Do you use Excel tables for improving your trading?
- Thread starter kike
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I use a trading journal built on Excel to track my trading success (or lack of it). Sometimes, I also use Excel to create diagrams, like the currency pairs hourly stats.
As for the position size, we have a handy online calculator for that, and I use it for my trades too.
As for the position size, we have a handy online calculator for that, and I use it for my trades too.
I use something along the lines of what envid has stated above and to answer your query, yes - keeping a journal will help you streamline your trading. And a few websites will allow you to download a preset format [excel] which you can use or you can check this forum for other trader's trading journal and come up with your own..
I use a spreadsheet to record my trades and a text document as a journal. The journal includes notes and observations and marked up charts.
I use OpenOffice, which is very similar to Microsoft Office and it's free. It includes alternatives to Excel and Word.
OpenOffice
Yes but would prefer the excel format, it works good, have not tried any other format for the moment. And maintaining a journal in word may not be advisable, when it comes to analysis..at least, that's what I'd discovered when I started to keep a journal..
Yes- Excel has rarely improved my trading. I recorded all my trades in a excel format and try to make an analysis by using charts. It is also useful to test some new strategies.
this is definitely somehting new for me. I never used Excel for monitoring my trades and to be honest with you, even never heard about it. I will take a look, thanks guys.
You're welcome and actually, the excel format is perfect for analyzing information - not just for fx trading and you can also use it to maintain your books, there's just so much you can do with excel which you would not be able to do with Ms word..
And this is why you'll see that most trading journals tend to be in excel format, with variations on cells..
And this is why you'll see that most trading journals tend to be in excel format, with variations on cells..
yes i use excel tables for improving my trading.many people use this to solve his problem.
Yes, the excel format is perfect when it comes to maintaining Journals..think about it, how would you enter all the day to day trades, movements, calculations in a word file? Where as the same can be entered very easily in excel and you can set it to carry out series of calculations..
Do a try- Excel has rarely very helpful when it concerns Forex trading. You will be able to keep a track of every single trade you make. After enough time, you'll notice patterns appearing. You may notice that you're always losing on a Monday, or you may be making poor trading decisions just before lunch when you're feeling hungry. You may notice that you're constantly losing on a certain currency pair, but also notice that you're winning on another currency pair.
Without the use of a trading diary you may never even notice these patterns; however, by keeping track of all your trades in this way will enable you to eliminate the things that aren't working for you and allow you to focus on the things that actually work. It'll also be an invaluable tool in helping you avoid making mistakes more than once.
I designed and built and entire predictive model trading system using Microsoft Excel. The entire project began about 10 years ago and I've been trading with it in various stages of development for about 7 years.
The vast majority of the trading I've done with has been less than part-term because it has always been a work in progress. The completed prototype has been active now for about 3 years.
The system uses only Daily, Weekly, Monthly and some Annual bars of data. Back when I was in the concept stages, there was no clean way to get real-time streaming data into Excel. So, I could not use the lower time frame data (M1 through H4). Therefore, the system has always produced only one (1) trade signal per 24 hours, with a target time of up to 72 hours on average, but many trades closed within 24 hours.
The system does over 1,400 (between 1,100 to about 1,500 depending on configuration) primary calculations that produce 117 primary trade signals, which are then filtered down to the top 27 highest performing signals. Those 27 signals are used as input to what I call a MetaBrain decision support engine where they are then filtered via ranking system that learns, down to the best eight (8) signals. The MetaBrain then further ranks those eight inputs to the final two (2) signals that have built-in magnitude or performance weighting. The system then selects the one (1) trade signal for the day from that built-in performance weighting and produces the Singularity - the day's trade signal.
The system has a four (4) tier design architecture:
- Price Database
- Signal Engine
- Predictive Engine
- Read-Only GUI (Global and Tactical)
It also has a set of non-conventional chart designs for each pair that look nothing like standard price charts.
The were researched and designed by me. The are all non-standard technical indicators built and designed on the concept of Price Delta. The were designed into two groups: Delta Class I, and Delta Class II. The Delta Class I designs are some of my earlier indicator concepts, while Delta Class I designs were the nextgen indicator concepts that came later in the development phase. None of the indicator concepts use any traditional or conventional indicator calculations and all of them are original and unique designs based on concepts that I've never seen anyone (even after 10 years) either talk about, or make public.
So, yes. It can be done. Most people would be surprised at what can be done with a simple spreadsheet. Of course, you can make it as complex as necessary. In trading, there is no better "clean sheet" form of design that I can imagine. To transform a blank (empty) spreadsheet into a predictive model that learns, is not an easy task and it will take a huge amount of time and creative thinking. But, it can be done. Along the way you will learn how to design and implement your own custom functions, algorithms, formulas, modules and sub-routines. You will also develop very creative ways to avoid Circular Logic, which by itself will force you to design a better (safer) system overall.
Here is an old pic of what the Global View (GUI) looks like. It shows the top six (6) pairs as ranked by the system, their respective trade signal for the day and all the associated strategic information that I need to trade the pair. This is an old pic, so the date and prices are not current:
GlobalView:
This is an old research pic (not current data) of what the TacticalView GUI looks like:
TacticalView:
These are some random snap-shots of what parts of the Signal Engine core look like (not current data):
Hope this helps to spark the imagination just a bit.
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...And, here's a pic (not current data) of what the Tactical charts look like. Not your typical candle or line chart, but they have all the core strategic elements that are seen in the GlobalView's digital GUI and some that are found in the TacticalView's GUI as well:
I think it all depends on how creative you can get with the engineering task. Once you figure out how to 'think' about trading in terms that Excel can 'understand' you then have an opportunity to build a platform for Decision Support.
The trick is being able to convert what you know is needed for trading, into something that makes Excel happy. When Excel is happy, there is no better prototyping platform for trading anywhere that I can see. The reason is that Excel does not limit your imagination. NinjaTrader, ProTrader, FSB, MQL/MetaTrader, TradeStation, etc., they all are limited by their own design architecture and language syntax. With a spreadsheet, the phrase - "Where do you want to go today" truly applies.
I worked in the Enterprise Technology industry during my second career as a systems engineer and systems integrator (not as a programmer, or developer). That background helped me to figure out how to architect my trading system prototype. I knew I needed a database on one tier and I knew that database had to function like a real-time data stream, even if Excel was not able to handle that very easily at the time.
So, I used VB-Script in Excel, to get the database to update in real-time, but at D1 speed. I then used DDE to capture MT4's [0] bar for the High, Low, Bid and Ask. The Open, was captured during the VB-Script engine update and the real-time close was a DDE "Last Price" definition from MT4.
I then did the same think with the Weekly, Monthly an Annual Data, making the necessary adjustments to ensure each Time Frame had its correct Open, High and Low price. So, I was able to simulate a Real Time Database in Excel, by simply getting creative with the design.
The rest of the system architecture came by way of using a Whiteboard to draft each component that I knew would be necessary to build a functioning module that produced Indicator Output. I later developed a process for actually building each module, and I was able to replicate that process in many new module designs. However, each module did require some additional design elements given its unique requirements. That's how the system produces all of its Indicator Output for use in its Signal generation.
I did not need the background in Enterprise Software, but it sure did help a great deal to know something about Client/Server Architectures and Relational Database Models. I used all of that experience to help me develop the trading system you see above.
...and this is a pic of what the MetaBrain looks like. This is the final stage of the signal engine where the system makes a "decision" about what the trade will be for the day. That highlighted area at the bottom right corner of the pic, is the Singularity. That's the actual Trade Signal for the session (again, current data not shown in pic):
This is where the system "learns" about past decisions that it made. All of the Learning Algorithms and Functions are hidden from view. The system figures out what the current signal is for the day (the Singularity) and then it locates that signal's performance history in the Signal History Metadata Database. It then further evaluates the current market conditions against the same signal to determine if that signal should be allowed to dominate using its Learning Algorithm.
This is how is learns and makes decisions.
This is where the system "learns" about past decisions that it made. All of the Learning Algorithms and Functions are hidden from view. The system figures out what the current signal is for the day (the Singularity) and then it locates that signal's performance history in the Signal History Metadata Database. It then further evaluates the current market conditions against the same signal to determine if that signal should be allowed to dominate using its Learning Algorithm.
This is how is learns and makes decisions.
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