That's where your money management comes into play. The approx noise on the YM is 11 ticks, ie, after an entry you have to allow for a 11 tick move away from your entry if you dont want to be whipsawed by the noise. Now instead of using time bars, use the appropriate volume bars. You get much smoother price bars. Now add a trend filter. It could be anything you fancy. I use a 20 sma on a 15 minute chart. For price above 20 sma take trades only on the long side, below 20 sma take only short side trades. If upon short/long entry the next volume bar close above/below entry bar, thats your stop. Otherwise stay in trade till close of each subsequent volume bar. Once the trade goes in your favor, set a stop at entry + 1 tick and trail it using whatever trailing method you prefer. btw, there is no true random number generator.
Thx for your very specific answer. I trade YM and think your pretty much on the mark with 11 tick noise so I shall take a much closer look at your recommendations. edit: I arrived at 10-12 tick noise figure by experience. Did you get this figure from some sort of testing?