It took me 5 years, thousands of hours of hard work, tests, false discoveries, disappointments before understanding and exploiting bull, trading ranges and bear markets. Sometimes, I just wanted to give up, to stop digging deeper, because I was too obsessed, feeling like a sociopath or at best a no-life. But every time I was close to quit, I saw a light at the end of the tunnel. I was tenacious... for good reasons : What a relief when the puzzle was completed ! Now, I am outside the tunnel, Thanks God. If you got a method that works only half-time or under certain conditions, for me this is not an edge. Your edge should be replicable every day / week / month, in bull, flat or bear markets. Some people are looking for the light too, but most of them are lazy, blind or at best one-eyed. For the small minority that seeks responses and really want to find it : There are many ways to win the game. Analyze, test, find yours, and never give up. CM
Mind saying if you use indicators, or patterns/price action, or some sort of statistics? Also, are you day-trading or swing-trading, and what type of markets. Thanks.
Patterns (classics + my own), one indicator, and volume. Looking for breakouts or consolidation. I mainly swing trade, I scan everything to find opportunities where they are : indexes, stocks, sectors, forex, commodities... CM
I do the same - swing trade everything with mostly classic patterns at least 2 months in the making on he weekly charts and one or two of my own. Will play breakouts and failed breakouts from channels - bear/bull traps. My favorite being major capitulations with large tails. Volume is king.
....What exactly is or defines...an 'edge' ...for you people who claim to have got or mastered this concept of Edge Is it consistently making 2% a year for the past ten years...or 5%, or 10%, or 15%, or 20%, or 50% or 100%...
Unfortunately it isn't intraday. It is swing. A lot of the trades either get stopped out with a small loss or a small gain. A fraction of them can rides a big wave to the upside/downside.
When I think edge I think of technique that skews the odds mathmatically in your favor. For example. I am a support and resistance guy. My trades are taken at a point where price is near a level and I see indications of a reversal. If I am correct my trade has room to run. If I am wrong it quickly breaks through a level and I am out with minimal loss. As long as that ratio of risk to reward is strong the odds are in my favor. Hence edge.