I kept the trading light last week. I got my BS degree in Microbiology, and try as I might, with all the news about the corona virus, I just can't seem to get the bears out of my head. So I am trying to be prudent. Flights cancelled to China, quarantine, production declines, tight global economy: none of it good. Some are downplaying this because the regular flu kills more people each year. But wait! While thousands of people die each year because of the regular seasonal virus in the USA, what is different about this one is (1) the longer incubation period which widens the reach exponentially, (2) the death rate is 20x higher than influenza, or about 2% instead of .1%. (3) This is a NEW virus, and we don't know enough about it to say "don't worry, the regular flu is worse" or anything much for that matter. It it about to flame out or take over the world? I go with the "flame out," but the total number of confirmed cases has grown from 282 on Jan. 21 to 31,211 on Feb. 7. And 638 people have died. 70 million people are quarantined now. Can you count to 70 million? Wow!!! (Source https://www.wired.com/story/coronavirus-is-bad-comparing-it-to-the-flu-is-worse/) Time to be prudent, either way. Couple that with a presidential speech and an impeachment verdict, Google earnings, and the NFP report on Friday, and WOW again. What a week of headline risks! So how do you trade when the market seems illogical to you? (1) stay flat (2) if you trade, keep your position size small (3) honor your stops (4) wait for extra confirmation before entry (5) take profits like a scalper - base hits baby! I tried to do all of these this last week. How did I do? I was not happy. But I am still alive. This week I only traded four days and ended about $100 higher than last week. I did not blow up my account. Because the week was so crazy, I don't feel like trying to analyze my trades publicly. I will start again on that on Monday. In the heat of the battle things look much different than when the cannons have stopped booming and the blood has stopped flowing (the bears got massacred this week, especially on Wednesday). I hope you all did well this last week, or at least stayed at or above Break Even. Sometimes B/E is a great place to be!!! And get your flu shots...
If you try to figure out whether the market is logical or illogical you will have a dilemma, as any individual's view is mostly irrelevant no matter how experienced they are, market operates in a much more complex and ever-changed way, and the only way you can feel confident about trading is when you truly develop systems that can reflect all the logical or illogical aspects of the markets, reveal the big players moves including their emotions, fear or greed, frustrated or ecstatic, then you can really relax and watch how the market is playing out, which is fascinating almost everyday, and benefit from whatever up or down. It is easier said than done, most people would say, and that is complete true.
So well said!!! It is complex. And I agree that trying to figure out what game the big boys are playing each day is one of the biggest keys. While I didn't clean house with longs this week, I also didn't get slaughtered trying to short everything that moved. So I am making progress...
I have never met Linda Raschke, but she seems to really know what she is doing. I enjoyed this profile and reading about her thinking surrounding the opening and the close. https://www.worldtopinvestors.com/linda-bradford-raschke-investor-profile/
One of my favorites over the years. She once said “the best indicator of price is price itself.” That one concept has stuck with me all these years and much of “what” I do and “how” I do it revolves around that idea.
I had always assumed if vix was going up then the market was probably going down since down moves are usually more volatile. Not always the case though... So, you're saying if vix is increasing then ...?
Hello sstheo, I have a question please. If your goal is to make 2% profit of per day, are you planning to increase profit target per trade or contract size to obtain this 2% per day once the account grows? I am confused on this part.