Yes. It's all about the exit. I trade with 1500 constant volume bars and when we get a good move I use the previous bars h/l +.25 for my stop (trade NQ). Works pretty well most of the time. If you are trading multi contracts, scale out on some and try to hold rest with a stop at 50% retrace of last swing.
C and G, Here is a variation for you two. Try to see if a channel can be drawn when you see a trend. Then buy/sell accordingly and short/cover accordingly but only with the predominant trend inside that channel. Assuming an uptrend channel, exiting when it pulls back is not the right play, that's when you want to get back in and you want to get out before the breakout area to protect your profit, either that or adjust your stop very tightly, your choice. This is constant scalping within the waves this will get rid of the anxiety and potentially increase your confidence because profits have been secured on previous plays. This is precisely what a trend scalper does. Of course, as you get the hang of it, you adapt your very own variations to suit your trading personality. Whatever you decide, make sure your risk vs reward is adequate and that you never ever get greedy and go against the trend. For instance, if an uptrend channel, don't play hero and short the resistance area. Hope it helps. Anek PS: Arnie's suggestion is solid too.
Ok, here is the postmortem analysis of the day. As mentioned previously, I am embarrassed to lose money on a day like today which was obviously optimal for this style. I traded the QQQQ today, but took my entry signals from a 1000CV NQ chart. This chart I posted is of the QQQQ just so it was easy for me to put my trades on the chart. A few questions I have of the regulars... 1) I have difficulty with entries. I understand a trendline touch, and/or 50% fib is an optimal entry, but a 50% fib gives you a 1:1 (about) r/r ratio, which can take quite a bit of heat. Getting a 50% fib retrace, a trendline bounce, and a stoch cross simultaneously almost never seems to happen, so I guess it is just a pick and choose? 2) do you set your orders out there and let them get hit at a price that looks good to you and then take the heat on it with your stop above the previous LH, or do you let it start to turn around, form a new LH, get your entry signal, market in and set your stop over the newer LH just created. I have been confused on this for a while. I assume #2, but am not sure. As i know it is not good to chase a market. The mechanics of good entry escape me... 3) W signals are kind of confusing to me as if they work they are often a trend reversal, but wasn't it thought that after a trend reversal often comes a chop period? I admit I have not read all the material on W's and M's so please ignore this if it is a silly question. 4) trendlines work great, but i'm sure some of you have noticed that a trendline on a CV1200 NQ chart will differ from those on a 5 min NQ chart. Drives me crazy to see it blow thru a trendline on a CV chart just to respect the one on a time based chart. Anyone here make sure they are the same when taking a trade based off them to increase probability? Sorry for the long post. I'm sure these questions have been answered before. I have read the majority of the journal and have taken notes, but some things are vague to me. Thanks for your time all.
Sorry, one last thing. I would be very grateful if someone would be willing to post their "order entry" information for a trading day. Nothing about car size or anything, but just order type, time entered, price, execution or cancel. I believe it should be relatively easy to copy and paste from a log in your software of choice. This would give a good impression of the mechanics of execution and would be quite interesting to see. Not sure if this is asking too much, but thought it was worth a shot. Thanks again. Great thread, and nice to see people helping each other on this forum.
There are many fib retracements on many different time frames/intervals. You are overgeneralizing. Also, stop using stochastics. They are getting you horrible entries. You keep trying to enter on stochastics. Anek is trying to teach pure price. Reread the thread is my suggestion... I prefer limits but everyone is different. If you enter at a good place, however, there should be minimal heat. Don't assume... keep looking at them and see what they tell you. Don't know what you mean here but trendlines don't differ from time to time, they are simply more difficult/easier to see. Hope my annotation helps. I feel like giving back a little after i've taken so much from this thread... PS, im still using paint so its a bit sloppy. I will download the new program that Anek uses tomorrow so people please dont complain lol. The text got cutoff on one of the captions... supposed to say... "this is your entry".
Hey, could you shoot me a PM or post on what page number it was in the thread that you downloaded the .zip file from? I'm having trouble locating it. Thanks!
Kid, thanks for the input. I originally did not use 50% fib retracement from _previous swing_, or stochs. I started using them because i found without them I enter on noise with overly aggressive entries. Getting a true/complete pullback seems to require some kind of confirmation I am unable to see. But seems that even with stochs I enter on noise! ha! I have a hard time seeing how orders are being used because one must confirm a continuation of the trend before getting in. Seems there would be a lot of hitting bids and taking offers through the market while chasing the market. Not quite sure where people are resting their orders on the book, but I would be curious to see. I will read the thread again, but I don't remember seeing these made clear in the first 150-200 pages, or the notes I took on them. I believe my problem is being too tight with my stops, moving to BE too quickly, and entering too early on noise. Thanks again and all the best!
For those who like to log info on each trade, jott.com offers a free service that provides amazingly accurate voice transcription. Check it out and you'll probably find additional uses. www.jott.com
Trendline Breaks All of this is in the journal but just as a refresh course, the following should help. This journal has grown too big, lots of info scattered inside which is probably hard to find. Sample for an uptrend line in jeopardy. Look out for the following: 1-Was the last high a higher high ? 2-Was the last high a double top ? 3-Was the last high a lower high ? On top of that you want bars closing below the trendline + 1 tick below the breakdown's bar low, this give you the signal assuming 2 or 3, definitely not 1. If the case is 1, I would not short it, I will simply wait for the higher low to get back in, regardless of the "TL Break" which in this case it's more like noise since TLs are not infallible. If it does break, then so be it, but coming from a higher high you don't want to short that unless a swing low is created first. Anek