Placing Stop taking profits and effectively

Monday, February 28, 2011

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There is no rule when setting stops and take profits, but generally you will want to keep the risk to reward, at least one, preferably 2 or higher

If you are not familiar with R:R, how you plan to risk vs. how much you plan to acquire,

An R1 would mean risking as you plan your giving

An R2 would mean targeting twice what the precipice

Patronized by stops and take profits.

An R1 would mean you stop and take profit is equal

An R2 would mean your profit will be your stop loss twice

Many new traders will prepare a draft, as you have instructed to have been adamant on using a certain R:R as 2: 1, you'll find an installer and will decide that they want to trade throughout the day so there is no interruption will be offering an automatic 30 taking profit of 60.

Such transactions are likely to be very efficient, since there is no real rationale behind the placement of stops and take profits.

You should get support and resistance into account when placing stops and take profits and support and resistance refer to horizontal lines across the recent highs, lows, double/triple-tops or bottoms, trendlines and Fibonacci retracements. the strongest support and resistance are where many of them overlap, you can also try spot candle patterns forming around the S + R regions or lines for additional confirmation.

Using the methods mentioned above to begin work on the distance between your posting, nearest support/s and resistance/s to begin planning your trade and work your risk: reward ratio.

For example you plan to enter the market in the pair Usd/Jpy at a price of 89 65, can make a very strong resistance to 90.00 and a very strong support at 88.60. your post is 35 points of resistance and 105 points by the support, if you take a short position, you will have a trading risk: reward ratio 3: 1 which by any standards a fine trade. You will then want to tweak it slightly when you stop say 10 points above resistance and your winnings will take 10 points above support, now greatly increases your chance to protect your stop and prices, reaching your destination, while still maintains a R2 +

I hope this has helped, I am sorry if some seem like to point out the obvious to some, but many new traders find it harder to grasp than you might think, I have in recent months, starting with teaching negotiation in some wealthy clients and as smart as they are, sometimes really struggling with some concepts

Lee J Brown

http://www.ProFXBlog.com

My name is Lee J Brown and I am a full time forex trader from London, United Kingdom. I have been trading forex just over 4 years now, and I would like to share my experience with the world

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Building Trading Systems Using Automatic Code Generation

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As more and more traders have moved to auto-negotiate, has increased its interest in systematic trading strategies. While some traders develop their own trading strategies, the steep learning curve required to develop and implement a trading system is a barrier for many traders. Newly developed solution for this problem is to use the computer algorithms to generate automatic trading system code. The objective of this approach is to automate many of the steps in the traditional process of deploying trading systems.

Automatic code generation software for building trading systems based on frequently in genetic programming (GP), which belongs to a class of techniques called evolutionary algorithms. Evolutionary algorithms and GP especially developed by researchers in artificial intelligence-based biological concepts and evolution. An algorithm GP evolve a population of trading strategies from an initial population of members is generated randomly. Members of the population are competing on the basis of their relevance. Craftsman members selected as parents to produce a new State of the population, which replaces weaker (less relevant) State.

Both parents are combined by using a technique called crossover, which mimics the genetic crossover in biological reproduction. In passing, part of a genome from parent combined with part of the other parent of the genome for the production of the genome of the child. For trading system generation, genomes can represent different elements of strategic negotiation, including various technical indicators, such as moving averages, Stochastic, and so forth. different types of input and output commands and logical conditions for entering and exiting the market.

Other members of the population who produced through mutation, is a member of the population are randomly selected to be modified by changing parts of the genome. Through breeding, normally, a majority (e.g., 90%) the new members of the population are produced with others produced by mutation.

During successive generations of reproduction, the overall fitness of the population tends to grow. The eligibility is based on a set of objectives that rank or score builds each strategy. Examples of build targets include various performance measures, such as net profit fall, winners, profit factor, and so forth. They can be declared as minimum requirements, such as a profit rate of at least 2.0, a.k.a. objectives to maximize, maximizing net profits. If there are multiple build targets, the weighted average can be used for a metric of fitness. The process is interrupted after some number of generations, or the suitability of stops increase. The solution is generally taken as the fittest State population occurs, or the entire population can be sorted by fitness and saved for further review.

Because genetic programming is a type of optimization over-fitting is a concern. This is usually treated using out-of-sample test, in which data are not used to evaluate strategies during the construction phase is used to test them. Essentially, each candidate strategy constructed during the manufacturing process is a case that is either supported or refuted by the evaluation and further supported or refuted the results out-of-sample.

There are several advantages to build commercial systems through automatic code generation. Process GP enables synthesis strategies given only a high-level group of render targets. The algorithm does the rest. This reduces the need for detailed knowledge of technical indicators and design principles. Also, the GP is impartial. That most traders have developed calibrations for or against specific indicators and/or trading logic, GP directed only by what works. In addition, incorporating the proper commercial rule semantics, can be designed to produce reasonable process GP trade rules correctly and free of error code. In many cases, the procedure shall take effect not GP is only unique but non-obvious. These hidden gems would be almost impossible to find any other way. Finally, automate the manufacturing process, the time it takes to develop a sustainable strategy may be reduced from weeks or months in a matter of minutes in some cases, depending on the length of the input file, and other settings build values.

About the author:

Michael Fleming has a degree of Phd in mechanical engineering with a minor in computer science and has negotiated and studying the financial markets since 1994. To learn how to build profitable trading strategies for virtually any market and time frame, please visit Adaptrade Software (http://www.adaptrade.com/Builder/).

(c) Copyright-Adaptrade software. All rights reserved.

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Michael R Bryant - EzineArticles Expert Author

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Day traders-7 steps to take your trading to the foreground when you have emotional triggers ' Paralyzed '

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One of the biggest challenges that day traders face, is when something that is going on outside of their trading life drains them emotionally and mentally and threatens negative impact on your trading and other areas of your life.

Does this ever happen to you?

Maybe it goes something like this:

You have a ' to do ' list as long as your arm but you are motivated and taking action on the things that are most important. Your day trading is going really well and you are spending time every day watching that trading training DVDS that came in the mail last week.

You are "focused and disciplined on your trading.

Everything is grand in your world.

Then the phone rings.

t is your mother. As soon as you hear her voice you go into ' produced territory ' that is reserved for guilt, fear, hurt and myriad other negative emotions.

Has she consolidated again? Has your sister not called on her this week? What is she produced blackmail trips on today?

If this is not your story-then what is your produced trigger?

You know the one. The thing that sends you into a spin and you are almost instantly ' paralyzed ' and not able to continue doing what is was that you set out to do.

You can't think straight.

It overtakes all other thoughts and sits here in the front of your mind, not budging to let any other more empowering thoughts though.

You go into thoughts like ' what will I do if the same situation happens as last time. I don't think I can cope! ' What about this scenario, or that, or ... ' You start imagining how it may negatively play out in the future

If you are in the middle of something to do with your trading-STOP.

Your trading judgment is likely to be ineffective and irrational. Your best ' action ' is no action. Not until you can do something to get you back on track.

What can you do to ensure events like this do not impact on your day trading?

Go and sit quietly for 10 minutes and listen to your favorite music.Go and phone a friend who you know always says something to make you feel good.If you talk to anyone about the situation, only talk about it as positively as possible. Preferably, don't talk about it at all or take 5 minutes to have a moan then move right along. Don't let anyone else buy into the negativity and give it more negative energy. No pity parties!Tell yourself that this makes you angry but you have now moved right along.Ask yourself ' What can I do to find a solution? ' Ask yourself ' If there is a grander purpose for having this problem, what might that be?Look for a new strategy in advance, of handling the situation when it arises again. In the above scenario, how about butting in mid sentence to say ' I Love You! Nothing like delivering the unexpected! You may even both get a laugh out of it!

The key point here is to find quick doesnt ways to change how you think when certain events happen that would normally have you out of action and ineffective for days.

These type of situations can mean that you let you trading rules fly out the window, your judgment is clouded and bad decisions made.

Day Trading fortunes have been lost when trading continues under these circumstances.

Establish new behaviors and continue on your path to trading success.

Karen Oates is a seasoned options trader and mindset coach who excels at helping traders understand themselves and the stock market by using a ' keep it simple ' trading plan and the mind tools of success through mastery of mindset, focus, behaviors, beliefs and strategies.

Karen is certified as a Master NLP Practitioner: Master Coach, Results, Performance Consultant, Specializing in Advanced Subconscious Reprogramming and Master Hypnosis.

Check out how you can use the best tools and techniques to become the successful trader you want to be!
http://www.outofmymindtrading.com/
http://karenoates.wordpress.com/

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Karen Oates - EzineArticles Expert Author

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Options transactions and administrative time

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Do you think it is never enough hours in the day? To find there is so much to learn about investment you feel overwhelmed? I have a strategy to help. This is something that will be very useful for individuals who begin their investment that they consider as soon as they are overloaded with information. The theory goes that you must focus solely on learning things that will make a difference to you now, things that you can put into action now.

When I started investing and options trading, I was so excited by all the different strategies that could be your trade. I bought the book off Amazon heaps about any matter that is available to you through the purchase of shares, options trading or investment. Your name and probably can! There is only so much information out there that really take years for beginners to learn from it.

If you're starting out and difficult to find time to learn everything, try simply to concentrate on those things that will make a difference to your trading today. One thing I did when I started was a symbol for all these different newsletter, email services, as well as various commercial tutorials. But pretty soon it was suffering from information overload and get disheartened. Kept thinking to myself "there is only so much to learn and do not have time".

If you find yourself in this situation, try the technique of time management by focusing on just the things that will make a difference to you now. Whenever an e-mail message arrives in your Inbox, you think to yourself, this is true for me today? This helps improve trading me today? If so, great, go through in detail, but if not simply file away for reading in the future. If your trading plan for trading covered calls, learn what you can do about this strategy before moving on. Sure, information about stochastics, moving average convergence divergence trading volatility, Delta neutral trading, iron the etc. It may be interesting, but if you're not going to make a big difference to your trading now, file it away to read later when you have more time, and when actually will make a difference to your business.


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10 Habits of successful traders

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What is a Traders Mindset?

When a new trader places a trade, they invariably believe it will be a winning trade. If the trade is a winner the trader will experience positive emotions (happiness, euphoria and sometimes even a feeling of invincibility). If on the other hand, the trade is a losing trade, that trader experiences a number of negative emotions, disappointment, anger and (if it's a big loser) they will experience guilt and pain.

When an experienced and profitable trader places a trade they will do so with a completely different mindset. First and most importantly, they will know what the historic probability of that trade either winning or losing actually is. Secondly they will also know what the expectancy (or Profit Factor) of the trade will be and thirdly, they will have accepted the risk. Whatever happens with that single trade, the experienced trader will experience little (or no) positive or negative emotion.

This is because they have developed a traders mindset

Why mindset can be the difference between success and failure

After the new trader has closed his trade and booked a profit they now believe that making money is easy. They go looking for the next winning trade. If they had any sort of strategy and they can not find a trade that meets their requirements, they might simply find something that looks similar in the hope it will perform in the same way. They may risk more of their capital (after all, they are successful now!). Now lets assume that they have another winner. At this point, images of fancy cars and paying off mortgages early start appearing in their mind. They imagine quitting their job and trading full-time. They are trading purely on emotion and inevitably, when things start to go wrong, they have absolutely no idea why and how to fix it.

Meanwhile our experienced and successful trader continues to trade their 'edge'. They continues to follow a set of tried and trusted trading rules. On every single trade, they know what the historic probability of success is and for each trade they have accepted the risk of losing. They will also have in place a strategy to protect their capital should they experience a run of losers as this is all part of maintaining their traders mindset.

The top 10 Habits of successful traders'

1. Decide on the size of your trading account

Whether this is $10,000 or $1,000,000 you need to allocate and ring fence the money you are going to trade with. Not only is this psychologically advantageous, it's also important when it comes to defining your maximum risk per trade (which I discuss later)

2. Have a trading strategy

It doesn't matter whether this is based on fundamental or technical analysis. You MUST develop a strategy that works for you.

3. For each and every trade have a clearly defined exit strategy

For every trade you place, define both your profit target and your stop loss. Place both your stop and profits immediately you place your trade. Learning where to place stops and profit targets is a subject that warrants its own post, however for the purposes of this piece, just know that you have to know where (or when) you are going to exit the trade

4. Learn to accept the risk every time you enter the market

Most traders talk in percentages when working their stops (a stop is the maximum amount you will lose if the trade goes against you). Aim for a maximum Stop of 2% of your account (so for a $10,000 account, that means your maximum loss per trade should be set to $200). This amount is your risk - get comfortable and accept that every single time you enter a trade, you could lose $200. Are you comfortable with this?

5. Know what the probability of success is for EVERY trade you place

Your Win/Loss ratio defines your probability. If you do not have a trading history, then use your backtested results. Once you place the trade remind yourself of the probability of winning on that particular trade.

6. Stick to your plan

Once you have a plan and you know the probability of winning and you are comfortable with the risk you are taking, stick to the plan. Do not deviate. This is extremely hard, but you've done all the leg work so you must now develop the discipline to stick with your plan. In Trading in the Zone, Mark Douglas explains a method that can be used to stick with a plan. (It was a while ago since I read his book, but I explain my understanding of his method below)

Allocate a 2 week period where you will ONLY trade one strategy

Record every single trade in your trading journal trading journal

For every trade you make record whether you followed the strategy to the letter or whether you deviated. If you deviated make a note of how and why

Do not worry about P/L, just trade the strategy as though your life depended on it

After the 2 week period is over, review your performance -

Split out the trades you made where you followed your plan. What was the Win/Loss ratio, what was the Profit Factor. Did the strategy perform according to expectation? If so, then great, you've proven to yourself that the strategy is a good one and that you can follow your plan.

If the strategy did not perform to expectation, then you know you need to revise the strategy (as opposed to your mindset).

Next, review all the trades you made where you did not follow the plan. How did they perform? The likelihood is that they performed worse than trades where you followed the plan. Why did you take the trades - What emotion was involved, for example had you just experienced a series of winners and where feeling euphoric? Or had you experienced a run of losses and where chasing profits?

Understanding why you can not stick to a plan is a great way of working out how to make the changes to enable you to follow the plan. Invariably traders will find that these trades are as a result of not having a plan that is well defined. Go back to the drawing board until you have a plan that covers off set-up rules and exit strategies.

7. Have a portfolio level Stop loss

Because trading is a game of probability, there is a chance you will experience a run of losers. (Assuming a strategy has a 60% Win/Loss ratio, there is a 6.4% chance of losing 3 consecutive trades). Have a plan to stop trading after a series.

8. Have realistic expectations

Many people start trading after reading stories of how it's possible to make 100%+ returns per annum. It is possible to make exceptional returns however in order to make these types of returns you either need to be taking exceptional risk OR you need to be an exceptional trader. Becoming an exceptional trader takes years, taking exceptional risk will inevitably lead to ruin. Do not fall into this trap. Set and manage your own expectations. Making 20% return on your account is a good return (where else can you make these types of returns?).

Your first goal, should be to break even. According to many resources, 90% of traders fail. Meaning if you can break even you will be in the 10% of those that are 'succeeding' or on the way to succeeding.

Your second goal should be to become consistent. Try and outperform one of the stock market indices (the median return on the S&P since 1988 was 10.88%)

The last 2 Top tips in this list are taken directly from Mark Douglas and his book Trading in the Zone - I'll leave you to consider their meaning and how important they are

9. Remind yourself that anything can happen

10. You do not need to know what is going to happen next in order to make money

Daniel Jackson has been trading for over 7 years. He swing trades FTSE 350 stocks and Day-trades the mini0sized Dow. He has presented spread-betting discussions at the WorldMoney Show and regularly contributes to numerous trading publications. You can follow his journey (and download his trading journal software here.

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Daniel Ian Jackson - EzineArticles Expert Author

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Tools for strategy building

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Many merchants have adopted systematic trading methods in recent years. Commercial systems help to remove the emotion from trading and trading strategies to enable automated so that you can buy and sell signals can be executed automatically without manual intervention. This article describes the types of software tools available to help develop profitable trading strategies.

Trading Platforms this is the most basic tool for systematic trading. Trading platforms can be supplied by a brokerage, often as a without using the services of broker, or by a third party. The latter usually connect to a variety of data sources and transactions. The basic features of the platforms is the order entry and charts. In recent years, have been extended platforms to include features more aligned with systematic traders, such as scripting languages and strategy back-testing. Even in the absence of these more advanced features, the charting capabilities of the platforms can be useful to develop ideas for trading systems. Some of the most popular platforms for systematic trading include TradeStation, Ninja trader, trade Navigator, eSignal, MultiCharts, AmiBroker and MetaTrader (forex).

scripting languages Commercial systems are essentially software programs and, as such, based on some sort of programming or scripting language. Languages in line with market trading is usually available on trading platforms, although they can be part of a separate application, more specialised. The most popular scripting languages is a general-purpose language negotiation system allows editing, testing code, and some historical and real-time simulation, depending on the tool. Some of the most widespread scripting languages is EasyLanguage (cross-platform TradeStation and MultiCharts) NinjaScript (Ninja trader), TradeSense (trade Navigator), EFS (eSignal), AFL (AmiBroker) and MQL (MetaTrader). Tips for traders in stocks & commodities magazine contains sample code for many of the most popular scripting languages.

portfolio analysis and Simulation Tools Some platforms include portfolio analysis, and simulation capabilities, However, third-party tools can often exceed the features that are available on most platforms. Tools in this category activate Advanced analyses, including the position sizing, portfolio optimization, Monte Carlo analysis and tests of soundness. This type of software programs include TradeStation, which recently purchased software analysis by Grail and RINA, ProSizer systems (tool based on Excel spreadsheet), TradeSim (for MetaStock) and market system Analyzer.

Code generation tools until recently, development of a trading system requires writing code. With the advent of code generation tools, software to write code for you. Code generation tools combine strategy elements, such as common trading indicators and price patterns, with different ways to find the logical strategy that works best. Some tools output code for third-party platforms, such as TradeStation, while others use proprietary systems that work only on their platforms. Examples of code generation tools include Trading System Lab, StrataSearch and Adaptrade Builder.

The specific applications mentioned above are generally oriented individually and as a former semi-professional traders. While many professional traders may also use these tools, software tools designed specifically for professional and/or academic use in the area of Finance include Mathmatica and MatLab language statistical analysis s and R.

About the author:

Michael Fleming has a degree of Phd in mechanical engineering with a minor in computer science and has negotiated and studying the financial markets since 1994. To learn how to build profitable trading strategies for virtually any market and time frame, please visit Adaptrade Software (http://www.adaptrade.com/Builder/).

(c) Copyright-Adaptrade software. All rights reserved.

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Michael R Bryant - EzineArticles Expert Author

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New mistakes a trader which costs $ 600-$ 1,000 per day

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Just got my old job back after living off trading for 2,5 years. To say the least, I'm somewhat burned out and it will focus work and receive a negotiated change-but not a complete change, Will continue to trade paper mini Dow for creating the past performance numbers for my upcoming brands.

I had time to look at my past mistakes and I would like to share with you, so you can avoid them and be a successful trader and is a better starting position and then I was, since I was all self-taught.

SET A GOAL FOR TRADE:

When trading day, especially when trading currencies, meat and metals, it is always a risk that can afford to lose, and set a goal for trade: checking on the market, not to leave on the market. Read my prior articles about how much risk are satisfied during marketing of above. This applies also for day trading the S & P mini and the mini Dow-always use a break and have objective in mind.

With swing trading for 1-10 days, you can use a target or to monitor closely and take profits along the way. I would like to be in 1-3 days and take profit, wait, go again and take profits again.

STARTING & KLISIS CLOSED FOR THE DAY:

If it doesn't work for long or short, reversal of the trade. wrong! Bad news, you may work sometimes, but most times you will lose. IMPORTANT: Set a maximum loss per trade on a daily basis. Say you are trading the mini Dow, set a limit lose say $ 200.00 to $ 300.00 per day, although things are not going your way: IMPORTANT: always remember there's always another day to trade-today is your last trade and not many traders trade as soon as there are no occupations-there will always be is another market tomorrow or the next day and the day after that. It keeps jumping and undertaking, goes along with reversals-a loss is bad ... many losses in a row is devastating for your psyche and especially for your account balance!

WELL BE FINANCED:

Very important. Trade with VENTURE CAPITAL, loan money. Don't draw the roll IRA account if you lost your job and you want to trade-this is your retirement! Do not borrow money from relatives. You will never pay back. Remember, there is a learning curve to trading, and start to use the broker who can guide you to make suggestions. especially with the euro, copper and feeder cattle (to see my prior articles, put my name in the search bar of the article). Shop for a broker, avoid brokers discount at startup. Start you will have to pay $ 45.00 a round voyage to negotiate with broker for the best round trip. After 6 years, your transactions without a brokers only give him advice and trade, and now my costs € 15.00 a trip commissions! See the difference! A route guidance is that your account should be double what you need on the commercial trade margins. Sample: I traded into account $ 60,000 p.m. when traded 6 contracts Dow Mini-with a margin requirement of approximately $ 39,000 p.m.-I had a lot of room for losses: sometimes it was $ 5600.00 in a period of two or three day! And I am making $ 15,000 10.00 a month on a regular basis, before the financial meltdown came all.

DON'T GET APLISTOYS:
Take profit constantly-no matter how small. Create your account and your confidence, taking profits. As I said before, no trade as this is the last trade and there will be no more-always there will be another day to trade! Taking profits and calling it a day never hurt anyone!

Hope this helps you avoid blowing a few accounts! View my other articles 17: just type my name in the search section of this article.

Learn & prosper.


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Some basics of futures trading

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That when we buy or sell stocks, we actually buy or sell stock now. Let's understand the concept of forward transactions sector details: Futures trading: is a type of financial contracts in which two parties entering into an agreement to buy or sell particular assets for future delivery currently agreed rate. This essentially buy from things that seller has not been produced at a specific rate. Is essentially hedging and speculation rather than real sharing of physical goods. Accordingly, futures dealing not only governed by buyers and seller rather than profitable as well. This practice of trade is extremely risky and liquids. At one stage, one can make revenue from small investments in other stage one can be relaxed. This negotiation process is very complicated and difficult to be understood by ordinary people.

Assets of negotiation: the negotiation of the asset can be both physical commodities and financial assets. Physical commodities include agricultural products, livestock & meat, energy, precious metals, rare metals, industrial metals, minerals, environmental goods, etc. Financial assets sold to trade futures contracts can be currencies, securities, and intangible assets.

Types of traders Futures: there are two types of large traders Futures: Hedgers and speculators. Hedgers are manufacturer of the merchandise and set deal to protect them from frequent changes in prices. Beyond the physical commodities, banks, insurance companies, mutual funds, pension funds, etc also dropped the hedger of negotiation. Speculators are independent traders and investors who conclude agreement on strong forecast to generate revenue from future contracts.

A few facts about trading in the futures market movements are too complex to predict accurately. Values and trend varies marginally and often. These are the basics of futures trading. One easily learn the basics about this trend of trading. People who are interested in trading this may invest money. One also retain broker who have full hold in the field. There is a risk of loss in trading futures. Past performance is not indicative of future results.


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