BOTH EDGES CAN KILL YOU

                                 Before This He Tried To Trade FX

Few things in life really prepare you for a career trading FX; all your fancy schooling and upbringing mean absolutely nothing. Money talks; well, you know the rest. Dealing with disappointment and failure [not from a money standpoint, but from the market “not behaving”] on a constant basis can have a negative cumulative effect on your life if you don’t prepare yourself properly.

Now that I’m “wired in” to the FX Twitter universe, how many were calling for USDJPY to scream lower today, and by default the Yen crosses would get smashed and the carry trade traders would suffer horrendous losses?

“Ummmm, excuse me, liftoff in GBPJPY in 5…4…3…2…”

Once again, the “Long Term –vegas Big Bang Algorithm” should have kept you on the sidelines [in GBPJPY] most of the day; in other words, keep you out of trouble! How many of you couldn’t wait to sell GBPJPY today on the rally? “It’s easy money.” [There is no such thing by the way.] For the most part, the algorithm never gave the sell signal after about 8 A.M. [Chicago time]; it spent the next 7 hours going straight up.

As the sword swallower can attest, spending too much time worrying about one side of the sharp sword can leave you vulnerable to the other side. There is no such thing as “ a comfortable trade” in FX.

I have updated the “-vegas Scalper Algorithm” and the new and revised MQ4 file can be downloaded for free in the downloads section here on the blog. It is important you use this latest version, as it will give superior results versus the previous version; as always, if you prefer, email me at vegasalgo@yahoo.com and I will send it to you if you don’t want to use 4shared.com

One thing is clear from the last couple of days; scalping at C2 will not work. Here’s why; I made simultaneous trades of 10K at C2 and Assets FX on Monday, buying GBPJPY off a buy signal from the “-vegas Scalper Algorithm” [previous version, not the new one]. Likewise, I liquidated at the same time; I made 6.6 pips [after a $0.26 commission] at Assets FX [where the spread was 1 pip and change], and I made 3 pips at C2, where only God knows what brokerage house they used for the quote and what the spread was [I’m guessing it was about 5 pips]. This is over a 100% difference.

If you made 2 trades like this every trading day over the entire year with a 1 lot [100K base currency], you would be handing the brokerage house approximately $17,000!!

Most of the time, regardless the session, the crosses with the best spreads are 1) EURJPY, 2) EURAUD, and 3) GBPJPY. EURJPY is usually lower than 1 pip, while the other two are between 0.5 – 1.5 pips at Assets FX.

What I plan on doing is using C2 for the “Long Term –vegas Big Bang Algorithm”, and posting each month the results from an account at Assets FX where I threw $1,000 bucks into an account and will trade it using the “-vegas Scalper Algorithm”. Of course, I will keep a running daily total of the Scalper Algorithm, but will make available to the public the end of month records so anyone can verify the results.

I have had some talks with Assets FX about having other accounts “mirror” my trades automatically, but there are some details that still have to be worked out. Right now, I’m waiting for a call back with answers from questions I had about logistics and leverage. I’ll keep you posted, but I remain optimistic both I and Assets FX can work out a plan that benefits primarily you.

The Scalper Algorithm is currently using RM=1 in GBPJPY, EURJPY, and EURAUD. I’m using the hourly candlesticks [1 HR] as the basis for long and short positions; when the candlestick is green, I only establish long positions; when the candlestick is red, I only establish short positions. The 1 minute [1M] candlestick cross over/under of plum and yellow establishes the buy/sell signal.

If you are trading multiple lots, take partial profits at the aqua line and let the rest ride until either the 1M red exhaustion line is hit by price or the plum and yellow lines cross.

Please change your yellow line setting manually to “17” from “9” on the 1M candlestick chart. Then insert onto your 1M chart the “-vegas scalper.mq4” file.

With the updated Scalper Algorithm, you literally have hundreds of opportunities per day to scalp these 3 volatile pairs listed above. With spreads less than you would get at an exchange, you have the 3 biggest factors for success in short term trading; 1) very tight spreads, 2) volatile pairs that move, and 3) an algorithm that works and produces results.

Over the last few days, I have had some problems with our email account. Yahoo reset the account, and unfortunately some emails were lost. If you have sent me an email that I haven’t answered, please copy and paste it from your email “send” directory and send it to me again so I can answer it and hopefully answer any questions you have.

Have a great day everyone.

-vegas

JOINING THE COLLECTIVE 2 COMMUNITY

                           Linked To The World Via Collective 2

In the next 48 hours [or something close to it] we’ll have everything done with Collective 2 [C2] and be ready to use their service.  I will post the link when it is ready; in the meantime you can find all the information you need at their website http://www.collective2.com .

In short, they will provide 2 important things for us; 1) the ability to manage funds [at a very low cost structure] for those that absolutely need it, and 2) provide a verifiable track record for the world to see [over 71,000 active member accounts].

There are different options you can use to get my algorithm signals here, but really C2 is for managed accounts only and a source for a public third-party verifiable track record; if you just would like my signals [emails or SMS text on cell phone], use the Twitter service for free I will talk about in my next post. If you’re trading your own account, why pay C2 for a service that I’m supplying to the public in real time at no cost?

The signals generated will come from a demo account at C2; the reason it is not live is because I am not willing to open an account and trade with higher spreads. At present, Assets FX does not support the C2 service. Below is a list [with links] of brokerage houses that support the C2 service. For those of you that wish to have the algorithm signals automatically traded with your account, you have to have an account at one of the following brokers [broker name, country regulated, web address, Forex Peace Army Star Rating (0-5 stars, NF = Not Found on FPA system for broker review, NR = Found on system review but no reviews)]:

            VISION          [India]             http://visionforex.co.in        [NF]   

            THINK FOREX         [AUS] http://www.thinkforex.com    3 1/2   

            STRIKER                   [US]    http://www.striker.com           [NF]

            BELFOR FX              [EU]    http://www.belforfx.com        [NR]

            FXCM                        [US]    http://www.fxcm.com             2 1/2

            GAIN                         [US]    http://www.gaincapital.com    [NF]

            TRADE MONSTER   [US]    http://www.trademonster.com    [NF]

            OEC                           [US]    http://www.openecry.com      [NF]

            dt                                [US]    http://danielstrading.com        [NR]

            DORMAN                 [US]    http://www.dormantrading.com [NR]

            OPTIMUS                  [US]    http://optimusfutures.com       [NF]

            PEPPERSTONE         [AUS] http://www.pepperstone.com  2 1/2

            AVA TRADE               [EU]    http://www.avatrade.com       2 1/2

            ALPARI UK               [UK]    http://www.alpari.com            3

There are a few things to note here; 1) all U.S. brokers will do 2 things, A) send you a 1099 at the end of every year, 2) limit your leverage per NFA rules to 50/1, 2) I’m not recommending any of them, only listing what is available at C2, and 3) I take the star ratings from FPA with a “grain of salt”.

As for Assets FX, FPA has a 2 ½ star rating for them with the note that some suspicious “great” reviews are spam. According to the company this was the effort of a PR firm they hired. That firm has been fired and I have talked to the company about this and they readily admit the firm made a mistake and the situation resolved. They only ask that I try them and give them a chance to show what a great FX brokerage house they are. Openness I like; you’ll get your chance to impress.

On the cost front, there are two costs to bear for the customer [you]; 1) half a pip for each round-turn trade [no matter the brokerage house and their spreads] from C2, and 2) a fee I set up for the service, which by the way, is about the lowest C2 will let me charge.

I’ll be offering the first quarter [90 days] for a free trial; after that it will be $60 per quarter. C2 takes care of payments from you, and they take 1/3 of that $60 for themselves. So, the first year it costs about half a pip plus $0.75 per trading day [using 240 reasonable trading days in a year]. Every year after that it costs half a pip plus $1.00 per trading day.

As you can see, I’m not doing this to get rich or treat you like “muppet money”. Of course, the larger your trades the cheaper this becomes. In the scheme of things it’s all irrelevant anyway; if you’re worried about a $1.50 or a $1.75 and your trading tens if not hundreds of thousands [maybe even millions] of base currency per day, then your focus is misplaced.

Besides, in addition to this, I have to pay about $200 per year for the service. Since my staff [Chief of Staff Milton Waddums, -vegas Jr., and Cousin It] eats more than this in Shrimp and Crab Legs at our hangout favorite seafood restaurant every week at staff meetings [where I pick up the tab of course], I think I can swing it.

Once the trading begins, the public can view the charts [account equity] and also all the important trading statistics the system keeps track of for customers. I’ll link this info on the blog site when we get going here in the next few days.

The next post will be about our free Twitter signals for those of you who want to know what I’m doing and why on the fly. Be back then.

Have a great day everyone.

-vegas

WHY BUSINESS, GOVERNMENTS, & TRADERS GO BROKE

                                      Master Of The Obvious

First, a little housekeeping if you will; you will notice that I have changed my Twitter account. You can now follow me at @vegastrades and I will be commenting as “vegas trader”. So, why the switch?

For some unknown reason, my other account was suspended; no reason given and numerous emails into Twitter’s phantom support have produced, after 24 hours, absolutely nothing in terms of a response. I had sent out 5 tweets, and when I sent out a re-tweet from someone else, I got my account suspended.

So, the idiots at Twitter leave me no choice; I created a new account rather than wait around for the clueless staff to someday get around to my problem and then fix it.

This whole ordeal got me to thinking why businesses, governments, and yes even traders fail at what they do; they ignore reality and instead focus on fantasy.

If a business model is sound, a business will often still fail because they eventually cut corners, and one of the first is customer service. Back many years ago, I had an uncle who owned and operated a family steak house in the town I grew up. He was paranoid about customer satisfaction; he visited EVERY single table and talked with EVERY single customer to make sure their meal was to their delight. It didn’t matter if he knew them for 20 years and they came 3 times a week; he still took the time. If he even for a second thought something was wrong, or you weren’t satisfied, you got free drinks or even a free meal for the whole table.

Sure, some people exploited this, and he knew it, but he knew what other people in the restaurant biz intuitively fear; people say the meal was “fine” and then leave and tell everybody they know what a dump the place was and the food was terrible. He could lose customers and not even know it or be able to control or respond to what others say. His paranoia was the secret to his success.

Governments promote fantasy almost every single day, yet the reality can be summarized effectively with one word: Greece. What a bottomless pit of mind numbing kleptocrats stamping forms and playing pretend. I have visions of the staff and crew of the Titanic arranging the deck chairs and putting out fresh towels in first class as the ship keels over and sinks.

Traders fall prey to this lack of customer service as well. How many of you view your own account as that of a business? How many give your account the attention it deserves through proper risk management? Or instead, do you make “stupid trades” [definition = large losses] in the fantasy of “it will come back”.

“Yea, sure it will; just like your old girlfriend from high school. Just a sec please.”

The common thread that destroys each is that there is no fire in the belly to do the right thing. None. Doing the right thing is tough; it requires discipline and a desire for an outcome that is greater than just the desire for profit. People who are successful put other people first and instinctively know that by focusing on there needs, they will profit.

Just the other day, a high school girl running track in the State championship in Ohio was running the 3200 meters, when nearing the finish line another girl collapsed in front of her. At that time she was in 15^th place and the girl that collapsed was in 14^th place. She stopped and helped the other girl up and assisted her to the finish line making sure the other girl finished ahead of her. She has become a You Tube viral sensation. Here is the link for the whole story:

http://espn.go.com/high-school/track-and-xc/story/_/id/8010251/high-school-runner-carries-fallen-opponent-finish-line

If this girl ran a business, and I needed any product she was selling, I would definitely give her a shot at my business, even if her products were slightly higher in price. Why? Because I know what kind of person she is and what she stands for; I value that.

As for Twitter, Greece, and the consistently large losers who trade; you got a lot to learn.

Have a good day everyone.

-vegas

SPECIAL WEEKEND UPDATE

                                   Information To The Masses

As you have probably noticed, over the weekend I made some cosmetic changes to the website. If you would like to follow me on Twitter, just go to your Twitter homepage and in the search field type in vegasxau and hit the follow button. I’ll be commenting on Forex trading topics, and other stuff you will find interesting and amusing.

In the weeks to come I’ll be adding video links, so you can catch me on “You Tube” or right here. When I get up and running I’ll probably average about 2 vids per week – one on Wednesday and another on the weekend sometime.

I’ve changed the “labels” section of the website to reflect a “cloud”; words most often used are bigger and bolder. I think it is easier on the eyes and brain to scan this than scrolling down the page whre everything is the same.

As most of you know, I and my PAMM have been kicked out of HotForex because we are U.S. citizens, and they no longer accept U.S, citizens as clients. Why do I feel like I have leprosy?

If you haven’t done so already, please check out [at the bottom of the website] my special places of interest and some chuckles as well.

Have a good day everyone.

-vegas