IQ Option Journal

[expiated]

This is essentially the same setup as that which appears in Post #18 except that I have added two "longer-term" trendlines to create a moving average "fan" reminiscent of what's taught in some of Nick McDonald's Trade With Precision videos, and have also replaced the black and chocolate envelopes with a black and a red moving average designed to fill the same role (i.e., pinpointing position entries and exits). It is the configuration I was using as this week's trading came to a close.

I just read where another contributor to this forum wrote in response to a separate thread started by someone else that "sooner or later, probably later in your case, you'll come to the final realization that, in the long-term, the average win/loss ratio ALWAYS has an inverse relationship to the average gain."

I totally agree this is usually true, but I hope to have illustrated by this time next year that it doesn't necessarily HAVE to be the case, though I fully recognize that I might instead do little more than provide additional evidence that "ALWAYS" was indeed the appropriate adverb to use. (I was originally planning to switch to live trading this month, but at this point I think it's more likely I'm going to deposit the funds right after the beginning of July.)

 

[expiated]

I just read where another contributor to this forum wrote in response to a separate thread started by someone else that "sooner or later, probably later in your case, you'll come to the final realization that, in the long-term, the average win/loss ratio ALWAYS has an inverse relationship to the average gain." I totally agree this is usually true, but I hope to have illustrated by this time next year that it doesn't necessarily HAVE to be the case, though I fully recognize that I might instead do little more than provide additional evidence that "ALWAYS" was indeed the appropriate adverb to use.

For the immediate future (next week) I'm throwing in my lot with this "divergence oscillator" as my first step toward accomplishing the above goal.

Anywhere the black oscillator is located on one half of the channel and the tan oscillator is spiking on the opposite half of the channel is an instance in which it would be acceptable for one to execute a trade (see the circled spikes for examples).

This tactic is based on the same principles that led to the successful trades recorded in Posts #19 and 20, so it will be interesting to me to see how this plays out during live trading, and if it works as well as my discretionary trading did, if it can be programmed into an expert advisor (EA).

 

[expiated]

This was a nice exercise for tightening my chart setup, which is virtually unchanged from June 14th. So I think I'm finally finished fine tuning my configuration, though it was probably about a two-year process, all told. (The image below is a simplified version that has a cleaner look, which I like, but I'm still using another variant as well that looks very much like the one displayed in Post #21.)

But as for actually trading via IQ Option, I don't think it's going to happen after all. I don't like the fact that the number of foreign currency pairs available during certain hours is extremely limited. I also don't like the fact that certain pairs, such as USDJPY, never offer an expiry longer than five minutes. Moreover, sometimes IQ Option only offers 45¢ or 50¢ on the dollar. Yikes!!!

And finally, if I'm going to devote that much time and effort to trading, I might as well stick with OANDA, where I can probably rack up 7¢ to 26¢ trades rather quickly to eventually equal the 75¢ and 80¢ payoffs typically offered by IQ Option, not to mention the generous sprinkling of $1.47 to $6.15 returns I'm likely to generate on top of that...

 

[expiated]

But as for actually trading via IQ Option, I don't think it's going to happen after all. I don't like the fact that the number of foreign currency pairs available during certain hours is extremely limited. I also don't like the fact that certain pairs, such as USDJPY, never offer an expiry longer than five minutes. Moreover, sometimes IQ Option only offers 45¢ or 50¢ on the dollar. Yikes!!! And finally, if I'm going to devote that much time and effort to trading, I might as well stick with OANDA, where I can probably rack up 7¢ to 26¢ trades rather quickly to eventually equal the 75¢ and 80¢ payoffs typically offered by IQ Option, not to mention the generous sprinkling of $1.47 to $6.15 returns I'm likely to generate on top of that...

I'm starting to see more $5.00 returns trading 0.01 lots via OANDA, but having finalized my chart configurations during the latter half of June, I might want to try something else with IQ Option. Given the clarity provided by my 15-minute charts and the detail offered by my one-minute charts, I might want to use them together (with five-minute charts) to identify trade opportunities with minimal effort.

For example, when a pair is clearly trending, as suggested by the above image taken from my 15-minute chart setup, I might simply check my charts every 15 minutes (just four times an hour) and, in this instance, if all my charts are aligned, purchase a call option at the close of every red candlestick.

I'll have to make a schedule of which pairs IQ Option offers during which hours, but with virtually all aspects of my system essentially being in their final states, I can afford to spend the time to do this.

If my charts have the accuracy, reliability and validity I attribute to them, I would expect that trading binary options in this manner would be profitable without my having to be glued to my laptop every minute.

 

[expiated]

Presently, at the start of the week (Sunday, 2:00 p.m. PST) IQ Option offers seven currency pairs that I follow. But all but USDJPY are only offered over-the-counter at this hour, meaning quotes are generated algorithmically over their servers to maintain equity between buyers and sellers.

These pairs were USDCHF, EURUSD, EURGBP, GBPUSD, NZDUSD and EURJPY. I will have to check back at the start of each hour to see when they start generating quotes in the normal manner.

The difference between USDJPY and USDJPY (OTC):

I can't use over-the-counter quotes because they don't match up with my MetaTrader 4 charts.

 

[expiated]

CURRENCY PAIR AVAILABILITY...

Sunday:
USDJPY 2:00 p.m.
EURUSD 5:00 p.m.
USDCAD 11:00 p.m.

(Times in Pacific Standard)

 

[expiated]

I forgot to check at the 5:00 hour, but at 6:00 p.m. PST IQ Option was offering...

USDJPY
EURUSD
AUDUSD
AUDJPY
EURJPY

EURAUD is scheduled to be available at 9:00 p.m. PST.
USDCAD and GBPJPY are scheduled to be available at 11:00 p.m. PST.
GBPUSD is scheduled to be available Monday morning at 2:00 a.m. PST.

WHEN CURRENCY PAIRS BECOME AVAILABLE...

Sunday:

2:00 p.m.
USDJPY

5:00 p.m.
EURUSD (and ?)

6:00 p.m.
AUDUSD
AUDJPY
EURJPY

9:00 p.m.
EURAUD

11:00 p.m.
USDCAD
GBPJPY

 

[expiated]

WHEN CURRENCY PAIRS BECOME AVAILABLE...

Sunday:

2:00 p.m.
USDJPY

5:00 p.m.
EURUSD (and ?)

6:00 p.m.
AUDUSD
AUDJPY
EURJPY

7:00 and 8:00?

9:00 p.m.
Only USDJPY and EURUSD are offering expiry beyond 5 minutes!

 

[expiated]

At 11:30 p.m. only USDJPY, EURUSD, and USDCAD have expiry longer than 5 minutes.

 

[expiated]

Sometime between 4:00 a.m. PST, when they were not there, and 9:00 a.m. PST, when they were, nine of the pairs I follow were added to the list of assets IQ Option was offering with an expiry longer than five minutes. They were AUDJPY, AUDUSD, EURAUD, EURGBP, EURJPY, GBPUSD, GBPJPY, USDCHF, and NZDUSD.