Monday 31 March 2014

Results : March 2014

I used the weekend as my cut off point for the end of March.  I like to have a little spare time to crunch numbers and, in this case, work a few new formulas into the spreadsheet.

So far since inception the All Ordinaries has fallen 1.83%.  The Hitcher Lost 6.75%, Flipper lost 8.13% and the Random portfolio made 1.87%.  The numbers look like this:


There is very little we can deduce from this because there isn't enough data to work on.  There are no closed profits.  In trend following systems you cut losses quickly and let profits run so you should expect to take mostly losses early on.  There is no real open profit except in the Random system.  The All Ordinaries fell and so did most of the held stocks, so no surprise there.

Possibly the most interesting items are:

  • The random portfolio didn't take a single closed loss while most of the Hitcher trades were losers.  This is part pure luck and part due to the slightly different stop loss management.  It will be interesting to watch this relationship develop.
  • The Flipper system, which uses no leverage, performed worst of all.  This is purely because there is no individual trend filter on the Flipper purchases.  Some of the opening trades make me want to ignore the entry because it happily buys into multi-year down trends simply because there has been a little brightness on the horizon.  This system has horrendous volatility which means huge gains AND draw-downs.  Remember this whenever some marketer tries to sell you a system.  It's easy to be blinded by the expected gains and written off by the actual losses.

Sunday 30 March 2014

Forex : 31st March : New orders

AUDNZD

I'm a day late with this one.  Ideally there would have been an order at the midpoint of Thursday's outside bar and an entry already made.  There is still an opportunity to leave an order and get in provided it doesn't track down too far in the Asian session Monday.  So once the Asian open has settled the order would be Sell 1.0692 Stop 1.0763 with an initial target around the old lows.

Disclaimer
I am not a financial adviser.  These are paper trades.  I am not suggesting you follow these signals.  If you take any action based on my blog you do so at your own risk.

Stock Trades : 31st March 2014

New trades

Hitcher
Paused

Random
Paused

Flipper
Buy VAH - Stop 0.31



Closing

Hitcher
VRL - Hard stop tagged - Lose 1.24 R

Chart courtesy of www,incredibleCharts.com





Random
Nil

Flipper
Nil


Disclaimer
I am not a financial adviser.  These are paper trades.  I am not suggesting you follow these signals.  If you take any action based on my blog you do so at your own risk.

Friday 28 March 2014

Stock Trades : 28th March 2014

New trades

Hitcher
Paused

Random
Paused

Flipper
Buy LYC - Stop 0.18
Buy RFE - Stop 0.096


Closing

Hitcher
VRL - Soft stop activated - move hard stop to 6.82




Random
Nil

Flipper
Nil


Disclaimer
I am not a financial adviser.  These are paper trades.  I am not suggesting you follow these signals.  If you take any action based on my blog you do so at your own risk.

Thursday 27 March 2014

Stock Trades : 27th March 2014

New trades

Hitcher
Paused

Random
Paused

Flipper
Nil

Closing

Hitcher
AGI - Hard Stop Tagged - Lose 1.29 R.  

Chart courtesy of www.IncredibleCharts.com





Random
Nil

Flipper
TRY Closed Lose 0.91R

Chart courtesy of www.incrediblecharts.com



Disclaimer
I am not a financial adviser.  These are paper trades.  I am not suggesting you follow these signals.  If you take any action based on my blog you do so at your own risk.

Stock Trades : 26th March 2014

New trades

Hitcher
Paused

Random
Paused

Flipper
Nil

Closing

Hitcher
WAM - Hard Stop Tagged - Lose 0.25R.  In hindsight - an incorrect entry

Chart Courtesy of www.IncredibleCharts.com


Random
Nil

Flipper
GBG Closed @ 0.057 Lose 1.14R

Chart courtesy of www.IncredibleCharts.com

TRY sell @ today's open


Disclaimer
I am not a financial adviser.  These are paper trades.  I am not suggesting you follow these signals.  If you take any action based on my blog you do so at your own risk.

Tuesday 25 March 2014

Stock Trades : 25th March 2014

New trades

Hitcher
Paused

Random
Paused

Flipper
BLY - Stop 0.264
GGG - Stop 0.148

Closing

Hitcher
AGI - Closed under the soft stop - Hard stop moved to 3.94

GXL - Tagged hard stop - closed @ 7.40 Lost 1.2R


Chart Courtesy of www.IncredibleCharts.com


Random
Nil

Flipper
GBG - Exit today's open
NEN Closed - Lose 1.02R


Chart Courtesy www.Incrediblecharts.com




Disclaimer
I am not a financial adviser.  These are paper trades.  I am not suggesting you follow these signals.  If you take any action based on my blog you do so at your own risk
.

Monday 24 March 2014

Forex 24th March 2014 : Cancel GBPCHF

GBPCHF has left the bus stop without retracing into the entry area so I would cancel the orders on this one for now



Disclaimer
I am not a financial adviser.  These are paper trades.  I am not suggesting you follow these signals.  If you take any action based on my blog you do so at your own risk.

New Stock Trades : 24th March 2014

New trades

Hitcher
Paused

Random
Paused

Flipper
Nil

Closing

Hitcher
WAM - Closed under the soft stop - Hard stop moved to 0.975

Random
Nil

Flipper
NEN - Exit today's open

Disclaimer
I am not a financial adviser.  These are paper trades.  I am not suggesting you follow these signals.  If you take any action based on my blog you do so at your own risk.

Friday 21 March 2014

Forex 21st March 2014 : Short GBPCHF

GBPCHF is in a down trend on the 1D chart and has made a pretty decent bearish shooting star rejecting the EMAs


Chart courtesy of www.IncredibleCharts.com


Depending on your own predilections you could short this right here or look for either a retrace into / break out of the shooting star.  I like to find a trail in the 4H charts and take it from there.  So  my order would be short a retrace into 1.4624 with a stop at 1.4660 and a target of 1.4501 for an wasy 1:3 Risk : Reward if it plays out.

Chart courtesy of www.IncredibeCharts.com



Disclaimer
I am not a financial adviser.  These are paper trades.  I am not suggesting you follow these signals.  If you take any action based on my blog you do so at your own risk.

New Stock Trades : 21st March 2014

New trades

Hitcher
Paused

Random
Paused

Flipper
Nil

Closing

Hitcher
 Nil

Random
Nil

Flipper
Nil

Disclaimer
I am not a financial adviser.  These are paper trades.  I am not suggesting you follow these signals.  If you take any action based on my blog you do so at your own risk.

Thursday 20 March 2014

New Stock Trades : 20th March 2014

The ASX is flattening out a bit right now.  My EMAs have become tangled but not yet inverted.  This means that the Hitcher and Random systems will pause buying for the moment but not yet go fully defensive.
Chart courtesy of www.IncredibleCharts.com



New trades

Hitcher
Paused

Random
Paused

Flipper
Buy NEN Stop 0.03 (Stock currently suspended)
Buy DML Stop 0.025
Buy WTF Stop 2.40

Closing

Hitcher
 Nil

Random
Nil

Flipper
Nil

Disclaimer
I am not a financial adviser.  These are paper trades.  I am not suggesting you follow these signals.  If you take any action based on my blog you do so at your own risk.

Wednesday 19 March 2014

New Stock Trades : 19th March 2014

New trades

Hitcher
Nil

Random
At R limit

Flipper
Buy EHL Stop 0.21
Buy GBG Stop 0.059
Buy NEN Stop 0.03
Buy SPL Stop 0.66

Closing

Hitcher
 Nil

Random
Nil

Flipper
Nil

Disclaimer
I am not a financial adviser.  These are paper trades.  I am not suggesting you follow these signals.  If you take any action based on my blog you do so at your own risk.

Tuesday 18 March 2014

New Stock Trades : 18th March 2014

New trades

Hitcher
Nil

Random
At R limit

Flipper
Buy TRY Stop 1.11

Closing

Hitcher
 Nil

Random
Nil

Flipper
Nil

Disclaimer
I am not a financial adviser.  These are paper trades.  I am not suggesting you follow these signals.  If you take any action based on my blog you do so at your own risk.

Monday 17 March 2014

New Stock Trades : 17th March 2014

Despite the drop in the index the on/off switch is still in the on position.
Chart courtesy of www.IncredibleCharts.com


Last week I managed to open 4 new positions in each portfolio.  Other than that nothing much happened so no need to do a weekly positions update just yet.  As the Hitcher and Random portfolios are limited to 6R open risk at any one time, I am only looking for two extra positions in each until the existing trades either get going or stop out.  The flipper still needs 12 positions to fill the portfolio up so it will be buying with ears pinned back for a while yet.
New trades

Hitcher
Buy CLH Stop 1.75 (Disclosure - I own shares in CLH)

Random
Buy RFG Stop 4.17
Buy AHE Stop 3.40

Flipper
No new trades

Closing

Hitcher
 Nil

Random
Nil

Flipper
Nil

Disclaimer
I am not a financial adviser.  These are paper trades.  I am not suggesting you follow these signals.  If you take any action based on my blog you do so at your own risk.

Friday 14 March 2014

New Stock Trades : 14th March 2014


New trades

Hitcher
Full for this week

Random
Full for this week

Flipper
Buy SAR Stop 0.29

Closing

Hitcher
 Nil

Random
Nil

Flipper
Nil

Disclaimer
I am not a financial adviser.  I am not suggesting you follow these signals.  If you take any action based on my blog you do so at your own risk.

Thursday 13 March 2014

New Stock Trades : 13th March 2014


New trades

Hitcher
Full for this week

Random
Full for this week

Flipper
Nil

Closing

Hitcher
 Nil

Random
Nil

Flipper
Nil

Disclaimer
I am not a financial adviser.  I am not suggesting you follow these signals.  If you take any action based on my blog you do so at your own risk.

Wednesday 12 March 2014

New Stock Trades : 12th March 2014


New trades

Hitcher
 GXL Stop 7.50
 WAM Stop 1.935

Random
Full for this week

Flipper
ARP Stop 10.22

Closing

Hitcher
 Nil

Random
Nil

Flipper
Nil

Disclaimer
I am not a financial adviser.  I am not suggesting you follow these signals.  If you take any action based on my blog you do so at your own risk.

Tuesday 11 March 2014

Today's Trade Updates

After a flip through  all the charts I was unable to find any new entries for the day for Stocks or Forex.

 Yesterdays AUDNZD signal has headed off in the right direction but without retracing into the entry area so that one is off the table for now.


Trading is often like this.  On many days nothing much happens and the skill required is to be able to happily sit on ones hands.

Sunday 9 March 2014

Foreign Exchange

Now for a change of flavor.  I like to trade currencies when I am able.  Even though I cannot trade at the moment I still like to check for signals - having done so I might as well put them in here and track them.

AUDNZD
I see a shooting star rejecting nearby resistance.  I would place an entry order half way up the candle at 1.0725 with a stop at 1.0777.  I would like to see this heading into the old lows at 1.0569 giving a conservative R:R of 1:3 - let's see how it plays out.




Disclaimer
I am not a financial adviser.  I am not suggesting you follow these signals.  If you take any action based on my blog you do so at your own risk.

New trades for Monday 10th March 2014

With three new systems now running I decided it will be easier and cleaner to use one page for the entries and exits.

New trades

Hitcher
 AGI Stop 4.07
 VRL Stop 6.90

Random
ARG Stop 7.05
AJA Stop 3.56
CHC Stop 3.78 - Disclosure - I own shares in CHC
SYD Stop 3.92

Flipper
MDL Stop 1.98
SYR Stop 2.60

Disclaimer
I am not a financial adviser.  I am not suggesting you follow these signals.  If you take any action based on my blog you do so at your own risk.

Flipper System : Introduction

Having introduced the Hitcher and the Random system, I thought maybe a third system with a very different methodology might make a nice counterpoint for comparative purposes.

In his book "Unholy Grails" Nick Radge compares and back tests a number of systems that are all over the internet in one form or another.  To get the full flavor of this type of trading I urge you to buy this book.  I don't receive any fee for endorsing anything I mention in this blog but I'm happy to recommend things that have been significant in my trading journey.  If I could go back in time and only buy 10 trading books rather than the 100 or so I have read then this would be one of them.

One of the systems in Unholy Grails is the 20% flipper.  Quite simply if a stock rises 20% from a low, it's a buy and if it then falls 20% from a high you sell it.  The aim is to hold 20 stocks.  There is an on/off version which gives a smoother equity curve but the raw flipper contains very little in the way of rules.  Hilariously it was one of the best performing methods in the book in terms of outright return, but it also has a fairly significant draw down occasionally which would make it hard for many people to trade in real life.

Here is a quick look at one stock over a period of time.  You can see that the profitable trades outweigh the losing ones but you can also sense the frustration available to the people who need to be right.  In the back tests Nick Radge did, the Flipper had a win rate just over 40% so we need to remember that trading isn't about being right - it's about making money!

Chart courtesy of www.IncredibleCharts.com



As I am not trading with my money here I will run my version of the 20% flipper over the ASX 101 - 300 with no on/off switch.  The money rules have to be a little different because I don't think it's a system suited to using leverage (at least not at the rates my CFD provider charges) so I will pretend I have a $100,000 account with a normal broker and that I am paying $20 a side brokerage.  I will still hold a maximum 16 stocks and start off buying $6,000 at a time.  I will also go all in and buy flat out until the book is full.

27th April 2014 - In an effort to stop the Flipper buying so many dogs I have amended the universe from the ASX 101 to 300 to anything in the All Ords with a minimum turnover of $500,000 a day and a minimum price of 25 cents.  I then amended the maximum (currently $10) price until I got a universe of 200 shares

Saturday 8 March 2014

Random System : Yes that's right, your eyes aren't deceiving you!

As I have mentioned before, I believe that, if your universe is full of up-trending stocks, then buying randomly should produce positive returns over time provided you trail stops sensibly etc etc

In an effort to prove this I will run a random portfolio alongside the Hitcher system using roughly the same rules.  The big difference is that instead of using the RSI, Volatility trigger I will generate a random number and buy that number stock, out of my list of stocks, as long as the initial risk is less than 10% of the price.  I will also only use the Hitcher hard stop rather than the two stop system.  Finally, my profit target will be the hard stop plus 4.5R


One thing is for sure - it will be a lot easier finding a stock to buy than plowing through the 150 - 200 odd charts this universe includes.

So, without further ado, the first four numbers out of the hat are 9, 12, 29 & 96


  Lets look at the charts

9th in the list is ARG - Closed at 7.28 Stop is 7.03



12th is AJA - Closed at 3.95 Stop 3.56 - just meets the stop loss criteria



29th CHC - Closed 4.07 Stop 3.78 (disclosure - I own shares in CHC)



Finally SYD - Closed at 4.22 Stop 3.92

All Charts courtesy of www.incredibleCharts.com


Well see how these open on Monday but don't forget the ...

Disclaimer - I am not a financial adviser, I am not suggesting you follow these signals.  I am only paper trading them myself.  If you take any action based on my blog you do so at your own risk.


Hitcher System 4 : The Plan "If you fail to plan - you plan to fail"

In reality the first three Hitcher posts also form part of the plan too, but this general section will be common among the Hitcher trades and the random trades (more on them soon).

My Imaginary account will start with $50,000

My brokerage will be 0.1% of the trade size (minimum 8%)

The account is leveraged and borrowing costs are RBA Cash Rate + 3%

Maximum Risk per trade ( R ) starts at $800 but will increase each time the trading capital steps up another 10 grand as in the following table.  You can see I want my trade size to grow BUT I want it to become a smaller percentage of the capital



Maximum Trade Count : 16
Maximum new trades each week : 4
Maximum open R : 6R

Friday 7 March 2014

Hitcher System 3 : Exit(s)

I use the term exit(s) in the title but obviously I can only sell the stock once.  There are three scenarios that will cause me to get out.

chart courtesy of www.IncredibleCharts.com


Initial and soft stop (Orange Line)
this is the low of the last 25 days - I will calculate my position size from this and it will be my trailing stop but only on paper - if there is a close below this line I will move my hard stop up to the low of the day.

Hard Stop (Red dots)
I never leave a trade in the system without some kind of disaster protection.  When the system is on then the lower of the two stops should do the job.  When the system is off then I will be more defensive and use the higher of the two.

Target (Blue Line)
Occasionally things bubble up and I like to take my money and run when they do.  I know that's not a normal part of the trend followers creed but we all have our quirks - note  that my target will never go up and down like this wiggly line - up is the only acceptable direction.  Also, I will set this at 3R profit at trade inception - that is the minimum I want for a snatch and grab style trade.

Hitcher System 2 : Entry

An unseemly amount of time has passed since I discussed the on/off rules for this system.  As they say - "Life is what happens while you are making other plans!"

So let's get stuck into the rest of the plan and start making trades.

Assuming our system is turned on we need a universe and a buy rule.  For this exercise my universe is all ASX stocks priced between 20 cents and 10 dollars where the 20 day moving average of value traded is above $500,000.  I take that list about once a month and immediately remove anything not in a decent up trend.

When will I be buying?

chart courtesy of www.IncredibleCharts.com


Remembering that I once said "If your universe of stocks are all in an uptrend you can just about buy randomly and trail a stop".  It therefore follows that I don't believe in getting too complicated with buy criteria.  Quite simply I'm looking for a dip in the RSI followed by a volatility breakout then I will buy the next open PROVIDED THE RISK IS LESS THAN 10% OF THE OPENING PRICE.

Next...  Exits