I DISAGREE with much of what you write, I have found I am 100% rule based, you program long enough, you think in terms of coding and rules. When you automated, there is no room for fudging unless you code for parameters to be accepted. PA never changes cause people never change, programming don't change cause they have to be based on time of when markets changed based on something occurring which is people moods. I have spend decades at finding alternating labels, market is strong and people are greedy, market looks toppy, people have fear, sell the rally in downtrend-dumb people are getting in early, market dropping on lite volume, people are deer in headlites as at some point they will get out so late I will be buying. I stopped thinking in terms of Bull/Bear or uptrend/downtrend, I think in terms of waves of a swing for day trading, and use bars of a wave for scalping-smaller you trade, there is noise you are collecting in ticks. I use to project what the market "should" do, but waste of brain energy-I know what it has done and wait for a rule based signal, I plain allowed the market to win and give up thinking when I manually trade, am 100% rule based trader, have the rules down like breathing, simple don't think-just do. You might be far better trader than I, most people are better than me as many ways I never had ability to do till later in life as I fought so hard in beginning that my way was way to trade, but gladly I gave up those ways and accepted who I am and what I can do, only then I been able to do what many can't which is accept, so much much easier. I see Buy1Sell1 as very good trader, he stays the course, doesn't allow anyone to alter how he trades, he is allowing anyone to look over his shoulder and stay the course.
I gotta go as algofly is either lurking, on vacation, or actively lobbying to get me banned. Probally the later. Here are a few thoughts and picture of todays PA.
2 or more need to be in tune with each other. 3 is better. This buy signal was a combo of the 1 and 5.
I could never do that. My brain is too little to process all the info coming from that many charts and one or more would talk me out of an great trade. I only need one chart and one indicator ...a MA. I can do with volume or without volume. Sometimes vol throws me off and talks me out of perfectly good trade.
what stops you from making your own journal? srs question. I'd sub because I roughly do the same thing
Disagreeing is good. I tried to learn programming but was not smart enough. PA changes all the time. Everyday. Moment by moment. Every rally is different. Every decline is different. There are different amounts of buying and selling pressures in each decline or rally. They simply cannot be traded the same and have consistent profits. Well maybe for tiny profits. People (by that I mean the retail trader) doesn't make the market. Institutions do. They are fighting each other. Not us. We are coca cola money to them. We are in an auditorium watching a fight between the heavy weights. We try to determine who is winning and who keeps getting knocked down. All night and all morning the bears were winning except for a few hooks and haymakers that the bulls throwed. But the bulls were constantly having to pick themselves up off the mat. I know who I'd be betting on today. It isn't that hard to determine unless one can't "see clearly"...BUT......."I can see clearly now, the rain is gone, I can see all the obstacles in my way. Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind Its gonna be a bright (bright) bright (bright) day....Sun Shiny day. I think I can make it now, the pain is gone, All of the bad feelings have disappeared. Here is the rainbow I have been praying for Its gonna be a a bright (bright) bright (bright) Sun Shiny day. Look all around, there's nothing but blue skies..Look straight ahead, nothin but blue skies..written by Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff. Can be applied to trading.