Also the reason I used a minute chart was because I tend to switch my Ninja Feed to IB in very fast markets. I don't need tick reads on my CD chart at that point (at which IB sucks anyway), the 1 mn clustering does the job. I have learned to stay away from 3rd party data feeds when we get heavy like this. IB never failed this entire week.
I thought that if you had a strategy that works (I assumed it did work) with two point stops in a low vol enviroment and not to get eaten up by noise, it would have to be a real short time frame of a minute of two or using a short number of ticks. Sounds you got it down with your strategy. Thanks for sharing.
All I did this week was scalp. No need to go for big winners, it was just too freaky. BTW, if you were late on an ES set up, you could quickly jump into GC or ZN and get the move on the slight lag. That saved me more than once, especially when stopped out too early.
Nobody is stopping your from scalping, but it's a shitty expectancy. And the lag-argument is BS in CHF, JPY, GC, ZB(N), etc...
I understand, to each his own. If my trade takes off, then I will ride it, but only if it was after the retest, which invariably occurs at support or resistance, no matter what the time frame. Otherwise, I book the first rip. I more quiet markets, I will split the trade up, always leaving a runner on. But that did not work very well this week, at least for me. It was all hit and run. I am chicken, but I have had too many drawdowns in my life to know how hard it is to come back.
That was my point. Enforcing a thread stop of 4 points? I went long at 37 to 74 with less that a 2 point draw. What if it had been 5? That's still better than 6:1.
I use a -2.00 point initial stop in ES trades now, -1.5 point during dull markets. My personal preference is a 1,000 tick chart but that really doesn't matter much... could be a whole slew of similar choices, 1min or 2min, 5k volume, 620 tick, etc The key to stops are entries. If your entry is precise and timed correctly, stops work. If your entry is off, no distance width in stops will make up the difference. "Something bought right is already half sold" is an old saying for good reason. It's not uncommon for a trade sequence to go -2pt, 0pt and +10pt on three entry attempts before price takes off. Many times, those -2pt or 0pt scratches went -5pt or -6pt against before price returned to direction. Wide stops won't make up for poor entries. Correct entries with precision, and sometimes the same entry two - three times before it takes off is the key.
I agree 100%. And there were tons of clean set ups this week that did not require wide stops, just discipline and patience. One caveat: if my entry is right at support or resistance, by the tick if lucky, then I am weary of the 2 point stop, as it will invariably get targeted.
I am not one to do stops of =< 2. or really 3 or 4 for that matter. Doesn't work for me. I balance the risk, by lower position size and trade off of longer time frames (except in crazy markets like the last few days where my charts are shorter time frames). I have not found that tight stops are an assurance for a better entry. Nor have I found wider stops correlate with poor entries.