That's why email alerts are so great! Congrats on the pips. And you are right, sometimes getting in too late kills the setup.
Tourder: Thanks for the insight into your pairs. Tdion: Would you like to post a blurb or a link about the MA cross/Jacko AH hybrid you mentioned? I'm quite curious. Might whip-saw but then again, doesn't every pair have that chance? I now have to get ready for my real profession, but I'll keep my phone and alerts close at hand. I got a sell for the USDJPY after a long upside run over the last two weeks. Once again, very much in need of a defined method so we can all agree on something for later that can be traded while we are sipping Mimosas in our favorite sandy locations. That is why I am currently still developing sound logic for taking profit (look at 18,45,72 EMA separation theory a few posts back) to get out of trades. I also found that if I was totally hands off I was losing major profit by waiting for the reversal to close my positions. I used to run this a while back with an EA. I mostly like this system for the entries, and I do have to make a call every now and then on when to take profit and go and throw the frisbee in joy. This would be espcially helpful where you have already achieved a respectable win, and don't want to have to wait for the cross. I realize that there should probably be a modified exit strategy like Tourder said, possibly a trailing stop. Sorry for the name of the system, but it does catch the eye right? If this system is already out there and I am out of line, please let me know! Anyone care to take a stab at a live trading EA or a true back test? Without further delay, check the examples, see what you think, and I have also attached the Indicator (put in indicator folder of MT4 if you didn't know).
This will be about personal preference anyways. I have used most of the majors and don't find that one stands out more than the others as being more consistent and successful. That being said, this is a trending indicator that builds pips for days, no short trades unless you're exiting because the tide has turned and you need to close and enter in the opposite direction. I think the 18 and 45 EMA compliment each other well and do not give too many whip-saw entries. I haven't tested this on timescales lower than 1hr, because I quite frankly don't like that many setups.
I have attached an example setup, which is shown with pink and blue arrows developing on the chart at the time of the email. Not too annoying, but can be fixed and I'm scratching my head without a little help with the programming. At this time the indicator is programmed and sends emails nicely, but it sends one for every bar. I literally go long when the email tells me, and go short when the time is right. Emails and alerts are sent out after the close of the bar, which could be changed to suit ones taste. I haven't programmed an EA for this, but it does run off of an idicator that alerts with sound and sends out an email. I changed the parameters a little and decided to go with an 18 and 45 EMA cross system. I have to preface this right now, I learned alot of the logic for this system from the Corn Flower EA (Thanks Lever, from all of us). So I started trading a system a while back that allowed me to combine a really simple hourly trend with 2 EMAs.