Taking Control

          In my mind, control is an important issue that has a great deal to do with understanding the process of trading and doing it successfully. There many parts of the trading process where exercising control is relatively easy and other parts of the process where control is much more difficult. For example, the entry into a trade is a point where we are very much in control. We set the conditions and the market must meet our conditions or we will simply refuse to participate. This is clearly the point in the trading process where we can exercise maximum control.

I can recall attending some lectures many years ago by George Lane (of stochastic indicator fame) when he revealed to the audience a list of items that he wanted to see before he entered a trade. His pre-entry checklist had twenty-seven conditions on it. Being a skeptic of complex trading strategies I don't recall what any of these twenty seven items were except I'm sure at least one of them was the stochastic indicator. At the point of carefully reviewing his checklist George was very much in control of the situation and if the market didn't do exactly what he wanted he didn't trade.

As I often point out in my lectures, entries are the easy part of trading. This is because each of us has maximum control at this point. We can exercise as much or as little control as we like. George Lane can require every one of his twenty-seven criteria and I can require my usual two setups and a trigger condition. However the control situation changes drastically once we enter the trade. Our ability to control all the elements of the trade now becomes much more difficult and far from absolute. Once we enter a futures trade we know that we must exit that trade within a limited period of time or we are going to be in trouble because the contract will expire. Even stock traders who don't need to be concerned about expiring contracts must exit their positions correctly if they wish to maximize their profits. Exits are much more difficult than entries because we can not simply reverse the entry process and require that the market do thus and such. Once we are in the trade George Lane and I can both throw our lists out the window because we can no longer dictate our terms to the market. The market is now in control and we must be prepared to react to whatever the market does. The market can do anything it wants once we have entered our trade and we can be assured that the market doesn't care what conditions might be on our list or what our preferences might be. Once we enter the trade we are at the mercy of the market the market operates according to its own list and that list of possibilities is much larger than George Lane's meager list of twenty-seven items. The market's options are limitless. It can do anything it wants whenever it wants and somehow we must be prepared to deal with it. Where is our control now?
      As we hold our trade we must be prepared for big moves against us and big moves in our favor. (Surprisingly the big moves against us are much easier to deal with than the moves in our favor. We will talk more about this in just a minute.) Among the market's limitless possibilities are gaps, reversals, limit moves, whipsaws, and perhaps worst of all, boring sideways action that makes us wish we were trading something else. The market may present us with inside days, outside days, reversal days, key reversal days, high volume days, low volume days, expanding ranges, contracting ranges, acceleration, and deceleration. We can be faced with days that are so big that the chart looks like a propeller on the end of a stick or days that are so small they just look like dots.          

Because we have to be prepared for all this and more, it should be no wonder
that our exit strategies are often much more complex than our entry strategies. We need to have solutions ready for any problem the market might send our way. As I mentioned earlier, the losses are rarely the problem because we can control those by simply setting a loss point and closing out the trade if the loss point is hit. Here again we are facing an issue of control and it is comforting to know that we do have a great deal of control over our losses. If we want to design a system where the average loss is $487.50 it wouldn't be difficult. We can absolutely control the size of our losses and we must be certain that we do.

All of our exit strategies have to be carefully planned to be certain that we control what can be controlled. First we must recognize and understand what can be controlled and then we must make certain that we exercise whatever control we have. It may be comforting to know that we can strictly control losses but it is extremely discomforting to realize that we have very little control of our profits. If we have a $500 profit, how do we make it become a $1000 profit? Unfortunately holding on to the trade longer gives us no assurance that we will eventually have a $1,000 profit.

In this instance we have very little control but let's see what we can do with the control that we do have. Although the amount of profits can not be controlled in the sense of our somehow forcing them to be larger, they can be controlled in the sense that we don't have to let them become smaller or turn into losses. Those of you who have purchased any of our systems will appreciate that locking in open profits at various levels is important to the success of our trading strategies. You will notice that in the "25 X 25" Bond System (free on the web site) we use a very tight channel to help lock in profits after twenty-five days or after five Average True Ranges of profit. We can't control the market and force it to give us five ATRs of profit, but if it does we can make sure that we keep most of it. Protecting our open profits is definitely within our control.

When conceptualizing a new trading system and when going through the design
and testing routine, be alert to issues of control. Look for what you can control and make sure that you are controlling it to your benefit. Look at what you can not control and as a minimum have some plan that will minimize any possible damage. Thinking about control will make you a better trader and implementing control will make your systems trade better

ADX Has it's Limitations

(I'm referring to Welles Wilders Average Directional Index in case you are a "newbie".) After many years of extolling the virtues of the ADX in articles and lectures all over the world I have become closely associated with this indicator. That's fine with me and I don't mind being considered the resident expert on ADX. It is an excellent measure of trendiness and a good indicator to be linked with.

However, I think it is a mistake to try and over work or become too dependent on any one indicator. If you were going to build a house you would need more than one tool and you wouldn't try to do it with just a hammer. The same is true of building systems. The ADX can be a very valuable tool if used correctly but it has some major shortcomings that everyone should be aware of: We all know that the ADX is slow. This is because of all the smoothing in the formula. The basic ingredients are smoothed and then the results are smoothed again. For example I think it takes more than 30 bars of data to calculate a 14 bar ADX. This smoothing makes the ADX slow but there is an even greater problem than just the speed of the indicator. The logic of measuring directional movement makes the ADX very reliable at certain times and very unreliable at other times.

A rising ADX is a reliable indication of a trend when there has been an extended sideways period before the trend gets started. Before all the high tech computer mumbo jumbo we used to simply refer to this sideways period as a "basing pattern". The ADX is most effective when it begins to rise from a low level (low = 15 or less). This low level on the ADX indicates that there has been a basing pattern for a while. This interpretation is contradictory to those users of the ADX who want to see the ADX cross above a specified threshold (usually 20 or 25) to indicate that a trend is underway. This technique would make the ADX even slower and means you would be confirming a trend and entering your trade long after the basing pattern was broken. But even if you were late due to your method of interpreting the ADX, following the ADX after a base pattern is still quite reliable. The potential problem I want to bring to your attention in this article is the action of the ADX after major peaks and valleys.
      The logic of the ADX is best visualized as measuring directional movement over a moving window of data on a bar chart. If we have sideways data in the window followed by recent trending data (lets think of rising prices but it could be the reverse), the rising prices would show directional movement relative to the sideways data at the beginning of our window. The ADX would promptly rise and call our attention to the fact that there is now a direction in prices that should continue for a while.          

However, if the prices rise for an extended period and then begin to fall sharply (a typical scenario) we now have a window of data that shows rising prices followed immediately by falling prices. The ADX formula measures the rising prices in the window and compares them with the declining prices in the window. Because the two trends are about equal they cancel each other and the ADX does not detect any net directional movement. The ADX now begins to decline indicating that it is finding no net directional movement in the period measured by the window.

As the window moves forward, eventually the older rising price data falls outside the back of the window so that the window now contains only the more recent downward price movement. The ADX suddenly begins to rise rapidly because the data window at this point contains only one trend. The problem with this new signal is that the downward trend in prices has been underway for quite some time and only now has the ADX finally begun to rise. This is obviously not a good point to be entering a trade to the short side. We are probably nearer the end of the trend than the beginning.

Remember that the ADX works best after a basing period and is unreliable after a "V" bottom or top.
That"s all for now. I'll continue this discussion of the ADX in our next bulletin which should be out very soon

The Parabolic Trigger for V Tops and Bottoms

Our previous article about using the ADX for V shaped tops and bottoms was surprisingly well received. We had a great deal of very favorable feedback from our members who experimented with it. This very valuable pattern seems to do an excellent job of spotting major turning points in almost any market from Palladium to Natural Gas to Soybeans or even Lumber. This pattern seems to work extremely well in almost all futures, stocks and even the hard to trade stock indexes.

Much like a kid with a new toy, we've been having fun scanning through our charts and finding all the important signals that have been generated. For example, when looking at the stock index charts we had some very timely and important signals that the strong bear market in stocks was finally reversing. Let's review very briefly the conditions that create the pattern we are looking for.

REVIEW OF SETUPS and TRIGGERS: For those of you who are new to our work, we strongly recommend a two step process for entries. The first step is to identify some "setup" conditions that tell us that an entry is near. The second step is the "trigger" that tells us we must enter the trade NOW.

Just to refresh your memory from the previous Bulletin, let me review the "setup" conditions that we are looking for. Remember that we are trying to anticipate important "V" shaped reversal patterns. We want to be able to trade as near as possible to major tops and bottoms. As most of you are aware, a major directional price move will cause the ADX to rise to a high level. Depending on the direction of the price movement, either the Plus DI or the Minus DI will also move to an unusually high level. As the market peaks the DI will begin to decline while the ADX is flat or still rising. Near the top (or bottom) the ADX will become the highest line and will be above both the Plus DI and the Minus DI lines. This is our "setup" and alerts us that an important change in direction is likely in the very near future. The relationship of the three lines with the ADX being the highest tells us that there has already been a very extended price move that is running out of gas.

FINDING A TIMELY TRIGGER: While studying the charts using our new ADX pattern we found that our setup conditions often occurred early and that our DMI triggers were sometimes a little bit late. We don't mind having the setup conditions occur early. After all, lead indicators are rare and very hard to find. However to make this entry pattern even more exciting we thought we would see if we could make the triggers occur sooner.

Now that we have our lead indicator in place we want to find a timely entry trigger that gets us started in the direction of the new trend that should just be getting started. In Bulletin 45 we suggested that the crossing of the Plus DI and Minus DI lines could be the entry trigger. Although this method is acceptable and produces excellent results we observed that there might be room for further improvement. In many cases, by the time the Plus and Minus DI have crossed some profits in the new direction have already been left behind.

After some trial and error we found that the Parabolic indicator did just what we wanted. We believe we can use the Parabolic indicator instead of the DMI crossovers to provide much more timely entry triggers.
      We have never liked the Parabolic stop and reverse (SAR) method as an independent trading system which was the intent of J. Welles Wilder, its originator. However we do like to use the Parabolic indicator for exits. As a system we find that the Parabolic reversal points occur much too frequently and this reversal system would drive us crazy with far too many false changes in direction. However the features of the Parabolic indicator that make it useful as an exit strategy are exactly what makes it the timely trigger we need for our ADX reversal pattern.          

The Parabolic indicator accelerates steadily as the prices trend until the reversal points are very, very close to the peak of the move. The stronger the trend the closer the Parabolic gets to the prices. That is exactly what we want. When the Parabolic indicator is close to the prices and we have fulfilled our ADX setup conditions we are all set for an outstanding trade. Even a very small countertrend move will now quickly cross the Parabolic and signal our timely entry.

AN IDEAL ENTRY PLUS AN ADD POINT: We view the marriage of the ADX setup with the Parabolic entry trigger as an ideal combination. The entries now occur in a much more timely fashion than when we relied on the DI crossovers for our trigger. In fact, once the Parabolic has been crossed we can use the DI crossover as a confirmation and add to our position. I don't normally believe in pyramiding positions but in this case we are trading a very reliable pattern that is designed to identify a major reversal in direction, so I think that adding to positions early is a very good strategy.

As you can probably tell, I really like this ADX and Parabolic entry technique and I think that we have a lot of good concepts working for us here. We have an early setup, a timely trigger and now we can use the delayed confirmation of the DI crossovers as a point to pyramid the position. You can't ask for much more than that for an entry strategy that does a great job of catching big moves early. Take a look at this pattern on your favorite market and give me your comments.

Contradictions in using ADX

          In our last article we described how the ADX works best when a move develops out of a basing pattern. Someone sent us a very courteous email questioning this strategy and reminded us of our "25 X 25"Bond system where we want the ADX to be above 20 before looking for an entry. He commented that by the time the ADX gets to 20 any move out of a base pattern may be over. He is absolutely right and I can see how there may appear to be some confusion on how the ADX should be applied. But there really isn't any contradiction if you understand that what we are trying to do with the ADX is very different in the two examples.

In the "25 X 25"strategy the ADX is used as an important "setup"condition that tells us when the trend is strong enough that we can confidently buy on weakness. However, when we describe the basing pattern strategy we are using the ADX as the actual entry trigger to buy on strength. There is a big difference in the buy on strength and buy on weakness strategies. In the basing pattern strategy a low level of the ADX is preferred because the rise in the ADX is the trigger. If the ADX is at 12 and starts rising we very well could miss the majority of the move if we waited for it to reach 20. With the ADX already at 20 or higher it might only be safe to buy on dips and of course that is exactly what the "25 X 25"bond strategy does.

To sum things up: there is no contradiction. To catch a move out of a base you should enter as soon as the ADX starts rising. Just compare today's ADX with yesterday's ADX and the faster it is rising the better. At this point the the lower the level of the ADX the better because we are buying on strength and the ADX is our entry trigger.

System Results Update
      By the way, our bond strategies have been making lots of money this year. Hope you are all trading them with real money. Back in February I had lots of critics calling and asking why we were offering long only bond systems when bonds were at 115 and that had to be the top. They said that they couldn't possibly go much higher than that and our long only results could not hold up in real trading. Now that the bonds are over 130 I am glad that we have the Serendipity system that does trade the short side because I suspect that we really are near the top. (Doesn't take a genius to make a dumb statement like that. I apologize.)          

The Big Dipper system has been long since July and has huge open profits even after having to be rolled forward from the September contract into December. The "25 X 25"system is not doing bad either. When is the last time you had a free system make that much money for you? And last but not least, lets not forget the "Little Dipper". According to my recollection the last seven trades were all winners and it could be more because I can't remember the last loser. Not too bad for out of sample trading results. REMEMBER: PAST RESULTS ARE NOT NECESSARILY INDICATIVE OF FUTURE SUCCESS. I'm not just saying that because I have to. I really believe it and so should you. The bull market in bonds has made us look smarter than we really are. Bull markets do that.

Good luck and good trading

Switch Time Frames For Better Exits

I just returned from a weeklong Trader's Camp hosted by Dr. Alexander Elder in a beautiful island nation in the South Pacific called Vanuatu. When I studied geography in school many years ago, Vanuatu was known as the New Hebrides islands. Vanuatu is located about 1,000 miles west of Fiji.

If you have read Elder's excellent book, Trading For A Living, you will recall that Dr. Elder is an advocate of using multiple time frames for trading both stocks and futures. For example, he suggests looking at the weekly chart to make sure that the weekly trend is firmly up before trading the long side of a market based on the daily chart patterns. This approach makes good sense and I highly recommend his book and his strategy.

While listening to Dr. Elder explain his multiple time frame strategy for entries, my thoughts wandered to the application of his ideas to my favorite subject - exits. One of my goals in trading is to find exit strategies that do a good job of protecting open profits. One method of accomplishing this goal is to simply move the daily stops closer once a specific profit objective has been reached. However, it might also make sense to simply switch to a chart with a shorter time frame once we have reached a reasonable profit objective.

Here is an example of how such a strategy might work. Let's say that we have been trading XYZ stock on an intermediate term basis using daily charts. The trade is working out very well and we now have six ATRs of open profit. (See previous Bulletins for an explanation of how to use Average True Range to set profit targets). Up to this point we have been using our well-known Chandelier trailing stop placed at 3 ATRs below the high point of the trade.

However, now that we have reached our primary profit objective we want to tighten up our stop to protect more of our profits. We could reduce our Chandelier stop from 3 ATRs to 2 ATRs and continue using the daily bars or we could switch our chart to one hour bars and continue to trail the Chandelier exit at 3 ATRs based on the intraday one-hour bars. The basic idea is to switch to a chart with a shorter time frame once we have reached our profit objective. This procedure should allow us to let our profits continue to run but we would be protecting our open profits with much closer stops by using the chart with a much shorter time frame.

      Combining our exit strategy with Dr. Elder's entry strategy would provide the following sequence: for entries we first examine the weekly chart and then use the daily chart to trigger the trade. Once we are ready to exit our trade we examine the daily chart and then trigger our exit using the hourly chart.          

Of course this strategy would require some extra work as well as the use of intraday data. The alternative would be to simply reduce the number of ATRs used to hang the Chandelier exit on the daily chart. Either way we do it, the logic is to move our stops closer once we have achieved a worthwhile trading profit.