Optimising a strategy where to begin

Originally from ticket #2336.

Hi Support-

Maybe I will need to wait for the pending tutorial video, which Tom is
creating, or maybe you can direct me here in the meantime:

(attached are two snap shots showing NQ1)

- What do I need to adjust to correct the trades, as they are often losers
?
(Many of the instruments are losers; I thought I'd perhaps get some basics
adjusted here by asking about NQ1 first, please ? )

- Do I need to adjust trailing stops; stops; or something else ?
- Also, what is smoothing ?

Regards,

Duke

We cannot advise on how to trade or offer investment advice - only how to provide settings to match how you want to trade -
or what happens if you change various settings in terms of strategy profile/ behaviour.

"What do I need to adjust to correct the trades, as they are often losers "

Your thinking and dialogue is not correct -
What evidence do you have that the trades are not correct?
What explaination do you have for arriving at the that opinion?

With a trend following system - that is the whole premise to let winners run - you might not be psychologically suited to that approach and need to try something else.

Typically this means you have low win ratios and high positive risk reward. If the system is viable with many losers then it is configure correctly.

You are setup to trail along the ATR so you let winners run - that is the correct premise

to change the premise and try to increase winners will actually probably be the reverse of what is needed.
You can configure by moving in the stop tighter or having a target for a higher win ratio but you will have a low risk reward - and that may not be viable.. but that wont work with this system as easily - but you can try it by bringing a breakeven stop loss - or changing the trail type- of having a tiny target in place

Note: on the chart there is a gray line and the trade exited instead of continuing -

it also looks like you have the strategy to "Exit on close"
To trail overnight set "Exit on Close" in general parameters order handling

The setting you have looks fine in terms of premise and starting - Try the same setting on different dataseries - ie a higher one 30minutes, 60 minutes - or even daily bars.
or 20 tick range/ sbs renko etc...

MicroTrends Support
support@microtrends.co
http://www.microtrends.co/support/

Tip! You can visit the help desk forum to see previous answered frequently asked questions:
http://microtrends.zendesk.com/forums

Follow up question: if I choose to trail overnight and I change in the
general parameters: "exit on close"= True; so do I also need to change the
end trade time to something else; which is currently set for 1400 to close?

Regards,
Duke

yes, this is what i am asking for:

..."only how to provide settings to match how you want to trade -
or what happens if you change various settings in terms of strategy
profile/ behavior."

"You can configure by moving in the stop tighter or having a target for a
higher win ratio but you will have a low risk reward"
"but you can try it by bringing *(what?)* a breakeven stop loss - or
changing the trail type- of having a tiny target in place"

regards, Duke

- Also, what is (trail stop) smoothing ?

Hi Support-

You wrote:
"but you can try it by bringing *(what?)* a breakeven stop loss - or
changing the trail type- of having a tiny target in place"

- I only see 3 options for BreakEven in the general parameters. Stop BE
offset; Stop BE trigger; Stop BE Trigger Type...I'm not sure which one you
are referring to?

(I need to ask all these questions in order to get acquainted with the
strategy's nuances and settings, respectfully.)

Regards,
Duke

> yes, this is what i am asking for:
>
> ..."only how to provide settings to match how you want to trade -
> or what happens if you change various settings in terms of strategy
> profile/ behavior."
>
> "You can configure by moving in the stop tighter or having a target for a
> higher win ratio but you will have a low risk reward"
> "but you can try it by bringing *(what?)* a breakeven stop loss - or
> changing the trail type- of having a tiny target in place"
>

>
> regards, Duke
>
>
> On Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 6:31 PM, MicroTrends Support <
> notifications-support@microtrends.zendesk.com> wrote:
>
>>

The premise is correct for the system:
So therefore you need to test alternate dataseries as detailed in prior response-
Ideally 3 years data or more is recommended - or perhaps 200 trades on hihger time frames e.g daily....- up to 1000s of trades on intraday -to get a rough idea of what might be plausible.

It is not recommended you look at parameters for which you dont understand the trading principles behind them.
E.G:
Trade management Features;

You are best to start with the theory:

It is expected that users have a basic knowledge of trading and trade management - or the technology will be no use to you - you will be blind and randomly trying configurations. You need to have the theory of trade system types, trend, counter trend and hybrid.
What they behave like and who is suited to using them.. trader psychology.

You need to have learnt - order types, stop loss risk control, let winners run...then experiment with dataseries-
lastly when you have done that then experiment with trade management...such as the following:

Do you know what the following are?
a breakeven stop
a breakeven stop trigger
a breakeven stop offset

a trail stop
a trail stop type
a trail stop trigger
a trail stop offset

You need to understand what the above common and basic trading terms are - then you will be able to see what and how to use.

but you need to experiment with dataseries - understand the system premise - then try to optimise profit using trade and money management/ targets/losses.

If you dont know what the above are is recommended you do not use them until you have learned about them - you need to learn the simplest route first - the effects of dataseries on signal frequency, win ratio, avg risk reward ,expectancy..

Then you might be in a position to use what you find by that act alone - if not you can try to optimise the system - without adversely affecting the premise byt trade management or money management/ goals etc...

We will do a video on the trade management features as soon as we can..

MicroTrends Support
support@microtrends.co
http://www.microtrends.co/support/

Tip! You can visit the help desk forum to see previous answered frequently asked questions:
http://microtrends.zendesk.com/forums