It wasn't really directed at anyone personally. I think I understand what @lotto was trying to say, but the way s/he had it worded, posed a contradiction. You have been getting a lot of advice from some very good traders here. I think that some of these traders are so comfortable in their trading, that they want you to just follow their method, as to them there is nothing more simpler. I am sure some are pulling their hair out wondering why you are making a muddle of the 1+1=2 equation . There is something you have to understand (and I am quite surprised that no one has mentioned it yet). Trading is a very personal task and YOU have to be comfortable with how YOU trade. @NoDoji has laid her plan out in far more details to persons previously and the vast majority have failed. That goes a long way on to passing a simple message. Just as each trades so differently from the other, we also learn in our own way. There is no right or wrong way for either as long as the results are positive and there is a constant progression to becoming even better. For instance, I never learnt using a single setup, nor did I do any sort of statistical analysis. However, when I try and look back, it seems like I did a lot of statistical analysis, but it was all in my head and not on paper. To better explain it, for instance, if I saw a particular setup, I wanted to see how it broke out. A breakout tells you a lot about where your target may be. So in learning that way, I have the advantage of maximizing profits, minimizing losses and sometimes when to altogether not take a particular trade. I may be exiting a trade with the pro-statistic traders, but I didn't need those stats as I had other mental indicators for my exit. I see that you have been getting a lot of stick about not doing this and that. Despite being told by multiple posters, you have resisted and when you have finally taken on the "homework", it is done with little gusto (because it may be opposing your personality of "how to learn"). On the other hand, look at how many charts you have annotated and elaborated. You are persistent and work hard doing that and slowly you are seeing things that you did not see before. It may take you longer doing it "your" way, but you will eventually get there. Doing it someone else's way may not resonate with you and who knows what the outcome may be. Also, I think there is a lot of confusion in your head as you have many methods being shown to you at the same time. Try understanding what those methods are "doing", rather than trying to "learn" them. In learning them, you are coming across a lot of contradictions within those systems and they are serving to create a storm of confusion. What may work better for you is to understand each methodology. Then forget about how it was done by the owner and back test that method with how YOU would do it. It may work or not. Regardless, YOU will start seeing some rhyme or rhythm there and that is when you will know that you are going towards the process of "making it you own". That is the time you will start getting into trades going in the right direction and staying in them, for in the end it is not the entries that will make you a living, but being in a trade for your OWN reason. Hence, you may have noticed different entry points by different traders, but they are all on the same bus going in the same direction..........and they will not jump off that bus, until the station arrives .
Ah... you see, once the break happens, you switch to the 1 minute chart and look for a pullback here... not the pullback on the 5 min.
You're a funny guy @Redneck And as for the comment, would I ever do anything to make you feel that way?
Correct, so on your chosen example after the 5 min close >SL there was NO pullback on the 1 min therefore no entry therefore no need to take stats on it. right?
Oh.. I see what you're saying. The 5 min trendline doesn't have to close below the line... it just has to penetrate. Then we watch the 1 minute. One of her rules was that the one minute bar cannot close back below the line, but for this exercise, it was just simply tracking tracking for any penetration, either a trade that triggerd based on a RET, or just a buy stop at the line. This is simply to just get me up and running with collecting stats.
I believe what I did during my exploratory phase was to log the MFE prior to price returning to my max stop loss. I chose a specific max stop loss based on a lot of "eyeball" analysis and the level I chose turned out to be fine upon further analysis. For example, if analyzing this setup for NQ, I might decide that any time price runs 5 points from my entry price, that's the MAE I'm willing to take, period. Everything else will evolve from that max risk. (If I was trading with a longer bar interval, then 5 points might be too tight of a constraint.) So I enter with a limit order at the breakout level and price runs 4.5 points in my favor, then reverses and runs 6.5 points against me before turning back in the direction of my position. I log a loss of 5 points and if price manages to return to my entry price + 1 tick, I make a note that the MAE was 6.5 points, allowing a break even exit. If price continues to run in the direction of my initial position, I later note the MFE prior to price breaking the 6.5 previous MAE. This sort of analysis will give you a place to start from and eventually give you a decent number of trades from which to derive the optimal entry method, max stop, minimum target, and possible break even strategies (if any).
Exactly AT... I'm glad you point this out because it may appear as if I'm lazy or want easy answers but really... it just all comes across different and there is so much and worst of all, everything that most people share is incomplete. It is only ND who actually provides a very clear outline of entry, where a stop should be, and where a profit should be. But even in her outline of data collection, I still found that I was missing some things that made it complete for me. Others point out ranges and possible trades, but its never followed through to drill it down to what actually has to be done. So I may be told to go and bake a pie, but hardly anyone provides the list of ingredients and steps. This is fine, I'm not asking for the complete plan, but when I don't come back with a pie, I don't want to be blamed for it. Each person who says that I've been provided with lots of help from lots of people is actually not helping at all because its like being told to go bake an apple pie, a pumpkin pie and a blueberry pie, and yet, I'm only trying to bake one pie and I don't even have that yet! Ok... today has been wonderful but I'm also finding it hard to keep up with all the posts today. Thank god the weekend is here as I will have to review everything and find what makes sense to me and what I can use. I'm also getting lots of private messages too, so its not just the stuff that goes on in my journal, its also all that stuff there. I'm not saying its attention I don't want because most of it is helpful, but I just need to chill out for a bit.
Some people are so hopeful to make others look bad ... Let me slow it down for you: When RN says that traders see things on their charts that others do not see, he is correct, in that other non-traders or inexperienced traders, who have no idea what price is doing, do not see the set ups a trader who has trained him or herself to see the set up will see. So now you've wasted your time, my time, and everyone else's time with your worthless post. Good on ya', "Team Alpha!" lol
@lotto had you continued to follow up on the posts, you would have seen the below quote on my next post. It's difficult to be any more clearer than this to show that nothing was directly aimed at you. I don't understand why you would prematurely take it upon yourself to make this an agenda. Anyway, if things were lost in translation, I gladly extend my apology to you. I hope we can move on from here on good terms. Kind regrads, Alpha. ("Team Alpha" )