XAUUSD 19/4/23 Outlook .. pls readGood evening gold gang!! hope you have had a good day.
The days analysis was good and upside targets met, but no trades taken other than a very small profit. The reason for this is we got a closure above the level but price stalled for a full hour (which was not fun) so i exited the trade as this can mean rejection. Price plummeted down to grab more orders from my major level and then 200 pips to the upside to hit the original target. A small win is better than a break even and ive had a few messages from traders that took the trade and profited .. well done!
Onto tonights asian and tomorrows london and NY outlook ... Ok DXY is still trending in a bearish channel, this means we should see some gold upside .. so i have placed my buy orders at above 2012 with the target there at 2021. Look out for the 2015 problem area .. it may be better to wait for it to close above there as its a previous strong zone.
sells are down at the 1993 .. that is a very strong level and is well respected .. any closure below there should see strong downside.
No major news for us tomorrow so there may not be huge moves .. but we are only looking for 100 pip ranges .. 100 pips is massive by the way!! .. thats just my style. Im not into fortune telling predicting the price of gold in 6 months.
have a nice evening wherever you are .. catch you tomorrow for updates on this post.
Tommy
Strategy
What are Your Biggest Struggles in Trading?Hey everyone! I've been trading for a year now, and while I've had some successes, I've also faced some challenges along the way. I know I'm not alone in this, and I want to hear from you all too!
I believe that we can all learn from each other and grow as traders, which is why I'm reaching out to the TradingView community. If you're comfortable, I'd love to hear about your own trading struggles. Whether you're just starting out or a seasoned pro, I think we can all benefit from sharing our experiences. Moreover, we all know how lonely this journey can get, so sharing and learning from other's struggles could improve our mindset and the way we tackle the losses, as well as the success.
Personally, I struggle the most with keeping a trading journal organised and use it as a feedback loop, improving my trading strategy. I have tried for a while to keep track of my trades in apple notes, but it gets frustrating when you try to actually learn and discover patterns in your errors. On the other hand, another struggle comes when my emotions take over my strategy, and I have been searching desperately for tools and ways of fighting this urge.
Leave a comment of your biggest or most uncommon struggle and let's improve our trading skills by sharing!
Testing a Youtube MACD StrategyIn previous articles, I’ve tested moving average crossovers and bounces.
But I didn’t test this famous (or infamous?) indicator related to them…
The MACD.
When I saw a video from TradingLab on Youtube called “BEST MACD Strategy,” I was curious to test his approach.
What’s a MACD Daddy-o?
It stands for Moving Averages Convergence Divergence. It’s meant to help us see momentum in the market.
So we take a shorter-duration moving average and pair it up with a longer one.
We then graph the difference between the two as its own line.
We also plot an MA of the difference, called the “signal” line.
When the signal line crosses over the difference line, we might be seeing a shift in direction.
The farther the signal line pushes away from the other, the stronger the momentum is in that direction.
Note: most charting software, including TradingView, also shows the difference as bars (a histogram).
So how are we gonna test this thing?
The Trading Truth Test Setup
We’re keeping the market and the test period the same as some of the previous tests, for easier comparison.
(The TradingLab video just says MACD works in many markets and timeframes, without limiting it to one for testing.)
Market: the S&P 500 index (using SPY to trade it, assuming SPY is exactly 1/10th the S&P 500 Index price)
Timeframe: Jan 2, 2008 to March 28, 2023
Bar interval: 1 hour
Moving averages: Unlike previous tests, where we used simple moving averages, we’re using exponential moving average here to weight recent prices more.
We use a 200 exponential moving average for overall trend direction.
For the MACD, we’re using the classic 12 bars and 26 bars to see the difference between them. And we’re the normal 9-bar MA of that difference as the signal line.
Starting Equity: $ 25,000
Max % of Equity Per Trade: 3%
Commissions, fees and taxes. To keep things super simple, we’re assuming these are all zero.
Our Test
When we get a MACD crossover between the signal line and the difference line, we look to go long.
But we only go long if:
the last closing price is above the 200 MA, and
When an upside MACD crossover (the signal line crossing up through the difference line) happens below its zero line (the lower half of the plotted indicator area).
We do the opposite to go short…
We short when price closes below the 200 MA and we get a downside MACD crossover above the zero line.
Our stop loss is 1 penny past the 200 MA value when entering the trade.
And our take-profit price is the difference between the entry price and the 200 MA (on entry) multiplied by 1.5. That’s the suggestion in the TradingLab video.
Note: The Youtube video suggests using support and resistance as another filter to avoid choppy markets. But there aren’t clear rules given, so I didn’t do that.
The Test Results
The test ended at $ 30,401.39, up 21.6% with a 46.9% win rate.
The biggest loss from the initial $ 25,000 deposit was $ 270.85, a 1.1% loss.
The maximum losing streak was $ 800.22 or 3.0% (from $ 26,908.66).
That said, the buy-and-hold return was 173.1%.
Quite a reward for sitting on your hands, especially given the tax advantages from long-term capital gains.
Note: I did this analysis in a spreadsheet, with exported TradingView data. If you see any errors, please let me know.
What Test Tweaks We Could Make
We could identify rules on when to stay out of the market.
MACD strategies, like many, get chopped up in sideways price action.
Some other MACD settings might also be interesting to test. We used only the most common settings here.
What would you test? And what else would you like to see tested?
Comment below!
AEX: Interesting set-up to cover exposure on European Stocks.I bought puts on the AEX to cover my portfolio exposure on long European stocks.
I advise you to consider allocating between 2%-3% of your portfolio value to options.
Risk management is key to outperforming the market.
Entry Level: 760
Stop Loss set at 805.
Expiry Date: May 19th 2023
First Take Profit at 740. Second Take Profit at 680.
*Important to pay attention to the price action at the level of 740. If it is recovered quickly, it will be bullish.
Consider moving the stop loss closer to the breakeven point if that happens.
I will leave half of the position to collect possible profits if it gets to 680.
XAUUSD How to enter on the retest (tutorial)Whats up gold gang! hope you have enjoyed your weekend .. its nearly market open .. so lets get ready.
This weeks educational post is talking about the retest .. so what is a retest. When price breaks a banking level .. i normally enter on the break out .. but if i miss that .. you can wait for the retest. This is where price comes back to the level to collect more orders before shooting off in the direction of the current trend.
Wait for a wick rejection at the banking level and a bullish candle to follow .. on the hour or 30m is the best .. then you can enter on the break of the previous bullish. Make sure this is at volume time around the opens.
As anything .. it sounds simple .. but tricky to get right .. and is a lower probability set up compared to the standard breakout.
Hope this was helpful guys .. please leave a like if you did. Ill be back tonight for the open and asian outlook going into tomorrow
tommyXAU
Importance of Comparing Automated Trading Strategies to Buy&HoldImportance of Comparing Automated Trading Strategies to Buy&Hold | 04/15/23
Recently, TradingView introduced a new backtesting feature that allows traders to compare their trading strategy to simple "buy and hold" strategies. This has proven to be very useful for our trading team and crypto community, especially when attempting to find the best settings for manual and automated trading scripts, such as our Ninja Signals V4 script, so we wanted to highlight this awesome new feature.
In this example, we used TradingView's new 'Compare to Buy & Hold' feature to compare our chosen configuration settings for our Ninja Signals V4 automated trading script and backtesting strategy. As you can see, our chosen settings have performed significnatly better than simple "buy and hold" strategies over the last several years (compare the green strategy profit line to the blue "buy and hold" profit line).
This new TradingView feature is very powerful, because it helps traders determine if a trading strategy is more or less profitable than simply buying and holding. Just because a trading strategy produces some profit does not mean that it is worth trading, especially if simple "buy and hold" strategies out-perform your chosen trading settings.
The settings used in this chart performed well even the recent bear market. As you can see in the strategy statistics, as "buy and hold" strategies were losing profit, the settings we used for our Ninja Signals V4 trading script were actually gaining profit. This new TradingView tool improves our ability to find good settings for both manual and automated trading strategies, and gives additional confirmation that profitable trading settings are better than simple "buy and hold" strategies.
Furthermore, the settings we used in this chart have compounding turned off, meaning each trade is the same order size, without any reinvesting of profits. Even as our trading fund grows from this profitable trading strategy, we continue to simply place orders for the same amount each time, rather than re-investing profits to trade larger and larger amounts (known as "compounding"). If compounding is turned on, profits grow much faster, but that is beyond the scope of this publication.
We will publish a separate educational idea in the future about the importance of comparing "compounding" vs "non-compounding" settings when backtesting, but for the purposes of this chart, we simply wanted to share that we were able to achieve significant profits, even in a bear market, and even with no compounding (no reinvesting of profits).
In conclusion, the new TradingView "Compare to Buy & Hold" backtesting feature gives traders a powerful new tool to find better settings for their chosen trading strategy, and additional confirmation and confidence that live trading will be successful. We thank the TradingView team for adding this powerful new feature!
LMT Lockheed Martin Options Ahead Of EarningsIf you haven`t bought LMT here:
Then analyzing the options chain of LMT Lockheed Martin prior to the earnings report this week, I would consider purchasing
Calls with a 515usd strike price and an expiration date of 2023-6-16, for a premium of approximately $5.85.
If these options prove to be profitable prior to the earnings release, I would sell at least half of them.
I am interested to hear your thoughts on this strategy.
BLK BlackRock Options Ahead of EarningsAfter the last Price Target was reached:
Now looking at the BLK BlackRock options chain ahead of earnings , I would buy the HKEX:660 strike price Calls with
2023-4-14 expiration date for about
$12.05 premium.
If the options turn out to be profitable Before the earnings release, I would sell at least 50%.
Looking forward to read your opinion about it.
Dow Jones Daily TFIn the event that the Dow Jones ends at this level, it would create a favorable environment for purchasing opportunities, and I foresee a response in this particular domain. As a result, I will be monitoring the movement of gold with the expectation of a decline, which would present potential buying opportunities.
WDFC WD-40 Company Options Ahead Of EarningsLooking at the WDFC WD-40 Company options chain ahead of earnings , i would buy the $175 strike price Puts with
2023-4-21 expiration date for about
$6.40 premium.
If the options turn out to be profitable Before the earnings release, i would sell at least 50%.
Looking forward to read your opinion about it.
The Case for the Dow Jones Breaking the 30,000 levelThe latest US GDP growth was 2.7% for Q4 2022. Unemployment rate is 3.4% in January 2023. Annual inflation rate is 6.4% in January. Fed Fund Rates is 4.50%-4.75% and climbing. Manufacturing and Industrials are struggling, but not bad. Yearly retail sales minted at 6.4% in January. The Fed Rate Monitor is showing an increase for a 0.25% at a 74.50% probability and for a 0.50% at 25.5% probability. Next month, the US NFP will be released March 10th, along with the unemployment rate; March 14th is the Inflation Rate YoY; March 15th PPI MoM; and finally the FED Interest Rate Decision.
This all looks good for the FED to keep raising rates and the question is, "how long can the DJ keep holding on above the 30,000. Yes the inflation data could potentially come out lower, but I am thinking that the FED thinks they have more room to raise rates and if it is true, that they are planning on raising rates a couple more times after the March Rate Decision, might be what is needed to start hammering the Dow Jones. I am thinking the inflation data before the meeting will push the thought of a 0.50% rate hike higher or lower, depending on what the printing looks like. I give it to the DJ, it is highly resistant and is managing to stay above the 30,000. But it is only a matter of time until it breaks lower.
Price / Earnings: Interpretation #1In one of my first posts , I talked about the main idea of my investment strategy: buy great “things” during the sales season . This rule can be applied to any object of the material world: real estate, cars, clothes, food and, of course, shares of public companies.
However, a seemingly simple idea requires the ability to understand both the quality of “things” and their value. Suppose we have solved the issue with quality (*).
(*) A very bold assumption, I realize that. However, the following posts will cover this topic in more detail. Be a little patient.
So, we know the signs of a high-quality thing and are able to define it skilfully enough. But what about its cost?
"Easy-peasy!" you will say, "For example, I know that the Mercedes-Benz plant produces high-quality cars, so I should just find out the prices for a certain model in different car dealerships and choose the cheapest one."
"Great plan!" I will say. But what about shares of public companies? Even if you find a fundamentally strong company, how do you know if it is expensive or cheap?
Let's imagine that the company is also a machine. A machine that makes profit. It needs to be fed with resources, things are happening in there, some cogs are turning, and as a result we get earnings. This is its main goal and purpose.
Each machine has its own name, such as Apple or McDonald's. It has its own resources and mechanisms, but it produces one product – earnings.
Now let’s suppose that the capitalization of the company is the value of such a machine. Let's see how much Apple and McDonald's cost today:
Apple - $2.538 trillion
McDonald's - $202.552 billion
We see that Apple is more than 10 times more expensive than McDonald's. But is it really so from an investor's point of view?
The paradox is that we can't say for sure that Apple is 10 times more expensive than McDonald's until we divide each company's value by its earnings. Why exactly? Let's count and it will become clear:
Apple's diluted net income - $99.803 billion a year
McDonald's diluted net income - $6.177 billion a year
Now read this phrase slowly, and if necessary, several times: “The value is what we pay now. Earnings are what we get all the time” .
To understand how many dollars we need to pay now for the production of 1 dollar of profit a year, we need to divide the value of the company (its capitalization) by its annual profit. We get:
Apple - $25.43
McDonald’s - $32.79
It turns out that in order to get $ 1 earnings a year, for Apple we need to pay $25.43, and for McDonald's - $32.79. Wow!
Currently, I believe that Apple appears cheaper than McDonald's.
To remember this information better, imagine two machines that produce one-dollar bills at the same rate (once a year). In the case of an Apple machine, you pay $25.43 to issue this bill, and in the case of a McDonald’s machine, you pay $32.70. Which one will you choose?
So, if we remove the $ symbol from these numbers, we get the world's most famous financial ratio Price/Earnings or P/E . It shows how much we, as investors, need to pay for the production of 1 unit of annual profit. And pay only once.
There are two formulas for calculating this financial ratio:
1. P/E = Price of 1 share / Diluted EPS
2. P/E = Capitalization / Diluted Net Income
Whatever formula you use, the result will be the same. By the way, I mainly use the Diluted Net Income instead of the regular one in my calculations. So do not be confused if you see a formula with a Net Income – you can calculate it this way as well.
So, in the current publication, I have analyzed one of the interpretations of this financial ratio. But, in fact, there is another interpretation that I really like. It will help you realize which P/E level to choose for yourself. But more on that in the next post. See you!