I took a class a long time ago and the instructor called the dialogue that goes on in our mind when were are stressed or scared the monkey mind. http://www.intent.com/blog/2009/03/03/quiet-please-taming-monkey-mind-meditation Be observant of your thoughts and emotions, acknowledge them, "I am feeling scared", "I don't know what to do", "I am confused"....... You won't be able to block them out but you can redirect your focus. One way is to create a list of positive affirmations that include your trading rules that you can focus on when you are feeling scared, unsure, panicked. "I patiently wait for my setup to trigger me into a trade" "I trade according to my plan, because I want to be consistently successful at trading." "The market is in an uptrend therefor I am only looking to go long." Obviously you can be much more specific with your wording. Another way is to pay attention to the dialogue going on (in your head) while you are in a trade. Let's say you are short on anticipation of the downside break out of a consolidation zone. Price wiggles around and after a while you stopped out of the position for a loss. 5 minutes later it starts to creep up to the top of the consolidation zone. You sit there and watch as price pushes thru the high and continues on up making new highs. During the above scenario what was going on in your head? How did you feel when your stop got hit? Angry, scared, the markets are out to get me.... Assuming the initial reason for getting into the trade was part of your trading plan then you should feel ok with it, because you followed your trading plan. If you didn't feel ok with it then you need to examine what your expectations are regarding the trading environment. Losses are part of the trading environment. Also it shows that you don't have complete confidence in your trading plan. How did you feel when price started to push up to the top of the consolidation zone? Ready to go long (if that is in your trading plan), scared, disgusted, paralyzed.... Here is my litmus test for success in trading: Are my thoughts and actions in alignment with my goal to be a consistent and successful trader?
Two channel-based trades near the open, the first a loser and not a very good short on a pullback after a break through the midline (allowed to run too far against me, should have taken a smaller loss and looked to re-enter), the second a very nice long at the pit open, break of resistance (well, got in a little early) and target perfectly at the top of the channel.
Thanks for the chart JD. Can you go further into how you like to trade channels and PA? What setups are you looking for? Thanks.
(i shall not use bold face again. hope i can find some way to use italic instead for responses, can anyone help, pls?) hi mark i have about 30 min before having to run and pickup my daughter at her violin lesson. i shall attempt to answer your specific questions which were not responded to last time, K? the answers are just my personal one person thoughts and reactions when focusing on watching out for a possible formulation of a trade pattern according to a person's well researched stats and strats, K?
Let the market make you ask questions about its intentions. It usually signals change in many ways. Be sensitive to a change in wave duration and size as it may be the birth of a new channel.
SUPER POWERED CHANNELS & PATTERNS Earlier in the thread I mentioned that channels allowed a trader to map out the potential future moves of the market. For you die hard channelers I want to leave you with some inspiration for further research. I had the good fortune to be mentored several decades back by someone who made their fortune on the market and taught me his method of how to combine channels and trend lines to produce a self adjusting predictive framework. Self adjusting means that as PA fills in the true path the trader adjusts the framework anticipate the next target. Trades are seldom taken on anticipation as it requires a good awareness of exhaustion signals approaching a reversal point and combinations of S&R lines. I really thought that everyone learned to do this but as the years went by I saw that it was more like a voodoo secret. As I had mentioned earlier in this thread that a predictive framework was an evolution of channels I will leave this with you and see if it lights anyone's imagination. When we have a high or low and thereafter get 2 minor waves in any time frame we can develop a prediction way into the future. What are the tools you need? A simple grasp of Fibonacci, wave structure, price patterns, volume and channels. I have given several hints in this thread of what the keys are to unlock this potential. Right now the market is moving into a phase that will probably be either the biggest and fastest money maker ever or very close to it and most traders won't have a clue how to trade it. You don't have to map out the year ahead, but it sure helps! It really helps to map out the day ahead. So from 2 waves we can form a channel. From the impulse we get angle and fib gives us a target. Fib then gives a reversal target and the 2nd wave gives an angle and then wave structure or price pattern comes into play. So we can soon have time and price targets to help maximize the profit potential. Volume tells us when the Smart Money is in the market and that is the way to make money - piggy back. What you are about to experience will most likely change the world as we know it and it was all mapped out by Kondratiev close on 100 years back ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kondratiev_wave ) The demise of Western power and the rise of the Asian trading bloc had time lines from way back then and I watched with fascination as it unfolded. It was this potential that intrigued me about TA. Here's a simple example and if you look in my other thread you will see how a weekly support provided a future warning to look for volume to signal a buy move on the 5 min chart on the Dow when the market was in 632 panic drop sell mode. In other words the large time frame gives key trading points on a small intraday time frame and having an advance warning provides confidence when you see the pieces fall into place. Few would have called a potential buy opportunity in advance when blood is on the trading floor. The risk was taken out of the trade when multiple signals converged. Good luck and good trading. You will see a few people prosper and many go bankrupt. Welcome to the NWO.
Xspurt, Are you calling for 6000 Dow ? Also could you please give me a link of your other thread, I got no idea what it is. Thank you FoN
You can join tens and tens of followers there.... http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=215130 6,000? I can't see it holding for long
Trading now so I'm busy. You have one ingredient of the five I mentioned. The question you need an answer to is how can you tell what the potential is and the 5 keys will unlock that. If I said yes you would take that as the answer next time you saw this pattern and it's not that simple as you would be blind sided.
Thanks. By one ingredient, I assume you mean the channels. I'll have to get to work on the other 4. If you have the time, any insight on how I could do that would be appreciated. On your previous post.... Ok, I get that part. Here things get a little fuzzy. I think I can figure out how to use fibs for targets, as I've experimented with different ways of making fib extensions. But what about angle? How does that come into play?