Look for previous support and resistance, major and minor. Place your stop a few ticks on the other side of the S/R (depending on if short or long) ... if too wide... may not be a good entry... if stopped out... little damage done, wait for next opportunity.... (try to avoid using a set amount or percentage) IMHO 4 points is an initial target, your stop should be 1/3 of that.... hope it helps. edit (I am thinking ES, NQ target may be a bit larger)
R... One thing that really helps me is what Anek calls Strong and Weak candles (re-read thread). Someone else mentioned in this thread about forcing yourself to be very happy taking just a small slice out of the middle. I think this is very helpful for rookies - it helps you stop calling tops and bottoms and it helps you enter with more confirmation and less risk. Practice using strong/weak bars... Start off by trying to get a small piece of the middle --- once you are successful at that then you can move on to improving the entires/exits even more. The other thing that can help is to write down in clear detail only a couple setups you are allowed to take... and look for and take ONLY those -- work on that discipline... Don't chase everything that looks tasty -- stick to your written trade plan and limit yourself to a couple setups you know well. Discipline. Believe me, I understand how this is easier said than done --- but that's the discipline everyone speaks of....
is this the famous dragon formation I see on a 3-5 min chart? I don't know the pattern anyway we are still in a downtrend , not broken yet the down TL
Did anyone take the small W bottom that led to the break of the larger W bottom. I got in initially, got scared by a little selling pressure got out, then got back in once I saw buying again. It's a nice trade so far, but could have been better. I'm hoping to let this one ride as much as possible, since that was a large W bottom at decent support.
Here the outcome of the trendline break and w formation Confluence of signals = strong signal I'm preparing these charts while i'm trading, it helps me to stay focused and relax at the same time, no kidding!