When I trade an instrument where the average size on those 10 layers from best bid/ask is between 15 and 50, I'm not going to apply my trading methods (which takes advantage of trading under the radar and riding along with the big guns) to moving into and out of significant positions. I've never been part of the trading desk of a hedge fund or investment bank or retirement fund and I have no idea how I'd go about accumulating and distributing large positions, and the last thing I'd do is trade large positions all day for holds of a few seconds to a few minutes. If I want to take advantage of leverage for a significant price move, I swing trade highly liquid options.
It not brooks..., he the simply the default whipping boy of the day ==================== There a faction on this forum who simply can't stand to see people trying / working through it / getting it / succeeding They can't trade - so no one can - and they'll do their damndest to derail any attempt to prove otherwise Comes with the territory Screw em RN
"I have bought Al Brooks' Trading Course" My goodness, 31 pages of debate about Brooks, yeah, I bought his first book, tried to read it several times and was lost for most of it, got pissed and used it to start fireplace, and that is where Van Tharp's material ended up as well(his four inch binder use to keep open the door). Not all books going to reach out to you and make you warm and fuzzy, but if you can get anything from a book, one little tidbit that can save you a little, it can snowball into other ideas you can test. I stopped buying books altogether few years ago, know my limitations, no longer can handle math, now lack patience to deal with people and trading more than hour, can't spell worth crap, one too many brain procedures, no more photo memory. There are just so many price patterns, I have tested all those I could possible code, between one minute bars and weekly, I know the stats, plenty are overall profitable, but as I have gotten older, my wants have changed, making the most money now is not as important as having smallest losing percentages, if you not losing.....account should go up. But there are always trade offs, less overall profits, but less trades as well. You really have to be dumb to become a day trader, you give up so much of your life to do it. You end up eating, drinking, living every moment of your life to overcome yourself, your brain messes with you so much of the time and do it for number of years. You have to memorize occurrences that seldom happen and like breathing know the answer before the question. And even after you finally start thinking you have become good at it, your thoughts change, what was once thought is entry at certain price "has to be", it not that important. Risk and Time, all that matters. Think about all the risk you use each day in day trading, it is flipping huge. You might think you risking $100 to make $100, end of the day you took 20 trades and made $200(if you good) for day, you risked $2,000. Too many people think books should be everything they need when they should think it is more of one piece of the puzzle. Day trading is just going to get much harder as more and more automation comes into play by more traders, there is nothing to overcome. And if you day trading, think options, I started to learn them on deeper level other than hedging two years ago, am really vamping up great deal to do more-check couple times a day. Have a good week all.
Thanks for your thoughts, Handle. I agree with much of what you said here, but here's what's in it for me. Probably being too honest here, but I'm old enough to know a lot of fucked up shit about myself. To become successful at trading, I have to overcome those personality issues. See my earlier post about my belief that the market is a mirror of one's personality. When I can't see my reflection in that mirror (if I get there), I will have succeeded. Just to keep it about Brooks, here is a play I took after the open tonight (EURUSD...chart Oanda)...full size position. I'm already out. I got in at .13394 and exited at 13548...just a scalp, but the pullback was a trade I started taking after I studied Brooks (probably would have never taken a play like this otherwise years ago, though I'm sure it's been taught by many others, and learned by experience by even more). 15' pull back, 4 legs down (or 3 depending on your perspective), to the 20EMA (no sig news until aft midnight tonight, so why not?). I placed lines at my entry and exit for visual purposes. My exit was based on a pivot high on the 240 minute (not shown). I just booked 15 pips on a Sun early eve in the EURUSD with a risk just under 15 pips, which is why it would be considered a scalp by Brooks (1 to 1 RR). I was in the play less then 30 minutes. Probably won't trade again tonight. I'm probably not going to post any more of my plays, either. At least not in this thread (I might...who knows?). You either like what Brooks offers, or you don't. I'm not trying to change anyone's mind. I just think he's been unfairly criticized by too many without actually knowing or understanding what he's trying to convey.
Yes, but being a verified proven market success is a prerequisite for me to write an article or interview someone---- If you could get Dr. Brooks m.d. to send me over some proof of his skills, I would be happy to chat with him. Peace, surf
You're the journalist. That's your job. Nice try, though, trying to get me to bring a story to you (though, I don't know how I could not knowing your identity). You prove him to be the real deal or not. You've suggested he's not. Burden of proof is on you, IMO. If you're a journalist, and you think he's a fraud, prove it (I'm not saying you've made that accusation, but it seems you feel he is).
Looks like two legs down on the chart, counting off the previous highs, a third wave seems equally probable to me, unless you waited to get in when it broke above the largest bear bar, with possibly an even less favorable risk:reward ratio than you had. It was a a good trade, but a flip-of-the-coin trade in the big picture. Brooks promises the potential, upon mastery of his teachings, of a trading career of high probability trades and scalable success leading to a great and steady source of income, not coin toss gambles, which would surely scare off most acolytes.
It was 2 legs on the 30, which I was looking at also, along with the 60 and above. As I've said previously, I don't follow the Brooks system of using only one frame. I was quick to take profits, because when you look at the 60', you'll see that we've already had 3 pretty strong legs up (plus the PP I mentioned higher frame). That makes me nervous, and not to beat a dead horse, that's exactly the type of tidbits I've gotten from my study of Brooks. It's always been there, I just wasn't aware of it the way he describes it. Trading will always be a grey area, right? I could have just as easily stopped out, and would have accepted that and waited for the next potential opportunity... Post edit: There were 3 highs on the Oanda 15, my entry was a high 4 using their chart since that's where I executed, but my Tradestation chart looks different. The signal was different...the opening Bear bar on Oanda was a Bull Trend bar on TS. Every Sun is like that. Had I used TS, I would have been in sooner. You are correct. On TS, it was 2 legs down.
TA is a tool, tools do not work by themselves, its how you master them that determines your success and failure. TA has no predictive value instead it imposes structure on what otherwise seems like chaos.