Wally, I have a feeling I'm going to learn a lot of great things from you. Thanks for your continued feedback. Looking back at today's charts, you are completely right about the divergences on the 5-min chart. Also, at the peak of the second top, there was a massive MACD-histogram divergence. MACDh barely ticked up above the zero line when ES was forming the double top. Also, am I understanding correctly that you use BBs on both the TICK and TRIN 5m charts, and that you use the upper and lower bands to identify overbought/oversold levels? Well, until tomorrow. Good trading.
No problem, that's what this board is about. Pretty much so, but you have to be careful here, because oversold/overbought levels can become even more oversold/overbought, so it's even better to use divergences of these indicators on BBs or their failure to reach BBs or both TICK and TRIN and it's good to wait until you see clear reversal patterns manifested by candlesticks. It may take some time to get some experience in this matter, but these are helpful things. Good luck.
If you find it difficult to consult a lot of indicators, you could accomplish much the same trades just by looking at price action. Notice that there are reaction highs at 1030 and 1130. On the way back up, you can buy a break of either of these points (if you had bought the first, you would have made 4-5 pts depending on how much of a tick lead you want to enter and how you trail your stops at resistance). If you use MACD, note the bullish confirmation. On the way back down, you have another of those Ms I mentioned. Selling the midpoint of this (1325) would yield up to 6 pts, again depending on your entry and exit criteria. Note again the MACD confirmation on the downside. --Db
I see what you mean. I'm looking at the morning's reaction highs right now and you're right, each level could have been a good long entry.
OK, no-one quoted me, so I have to do it myself. I was right, we had quite a breakout through the resistance at 905 and we ended up breaking even through R2. It's a very good day for my systems, they were signalling this breakout to the upside yesterday and that's why I was anticipating it. I am out with 18 ES pts so far and looking forward to adding at least 5-7 more by the close.
Well, I certainly learned some valuable lessons today!! Today ended up being a breakout day to the upside. Not overly surprising considering the narrow-range day yesterday. However, I didnât capitalize on todayâs bullish move because I was mentally biased toward choppiness, as weâve been seeing a lot of this kind of action lately. As a result, I elected not to take this morningâs 30-minute range breakout, which would have put me long at 899. Later on, I contemplated buying the breakout above the 905 level, but again my bias stopped me from taking action. I ended up trying to fight the trend today and Iâm lucky I didnât get burned. Here are todayâs trades: 11:00 EST SLD @ 903.5 11:26 EST BOT @ 902.25 +1.25 12:35 EST SLD @ 909.75 12:48 EST BOT @ 909.5 +0.25 I was feeling out of synch with the market today after the second trade, so I decided it would be best both for me and my account equity to step away from the market for a while. I returned to my trading desk at 1:30 EST. I noticed that we had even broken above the R2 level. At this point I decided that it was too late to try to go long (the two plays of the day really were the 30m breakout and the breakout above 905). I missed both, so I felt that I should not try to make something out of nothing. Also, I wasnât willing to try to fade the trend anymore, so I called it a day. Todayâs lessons: 1. Itâs good to clear your mind of biases while you are trading. Trade what is actually happening instead of what you think should happen. 2. It is not a bad idea to step away from the market for a few hours if you feel frustrated or if you just feel out of synch with the market. 3. Itâs helpful to remind yourself that you only really need to take 2 points a day on average to make a living. Getting upset over missing a 10- or 15-point move doesnât do you any good. Learn and move on. If youâve netted 10 points at the end of the week, youâre doing fine. Anything you grab beyond that is just gravy! Daily Summary: 2 RTs P&L: +1.5 pts
That's why it helps to combine discretionary trading with system trading. When you trade systems, you have no biases, you just need to follow your system. Good day for my systems, though: 38.5 ES pts with 3 contracts, the best day ever! Looks like I got the right systems to play with.