i guess i never really read what the original poster was trying to state. if you believe that this is all the market is then you are missing out on a significant portion of it.
there is a lot more information to find out than just the info you see on a chart. understanding how things react to fundamental changes is something that is excellent to have a grasp of. when you combine that with watching order flow and charts then you have something that gives you a pretty big edge.
That's what I was just going to get into. Fudamentals trump technicals. News isn't always priced in contrary to popular belief. The only way to trade is through technicals however. 80% of technicals are simply smoke and mirrors for the large part of traders. Why? I can't say for sure why, but my best guess is that the majority of traders are not mechanical enough. The idea is that markets build momentum until stopped. Keep this in mind and considering whether or not you want to fade a "trend" or not. Risk management is KEY as well, but everyone knows that. Obtaining the ability to be consistent from the market is through a careful analysis of why prices move the way in which they do. Im not here to give too much insight but to be honest, I have just recently (last 5 months) become profitable and the whole process has made me extremely sad. The losses I have sustained to get there (although minimal in the overall picture) have been upsetting. Not upsetting because of the money, but upsetting because figuring it out took so damn long for me. It leaves me contemplating the opportunity costs. So I felt it was time to drop just a few hints in hopes to in some odd way make it all seem worthwhile. The money is pointless in this game. The ability to play it (and understand it) is what matters. Money will come later. I was able to make money in the market, but daytrading was by far the most difficult thing I have ever done. It took me almost 3 years to figure out why (im a slow learner obviously). I knew how to make money in the market, but that wasn't my goal. My goal was to defeat the most difficult 2 tasks. Become a profitable daytrader and understand how markets move. Ironically the latter was what brought me full circle. Best of luck everyone. One of the reasons I posted this is in response to the Citadel ETFC thread. Take a moment to read it if you wish. It's taken me 3 years to develop this method and do what I did. Then to be degraded by a few posters......man what a stupid game this is.
This may just be a coincidence, but about five months ago is right when the market suddenly became significantly more volatile, and far more tradable on an intra-day basis. It may also be a complete coincidence that nearly every other daytrader in the world saw a rapid P/L improvement at the exact same time as you did. Have you considered the possibility that your shift to profitability has far more to do with changes in the overall market, rather than anything you've personally done?