CCI Entries, Heiken Ashi Exits, and Averaging in an Automated Strategy

Summary

Anton Nel describes the Expert Advisor he entered in the Automated Trading Championship 2012. It uses overbought and oversold CCI readings to enter and Heiken Ashi to exit, which he says performed better than CCI exits in his backtests. The system stays active in the market and responds to adverse moves with averaging or a stop loss, depending on conditions. In the competition, it used a fixed five-lot entry size and did not tie position size to equity.

Nel frames that sizing as a high-risk contest choice: it helped him reach first place but could also lead to a poor result. He recounts an earlier futures loss after a sharp market decline, attributing it to having no money-management plan or sufficient equity to withstand the move. His advice is to understand both trading and the robot, start with small lots, and use money management. These are personal observations, not controlled performance evidence; he warns that patterns may not persist and says one strategy may not fit different markets. He also favors careful scrutiny of multicurrency systems and says he prefers commodities such as gold.

Key ideas

• The EA uses CCI overbought and oversold readings for entries and Heiken Ashi for exits.
• Adverse price moves are handled through averaging or a stop loss, depending on the situation.
• Its competition configuration used fixed five-lot entries rather than equity-based sizing.
• Nel links an earlier futures loss to missing money management and inadequate capital for the drawdown.
• He advises beginners to learn how the system works, start small, and manage risk.

Tags

This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.