I only use stops to prevent a catastrophe, and so they are almost never hit. In my opinion, stops are context ignorant, and I've found that managing my stop with a human touch nearly always results in a better market play. Especially with a day as volatile as today. Of course, this takes a fair bit of experience to deal with all of the different scenarios that the market can throw at you. Additionally, you have to have a quick hand at placing/adjusting orders accordingly. So most of the time I am reading the charts, and placing orders according to the momentum I see and the support that I can find via trendlines and channels.
Nope, I guess not. Just wanted to know in a hurry which symbol to trade and how much each tick is worth. --Relleum
He's trading with play money so of course he's a newbie, unless he is testing a new market out and trades with real money in his niche mkt? anyone who trades with play money is a newb, no shame in it, but its a fact.
You are misunderstanding what I meant by play money. I am trading with real capital from my trading account. However, I have done pretty well with the low number of contracts I've been trading, so much that I have increased my portfolio by 3% since friday. BTW, doesnt it look like an inverse head and shoulders forming the last three days on YM? It needs to be confirmed with a clean break through 12960. --Relleum
No offense, but the greatest danger in trading IMHO comes from success, not failure. You enjoy the buzz of winning so much that it becomes addictive and you put on more and more trades just to get the high again. Needless to say, judgment is impaired and you give back your profits. I speak from experience. That's why I myself prefer mechanical systems, to take emotions out of the loop. Having said that, there are many successful discretionary traders out there. Good trading!
Doesnt the dow look like a big giant head and shoulders over the past 10 months? And we happen to be watching the confirmation of that head and shoulders right now? --Relleum