Trading ETFs using Amibroker

S

Sigue!

In an attempt to inject some humanity / comradery (?) into the grind of my trading days, I thought that I'd start posting and discussing (if there's any interest) my ~realtime ETF trades, along with my watchlists, trade setups, charts, etc.. Especially during the U.S. day session I will probably just post my trades and won't add any detail (charts, explanations. etc.) until later. There may even be times when the "later" is a day or two. There also may be times when an entry or exit stop triggers and I am not present to post the trade immediately. In view of that, I may just commit to only posting that a trade was made without the entry/exit prices. We'll see how it goes. The objective is not to try to impress anyone, but to stimulate discussion and feedback, and maybe even develop trading partnerships.

I'm a discretionary trader, currently trading mostly swings on daily charts, but I'll hold for longer under the right circumstances. There are also times when I will trade off of hourly charts. I trade ETFs because I find them to be less time consuming in terms of database management and trade selection, and especially because of their tendency to trend and maintain relative strength leadership for longer than individual stocks. I have been using Amibroker for about 20 years. If I remember right, my first license cost $34! Even though I barely scratch the surface of it's capabilities with my charts and scans (I have limited coding skills), I continue to use it because of a few unique features which I rely on heavily to make sense of price action.

CURRENT HOLDINGS
Long OIH, KWEB, BITO

WATCHLISTS
Long - FCG
Short - ARKK, ARKW, BLOK, TLT, WEAT, XLK
 
When were current holdings entered?


Sigue! said:
In an attempt to inject some humanity / comradery (?) into the grind of my trading days, I thought that I'd start posting and discussing (if there's any interest) my ~realtime ETF trades, along with my watchlists, trade setups, charts, etc.. Especially during the U.S. day session I will probably just post my trades and won't add any detail (charts, explanations. etc.) until later. There may even be times when the "later" is a day or two. There also may be times when an entry or exit stop triggers and I am not present to post the trade immediately. In view of that, I may just commit to only posting that a trade was made without the entry/exit prices. We'll see how it goes. The objective is not to try to impress anyone, but to stimulate discussion and feedback, and maybe even develop trading partnerships.

I'm a discretionary trader, currently trading mostly swings on daily charts, but I'll hold for longer under the right circumstances. There are also times when I will trade off of hourly charts. I trade ETFs because I find them to be less time consuming in terms of database management and trade selection, and especially because of their tendency to trend and maintain relative strength leadership for longer than individual stocks. I have been using Amibroker for about 20 years. If I remember right, my first license cost $34! Even though I barely scratch the surface of it's capabilities with my charts and scans (I have limited coding skills), I continue to use it because of a few unique features which I rely on heavily to make sense of price action.

CURRENT HOLDINGS
Long OIH, KWEB, BITO

WATCHLISTS
Long - FCG
Short - ARKK, ARKW, BLOK, TLT, WEAT, XLK
More...
 
BITO.png Here's a brief, very general overview of the charts I use.

My primary chart, which I have set up on different timeframes (daily, hourly, weekly) is made up of 2 chart panes:

1. On the bottom price/candlestick pane I have a volatility channel and a histogram indicator that I use for comparing price action across the width of the visible chart. The upper and lower bands of the volatility channel are calculated separately using a multiple of up or down daily price ranges around a moving average, so that the bands are not plotted symmetrically about the moving average. I use the histogram indicator with Amibroker's unique variable parameters slider tool to compare price action of different duration across the width of the visible chart. Using this, an n-bar rate of change in one swing can be compared to the n-bar rate of change at every other point (and every other swing) on the chart. The parameter n (lookback) can be easily changed to reveal when a move has become statistically anomalous in relation to past moves of the same duration, and other relationships.

BITO.png


2. The green plot on the top chart pane is my way at looking at how volatility is influencing up or down price movement. When the green line is moving up, upside volatility is expanding relative to downside volatility. When the green line is moving down, downside volatility is expanding relative to upside volatility. When the green line is moving up toward the center line (the red line with a value of 50) from below it, or down to the center line from above it, volatility/range contraction (mean reversion) is occurring in that band. When the green line is moving away from the center line (up or down) volatility/range expansion is occurring in that band. Also in this chart pane I can use Amibroker's parameter toggle capability to display a "detrended" version of the volatility channel that is plotted in the lower pane. The vertical grey and black lines show the width of the channel at each bar in a way that gives me a clearer picture of overall volatility changes in comparison to directional changes. I have not centered this overlay plot on the same (right side) scale as the green plot.

I will occasionally also use a relative strength ratio chart to compare specific market pairs when I'm doing my big picture overviews. I use the same indicators on the relative strength chart as I do on the price chart.

Nothing magic or ground breaking. Just one trader's approach to distilling price information.
 
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