="too many requests";
case 145: error_string="modification denied because order too close to market";
case 146: error_string="trade context is busy";
case 147: error_string="expirations are denied by broker";
case 148: error_string="amount of open and pending orders has reached the limit";


//---- mql4 errors

case 4000: error_string="no error (never generated code)";
case 4001: error_string="wrong function pointer";
case 4002: error_string="array index is out of range";
case 4003: error_string="no memory for function call stack";
case 4004: error_string="recursive stack overflow";
case 4005: error_string="not enough stack for parameter";
case 4006: error_string="no memory for parameter string";
case 4007: error_string="no memory for temp string";
case 4008: error_string="not initialized string";
case 4009: error_string="not initialized string in array";
case 4010: error_string="no memory for array\' string";
case 4011: error_string="too long string";
case 4012: error_string="remainder from zero divide";
case 4013: error_string="zero divide";
case 4014: error_string="unknown command";
case 4015: error_string="wrong jump (never generated error)";
case 4016: error_string="not initialized array";
case 4017: error_string="dll calls are not allowed";
case 4018: error_string="cannot load library";
case 4019: error_string="cannot call function";
case 4020: error_string="expert function calls are not allowed";
case 4021: error_string="not enough memory for temp string returned from function";
case 4022: error_string="system is busy (never generated error)";
case 4050: error_string="invalid function parameters count";
case 4051: error_string="invalid function parameter value";
case 4052: error_string="string function internal error";
case 4053: error_string="some array error";
case 4054: error_string="incorrect series array using";
case 4055: error_string="custom indicator error";
case 4056: error_string="arrays are incompatible";
case 4057: error_string="global variables processing error";
case 4058: error_string="global variable not found";
case 4059: error_string="function is not allowed in testing mode";
case 4060: error_string="function is not confirmed";
case 4061: error_string="send mail error";
case 4062: error_string="string parameter expected";
case 4063: error_string="integer parameter expected";
case 4064: error_string="double parameter expected";
case 4065: error_string="array as parameter expected";
case 4066: error_string="requested history data in update state";
case 4099: error_string="end of file";
case 4100: error_string="some file error";
case 4101: error_string="wrong file name";
case 4102: error_string="too many opened files";
case 4103: error_string="cannot open file";
case 4104: error_string="incompatible access to a file";
case 4105: error_string="no order selected";
case 4106: error_string="unknown symbol";
case 4107: error_string="invalid price parameter for trade function";
case 4108: error_string="invalid ticket";
case 4109: error_string="trade is not allowed in the expert properties";
case 4110: error_string="longs are not allowed in the expert properties";
case 4111: error_string="shorts are not allowed in the expert properties";
case 4200: error_string="object is already exist";
case 4201: error_string="unknown object property";
case 4202: error_string="object is not exist";
case 4203: error_string="unknown object type";
case 4204: error_string="no object name";
case 4205: error_string="object coordinates error";
case 4206: error_string="no specified subwindow";
default: error_string="unknown error";

New version of EA - Error Messages

New version of EA – Error messages

You might remember I wrote a while back about an error message I have been getting from time to time for which (1) I don’t know the cause and (2) can’t find a solution because of (1). So I just live with it. That error is “(0) No Error”. Now what this does is after there is a valid cross and an alert is sent, the open trade order is sent but then this No Error shows up and no trade is taken. You can see in the example below exactly what shows up in your lower Experts folder. This happened last Monday with GBPAUD (you have to read from bottom to top).



As you can see, you’ve got first “Alert: Moving Average Cross Down” followed by the closing of the previous Buy then it says the stdlib was loaded successfully (more on that later) then instead of getting a normal message which would say “Open Sell”, the Error Message appeared “Error Opening Sell order: (0) no error” and no trade was taken. Let me show you what happened to GBPAUD after that:



You can see the closing of the previous Buy (red triangle) and also the crossing of the MAs and also that no Sell order was taken – this would appear as a small red arrow. You can also see that this trade would currently be approx. +700 pips.

Well the problem is now partially solved ! I finally got a very good and friendly programmer, Mladen, to help me out with this. As far as I can understand his explanation, this is kind of a “false” error in the sense that all errors are supposed to have a number + a description (see next post with all the errors listed). This one is due to a programming glitch which results in the correct “error” not being shown which shows up as a (0) error. What the programmer did is fix things so next time the error occurs, it will return the RIGHT number and description and I’ll finally be able to figure out what the problem is – maybe it’s because of a special parameter in the EA or it’s broker related or something else, but at least I’ll know what it is and then be able to figure out a way to correct it, if it’s possible. It might not be – remember sometimes we get the “Trade Context Busy” error for which we can’t do anything because it’s broker related and we just have to accept it as part of our trading life. But maybe it’ll be something else which can be fixed. So I’m totally grateful to Mladen for his help and next week I’ll be watching closely to see what was hiding behind that (0) error. I uploaded the new version of the EA on my transfer site, so feel free to go get it and replace it, if you’ve been getting those error messages (some people do, some don’t, it’s really a mystery case, that one).

Now if you do get the new version, you’ll need to do a few things. First make a back-up copy of your old version and save it somewhere with a new file name, just in case. The new EA has EXACTLY the same filename as the old one to ensure that no problem occurs so you don’t need to worry about anything. Simply copy the new EA in the Experts directory and that should do the trick (shut down and re-launch your MT4 platforms). If you’ve got any open trades, I thought you’d need to manage them manually, of course, because the new EA can’t “remember” what it hasn’t taken. But I just did a test myself, and by golly! The new EA remembers the old trades! Fascinating. But still, I’ll keep a close eye to make sure. I’ll test things out when markets open and confirm here if that’s all you need to do and that things worked out smoothly (or not) so if you’re unsure, wait a bit before downloading the new EA.

My next entry will be dedicated to the various Error Messages which you can get and what they mean.

UPDATE: A FOLLOW-UP TO THIS POST CAN BE FOUND HERE:

http://forexleader-forexleader.blogspot.com/2010/02/error-messages.html

Moving along nicely

October 6, 2009

Here is the situation just a bit before 17:00 EST:



As you can see, apart from an "old" trade, taken last Wednesday and 3 trades taken on Friday, the others are all since Sunday open. We opened on Sunday at approx. +220 and have just barely reached +1k.

What is NFP?

October 3, 2009

Another week has gone by ! We didn’t reach 3k at the beginning of the week, but came pretty close.

This week was a good one as well, not as spectacular as last week, but still very good. Yesterday was the 1st Friday of the month and as such, the Non-Farm Employment Change in the US (or Non-Farm Payrolls or NFP) came out and this event is considered one of the most important “news” as it can move markets with a vengeance. We did have some movement yesterday, but not as much as some other months.

Here’s what the NFP covers (quote from Forex Factory Calendar section):

Source: Bureau of labor statistics

Measures: Change in the number of employed people during the previous month, excluding the farming industry;

Usual Effect: Actual > Forecast = Good for currency (Note: While this is the 'usual' effect, under current market conditions the reverse tends to be true against some currencies, as bad data has been triggering the purchase of US bonds);

Frequency: Released monthly, usually on the first Friday after the month ends;

Next Release: Nov 6, 2009

FF Notes: This is vital economic data released shortly after the month ends. The combination of importance and earliness makes for hefty market impacts;

Why Traders Care: Job creation is an important leading indicator of consumer spending, which accounts for a majority of overall economic activity;

Also Called: Non-Farm Payrolls, NFP, Employment Change;

Have a great week-end once again !

Sunday open

September 27, 2009

We opened at 17:00 EST @ approx. + 2k. Here is the situation at 5 minz before 20:00 EST:




Will we reach 3k tonight ??? SUSPENSE ! This is amazing.......

Friday close

September 25, 2009

Another great week comes to an end and markets have now gone to sleep. We closed at over +2k as you can see below with all but one trade on the positive side of the spectrum:



nb: I made some mistakes with my screenshots yesterday, as you might have noticed, my MT4 terminal window wasn't open high enough so the 2 first trades weren't showing (gbpjpy and eurjpy). Sorry about that !

OK so have a great week-end all and hope you have fun and relax and be there at market open !

It continues

September 24, 2009

Hehehehhhhe you wanna have some fun? Geeze, I love trading, look at this, couple hours later ;-)

Amazing

September 24, 2009

Just a few minutes later...... No comment required:

Up to 1k again and again

September 24, 2009

A few hours later.... Did I mention earlier that things were going great? Look at this, all new fresh trades just taken today (look at the time column all taken on the 24th)

False signals avoided by parameter setting

September 24, 2009

Good ! Things are going great @ approx. +800 pips at the moment. Yesterday was a « shake & bake » kinda day with the interest rate announcement for the US (which remains at 0.25%) and despite the fact that it stayed the same and WAS ANTICIPATED to stay the same, the markets rocked at 14 :00 EST – One day I’ll try to understand this news trading stuff.

But for now, I want to clarify a technical detail which some of you have asked about. I think I’ve covered this, but I’m not sure. The EA has a parameter which is set (for all pairs) to enter on the NEXT bar after a cross, not right away. I tested both settings on all the pairs, and this is the optimized setting. What this does is it will act as a kind of filter, as you can see in the example below. That’s AUDUSD yesterday afternoon on the 15:00 bar. You can see that the 14:00 bar ended up an almost doji and on that bar, the MA had crossed. Then it uncrossed, and as you can see, on the 15:00 bar, the MAs have NOT crossed because the price went back down. So that’s an example where having this setting prevents “false signals” to be taken, because the next bar acts as a confirmation of a cross.



My forward tests with my three scalpers are going better than expected. I’ve been at this (forward testing) since August 6 and won’t release them until I’m completely satisfied. The backtests gave excellent results, but I want to forward test for a length of time with which I am satisfied. Can’t remember if I mentioned this, but I “baptized” them Papa Scalper (slower TF but less DD), Mama Scalper (higher TF, bit more DD, more profit) and Baby Scalper (fastest TF, more DD, more profit).

OK so 1.5 days left of this trading week, I’ll tell you 2 week-end days off followed by 2 week days OFF just drove me almost crazy !

Japan holidays

September 22, 2009

Well 2 days of total NOTHING or just about on the markets. Yesterday (Monday) was a bank holiday in Japan and today they celebrate "Autumn equinox". Didn't think that Japan being off would cause markets to be so quiet. Total ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ !

Hope things pick up tomorrow !!!!!!

Friday close

September 19, 2009

Busy, busy, busy, + we have an infestation of WASPS !!! near the roof, anyway here’s how we ended the week yesterday:



Some of you have asked about my daily approach (which I use in conjunction with this main system), so I’ll be writing about that in an upcoming entry.

Have a great week-end all and I hope you don’t have WASPS IN YOUR ROOF !

We hit 1k again

September 16, 2009

Just a quick update - we hit the 1k mark again today !




And below you can see gbpaud, this one is really sinking fast right now !!

Beginning of week

September 8, 2009

I can't believe this is ALREADY the second week of September, boy time goes by fast !

I was very busy last week and also experienced some technical problems which caused my 2 platforms to become "desynchronized" at the beginning of the week, so I kinda had to try to see where things were headed with "one eye closed". But since the week before had closed with the trending ahead, I continued in that direction in my account. The week closed at +600 or thereabouts, so again this week I'm going trending and things (technical) seem to be back to normal. Of course yesterday was a very quiet (not to say boring) day because of the holiday here and in the states (labour day) but around 4am (I couldn't sleep) there was some serious action. Then today, well, up a little down a little. And the trending is still ahead at +350 and ranging at -350. For those who were around last year, September was a "groovy" (is that the right word??) month, very trending, so we'll see if this year is the same. I doubt it because last year this time was sort of the beginning of the financial crisis whereas now it's much quieter, but anyway we'll see. So here's where things stand for this week, apart from one trade from last week (Friday) all trades were opened sinced Sunday, so that's about +350 pips, you can't say it gets any easier, and Sunday was quiet plus yesterday was a holiday ! I also have a usdcad trade in my account, but I'll explain about that later (different approach).

sunday open

August 30, 2009

Wow things are moving fast tonight ! Trending platform opened at 17:00 at + 660 and as you can see below, at 22:00 pic just taken, we're currently at +1,000:

News spikes

August 27, 2009

Here's where things stand at 17:00 EST:



Around 14:00 this afternoon, we experienced what I call "mega-candles", big spikes all of a sudden on many pairs, which spook me, I'll tell you. Here's EURUSD:



I first went to consult the economic calendar, but saw no correlation with any "news". Then I went to google finance where I keep an eye on the stock markets. This time, I did put my finger on the cause of this sudden movement. There was an article (which I can't find anymore) saying that some news had just been published about several banks showing very bad results for the second quarter and that stocks had reacted, and well, we can deduct that currencies reacted as well. Here's a related article which gives more detail, if anyone is interested. If you don't want to read it all, there are 2 pics at the end of the article which pretty much sum everything up:

Preparing for a major bank shakeout
Rising failures and a weak economic recovery could accelerate a decades-long trend towards fewer, bigger banks.
By Colin Barr, senior writer
August 27, 2009: 2:34 PM ET

CNNMoney.com
NEW YORK (Fortune) -- The problem bank list is just about the only part of the industry that's growing right now.

The sector's financial problems, outlined by regulators in excruciating detail on Thursday, could speed a shakeout that already has slashed banks' ranks by almost half over two decades.

"We could end up with a couple thousand fewer banks within a few years," said Terry Moore, managing director of consulting firm Accenture's North American banking practice. "You could say we're overbanked right now."

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Thursday that U.S. banks lost $3.7 billion in the second quarter. Bad loans are growing faster than institutions are setting aside in reserves for future losses, while total lending has declined for four straight quarters.

The list of troubled institutions -- those deemed to pose at least a "distinct possibility" of failure -- rose by more than a third during the second quarter, to 416. The FDIC doesn't reveal the names of banks on the problem list.

Anticipating rising costs of dealing with troubled banks, the FDIC on Wednesday formalized new rules for private equity firms and other investors buying failed banks. There has been a heavy trade in failed banks lately, given that 81 institutions have been closed in 2009 and dozens more are expected to be shut over the next year.

The quick pace of failures has already rewarded some prescient bankers.
"We were preparing for this moment for maybe two and a half years," said Norman C. Skalicky, CEO of Stearns Bank, a closely held St. Cloud, Minn., institution that has acquired four banks from the FDIC this year. "The biggest mistake we made was not getting ready a year earlier."

Bank failures aren't the only driver of consolidation. While bank mergers fell to 89 in the first half of 2009 from their recent peak of 153 in the first half of 2007, growth-minded banks such as First Niagara (FNFG) in Lockport, N.Y., are looking for opportunities to expand.

"We are always working with our eyes wide open," said John Koelmel, CEO of First Niagara, which last month announced the acquisition of Harleysville National (HNBC) of Philadelphia. "Our shopping cart isn't full."

The shopping spree ahead -- Moore says the U.S. could lose 2,000 banks by the end of 2012 -- is likely to claim some well known regional banks.
Colonial BancGroup of Alabama and Guaranty Financial Group of Texas have failed over the past month. Chicago condominium lender Corus Bankshares (CORS) has been on death watch for some time.

Judging by stock prices, investors are still questioning the prospects of KeyCorp (KEY, Fortune 500) of Cleveland, Marshall & Ilsley (MI) of Milwaukee and Regions Financial (RF, Fortune 500) of Alabama.

But the bulk of consolidation is likely to come at the expense of smaller banks, whose numbers have been dwindling for decades in the face of deregulation and technological advances that disproportionately aided bigger competitors.

The number of banks with less than $100 million in assets has dropped by more than 5,000 since 1992, according to a study released this year by banking consultancy Celent.

Even more pronounced has been the small banks' loss of deposits. Small banks' share of the U.S. deposit market plunged to 2% last year from almost 13% in 1992, according to Celent data.

"The world is only getting more complex," Celent analyst Bart Narter wrote, noting ever-increasing regulatory paperwork and new businesses such as Internet banking. "Small banks are overwhelmed."

That said, small banks aren't going away. Policymakers such as FDIC chief Sheila Bair have emphasized their importance in lending to small businesses, and studies have found they tend to pay better deposit rates than bigger rivals. The FDIC on Wednesday extended a program that some community bankers credit with helping them to compete with the biggest banks.

And the smallest banks have generally performed better during the financial crisis than their bigger rivals. Banks with less than $100 million in assets make up more than a third of the FDIC's problem bank list, but have accounted for just 11 of 81 bank failures so far this year.

Like their bigger rivals, community banks are now enjoying stronger profit margins in the second quarter, as the spread between the rates banks pay depositors and those they charge to lend to borrowers widened.

"This is good news for community banks, since three-fourths of their revenues come from net interest income," Bair said Thursday.

Going strong

August 26, 2009

Well, as expected we're still going strong. Pic taken just a bit before 18:00 EST:

We're flyin' !

August 25, 2009

Well look at this (pic just taken):



And what's even better, you'll notice there are only 9 trades taken, so one is missing here (because of an error message). But it was taken in my own account, it's gbpaud. I eventually got out of this one at +300 personnally, but it is currently at +322 as you can see here, this is my real account, search for the red arrow, you'll see where it entered:



So in the total balance, you should add +322 right now, for a total of + 1,224 ! I keep saying this over and over, but these trades aren't even 1 week old.... And as I'm typing this the +902 is now +973..........