How To Build An Intraday Trading System

20 years ago, before markets became completely computerised, traders worked off the floor and markets were slower and less efficient. In those days, intraday trading systems could take advantage of those inefficiencies to find a profitable edge. It wasn't easy but it was a lot easier than it is now.

Today, markets are controlled by computers and algorithms. HFT (high frequency trading) contributes to at least 40% of market transactions in some markets and even more in some other markets. Non-HFT algorithms make up a big percentage of the rest.

And the dominant players in HFT and algorithmic trading are big hedge funds and institutions; companies like Goldman Sachs that have huge pools of wealth and resources. Competing against these financial giants for the most part is foolhardy.

Teeing off with Norman

It's like Howard Bandy once said: "trading against Goldman Sachs is like going for a round of golf with Greg Norman. You're never going to win so there's no point in trying." Or something like that.

Consider also, that there are very few examples of anyone even being able to beat the market on an intraday timeframe. And even fewer who have been able to do so with a system.

Still not convinced?

So it's clear that intraday trading is not for the faint of heart and I should know as I spent almost a year trying to time the markets every day in a professional setting.

Even for professionals, intraday trading is supremely difficult and expensive. When I worked as a day trader, we may have had direct access to the market but we also had to pay £150 a day in desk fees, which very quickly mounts up unless you are trading very large size.

But what if you want to ignore these warnings and you're still determined to build an intraday trading system?

I can only wish you the best of luck and suggest the following pointers that come from my own trading experience:

- Avoid forex, there appear to be more inefficiencies in individual stocks and futures.

- Think outside the box. For example, look into social trading, look at the smaller markets that the banks aren't as interested in.

- You can override the system. Longer term systems may not benefit from overriding but there are studies to suggest that humans and machines perform better when working in unison. In fact, in the short-term, discretionary trading usually does better than system trading.

- Conquer the psychological side so as to avoid gambling and emotional stress.

- Understand how to analyse your system so you know when it's stopped working.

Master some of those rules and you'll have a much better chance of making money from an intraday trading system.

Article Source: Here

What Markets Should You Use for Your Portfolio?

A couple of years ago I made a fundamental mistake: until then I had my portfolio focused mostly on index futures markets. For years I have had with this approach really nice results. But that year, I experienced how frustrating it can be, to go through a couple of periods when index markets are underperforming. That was when I have decided to work really hard and improve my intraday portfolio composed of automated trading systems (ATS).

Smooth equity isn't just about the systems - it is a smart combination of markets, timeframes, trading approaches, and, later on, also innovative position sizing. When you think about it, there is the logic behind it.

Even though in times of financial shocks and surprises there is barely any negative correlation in the markets, there are still some markets which live their own lives - and they offer us smart way for diversification.

The result is that when one of the market groups is not doing well, there is another, which compensates the losses from the first one - and makes the equity overall smoother.

What market groups you should use

This is the first question - what markets groups you should combine in order to get the desired result - smooth equity.

We have following futures groups: Index, Currencies, Metals, Energies, Bonds, and Grains. Every market group lives its own life and you can find at least one noticeable market in every group that can represent the whole group.

Personally, I have experimented with all groups and, besides currencies, I can highly recommend any combination. The currencies are, from ATS point of view, highly unstable (for example in Forex, ATS are failing really fast and it is really difficult to find profitable ATS for Forex). It also depends on how many markets you create a system for, and how many markets you trade with your account. But even with rather a small account, you can trade 3-4 markets. For such cases, I would recommend following combinations:

Combination of 3 markets (pick one market from each market group):

• Index
• Grains
• Energies

Combination of 4 markets (pick one market from each market group):

• Index
• Grains
• Energies
• Bonds

Nowadays, I trade several portfolios that are based on the 4 groups mentioned above. Here is an example of one of them (breakout strategies, 30-minute chart, 5 markets, equity for the last 8 years, trading 1 contract per system):

The net profit for all 8 years and all markets combined is 421,548 USD and the max drawdown is just 12,315 USD.

Smoothen the equity by using multiple timeframes

The second way how to smoothen your equity curve (in a combination of trading several markets from different groups) is using several timeframes for every market (ideally without changing system parameters, or with just small changes).

It is more like a final touch than smoothing the equity, but it brings up an interesting idea that it might be better to add new timeframes instead of trading multiple contracts in the same timeframe. Another option is to optimize also the timeframes (check the results of your system on several timeframes and pick one timeframe for each market - it can, but doesn't have to be the same) - but then, we need to ask ourselves how much of over-optimization this is.

Anyway, here is another example of the portfolio mentioned above, when for every market we add the second, 15-minute, timeframe. The equity is slightly smoother, the drawdown hasn't increased so much, but the profit has.

The net profit is 812,457 USD and the drawdown is 18,815 USD.

What systems to use

The best variant is to have in a portfolio both trend and also counter-trend systems. Still, it is sufficient to have a system that can smartly react on both situations (equally, if possible).

I am specialized in breakout strategies and I can say that it is all you need to have a balanced portfolio across several markets - but only if you have systems trading both long and short. Sometimes you just need a simple breakout strategy that doesn't have great performance (that you wouldn't trade individually), but in combination, you have a nice portfolio with smooth equity curve. You need to constantly focus on the performance of the portfolio - it is more important than the performance of underlying systems. Remember when there is a huge drawdown for one market (system), the others can compensate that and you can still make a profit.

For that, you need to have a quality workflow setup how to create new and new strategies, as you will need a lot of them and for several markets. At the same time, it is crucial to have a setup of robustness testing procedures so that we can add to our portfolio really robust strategies.

Article Source: Here

New Stock Trading Idea and Strategies

Remember, a general question comes in every investors mind - firstly, which stock to buy now, because there are thousands of stocks available in the stock market. Is just like a game between of winning and losing. Stock Trading is the very good platform for the all investor's.

If you want to become a good trader, or before invest your money.. read carefully some information and follow them -

Stock market - the stock market is the place, where stocks are bought and sold. In this place where stocks and derivatives at an agreed price.

Stock and Share - stock and share both are the terms refer to the share in the ownership of the company. But it refers to the ownership in one or more companies, but he says that he owns shares, It means he is referring to a particular company's stock.

Stock exchange - It is a facilitates trading for brokers and traders. A broker always acts as a mediator between an exchange and a trader.

Bull- The investors or trader, who buys shares in the more expectation that the Market price of the company's share will increase.

Bull market- When the share market is rising and investor's are more than the sellers.

Closing price- last trading price of a security, at end of trading day.

Intraday Trading or Day Trading - Day trading is a good short term method to earn profit in the short time period, but it is not easy for a regular basis.

Traders, who think that the price of security rise up, go for long, or the price will drop and then one will buy back it at cheaper rate, go to short.

There is some trading strategy, read and follow them-

• How to avoid loss in the stock market?

• How to evaluate management?

• Valuation - It matters much

• When to buy and when to sell

• The First step of picking winning stocks

• Is it required to follow an equity advisor?

• Do's and don't avoid loss in the stock market

• How to construct your portfolio?

It's a very difficult task to become a good trader, without guidelines, first of all see the past performance of the stock market, you can prefer candlestick chart to see the past performance.

Keep in mind, that's how you are investing and in which share, do not invest all your money into a single share.

Article Source: Here

Strategy To Take The Benefit From Stock Option Trading

For some people, stock market is a source of huge wealth. All you have to do is to place orders, sitting at the home comfort. But at times the stock trading can be a risky venture. There are different forms of trading like intraday trading, Long term trading and Short term trading. At ProfitAim, our ultimate aim is to satisfy our clients with maximum profits from their intraday positions with the help of stock option tips as well stock future and stock cash tips.

While the long term trading involves minimum risks, the intraday trading involves maximum risks. One can take the help of expert advisory firms like ProfitAim Research in their trading venture. The advisory firms hire expert technical analysts, who on the basis of their in-depth research provide accurate stock cash tips and stock options tips. 

Apply Best Trading Strategy: Day’s high and Day’s Low

One should also try to use the risk management tools like Stop Loss to minimize their Loss. Trading strategies like Day’s high and Day’s Low can be used to trade effectively in the stock market. In the day’s High and day’s Low Strategy, the market of previous day is considered. The high and Low of the yesterday’s Market is marked.

Best Trading Strategy: Buy at yesterdays high and Sell at Yesterday’s low

In this strategy, we buy at yesterdays high and sell at Yesterday’s low. We can put pending orders at yesterday’s high and Yesterday’s Low. If the market crosses yesterday’s High, It is anticipated to follow the up-trend. Thus, a buy call can be placed to take the benefit of the uptrend. If, the price crosses the yesterday’s low from above, the stock is anticipated to follow a down trend. Thus, a sell trade can be placed to take the benefit of the down trend. During these up trends and down trends, the trailing sop loss can be used to lock the profits. For example, if the market is in uptrend the level of stop-loss can be moved up as the stock price goes up. Similarly in case of down trend, the stop-loss level can be moved down, as the price moves down. The concept of trailing Stop Loss is very useful in locking profits and preventing losses.

Drastic Movements of Stock Market

Stock Market is a kind of business which is driven by fear, greed, and selfishness, and very few stocks give a chance to earn good profits. The drastic market movements can only be understood by the research specialists who perform continuous analysis. At ProfitAim, we focus on the stocks which have a High win rate and low losing rate.

There are 3 important segments of equity trading. Cash segment, Futures Segment and Options segments are the major ones. In case of Cash Segment, the current price of the equity is traded. In case of options, put or Call can be bought or sold. In case of futures, a future contract is signed. ProfitAim Research provides expert advice in form of Stock Cash Tips and Stock Option tips. Our ultimate aim is to satisfy our clients with maximum profits from their intraday positions.

Market Trends and Common Filters

One of the trading pearls of wisdom is to always trade "with the wind at your back."

The reasoning here is that the trend, or the overall direction of price for a pre-determined time-frame, is most likely to persist in that direction for a greater period of time than price movement in the opposing direction, and therefore placing trades in the same direction of the trend puts the odds of winning on your side.

Of course there are other things to consider. For example, there is the TIMING of entering the trade in the direction of the trend. You could know the overall trend to be bullish and enter a trade LONG (buying), but if you do so right when a correction is beginning (when prices move counter-trend temporarily), you could turn out a loser if you are unable to withstand the losses that will accrue during that correction. So clearly knowing and trading in the direction of the trend is just part of the equation.

Another thing to consider is the method of determining the trend. You can use moving averages or some other oscillating indicator, or you can use trendlines and note the angle of ascent or descent of the market swings, or some other method. You also have to determine the time-frame for the trends you wish to base your trades on.

For instance, if you are a day trader you certainly do not want to determine the trend based on a YEARLY time-frame chart alone. The reason for this is that the YEARLY chart is far removed in the scope of TIME from the INTRADAY (based on minutes, hours or fractions thereof) time-frame. A more realistic time-frame for determining trend for day-traders would be to use a DAILY time-frame chart. If you happen to trade based on the DAILY chart and hold your trades overnight for one or more days, you would likely want to determine your overall trend using the WEEKLY time-frame chart. The rule of thumb is to use the next higher time-frame for trend determination from the time-frame you actually use for trade decisions.

In this article I'm going to approach the subject by using the WEEKLY time-frame chart to determine overall trend as if trading from the DAILY time-frame (holding my position for one or more days, also known as a 'short-term' or 'position' trader).

The weekly chart that I've decided to use for the examples in this article is the CRUDE OIL weekly chart from around January 2015 to the present (July 2016). No trades will be discussed as the focus is on approaches to deciding on overall price trend for the purpose of trading with the trend at the lower DAILY time frame. You can use the same method for any time-frame you desire, however.

The very basic method is to note the most recent market swing, whether it be a swing top or bottom. If a top, consider the trend bearish. If a bottom, consider the trend bullish. For the very short-term trades this can often have you trading in the best direction. All trades assume you have a good timing method, such as using the FDate method or combination of indicators you are comfortable with. A swing bottom is simply a price bar with a LOW that is 'equal or lower' than the previous bar's low and that the high of the bar has already been exceeded by price (by the subsequent bar or bars). A swing top would be a price bar with a HIGH that is 'equal or higher' than the previous bar's high and a following bar has moved below its low. The occurrence of a subsequent higher-high (in the case of a swing bottom) or lower-low (in the case of a swing top) is called 'confirming' the swing (top or bottom).

To improve on the basic method, you could apply what are called 'filters'. A filter is simply one or more chart indicators, such as moving averages, stochastic, MACD or other alone or in various combinations that you use to help you decide on trend direction.

One filter I have found useful is using the histogram of a MACD indicator set to the standard (12, 26, 9) setting. The histogram reflects the orientation of the oscillator and signal lines. If the oscillator line is above the signal line, the histogram will form above the zero level and is considered bullish. If the oscillator line is below the signal line, the histogram forms below the zero level and is considered bearish.

The thing about the bullish or bearish indication just mentioned is that there are times when the oscillator/signal line orientation is bullish but the market is trending bearish for weeks on end. The reverse is true for the bearish indication where prices could trend bullish for weeks. Thus alone this may not be a suitable filter and could use some adjustment. One such adjustment is to note the histogram range from zero.

For example, if each bullish (above zero) histogram bar is taller than the last, consider the trend bullish. But as soon as a shorter histogram bar forms, consider staying out of the market (neutral). For bearish trend determination, as long as each histogram bar below zero is taller than the last the trend is considered bearish. Once a shorter histogram bar forms, go neutral.

For good stretches you may find this approach works well. However, it too has flaws and used alone could poise a problem. For example, a taller bullish histogram formed for the February 20, 2015 week which would have suggested a bullish trend has started. And the prior 3 weeks was indeed bullish. Unfortunately the bearish wave was just starting and exactly from this week! Had you followed this method alone without the help of another filter you would have been pointed in the wrong direction until week ending March 13, 2015.

What you could do is add another qualifier filter. An example could be using the %R (14 period) along with the MACD histogram.

Using the %R, you could ignore the bullish MACD histogram bars anytime the %R has turned down, or the bearish MACD histogram bars when the %R has turned up. The MACD histogram would dictate trend direction and the %R would dictate when the histogram is to be ignored.

Another useful filter and one of my personal favorites is to apply the 8-bar exponential moving average right on the chart. I would use this along with the MACD histogram, but only use the histogram to indicate whether above zero (bullish) or below zero (bearish) with no consideration of one histogram bar being taller or shorter than the last. If the histogram bars are above zero (on my chart they are colored green) and the last weekly price bar has closed ABOVE the 8-bar exponential MA, I consider trading in the bullish direction. If the histogram bars are below zero (on my chart they are red) and the last weekly price bar has closed BELOW the 8-bar exponential MA, I consider trading in the bearish direction. Anything else and it is considered neutral.

Starting with week March 20, 2015 the histogram is bullish but the close is below the 8-bar MA. So the trend is neutral. Week ending April 10, 2015 closed above the 8-bar MA and the histogram was bullish, therefore signaling taking bullish trades. The market did not close below the 8-MA until week July 3, 2015 and this also turned out to be the last week where the histogram was bullish. It turned bearish the following week, and now the trend is considered bearish by histogram and 8-bar MA. This lasted until week September 11, 2015 although price still closed below the 8-MA but the histogram went bullish (above zero).

Above I have given you some ideas that you can employ for trend determination. There are many other ways and I encourage you to backtest them. The point is to determine the trend by examining the time-frame just above the one you trade from and discipline yourself to only trade in that direction for higher probability trading. Use filters to help you avoid trading in a direction based on a false trend signal. Do not expect any method to be perfect. You are going to get some false signals from time to time. If you have a good timing method to go along with your trend determination method you may still avoid bad trades due to a temporary false trend signal.

Always know the trend. You will be better off with the 'wind at your back'!

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Online Trading Tips to Give You a Head Start

Options trading have begun attracting investors from across the globe. People see it as one of the most profitable ventures because of its faster generation of gains. Both beginners as well as experts feel the same level of adrenaline flow through their veins every time they gain. But is it possible for everyone, every time? Nah! Only a lot of research, practice and expert online trading tips can make your dreams come true.

Investing in the stock market may seem very attractive and it is under certain laws, however one needs to be alert always. Do not hurry. As they say, haste is waste, so does it apply while investing in the stock market. Without proper guidance and tips, you might end up in heavy losses. And you don't want that, do you?

There are many vendors who will provide online trading tips at low prices, but they promise riches to you till the time they get some bucks from you. Once they have your money, they are least bothered on how and how much you trade. They begin ignoring your calls asking for suggestions.

A good and genuine online trading tips provider will be concerned about you and your investment. They will predict the trends, analyze the market data and provide adequate trading tips including intraday trading. After being sure of the company, you may avail their services. Always collect trading tips from reliable and tested sources to be away from failures and get the desired results.

If you are a beginner, you first need to get in-depth knowledge about the past with regards to the market trends. Not only the past, but the present also. Go through the business section of newspapers, financial coverage TV channels, relevant periodicals and friends you can rely on. But take the decision yourself. Design a plan and strategy on how much you will invest and on what. You may invest in the share market, commodities or foreign exchange, that's your call. But ensure that the sector you invest in is the one with a good history.

Opt for trading online instead of the conventional ways. Online trading brings in real time results and reports. It is also much more convenient to use and saves a lot of time and efforts. You just need to have a computer and internet. You may also practice online on some free platforms offered by many companies these days. Practice will make you confident and motivated. You may trade in the practice mode using virtual cash provided by the company.

Do not invest a huge amount in the beginning. If you lose, you will lose the entire amount. Instead invest a minimum amount which would not hurt your pocket in case you lose. However, with expert online trading tips, losing would be a far away thing. There are many people who have benefited by the tips provided by genuine expert companies. But be sure to research on the company before you avail their services. Be sure to check their past performance, customer reviews and testimonials. Only on being sure about the company should you proceed with them.

Check out what options they have to offer in terms of trading including intraday trading tips. Also check out other options like payment modes, kinds of support - telephone, SMS, chat, email. See what kind of technology they use. Is it advanced and updated or old and automated? They service you avail should be customized according to your needs and capital. Check the accuracy rate of the company. A good company should be able to provide at least ninety percent accuracy in terms of the trading tips.

Once you are clear with all the pros and cons, proceed further. Remember, in the beginning you may suffer minimal losses but that should not deter you from being diverted away from your plan. Any good technique takes a little time to fetch positive results. With the guidance of expert online trading tips, your risks of losses become low and the strategy you apply proves your correct decisiveness.

Believe it or not, once you get the hang of the trade after initial hurdles, you will be a hundred percent sure of your win each and every time.

Article Source: Here

All About Share Market Trading

What are shares?

It's a means to own a company.

The definition of 'Securities' as per the Securities Contracts Regulation Act (SCRA), 1956, includes instruments such as shares, bonds, stocks or other marketable securities of similar nature in or of any incorporate company or body corporate, government securities, derivatives of securities, units of collective investment scheme, interest and rights in securities, security receipt or any other instruments so declared by the Central Government.

What is Share Trading?

Shares trading refer to buying and selling of company shares - or any derivative products based on company stock - with the motive of profit earning.

Prerequisites for Share Trading

• We need to have DP(DEPOSITORY PARTICIPANT) account.

• We need to have a Trading account

• And of course money

How Trading Happens?

Companies get themselves listed on popular stock exchanges like NSE, BSE

Interested traders using terminal provided by their brokers trade on those shares.

Online Trading participants

• Investor- Participates through website of brokerage using internet and computer.

• Brokers- they contact each other through trading terminals and they also find who is interested to buy or sell shares.

• Stock exchange- It facilitates transactions through its servers. Most dominant stock exchange in India are NSE and BSE

• Registrar of Company-It is a government body that maintains records of all shareholders and updates database changes whenever ownership changes.

• Depositories- It includes depository participants which stores shares in electronic format.

• SEBI (Securities Exchange Board of India)- SEBI is a government body which regulates financial markets and looks into Investor complaints against companies.

Kinds of Trading

Intraday trading

Delivery based trading

Intraday Trading

Intraday trading includes buying and selling of stocks within the same trading day. The stocks purchased in this kind of trading, are not purchased with an intention to invest, but for the purpose of earning profits by analysing the movement of stock indices.

Deliver based Trading

Delivery based trading means buying shares and holding them for certain period of time is called delivery based trading.

In this method you have to place your buying request through your broker and pay for the current price of the stock. Once your request is executed the stocks that you have bought are deposited to your DP account. In this process you have to pay the full amount of the stock price. Once the stocks are deposited to your account you can then sell the stocks or hold them for as long as you want.

The delivery based trading at the cash segment is the simplest way of trading and the risk is comparatively lower.

The biggest advantage of delivery based trading is that you do not have any time limit for selling the stocks. But the disadvantage of delivery based trading is that you have to pay for full price of the stock and the brokerage is higher than other forms of investments.

Article Source: Here