I'd also like to point out that many companies specifically trade this was with their stocks / future. Lets be honest guys, the ES is specifically designed as a place for insurance. So these traders, companies would aim to hold the open stocks when the market is going up and hedge when the market is dropping. I imagine that people have developed this technique quite well. Hold when the market is on the way up and hedge when the market "swings" .
One cannot box the market up into a set of defined rules. The market is "alive" so to speak and every day is different than the other. The market knows nothing of our rules. It does what it is going to do 100% ignorant of your rules or mine. It is we who must observe what the market is doing and follow it as it is not us who define the market. To some degree there is probabilty but rarely more than 60%. I do not trade on rules. I trade on my observation of market action coupled with probability and can change my mind on a dime if the market does something unexpected or a probable trade fails. For instance, if the context is good for a wedge top reversal and i think there is a 60% chance a reversal will follow the wedge top and a reversal does indeed happen and i take the trade but then the reversal immediatley fails then i will exit and reverse direction simply because odds favor a wedge top "failure" to move fast and have two legs in the opposite direction of the original anticipated direction. As goes the 14 points someone mentioned in a previous post well .....i would have taken the 14 points profit ..screw..the rules. The market was giving me a gift. If i regard any rule it is the rule that in the final analysis the market and only the market "rules". The main area for rules for me is in my risk. Entries and exits are based upon live market action and probability. I don't always take every signal and entry simply because no two seemingly exact signals and entry are in the SAME exact context. The market tells its own story and i take signals and entries that fit in the story and have a reasonable chance of succeeding. I do not slavishly take every signal. There are simply too many variables. I look at what the context is telling me and what the signal and entry is telling me and consider the probabilty of a potential trade being successful as opposed to failing. I then define my risk with a SL for that particular context and probabilty, and assign a probable profit target but even that PT can change if my actual risk ends up being less than my original risk as the trade unfolds. I simply do not slavishly stick to a PT but I allow "actual unfolding PA" to MODIFY OR CHANGE even my original PT. For instance, if my profit target is 5 points and as the trade unfolds and moves in my favor but price stalls at 4 points and the context changes and tells me the move is probably over well i will take the 4 points and not let a "made profit" retrace into a loss just because my original PT was not reached. To each their own i guess......
Rules are not for the market, they are for the trader. Perhaps you are one of the aforementioned savants.
FWIW I only look for setups that offer reward @ x3 risk, I don't settle for anything less than that, if market goes up and then goes through my SL before reaching my target I accept that as a losing trade.
I still believe that we are likely carving out a medium term top. If wrong, I am out with small losses. If right, I will let the trade run to maturity. This is the essence of trading.
Not certain. I would assume that intraday swings are what day traders are trying to trade--however small.
And this is coming from someone who has not been here 2 months and have over 1,000 posts, you have a bigger idea of what is trading than ability to trade, you need to study more sonny than post as you are just wasting time. I keep getting systems programmed because I can, I don't see Buffet retiring and he has far more than most anyone who trades if not the most, and I doubt he day trades the ES cause perhaps not enough volume in ES except first thing in morning. I am getting older and don't want to stop remembering knowledge that I have, I have a disease where I am losing memory and each day is an enjoyment of what I have left. Today I forgot my email address, another note I must keep taped to the wall. And I agree traders are capricious, we have to be or get saddled with losses that are outrageous, but you don't have any knowledge of this as you lack experience. If you even read about Buy1Sell1 he does longer term swing trading and not trades that last minutes sonny boy.