I find my system is subject to very poor performance if the intraday movement is under 7 SP points. I was wondering how many others on this site have similar situations.
I've found the same thing. I'm day trading stocks, and it always seems much easier when the SPY moves 10-15 points. Unless i'm trading stocks/sectors with major news, there just isn't enough movement to try to trade the random volatility when the spy is in a 7 point range and my stocks are in 50 cent ranges.
...is to be able to take something out of every day. My systems trade nearly 90% of the days, and make money even when volatility is low.
I trade stocks and every trading day of the year there are different stocks that have different levels of movement. You definitely need to be able to adjust to market confitions and have a strategy that are appropriate to the current volatility of the stock you are trading. For example, for my enveloping, I'll use stocks that have lower volatility on the day, but if their volatility goes up, I'll keep them out of my enveloping routine. And I may even look to trade them from a momentum or relative strength standpoint. Cash
100 points on Dow is nice.....40 will be ok......less than is difficult to spot a trend in. Not impossible mind you.