great journal. i really wish there was a way to incorporate this software intraday. do you know if they are working on such a version?
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Pair Trading Strategy Journal
- Thread starter jonnysharp
- Start date
Quote from boostin1004:
great journal. i really wish there was a way to incorporate this software intraday. do you know if they are working on such a version?
thanks. what do you mean by intraday? entry & exit signals are given throughout the trading day or do you mean trades lasting minutes instead of days?
Quote from boostin1004:
great journal. i really wish there was a way to incorporate this software intraday. do you know if they are working on such a version?
I know guys that trade intraday pairs, but you need to automate the execution process in order to get the best fills and then you are also setting tight stops and profit targets since your time frame is much less. And then if you are trading just intraday it becomes a game of volume.
You will be better off to swing trade the pairs and hold them until they revert back towards the mean and capture a full 2-6% per trade. This can sometimes take a week or two, sometimes less, sometimes more.
I don't use pair trade finder since I have developed my own spread sheet. I also look at the pair ratio and look for pairs that trade outside 2 std deviations, but more importantly I calculate the 14 day RSI for each pair based on the pair ratio and look for oversold/overbought conditions.
If the pair has a RSI above 65, go long stock2 and short stock1 and if the RSI is below 35 go long stock1 and short stock2. Correlation should be 80% or higher. I like to take profits when the RSI reverts back between 45 and 55 or when my spreadsheet says to flip it.
Just keep your method simple and you will be successful.
Jonny, I'm looking at your trade Jan 9, ANV/GRS. It netted you a nice profit, yet I would not have taken the trade. So I want to know what I'm not seeing that you saw. I see Ratio and RSI not diverging as I think they should, I see the correlation droping from 95 to 85 on the near term. I don't see this as a profitable trade. Where am I wrong? What told you to take it?
Thanks, Jonny.
wb
Thanks, Jonny.
wb
Quote from waltbx:
Jonny, I'm looking at your trade Jan 9, ANV/GRS. It netted you a nice profit, yet I would not have taken the trade. So I want to know what I'm not seeing that you saw. I see Ratio and RSI not diverging as I think they should, I see the correlation droping from 95 to 85 on the near term. I don't see this as a profitable trade. Where am I wrong? What told you to take it?
Thanks, Jonny.
wb
The RSI & ratio doesn't have to be showing a divergence to take a signal in my opinion, and whilst correlation was trending down in the short term, in the medium term it is increasing(the latest value was higher the start value on the chart), but what I liked was that the signal went straight too a layer 2 entry, which means it was 2.5stdevs from the mean plus the ratio chart showed consistent patterns of divergence/convergence.
Quote from saratur:
yobo, how far do you let trades that go against you run? what do you do as a stoploss?
A stoploss on spread, e.g. a fixed number of standard deviations? A fixed percentage of P/L ? Something else?
I get this question a lot. Here's what I do. I like to have 20-40 pairs going at a time. I trade small. 5k-10k per side. If the pair is going against me, I check the RSI. For example....If I bought the pair with an RSI of 65 and the pair is going against me the RSI should be increasing. If the RSI goes to 70, I'll just add a second layer.
I never take losses unless I get impatient.
Quote from waltbx:
You guys talk a lot about SD and I understand what Standard Deviation is, but I cannot see how to get PT to show SD on the charts.
How are you all figuring SD?
Walt B
SD doesn't show on the charts and you don't need it too. In your preferences for signal settings and in layers, the number used for pair stretch is the same as standard deviation, so if your pair stretch is 2.00 and your 2nd layer is pair stretch 2.30, you will receive an entry signal when the pair deviates 2 stdevs and another signal at 2.3 stdevs.