CL just happens to be one of the cleanest, technically trading tapes there is. All currency markets trade much purer than stocks, so do commodity markets. CL is best of both worlds. There is no other symbol like it... not even a distant second by comparison. I half-understand the lingo you toss around and know this much for sure: there are many different angles to view a chart from and decipher the same thing. It doesn't take hundreds of esoteric book pages to understand 21st century price behavior... truth is, it can be explained in less than ten
Hi--noobie here (this is my first ET post, actually). This is the best thread on ET, by very very far. I'd appreciate hearing views on order entry methods you use for CL--what do you guys do? Options I've done or considered include the following: 1. Simply enter at market. 2. Enter a limit order before the market reaches your entry. 3. Wait until price enters a range, then enter a stop order above/below the range. 4. A fancy variation on 3: Enter a sell stop x ticks above the range and a buy stop x+y ticks above the range. 5. Something else entirely. I just do 1 at this point, thinking very had about 3 and maybe 4. Thanks to any and all who reply!
I'll chime... I've used TradeStation charts since 2002 and Ninja charts since 2005. Both are excellent platforms. TS has some costs involved regardless of your status as a client or not. Historical data is unmatched and the ability to research years if not decades backward in time is invaluable. NT has no out-of-pocket costs in sim mode and/or in live mode with certain brokers. It too is an excellent charting platform and imo all anyone would need for active trading and light research. No doubt there are plenty of excellent chart services out there, not meant to disregard or slight any others.
I use IB for data and QuoteTracker for charts. I give permission for anyone who wants to take the time to extract the "good stuff" from my 5 million posts on ET to publish a book out of it
LOL - This thread is the SHI*!!! I'm a lurker in here but really love the insight from seasoned traders. Especially when you guys break down entry's like NoD and many others so often do!!!
It largely depends on which school of thought you subscribe to, of which there are two major camps: progressive vs. reactionary (yeah, just like the ol' political divide). A progressive looks forward in time and thereby anticipate--or predict--reversals that will likely to take place; a reactionary, on the other hand, makes one's move by reacting to what has transpired at any given moment. As such, I would say the progressive is a fitting candidate for number 2 from the 5 choices you gave above. The reactionary, number 3. Granted, neither one is perfect and you will benefit most by following a little from both camps. In any case, this has been occupying my otherwise fragile mind for a long time and I still don't have a clear-cut answer that I'm content with. But it's a fascinating subject that's worth pursuing nonetheless.