Thanks Db you're right, when price didn't trade lower at 9:57 and instead made a HL I should have picked up on that quicker, and that is something I have recently been more aware of, the movement of price to find trades, when the well runs dry so to speak. I don't remember where I read it (probably you) its traders jobs to trade and they will move price until they find them( pretty rough paraphrase) The trade at #3 was just buying a RET after a BO. It was more of a response than anything , it was 10:35 and I wanted to trade! . not very disciplined and I know it. Looking at the timeframe issue, I'm comfortable where I'm at and I don't lose any sleep over what happens when I'm not at my desk. Someday I may trade EOD but right now I have a craft to learn. Thank You for your help
On the subject of scratching a trade, I think I need to define what I mean by scratch. this is not the same as exiting a trade although it may be splitting hairs, trade management is a separate topic. To scratch a trade is to offset entry because the trade isn't working as planned. The purpose as I see it is to give price enough room to work but not enough to give up any more of my acct. than is necessary. In the past I would exit if price traded below LSL (LSH) . Thanks to the chat room I've grown a little more sophisticated and actually have begun watching the right tick, as it climbs and drops up and down the bar, trying to gauge the intent of buyers and sellers. Not very scientific but surprisingly effective at times. The problem is testing it. In the past I also would go to a smaller bar interval, this has merit. If you are picking the right time to enter just use the SLA principles and you have entry, unfortunately this led me to micromanage and start scalping , but I do like this idea. It may be that I'm just going to have to get better at reading the PA. this isn't about perfection. If I see a valid entry take it ,if price moves against me , I can reenter if conditions merit it. Just to be clear the first chart is a 1 min with some entries just marked on it, I'm not saying I took the trades, the second chart is a 15 sec chart. Thank you suggestions and comments are welcomed
Boru, As we discussed today, I have been thinking on what I was trying to do going to a smaller interval to gauge the immediate trend and read buyers and sellers intentions. After you enter, what looks like a forming RET in the 1 min is an already consolidated trend in the 2 sec (or whatever), by the time you are triggered in the trade that trade can either continue and break LSH (LSL) or it can find opposition before, at or after that level. What I am trying now is to observe how that trend moves, not to try to find another trade in the 1 tick chart, but to see if that trend still shows weakness or strength in order to define the scratch not on a mechanical rule (1 or 2 points away from entry), but by understanding if the conditions under which the trade was initiated still exist (Is there or is there not a trend). I guess the right tick in the 1 min bar would serve the same purpose, for now I am using a smaller interval (5 ticks) as I want to be able to see what is happening visually, and I am not that good imagining the move from the right tick. I read someplace sometime that one method was also counting and defining a time exit. If 20 secs after the entry the trade is not doing as expected then close the trade. I have never tried that, but that can also be a way. Perhaps others who have already mastered the art of scratching can tell us if we are going the wrong way or not.
Not sure what happened last night, regardless if you were paying attention their was a RET at 5:47 price shot up and has been rangebound since about 6:00 pm this could make for an interesting morning. The chart is the 60 min with some levels.
Have been working on a few different things in the last week. One was spending more time on replay which seems to help get my mind right. I know that doesn't sound very intelligent or profound, but when its just replay and no cha,t my focus seems much better and I see things with just a little more clarity, I mean subtle things like the pace of trading , the stride of the waves, the tests and probes looking for trades. Another thing I am looking into is scratching my trades. Maybe I'm making this into to big a deal. Like I did with entries. turning this into micro trading by dropping to a lower bar interval. At what point do I say this trade is over? Mamis says when price is not doing what you expect it to get out. In an effort to get perfect entries I was dropping to a 5 or a fifteen sec chart to get the best entry and it didn't work very well. I am starting to feel entries and exits should be on the same bar interval, at least until experience and discipline show differently. If price is continuous then what I see on the 1 min is the same as the 5 sec, I need to be able to see that in RT. I am currently trying to watch the right tick as price trades up and down the bar but this feels so subjective, I wanted something more mechanical, disciplined. I will continue to backtest this. Any comments and suggestions appreciatted
Boru, you are making perfect sense to me. As to scratching, we all seem to have to find our own way to actually do it. Which doesn't sound like it requires intelligence or anything profound either, but if you are not in the habit of it, it is hard to do. I think scratching is one of the things that goes towards being a trader and not a gambler. With scratching you control the amount of your losses. Probability, ego, and emotions are not in control of your losses. Huge difference.
It's the difference between what you see and what you want to see. Once one begins to see price movement instead of bunnies, the scratching becomes nothing more than an automatic reaction. Which is why it's called "scratching".
DbPhoenix and Hooti , Thank you for your insights. After walking down as many dead ends as I have, its a challenge to trust again. But that is part of the process to, (trusting yourself) without it we never trade, we never grow. This is why the testing process, both backward and forward are so important. Thanks for the comments p.s. I like the scratching definition, never thought about it like that.
I didn't post a chart premarket so I'll post what I saw today. The first chart is the 60 min and after trying a few different TCs I settled on what is posted here. When I was trying to find lines to "fit" I realized I was forcing it, and realizing that, walked away with what is posted. To be honest I was confused early in the day. The TC on the 60 min was drifting up but using SLA I saw the trend as down, since I couldn't decide I thought I would stand aside until the market made its intent known. At this point Db made mention of a hinge and the mid point offering S @98. I didn't see the hinge until it was pointed out to me, but the 98 level proved important as price turned there several times today. (second chart) Back to the 1 min chart, all this reading and replay might be sinking in. Price opened and traded down to the 96-98 area then formed a hinge, my earlier desicion not to trade served me well by staying out of this . Price then traded up to 3710 where I bought the RET @07, when price couldn't trade above 10 I saw the opt for a short, being at the top of the TC and failure to make a HH. Price then declined to 3684 where buyers lifted price above the SL and making a HL took price as high as 3704. where I stopped for the day. While all this was in chat and on sim I couldn't help but notice how much better I seemed to see PA today. I am going to continue doing what I did last week, reading other peoples journals, the Mamis books, replay ine the evening and the chatroom during the day. For those who have been reading my journal you've probably noticed my stumbling around with scratching trades, I can't help but feel this is as important a step as any in this journey to trade price only. I think I am making some headway and will post something later today. I like to write this stuff out in my notebooks longhand before I post it to my journal, makes me think a little harder. comments and suggestions welcomed Thanks
If I've drawn the channels correctly it looks like price is dropping towards the mean at 3650 + -. the 60 min chart would seem to support that 3650 is going to be important today again if the channels are correct.