Pax, Today's uptrend ONLY decent entry was right after the Double Bottom confirmed itself. Everything else was not an optimal entry because it never stopped. As far as your stop question, at first hand it might look like a simple one but it's a key element in trading. You want to reduce risk and protect your capital right ? You agree that we never know if our targets will get hit right? Yet you don't want noise and volatility to stop you out right ? Then your only solution is to be patient, extremely patient and base your entry on your stop. All you really need in trading is a few good setups a day, nothing else really. Your stop should be relatively small but most importantly placed in a LOGICAL spot, don't fix yourself too much on how many points they should be but on the where. They need to go below lows, above highs, protected by known support and resistance. Think of them as your children, they need to be guarded and well preserved. If you don't see a safe area to place your stop or in this case your children, then no trade, no leaving the kids in the open jungle. If using 50% fib retracements as entry then below the 61.8% but always in logical and strategic spots. Don't fixate too much on the entry but on the stop, this should help you define your risk and protect your children better. In fact, consider placing your stop first then your limit order. Hope it helps. Anek
Fellow "Anek" traders, we could all trade and observe hl's and lh's, in an ET chatroom called "Index futures". (usually becomes active at start of USA stock session) Small, focused and a few good traders in there
Anek, Have you posted a summary of your observations on the ES since you made your move from the YM? John
John, It's still very much under observation. Naturally way more liquid, allows some afterhours trading. For the most part it is more trendy and tends to respect S/R moreso than YM as far as ticks goes. All very preliminary for now but I feel at home with it. Anek
Gary, When something like that happens again, a trend with no real immediate retracements. Change to a smaller volume chart size, you might see things differently. Here is an example of what I had in my screen during the time, definitely some opportunities with this view. Hope it helps. Anek
Well, I'm here to report that my wife just completely annihilated the ES trading AHG in afterhours again. Trading one car, she made, over 1000 bucks. No kidding, caught a short, then the reversal long. I wonder who's cooking tonight lol Crazy stuff, soon I'll be out of a job, taking the kids too school. I can't wait Anek
Anekdoten You can improve your trading by using effective trades filter. Do not take each and every trade, but trade only around providential points in time and/or price level. This is called market timing. Market timing is not about tops/bottoms fishing but about optimal time for placing a trade. You can explore my journal in order to see what I mean: http://elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=95127
Ive always thought it's a good idea to train the life-partner(in Anek's case , the wife), or take on a trading partner. Ive often wondered about that type of diversification to reduce risk, eg. what happens if a sole trader starts to lose their sight/become blind, or other calamity