While we're at it, I thought I'd throw this in.... PROFIT TARGETS ARE BOGUS! To say "I'm going to play for '______ points'", is ridiculous. To think, "it's 11 points to overhead resistance, so I'm going to try to play for THAT" is OK. Have support and resistance in mind for swing trades...........
Damn, I thought that this was my little secret. Gets rid of trend days and small days. Trend days just come along as a bonus.
All you can play for is what the markets offer. If the daily range is 6 points and you capture 2, that's a successful day in my book.
There's an art to trading.... Some players have a bias to fade everything, believing that there is "no trend move, this time". Others have a bias to play for "every reversal is the start of the next trend move". Neither is consistently correct. To do well overall, a trader must be able to "evaluate on the fly"... trend, or chop. You only have to get a certain percentage of it correct with no really big dumb-ass losses.
<i>"And how do you make money with these strategies on the 6 point range days intraday ? Not everyday is like today and the majority of the time es is chopping sideways in a narrow range."</i> Day traders shouldn't expect to make money every day. That expectation causes more failure than most any other factor. 6pt range sessions are merely navigated with controlled loss, while the following session of range expansion offers solid profit potential big enough for two (or more) session's worth.
2 points is considered scalping to most and if you are using 4 point stops on these days and waiting for that 8 to 10 point move you will find yourself in trouble real fast.
I strongly disagree. This game is about making consistent profits day after day. To go into a trading day saying it's ok if I lose money today is setting yourself up to fail. Additude is everything.
And what if, heaven forbid you lose -1pt intraday? Where is the mindset for that post-market pep talk AND more importantly, next day's trading? Successful mindset is based on "lose small, win bigger". Traders who fixate on not losing = winning every day (aka lunch bucket mentality) invariably self-destruct during what should be flat to mild drawdown events.