setting stops in automated systems

[mcteague]

I am looking at developing some automated systems in tradeninja for the emini s&p. / The problem I have is with stop setting. Ideally I would prefer to use the previous swing pivot as the reference to the stop. But this is somewhat mathematically challanging for me. As I am unsure how to describe a swing pivot in mathematical language. It is easer to reference atr. But I may be losing something by using that.
Although I normally trade on 10 minute charts, I am considering using 1.25 * 30minute atr trailing stops. But I would like to know if the swing pivot stop is easier than I imagine to program. The stops would be fixed on entry and changed to trailing once price movement has gone in direction I expect. Any advice or comments are welcome.Thanks
What do other people do re: automated stops?

 

[clearinghouse]

Quote from mcteague:

I am looking at developing some automated systems in tradeninja for the emini s&p. / The problem I have is with stop setting. Ideally I would prefer to use the previous swing pivot as the reference to the stop. But this is somewhat mathematically challanging for me. As I am unsure how to describe a swing pivot in mathematical language. It is easer to reference atr. But I may be losing something by using that.
Although I normally trade on 10 minute charts, I am considering using 1.25 * 30minute atr trailing stops. But I would like to know if the swing pivot stop is easier than I imagine to program. The stops would be fixed on entry and changed to trailing once price movement has gone in direction I expect. Any advice or comments are welcome.Thanks
What do other people do re: automated stops?

Mind posting an annotated screenshot of what you are talking about? I'm not a technical trader, so I guess I don't know what people are referring to as a pivot.

 

[WinstonTJ]

Quote from clearinghouse:

Mind posting an annotated screenshot of what you are talking about? I'm not a technical trader, so I guess I don't know what people are referring to as a pivot.

I think he's talking about support/resistance levels but I'm not sure.



mcteague - Assuming it's support/resistance levels (or anything else really could be some hokey-pokey proprietary signal) you are going to need to look for one of two things:

#1 - easiest, if your broker's API puts out that as a feed just use that number and allow your broker to do all the math.

#2 - assuming it's support & resistance levels just figure out what it is based on - is it moving averages? Will your broker or charting software provider share with you how they quantify the "swing pivot stops" you are talking about?

 

[Stok]

Sounds like you want to code in NT to set your stop at the last previous swing Hi or Low, correct? I'm not a programmer, but maybe other experts can chime in on how to do this.

 

[mcteague]

Quote from Stok:

Sounds like you want to code in NT to set your stop at the last previous swing Hi or Low, correct? I'm not a programmer, but maybe other experts can chime in on how to do this.

Yes that is what I was thinking of.
Another idea that was suggested to me was to use the macd crosses as stop signals. But I know many prefer the swing pivot for stops. Just wondered how programable that is. Because it looks like a sharp valley or mountin peak on the chart. Not simply a high or low. It is the angle that makes it a swing pivot.

 

[abattia]

Have you looked at the "Swing" indicator in NT7? ... should be there among your list of standard indicators.

 

[EliteTraderNYC]

try custom NT indicator for this that way u wont have to write your own.

 

[mcteague]

It seems that I might be guilty of the sin of asking questions before completely reading the manual and understanding the appliction. It is just that I almost excpect to have to figure ecerything out on my own. Thanks for the replies and sorry for needless post.

 

[savagemp5]

Heh... there are tons of books out there describing how to do a stop. its in the books... really like a thousand plus of them ha ha. Im starting to post more of the book reviews (very good books for trading, read personally) on my site -> managemoneyonline.com

You hv:

Time based
PnL locking profit based
Signal reversal based
Trial Stop based
Stop losses based
volatility based

Combination, mixtures, and specified ones to match the strategy.

And just like "Gamblers ruin", you can double down, load the boat up, and do crazy things with just a flick of a few lines of codes (provided you have 15 years of programming exp )

In the end, you need a lot of optimization to know what suits the trade best.