The T3 Strategy

Long Entries: 

Setup: T3-5 crosses above T3-8

Entry: Look for first bar that meets all of the following, then enter with a Market Order on the close

  • Heiken Ashi Trend Bar Up
  • T3-5 is above T3-8
  • 5 EMA is above 21 EMA
  • 50 EMA is above 144 EMA on 1 min chart
  • Price is above the 50/144 “cloud”

Exit at any of the following:

  • Target Hit
  • Stop Hit
  • T3-5 crosses below T3-8

Short Entries: 

Setup: T3-5 crosses below T3-8

Entry: Look for first bar that meets all of the following, then enter with a Market Order on the close

  • Heiken Ashi Trend Bar Down
  • T3-5 is below T3-8
  • 5 EMA is below 21 EMA
  • 50 EMA is below 144 EMA on 1 min chart
  • Price is below the 50/144 “cloud”

Exit at any of the following:

  • Target Hit
  • Stop Hit
  • T3-5 crosses above T3-8

 

 

T3 Introduction

The T3 Trading Rules are the core strategy of the TradingFibz.com trading room, run by David Katz. It is based on a combination of Flex Renko Heiken Ashi bars, moving averages, and overlays from other time periods.  The detailed rules are here.

T3, or Trade The Trend, is a trend following system, which has as its goal to identify and ride long trends for high returns.  The Flex Renko bars, combined with the Heiken Ashi study, transform ordinary candles into trending candles and indecision candles. A trending candle appears to be a solid body with only one wick.

1 Minute Candles show you time based price action
Flex Renko Bars are Range based, the bar closes when price has moved a certain number of ticks. In this case, 15.
The combination of Flex Renko bars and the Heiken Ashi study smoothes out price action so trend is easily identified.

Heiken Ashi bars indicate indecision when there are two wicks. They indicate trend when there is one wick pointing in the direction of the trend.

This auto trade chartbook will allow the user to decide to auto trade when market conditions appear favorable.   It is not intended to be a “set it and forget it” tool. It will win some and lose some trades. Discretion is recommended, when deciding to enable or disable auto trading at any point in time.  The main benefit of auto trading is getting you into a trade so you can manage it.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

c Expand All C Collapse All

Some studies can be controlled with Advanced Custom Study Button. Each one is assigned a number from 1-150. The Study can interact with the button by changing the text label and checking the state of the button. If the button is in, it is On, if it is out, the button is off. You can change what button number a study will use in the study settings.

First, you need to know which ACS number you want to use. This will be in the study settings. 

 

In this example, we want to add ACS Button 111 to  Control Bar 1

 

  • To do this click Global Settings>>Customize Control Bars>> Control Bar 1 (or whichever one you are using).

 

  • On the left scroll down to Advanced Custom Study Buttons and click the “+” sign to expand the list:
  • Find the Custom Study for the Number you need to use, on the left. On the right side, select where to insert the button on the list. The lower you put it on the list, the farther to the right the button will appear. I will put it on the bottom so it will be on the far right.
     
  • Note that the button captions and description text will be provided by the study when that chart is selected, so you don’t need to do anything with the properties, unless you want to change any of the other properties, such as the size of the font.

 

  • Click Add-> and click OK. You should see this on the far right of the Control Bar.

  • Note that the button captions and description text will be provided by the study when that chart is selected, so you don’t need to do anything with the properties, unless you want to change any of the other properties. 

 

  • Find the Custom Study for the Number you need to use, on the left. On the right side, select where to insert the button on the list. The lower you put it on the list, the farther to the right the button will appear. I will put it on the bottom so it will be on the far right.
     
  • Note that the button captions and description text will be provided by the study when that chart is selected, so you don’t need to do anything with the properties, unless you want to change any of the other properties, such as the size of the font.

 

  • Click Add-> and click OK. You should see this on the far right of the Control Bar.

  • Note that the button captions and description text will be provided by the study when that chart is selected, so you don’t need to do anything with the properties, unless you want to change any of the other properties. 

In order to see what happened to your trade orders, either live or in sim, the Trade Activity Log as everything that enters , modifies, or closes all orders. The log should be filtered to only view the relevant trades.  There are three Steps to sending the log: Preparation, Saving, and Attaching the log

Preparing the Log

The following steps will generate the log for the specific trades you are interested in. 

  1. Select Trade >> Trade Activity Log on the main Sierra Chart menu.
  2. On the Trade Activity Log window, select the [*Trade Activity] tab from the top level menu.
  3. At the top left select All Activity to list both Orders and Fills.
  4. In the list of Symbols, select the symbol.
    1. If you are in Simulation the Symbol name have [Sim] in front of the name:  [Sim]NQH22
  5. In the list of Trade Accounts, select the particular Trade Account the order was submitted to. If you are not sure of the particular Trade Account, select All Accounts
    1. In the case of simulated trading within Sierra Chart, these accounts will begin with Sim#.
  6. In the Date Range to Display >> From Date box, enter a date which is earlier than the date of the order being questioned.
  7. Make sure Date Range to Display >> To >> Today is checked. Note if the trade was not in the last day or so, it is better to uncheck this box and enter a Date and Time that occurs after your trade closed. (Decreases the file size.)
  8. In the list of Internal Order IDs make sure that All Internal Order IDs is selected.
  9. In the list of Notes, make sure All Notes is selected.
  10. Press the Apply button.

Adapted From <https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?page=doc/TradeActivityLogAnalysis.php>

Saving the Log

The log file can now be saved as a file for emailing and analysis.In the Trade Activity Window, select File>> Save Log As  and use the default name as it contains the date the file is saved:

  • If you need to send more than one file per day, just add  a dash and a number:
     
  • Click Save.
  • Email the Log

In your email program, attach the file located at: C:\SierraChart\SavedTradeActivity.  If you sort the files by date, it will be the newest one.

The S3 auto trade study is ID5, the T3 auto trade study is ID16, and the W3 auto trade study is ID3.  For example, you can add an audio alert  to the T3 Auto Trade study by editing the Study Settings for ID16.  Column K is Buy Long, and Column M is Sell Short.

If you want to add sound files to the list of available alerts, the files should be saved in the C:\SierraChart\AlertSounds.  (For Infinity/Transact Futures the folder is: C:\SierraChart\SierraChartTransActMA\AlertSounds.)  Go to Global Settings>>General Settings>>Alerts/General 3 to add sound files to the list of available audio alerts.

How Can I Speed Up My Computer?

Can changing memory chips speed up my computer?

Dell wants to sell me new memory chips to help speed up computer processing, not sure that will do it.

Unless the computer came with slower chips than it was designed for, swapping out faster ones will not make a difference. I don’t think Dell would have done that. What will help is if you upgrade to more RAM, as Windows will spend less time swapping data back and forth to the disk drive. You can go to Crucial.com and run a test that will tell you what your options are. Dell will sell computers with less than the maximum amount of RAM allowed to allow for upgrade but save money in the initial purchase.

The best way to speed up Sierra Chart without buying a new computer would be to run Sierra Chart on a Solid State Drive  SSDs don’t have moving parts as they are totally electronic, making them much faster. Most SSDs come with software for cloning your existing hard drive, which you can save as a backup.

Also reducing the amount of open chartbooks, and the number data/days that the chart loads on start-up will help. If you don’t normally run backtests or look back on your charts more than 7 days.  There is really no need to have your charts set to load more than 10 days of data.

With regular use, the Sierra Chart data folder (C:\sierrachart\data) will continue to grow in size over time. The reason is that all chart data from the first Intraday chart viewed until the present is based on *.scid files. There is one per symbol.

If disk space is a concern, the easiest thing to do is to delete all the scid file and Sierra will download any missing data the next time you open a chart that needs it. This is the equivalent of doing Edit>>Delete All Data and Download.

The easiest way to get rid of unused downloaded data is to close Sierra Chart and delete all the *.scid files in the C:\sierrachart\data folder.  When you open any chartbook, it will download fresh data if it cannot be found on your system.

Yes.  By default it resets at midnight according to the Time Zone setting in Sierra Chart. The reset time can be changed through Global Settings >> General Trade Settings >> Daily Stats Reset Time.

Your trade service uses different symbols than the ones that have been provided. Go into Chart Settings, Main Settings and select the FIND button next to the Symbol: box. You can search for the correct symbol or if you know it, just type it into the Symbol: box.

For example, if the chart settings are using the symbol NQM8, and it is listed as Unknown, you may have to enter something like F.US.ENQM18 if you use AMP as a broker.

In general, no. You only need to save the spreadsheet if you made changes to it, and haven’t saved it yet. Nothing needs to be changed in the spreadsheets. Otherwise you can say No. Changing the values in the Constants Study does not count as changing the Spreadsheet, as they will be reloaded the next time the chartbook is opened.

The most common reason for this is that you have exceeded the daily Maximum Profit or Loss for the chart. If the Daily Max P/L % is either > 100% or < -100%, then increase the limits in S3 Inputs (or T3 or W3 inputs as the case may be.) Other reasons:

  • For S3 V1.0: Check that the time is correct for the chart (RTH or Globex).
  • For all S3 and T3: Try closing the chartbook and reloading it.
  • Try restarting Sierra Chart and reloading.
  • Make sure the Spreadsheet study is not hidden.
  • Try extracting the original files from the zip file again.

If none of this works, try the instructions here to verify Auto Trade functionality: https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?page=doc/SpreadsheetTradingTestProcedure.php

Charts that do not auto trade will work as they normally would. Auto Trade charts can be individually disabled by Unchecking Trade> Auto Trading Enabled – Chart (or using the ATC button) for each chart you don’t want auto traded. While it is supported to have multiple charts auto trade the same symbol, it is not recommended, as you may undesired results.

Yes. You can always use the manual trading controls. At no time are they disabled. That includes managing the trade stops and targets.

Auto Trade will only enter a trade if the following conditions are met:

– Auto Trade is Enabled both Globally and for the Chart. (See here for creating Control Bar Buttons for these settings.)

– Live Money (Or Live SIM Server): Send Orders to Trade Service is YES in the Auto Trade study settings, and Trade Simulation Mode on is UNCHECKED.

– Back test/Replay/Local SIM: Send Orders to Trade Service is NO, and Trade Simulation Mode on is CHECKED.

The S3 auto trade study is ID5, the T3 auto trade study is ID16, and the W3 auto trade study is ID3.  For example, you can add an audio alert  to the T3 Auto Trade study by editing the Study Settings for ID16.  Column K is Buy Long, and Column M is Sell Short.

If you want to add sound files to the list of available alerts, the files should be saved in the C:\SierraChart\AlertSounds.  (For Infinity/Transact Futures the folder is: C:\SierraChart\SierraChartTransActMA\AlertSounds.)  Go to Global Settings>>General Settings>>Alerts/General 3 to add sound files to the list of available audio alerts.

Unfortunately it is. Because the S3 and T3 auto traders use studies from multiple charts, and they depend on session times and events based on New York time, all your trading charts need to be on New York time. This is a limitation of Sierra Chart, recently confirmed to be something they don’t plan on changing. Therefore, you will get inaccurate levels, and overlays unless you globally change Sierra to trade in New York Time.  This setting is in Global Settings>> Data/Trade Service Settings.

This is an artifact of the small tick size of some futures, like 6E, and the internal accuracy of the color bar study alerts. The arrow is correct, the bar should be magenta. To fix this, open the study ID5 and click on the sub graphs tab.  Select Valid Long (SG5) and click Color. Change the color to magenta, (Red=255, Green =0, Blue=255) and click OK. Change the Draw Style to Color Bar. Then select Valid Short (SG6) and click Color. Change the color to cyan (Red=0, Green=255, Blue=255) and click OK. Change the Draw Style to Color Bar.  Click OK.

Category: S3

There are several rules one could follow to improve the success rate of the trading systems.  The key is to know when to Auto Trade and when to Sit on Hands. One rule is don’t auto trade near Globex High or Low. I also show how to create buttons to control the auto trading at the global (PC) level, and chart by chart.

The Chartbooks and attached spreadsheet and/or DLL studies are saved in the C:\SierraChart\Data folder, or if you have Transact Futures, they are saved in C:\SierraChart\SierraChartTransActMA\Data.

Cloning Chartbooks

The same spreadsheet should not be open in two or more chartbooks at a time. Should you decide to make a new chartbook based on an existing chartbook, you need to do two more things to avoid issues.

  1. Open the spreadsheet by double clicking on it. Do File Save as…and a new name. When asked if you want to save the new spreadsheet answer YES.
  2. Next, update the spreadsheet study in the chartbook to see the new spreadsheet. Open the settings for the Spreadsheet (ID5: SS3 nn) and change the Spreadsheet name by clicking on Select and picking the new file. Repeat for any other charts in this chartbook that use the same spreadsheet study. 
  3. If you want to clone the S3T3 chartbook, repeat for the T3 spreadsheet.
  4. Finally, you can modify and File>Save As… the chartbook with a new name.

Modifying Trading Hours

If you wish to disable auto trading during certain hours of the day, you can insert a formula to control when to trade and not to trade.

You need to determine the hours in 24 hour format, based on the Time Zone that Sierra Chart is set to trade in. If you need to verify the time zone, go to Global Settings>>Data Trade Service Settings.

In order to do enable trading during specific hours, you will need to modify the spreadsheet. This should only done by people who are familiar with Sierra Chart spreadsheets.

  1. Open the spreadsheet for the chart you want to manage trading hours with.
  2. In the upper left corner, select Sheet1 for Chart #1, or Sheet2 for Chart #2.
  3. Go to cell J28 and double click to edit the cell.
  4. Pick one of the following formulas depending on whether the time to trade occurs During the Day (e.g. between 09:00:00 and 16:00:00)  or if trading hours Extend Past Midnight (e.g. Globex). Your time zone and where you trade may make a difference too.

    During the Day

For example, Begin Auto Trading at 09:30:00 and end at 16:00:00

Insert this formula into J28:

=AND(OR(J41-INT(J41 <TIMEVALUE(“09:30:00”),
J41-INT(J41)>TIMEVALUE(“16:00:00”)))

Extend Past Midnight:

For example, Begin Auto Trading at 18:00:00 and end at 9:29:59 the following morning.

Insert this formula into J28:

=!AND((AND(J$41-INT(J$41)<TIMEVALUE(“18:00:00”),J$41-INT(J$41)>=TIMEVALUE(“09:29:59”))))

Save the Spread Sheet

Do File>>Save to save the changes to the spread sheet.

Note that if you understand the logic of the formula it is actually disabling trading when the formula evaluates to a 1. Cell J$41 is the date and time of the current bar. The Integer part of that is a number for the date, and the decimal part is the time of day. The Timevalue() function converts the time of day in HH:MM:SS notation to a number between 0 and 1.

Tool Buttons to control Auto Trading

Create Buttons for Auto Trade Enable/Disable

To simplify the setting of the Auto Trade-Global and Auto Trade Chart, you may want to add a button for each to the control bar.

  • To do this click Global Settings>>Customize Control Bars>> Control Bar 1 (or whichever one you are using).
    • On the right side select where you want to insert the buttons. The higher up the list the further to the left the buttons will appear.
    • On the left scroll down to Trade and click the “+” sign to expand the list: 
    • Scroll down to “Auto Trading On/Off – Global|ATG” and select it and click “Add->” 
    • You will see the selected item move to the right side: 
    • Repeat steps c and d for “Auto Trading On/Off | ATC” and click OK.
    • You should now have two buttons labelled ATG and ATC on your control bar. 
    • ATG (Auto Trading Enabled – Global) is either on (In) or off (out) and applies to All charts that can auto trade.  It will always be off when starting Sierra Chart, as long you don’t Uncheck “Disable Auto Trading on Startup”.
    • ATC (Auto Trading Enabled – Chart) is on or off for every chart. This way you can be selective about which charts are auto trading. You can also quickly check the status for each chart by just clicking inside the chart. If the button is in then it is On, if out, then it is Off. The ATC settings are saved with the chart, so you don’t have to remember to turn on or off every chart when you start up. However, it is a good idea to save your chart books with the button off.

Configure Live Money Trading

Live Money Trading is using real money. Trade at your own risk!

The setup is the same as for Live Sim Trading except you connect to the Live Mode server when you start up your trading platform.

Live ModeTrading

  • Uncheck Trade>Trade Simulation On 
  • Edit Studies: ID:5 S3 nn Settings:

Send orders to Trade Service = Yes 

  • Confirm you have checked Trade>>Auto Trading Enabled – Global and Trade>Auto Trading Enabled – Chart 

Configure Live Sim Trading

Live Sim Trading is for the most realistic simulation without risking real money. It uses the network and the exchange servers to simulate the entries. The setup is the same for Live Money Trading except you connect to the simulation server when you start up your trading platform.

Live Sim Trading

  • Uncheck Trade>Trade Simulation On 
  • For the S3 Auto Trader: For the TEdit Studies: ID:5 S3 nn Settings:

Send orders to Trade Service = Yes

  • For the T3 Auto Trader: Edit Studies: ID:16 T3 nn Settings:

Send orders to Trade Service = Yes

  • Confirm you have checked Trade>>Auto Trading Enabled – Global and Trade>Auto Trading Enabled – Chart