Data Sheet for the Platinum Automated Trendline Trading System Content/Main... · MT4 will now...

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Data Sheet for the Platinum Automated

Trendline Trading System NOTE: This data sheet is still being added to so please check for updates

periodically

Introduction

Platinum is a hybrid software application which used a java based interface to communicate with the underlying MetaTrader 4

application.

Concept Platinum was designed to provide traders with a quick and easy way to

configure bespoke automated trendline trading strategies within the MetaTrader environment.

Platinum’s java interface was principally designed to provide pre-trade

configuration options for the trader. These options include:-

Defining the trading behavior of specific trendlines on the

underlying MT4 chart Setting stop loss and take profit levels with multiple take profit

exits (Scale out) Controlling position size and risk

Controlling the maximum number of trades and minimum interval between each trade

Controlling a wide variety of on chart display options such as line lengths, styles, colours, whether data is displayed etc.

Defining “Profiles” of trader preferred scenarios Deploying saved “Profiles” within a couple of mouse clicks

Once trades have been executed the java interface cannot control the

stop loss, take profit levels or scale out percentages of the active

trades. However the trader can easily control these levels graphically

http://www.fxalgotrader.com/


by simply selecting the level and dragging it to the preferred value.

This trade management uses

the same paradigm as the FX AlgoTrader Iridium and Gold automated trading systems.

We plan to refine Platinum continually and our intention is to ensure

Platinum becomes and stays the market leading semi-automated

trendline trading tool on the MetaTrader platform.

Getting Started

A note on tick data

Platinum like every other MT4 EA and indicator is driven by tick data.

However Platinum is a little more complex as it uses system files to pass information between the java interface and the MQL4 program

(the Expert Advisor) which sits on the MT4 chart.

If a trader makes a change in Platinum’s java interface and clicks the “Save” button a special file called “Platinum Delta.csv” is written into

the MT4 file system. The Platinum EA constantly scans your computer for this “delta” file. When a delta file is found the Platinum EA then

opens another underlying file which contains specific information about the trendline selected in Platinum’s java interface.

In other words – you need tick data for Platinum to work properly. If

you set Platinum up at the weekends when the market is closed - not much will happen!



Installation

Step 1 - Java

Firstly make sure you have Java running on your computer. Java is

freely available on the www.java.com website. Platinum is developed using the Java version 7 standard edition.

Step 2 - Disable Window UAC.

It’s much easier to install Platinum with Windows UAC (User Access Control) disabled on your machine. How to turn Windows UAC off

If you really want to install Platinum with UAC enabled please contact

us for help locating the Windows virtual file store which UAC creates.

Step 3 – Run MT4 with administrator privileges

To always ensure MT4 runs with admin privileges follow these steps:

1. On the Start menu, locate the MT4 program that you want to

always run as an administrator. 2. Right-click the application’s shortcut, and then click Properties.

3. In the Properties dialog box, click the Compatibility tab. 4. Do one of the following:


http://www.java.com/

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows7/turn-user-account-control-on-or-off


To apply the setting to the currently logged-on user, select the

“Run This Program as an Administrator” check box, and then click OK.

To apply the setting to all users on the computer and regardless of which shortcut is used to start the application, click “Change

Setting For All Users” to display the Properties dialog box for the MT4 executable file, select the “Run This Program as an

Administrator” check box, and then click OK twice.

MT4 will now always run using an administrator access token. Keep in mind that if you are using a standard account and prompting is

disabled, the application will fail to run.

Step 4 – Installing Platinum.

The rest of the installation process uses the generic FX AlgoTrader

installation process and license management system which is detailed

here

IMPORTANT: ONLY INSTALL PLATINUM ONTO A LICENSED MT4 ACCOUNT. See the license management page for more details on how

to manage your FX AlgoTrader licensing.


http://www.fxalgotrader.com/Website%20Content/Main%20Pages/Support%20Docs/Web%20Based%20Installation%20Guide.html

http://www.fxalgotrader.com/DB%20Account%20Change.php


Loading Platinum on an MT4 chart

NOTE: The platinum EA icon will be greyed out in your Navigator

window as there is no accompanying MQL4 source code packaged in the installer. Your version will look like the screenshot below. This is

completely normal so don’t worry about the change in colour.

To load Platinum on a chart:-

Open your MT4 Navigator folder by pressing the ‘Control key &

‘N’ Open your ‘expert advisors’ folder and scroll down to the

‘Platinum’ Load Option 1: Right click on the Platinum EA and select ‘Attach

to Chart’ as shown in the screenshot below

Load Option 2: Click and drag the Platinum EA icon onto your

chart



You will now see the MT4 Platinum EA main dialogue as shown in the screenshot below:

Make sure ‘Enable alerts’, ‘Allow live trading’, ‘Allow DLL imports’ & ‘Allow import of external experts’ are all ticked.

Also make sure ‘Ask manual confirmation’ and ‘Confirm DLL function calls’ are left blank (unticked)



Click the Input tab and enter your unique Reference number into the ‘Ref’ field. This is in your original installation email. Now

click ‘OK’

After clicking OK Platinum verifies your MT4 license on the web

based license management server and if everything is correctly licensed you will see the characteristic ‘smiley face’ in the top

right hand corner of your chart as shown in the screenshot

below:-



You will also see the main Platinum interface pop up on top of

your chart as shown below:-

The Platinum icon will always stay on top of your applications

unless it is minimised. If you accidentally minimise the interface you can easily re-open it from the windows taskbar at the

bottom of your screen. You will see a java logo as shown below:-

To reactivate the Platinum menu interface just click the Java logo

TIP: If you find you have loaded Platinum onto a chart and the

Platinum menu interface does not appear AND there is no java logo in the taskbar - Go to your ‘files’ folder in the MT4 file

system. This is under your ‘experts’ folder. If you find a file called ‘Platinum Active.csv” delete it. Then go back to MT4 and

change the chart timeframe. The Platinum menu interface will

now appear. We will provide to perform this function shortly.

TIP: If you accidentally close the Platinum menu interface – just change your chart timeframe to re-instate the interface.



Configuring your first automated trendline trade using Platinum

Check to make sure the Platinum EA is running on your chart Draw a trendline using the MT4 trendline tool which looks like

this:

TIP: Platinum will not recognise vertical or horizontal lines. If you want to trade off a horizontal line use a trendline and just

draw it flat.



Now press ‘F8’ to display chart properties and go to the

‘Common’ tab. You will see the following chart properties interface:-

Make sure ’Show Object descriptions’ is ticked



Now click the Platinum button on the main Platinum menu interface



You will now see the main trendline control interface as shown

below:-



Now click the ‘Scan Chart’ button and then click the selected trendline combobox. You will see something similar to the

screenshot below:-

TIP: Platinum will display trendlines on the chart and also any other

trendlines which have been scanned on other charts. The trendline number and symbol data is always shown eg ‘Trendline 54209

[EURJPY]’



Now select your trendline by clicking on it and you will see a system alert as shown below:-

This is just telling you the trendline hasn’t been configured for

auto trading yet. So click OK to continue.

Now we need to configure the trendline for auto trading. Let’s

review the trendline we drew on the chart.

Our trendline is an uptrend which was drawn through three swing low points. We now have to decide whether we’re looking

to take long opportunities (Buys) when price action comes within a defined range of the trendline or whether we will look to take a



short order if price breaks the trendline. For the purposes of this

example we will demonstrate how to configure the trendline for both trading scenarios.

Scenario 1 – Buying a test of support

Click Buy to configure the trendline for long trading action

Now we need to decide on the the trendline behaviour. We will

discuss all the different trading behaviours later in this guide but for the purposes of this example we will use the ‘Touch’

behaviour. ‘Touch’ executes trades when price action touches a defined pip range around the trendline. We can adjust how big

this trigger zone is by using the ‘Sensitivity’ parameter. So let’s go ahead and configure the trendline for ‘Touch’ based trading

using a 4 pip trigger zone around the trendline.



By clicking on the ‘Behaviour combobox we’re present with a list

of available trading behaviours.

Select ‘Touch’ as shown below:-

Now enter ‘2’ in the Sensitivity box. We enter two as the system

will configure a +2 and -2 trigger channel around the trendline thus giving us a 4 pip wide trigger zone in total. (2 pips above

the trendline and 2 pips below the trendline)



Now enter the number of lots you want to trade.We’re going to

trade 0.2 lots – or 2 mini lots.

Now we need to set our stop loss and take profit levels. Platinum users have an option to display a trigger grid which is designed

to make setting your entry and exit levels much easier.

So let’s use the trigger grid by clicking on the Show Grid radio

button.

Now click save to commit the settings we’ve made so far.



You will now see the trigger grid displayed on the chart as shown below:-

You can see the system has used two take profit levels which are

defined as ‘TP1’ and ‘TP2’. The Stop loss is defined as ‘Stop’. Platinum always prefixes the trendline number to each level eg ‘54209 TP2 Exit

50%’. We can adjust the stop and take profit either by graphically manipulating the levels directly on the chart or alternatively by using

the java interface. We will show both methods for this example.



Graphical adjustment method for SL & TP Levels

Click on the level you want to adjust.

You will see little square boxes are displayed on the trendline. Click on

the middle box and hold the left mouse button. Now move the level where you want it and keep the mouse button pressed until an

incoming tick comes in. You will see the dotted intercept lines redraw when the system updates the level.

TIP: We recommend setting your entry and exit levels in conjunction

with pivots. We supply a comprehensive range of pivot systems on the

website www.fxalgotrader.com




Interface adjustment method for SL & TP levels

SL Adjustment

We can adjust the Stop Loss level easily by adjsuting the Stop Loss

spinner in the java interface. Enter the value you want and simply click ‘Save’ to commit the changes to the system. The new Stop Loss level

will be relected in the trigger grid when a new tick comes in.

Before Adjustment:

After Adjustment:



TP Adjustment

To adjust the TP levels we click on the Profit Controls button in the Trendline Control Interface.

This will display the Profit Control Module as shown below:-



We can adjust the TP levels and the exit percentages by simply

adjusting the spinner values. Platinum automatically calculates the available percentages for additional positions so if you have 100% set

for TP1 you won’t be able to add an additional TP level until you decrease the percentage on TP1 below 100%. The screenshot below

shows what happens when TP1 is set to 100%. The additional TP levels (TP2,TP3 & TP4) are greyed out.

However if we reduce the percentage for TP1 to 50 percent you can

now see what happens below:-

TIP: If the trader clicks away from the Profit Control interface it will disappear. To commit the level changes to MT4 click ‘Save’ in the

Trendline Control interface



After clicking ‘Save’ we can see the changes are now reflected on the trigger grid in MT4 as shown below:-

Scale out percentage adjustment

We can only adjust the scale out percentage using the Profit Control interface. It is not possible to adjust the scale lout percentages directly

from the MT4 chart.

TIP: Once the trade has been executed adjusting the Profit Controls and SL levels in the java interface will not change the live levels in

MT4. The traders can adjust the levels directly by using the graphical click drag and drop method. It’s not possible to edit/change the scale

out percentage once the trade has been executed.

TIP: In a pre-trade scenario, If you make changes to SL & TP levels on the trigger grid using the graphical method on the MT4 chart. To udate

the levels in the interface you need to re-select the trendline. This will

re-read the trendline configuration file which MT4 modifies directly when levels are changed graphically (directly on the chart) We would

probably recommend not using the interface level controls once a live trade is in place.



Controlling Risk

The final stages of setting up the system are:-

Defining the maximum risk parameters Controlling the maximum number of orders

Defining the minimum order interval

Defining Maximum Risk

We simply enter the maximum percentage risk as a percentage of

account equity we are prepared to lose. The system uses a 2% default value. So if your account equity is $10,000 USD, using a 2% max risk

setting would close any trades where the loss was greater than $200

Controlling the maximum number of orders and minimum interval

We can set the maximum number of concurrent orders which each

trendline can execute and control the minimum interval between each order. For our example trade we’ll set our maximum number of orders

at any one time to ‘1’ and use the system default of 60 minutes between trades.



Saving your strategies as Platinum Profiles

Obviously we wouldn’t want to have to go through the interface every time we wanted to deploy a trading plan. To enable the trader to save

the setting for a specific type of trade we’ve included profiles which can be deployed very quickly onto new charts and trendlines.

Once you’ve configured a trendline you can very easily save the trading commands as a profile by simply clicking on the “New Profile”

button shown below:-

This will open a small dialogue box as shown below:-

Now just enter a name for your new profile in the box where it says

“profile name” and click the ‘Save Profile’ button.



You can now access your new profile by clicking the dropdown box arrow shown below:-

You can also update an existing profile whenever you want to make a

change by simply selecting the profile from the profile dropdown box, making the desired change and then clicking the “Update Profile”

button.



Trading Behaviours

Platinum has 6 types of trading behaviours which are:-

Touch

Where price action momentarily enters the trigger zone around

the trendline. The trigger zone is specified by the Sensitivity spinner control in the main trendline control interface which is

shown below



So in the case where the sensitivity value is set at ‘2’ the system

will place a 2 pip channel above and below the trendline. So your effective trigger zone is a 4 pip band around the trendline as

shown in the screenshot below:-

When price action enters the trigger zone momentarily a touch

based trade will be executed based on the trading parameters specified in the interface.



Retrace

Retrace trades are where a support or resistance level is initially

tested, price is then rejected from the level and the level is subsequently tested again. Some traders prefer to enter trades

on the retracement after an initial test.

A trader would set up a retrace trade as follows:-

o Select the trendline required for auto trading

o Select the Retrace behaviour option as shown below:-

o Select the Retrace Controls Button as shown below:-

o You will now see the Retrace Controls interface as shown below:-

o Now enter the retrace period in bars/candles or periods.

o



o Let’s say we enter 1 and 5 as shown below:-

This tells Platinum to enter a trade if price action tests a

support or resistance level and then retests the same level between 1 and 5 bars after the initial test.

For the retrace to be valid the closed prices within the

retrace window must be above the trendline (in the case of a buy) and below the trendline (in the case of a sell)

The screenshot below shows how the Retrace trigger zone

is related to the Retrace controls.



Break(Touch)

Break(Close) Break(Close x candles)

Break(Close in defined range)


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