You are a good trader. Those who gave you a hard time on ET didn't know or understand your system. I finally recognize it.
If I were a competing MM running a business yes OF is important. Like @SunTrader said, unless I am doing HFT or scraping for pennies, I always got filled at the displayed price or less when I bought and more when I sold, why should I worry?
I know you prefer the diplomatic approach but I like to keep it real, damn the consequences. Less than helpful comments are just that. A lot more important stuff to consider than MM's gamesmanship. Life, never mind markets, is not "fair" .... for anyone. So what I say. PS: don't know if anyone has mentioned that MTF multiple time frame analysis is where it is at. Intraday I watch the 1min, 5min, 1hour charts for my setup(s). Very helpful often for getting into the longer trades beyond minutes to hours.
Also, not all comments and replies are good and valid. Many people are mixing opinions with facts (like how MM behave ). A lot of information presents here are false and/or incomplete.
Went live this morning. Placed 6 trades. PS: MM gave me lower prices than ask when bought and higher prices than bid when sold.
Yes. And I am paying forward, that is why this thread, to help the amateur retails like me and newbies on this site. Finished my 50th day early, a good day and also started 6 real trades, 4 wins 2 losses. From Monday onward, no more paper trades and so nothing more to report. In summary 50 day, 43 winning and 7 losing. On a daily basis, win/loss is 49/51. Daily total are mostly wins because every day there were 1-2 good runs. However, it is hit or miss, so it is important to be able to limit losses in order to stay in the game. I used to not believe it, but the preaching from ET experts: risk management, cut your losses, let your profits run, don't double down, learn to take losses, the trend is your friend... are all necessary & true for day traders.
@ironchef, I have no idea about how you trade, but I think you might be overtrading and forcing trades. Six trades in a morning seems way too many. You seem to be one of the more polite people, so below are some thoughts, which you might consider and test out for yourself and see if that would help. What many intraday trades don’t realise is that they don’t need to be glued to the monitor, in fact watching the market too close is often counter-productive. It used to be my major weakness (babysitting intraday trades and overtrading) If you’re trading stocks intraday, then one of the many approaches you could consider is: 1) Scan daily charts for trending stocks which are pulling back, then narrow it down to those where you can clearly see that the pullback is ending (eg. bar is reversing with buying pressure), and put these stocks on your intraday watchlist. Why? Because those selected stocks that are setting up on a daily chart are most likely to have better intraday setups. 2) Mark up your intraday charts(of the above stocks) with the key zones where you can expect buyers/sellers so you’ll be fully prepared to trade only around those key zones (it eliminates emotional reactions, and it provides you with objectivity and good R/R) 3) Set alerts around those zones, and leave your desk and go and enjoy your life. 4) If alert goes off, then just go back to your charts and see if there is an intraday set-up developing, if not go back to enjoying your life. 5) If you get a set-up and, put your order in with a stop, and wait for a trigger. 6) If your entry gets triggered, then set another alert just before your target level (if you’re trading from zone to zone) so you can be there to spot any potential reversal before your target (your target should also be near key levels). If you’re trailing stops, then just check the charts at certain intervals to raise the stop, and then go on and enjoy your life, and don’t baby sit the intraday trades. (Note: you need to pick key levels for this, preferably on higher timeframes like H1) If you align your intraday trades with buying/selling pressure (and trend direction) of the daily charts, and if you learn to figure out where the key levels are say on H1, then you can just place ‘set & forget’ trades, and there is no need for you to be in front of the monitor. Just prepare trade plan and orders, place alerts, close the charts and then go and do something else, and just check the market once in a while. You can be in front of the monitor in the morning so you can attempt to entrer and catch the intraday trend and then leave around lunch when things get quit and then come back in the afternoon when things start moving again). If you have a decent profit from the intraday trade, you can then replace the stock with an option and keep it overnight for a swing trade. Watching each candle form intraday is such a waste of time. All you need to learn is to pick the direction on daily chart, then nail the reversal on daily chart, pick key levels on intraday charts, learn how to spot intraday buying/selling pressure and bit of PA, and then your trading should be easier because it will become very structured, objective, and your hit rate win rate and R/R should increase, plus you should have more time for yourself and your family. PS: If you’re sometimes struggling with intraday trading, then go to higher timeframes such as the H2 or H1, they’re easier to trade than lower ones. I’d recommend staying away from anything lower than M5 because it gets noisy. Since there are so many liquid stocks, you can just trade H2 or H1 timeframes and you’ll do very well, no need to stress with the low timeframes. Remember that trading should be about improving the quality of your life, and not about being married to the monitor.