Day 15 This is strange and hard day fro me. I believe I'm at the strongest mental state right now when it comes to following my rules but my trading abilities are at the lowest point this year. I made a lot of changes recently and this is probably what is causing it. This is where one usually asks for help, mentor or anybody who is knowledgeable in the matter. But I don't have a mentor, so I'm left with questions, lots of data and time to sort it all out. -145
when I change trading ways, I most time will lose. today I am trying to use hard-stop, I found I act slow and I can not follow my gut feeling, get poor results too. so do not change trading ways it frequently. only those must be changed needs change. also those changes need fit your personality or trading style
Because we all have different personalities and what works for other trader might not work for me. And if I find another trader with similar style why would he want to share his hard work with me? I wouldn't share what I know with a stranger. Of course with people I know personally I don't mind discussing different setups and share ideas. I'd love to be proven wrong but it feels like Iâm on my own at this point.
It is completely your choice. You have the opportunity to elicit a great deal of help from a trading forum. You have to sift through the bullshit of course. Every trader is different and what works for them may or may not work for you but you might be missing a great opportunity by not asking. My guess is that the problem is deeper than just your set ups. I doubt you would be able to trade my set ups. You wouldnât trust them.You can have them if you want them, they are all public. Why would someone share, why not? You have something that doesnât work and you are unwilling to share it? Whatâs the worst that could happen? A whole bunch of people would lose money.(grin) One thing though if you do manage to work it out yourself you will have a great system. Because it will be âyour systemâ and you will know how and why it works. In other words you can trade it because you trust it.
Actually a batch of day traders doesn't move the market as much as we day traders like to think, so I don't believe traders sharing their edges somehow removes their edges, unless they're participating in some quirky trading method with thinly traded stocks. Institutional/hedge fund buying and selling moves the markets. There are certain patterns that work with a high level of consistency because of the psychology of crowds. I believe by learning the buying/selling price action patterns of the "crowd" (the big money that moves price) as reflected in price bars gives you the tools to trade anything. What I've found is that successful traders on ET are very positive and very willing to share. Here is an excellent thread that will provide you with all the tools you need to trade anything successfully IMHO. It won't provide you with the mental toughness necessary to trade all your good setups, to not move stops too soon, to allow trades to reach targets, etc. But it will show you how to trade with a positive edge. http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=144884 (Thank you, Sal, many times over for this link!)
Thank you NoDoji for your comments and the link. After glancing at it I can say that my approach is very similar but I think I overcomplicated things a bit lately. I'll read the whole thing tonight.
Hi Nod......been awhile since we chatted after you closed your journal and magna dropped an elephant from me posting in P?L. Your post above is spot-on about us pikers.........no one is going to worry about our trades. Sure are a lot of myths many new lads bring to the party that hinders their performance from the git-go. Fat chance they will progress as fast as you did. I will drop this tidbit to others as well as refresh myself as i still do this mistake and believe i always will..........hahahaha. How many times have we all wanted that one more tick to either enter or exit a trade? How expensive can a single tick get? I have to just say "SCREW IT"..............and whack the mouse, that is the one and only answer to that trading error we all have surely wrestled with. Concerning your above statement about the "crowd" and your own trading. I noticed in your journal you mentioned numerous times about ADD, ha. Let me drop a hint..........concentrate, focus as you said on fewer crowds. Yes, the crowds move the mkt. What needs to be focused on is "WHAT" crowd. You know where i am going with this, Crude crowd is an entity in itself, Soybean crowd are doing their own thing, etc, etc. MEE crowd have the mine explosion on their mind and are sweating bullets about lawsuits, tighter regs etc on their mind. ES is a full time job, today was a whippy start in a triangle, sym type, then dropped out for 4 handles max, back up 4 handles into a boring range that then narrowed before a small pop up to make a KEY bar then settled back down for a small range again at 1183.00 area on the botton line of the previous up channel line from the then days low bar up channel line that ended in a doji at 1105 est. 1182.50 was game over for the bulls as price dropped below that channel line and also dropped below the down trendline from 0945 bar of the opening small sym triangle upper line which dragged down to 1183.00 at 1355 est double crossed to down with the bottom of the mentioned channel line..........also crossed in that area the 20 ema line which you liked from Brooks book. To wet your whistle even more..........those crosses were 4 "WITH TREND" bars to start the down move where yours truly added 3 more trades on the way down and quit at 1174.00 as last profit. Did not take the bottom KEY bar up because was satisfied to just add another 10 3/4 handles on the day on those last 4 trades. My point to all of this is quite simple.........follow less, be bored, watch court tv if needed, ha. Be agravated that the action is slow...............BUT, stay in their heads........inside their heads even when it is slow will KEEP you attuned to what THEY will do when the time comes. Thats what concentration is about. I have a vision of you by this time next year knocking down a couple grand a day. It is ohhh, just a little bit away, "close but no cigar" SOON !!!!! OK, back to fighting those damn "i want this last freaking tick" tomorrow. ha PS: Canada and many other "normal" countries would never allow a bs CEO like that asswipe blankenship i think his name is at MEE to fuck with the regulators to operate a mine that is unsafe for the workers. he needs to be jailed. ok, i will not get into how i was a Teamster Organiser, chap.
Those were my thoughts also, a strong union might of prevented that accident or strict regulations. I like your trading posts, got to slightly profitable consistantly on the ES but getting past that is tough. I don't do as well on these tight range days. I appreciate guys like you and redneck and others posting about trading. I have been profitable swing trading this last year though. Keep up the good work bighog.