Why do you guys keep bumping this thread? There is obviously not going to be an update and you have no idea what has happened anyway. Many traders from the halcyon days of ET who used to put up big numbers day in day out are no longer posting on the PnL journal, that should give you clues on what has happened.
No, it's not. I'm still here, doing the same thing every day. This thread can remain a part of the ET archives and served it's purpose. I won't give an in depth update, but 2013 ended up pretty close to 2012, but I thought it was actually better because my results were more consistent.
though, I would like to hear if you've had success with the swing trading strategy you were working on (during the course of writing this thread)?
There is plenty of opportunity to profit for skilled day traders. Only the guys emotionally married to single markets or symbols (ES traders for example) or relied on tactics that had no long-term edge have washed out. The stock world is full of symbols on the move, all the time. Crude oil futures are volatile and active more days than not. Plenty of spot FX pairs making sweet trend moves right now, such as USDJPY, EURJPY, EURAUD and AUDCAD along with others. For the clueless naysayers who claim nobody makes money trading FX, I made lots of it in 2005 - 2006 and have a personal acquaintance nearby who made six-figures last year trading spot FX, using nothing but simple retracement tactics across a basket of symbol pairs. Skilled traders willing to work with whatever markets are moving always prevail. The guys who pigeonhole themselves with lone symbols or markets will always inevitably fail. Lescor's approach via basket of different models across many symbols will perform forever.
Good words of encouragement austinp. As long as the OHLC does not look like a single dot , there will always be opportunity.
Volume and volatility sucks in all markets, but that's part of the endless cycle. Seen that in 2004 - 06, and 2010 - 13 in segments. Dead sessions are more numerous, real moves less frequent. Some days are a total waste in certain symbols. We work harder for less returns than during the peak volatility stretches when money seems to fly all around. But there is still plenty of opportunity out there. Be patient, lower weekly expectations, cut losses short & let profits run, don't fight dead chop tapes. Volume and volatility will return in earnest sooner or later, and we'll deal with completely different conditions once again.