whats classic.. is you coming into my thread with all of your positive suppport haha.. is it cool to see guys that have no clue what they are doing try to make it? then come along and sort of poke at them ... have at it buddy.. i literally am easy pickings i know... plus if your not really trying to help i can't allocate much thought to what your saying..
posting articles i've read.. things of interest.. http://www.futuresmag.com/2010/08/26/using-cot-data-to-find-major-opportunities http://www.lanzes.com/vix-volatility-calculation-in-excel/
http://www.futuresmag.com/2012/08/01/opening-range-breakout-past-present-and-future wow thats expensive http://www.amazon.com/Trading-Short-Patterns-Opening-Breakout/dp/0934380171/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1
If you are really interested in learning day trading, buy Forex Price Action Scalping by Bob Volman. Well received and described as a clearer more lucid version of Al Brook's material.
interesting summary i just read... picked up quick.. the first view lines say... "Only scalp when the spread plus commission is one PIP or less." ... IB commission structure for me .. 0.20 basis point * Trade Value or minumum USD 2.50 1 basis point=0.0001 ( this is one pip in eur.usd) most of the time i'm 10k or 20k lots.. most of the time here being the few time spent losing a little money trading currency.. so.. on a 20k lot.. hits the minimum.. and thats 0.000125 a pip an a quarter just for the commission.. granted i don't mind taking a hit on commissions testing a scalping strat just to see if it works live on a lower nominal ammount like 10k or 20k.. .. this doesn't include whatever i'm losing on the spread.. which i'm such an noob i don't even know.. http://www.daytradingbias.com/?p=28587
"We should always bear in mind, though, that regardless of our wonderful setups, trades go sour all the time. New strategy could ever be devised to prevent that from happening. But once we understand that giving profits back to the market is part of the exact same process as taking profits from it, the whole idea of losing will become a non-issue. Losses are the costs of doing business as a trader, nothing more and nothing less. 5. This is a profession, not a constant game of win or lose."
During normal market hours IB typically has a half pip spread. Yeah don't sweat commission cost if you are testing. Even when I was trying my hand at day trading, I never scalped. And all that exercise proved to me was that I'm a swing trader at heart. That's part of why options appeal to me; I have a longer time frame to trade in.
yeah man... my speculation on myself is: i chase a move into the latter 1/4 of it.. get impatient and move my target closer.. "then call it a scalp when it gets hit" which if it doesn't hit my target i just give it more time to and typically my stop is wider then my target.. so obvoiusly you can see how i am having negative skew on my payout haha.. i'm glad i can laugh at it and the losses haven't been of substance.. or when i say substance i mean it hasn't been crippling.. one thing my risk adverse anxiety prone nature helps me with.. my plan.. is to stick with options 80 to 90 percent of the time.. as i believe there is edge there for me. MY associations and education has all been in that direction respectively.. And basically start taking some of my thoughts and learnings to the backtesting table... and or screen time table.. watching listening learning and sitting on my hands deal.. i get alot of good advice from successful traders on ET... i think i would go crazy if i couldn't come on here and vomit my thoughts out on to all of you haha..
Respecting a stop can never be a shameful act; disrespecting one, on the other hand is the true disgraceful feat. 4. To protect a trade from ever becoming a loser by pulling a stop to breakeven is simply asking for an early exit.