How can you trade anything that doesn't report volume? If I were trading it I would have to make some up just to keep that part of my screen lit.
Dr. Deco, I see over here http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=214607 an offer to teach me to be a better trader by overcoming my fears and taming my impulses. What do you think?
I can teach you to be a better trader in one day by showing you how to backtest. Save yourself the pain of self-discovery and just make the money. Once you have the money you can spend it on self-discovery. I can suggest some exotic locales with loose cheap women.
I believe that you can teach me how to backtest in a day, but how will you teach me to overcome my fears and take the system signals?
Dr. Deco, do you have a trader self-assessment quiz similar to the one here: http://www.tradersstateofmind.com/questionnaire.html I am concerned that you won't know how to help me if you don't know what my problems are.
Indeed I do. No self-disrespecting mentor can function effectively without one. But mine is short and requires only simple yes/no responses, as follows: Do you feel that the solution to your trading problems is inside yourself? Do you think that your poor trading is a result of an unsatisfactory childhood? Do you think that your intuitive or non-systematic trading will improve if you become psychologically healthier? Do you believe that another person can help you achieve that happy state? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, you are a self-pitying putz and I can't help you. You know where to find me if you answered all with a resounding "Fuck no!"
Which one, long or short? Was short NQ from 2317.25 covered 2298.5 when I saw the 1500 order come in on the 10 sec. chart. Wanted to reverse but didn't want to press my luck. Sometimes it reverses on the dot after a volume spike. Sometimes it continues short after the volume spike. Any way to differentiate between the likely outcome in real time? Look for less volume on the test if there is one? Would that indicate reversal? Thanks
I was thinking of the short you so brilliantly took. The price pattern was picture perfect, like an illustration out of an Oliver Velez book. On the one-minute chart at 10:15 ET the volume was 4666, significantly below blowout for NQ. The reason you have trouble deciding on whether or not to reverse on blowout is that it backtests with lower expectation than letting it run. For every case like today there are many more where the run continues for one or more legs after blowout.
I know I am beating a dead horse (actually, a girlfriend said that to me late one Saturday night), but given this thread http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=214607 if feel gobligated to state my case simply. Being or becoming a conventionally mentally healthy person in and of itself will not help you develop winning systems. But developing and learning to follow a winning system will make you more mentally disciplined, which wll facilitate high functioning despite still being sick in the head. And if you have enough money you won't care that you're sick.