Surf, let me answer that question with a quote from Bill Seidman, "you never know what American public will do, but you do know what they will do all at once." TA is not used in isolation its used in conjunction with other tools.
Yes, but that is not what the Price Action TA folks, like al brooks teach-- all it seems to be is chart patterns and most TA gurus teach that ALL information is already inherent in the price so all you need is price. surf
This is all very common when you're trading, or trying to trade, with a methodology that's based on intuition, 'being in the zone', interpretations and so on, i.e., Brooks' style chart reading. What if you instead had an objective methodology with clear cut signals for entries and exits that weren't subject to interpretation and discretion? What if perhaps you utilized statistics and could know what to expect? I'd wager to say that a lot of your emotional issues would take care of themselves. Of course provided that you did have a successful methodology of that sort. Bottom line: Remove as much discretion and subjectivity as possible from your trading.
But isn't that why trading is so difficult and stressful? Because there will always be discretion involved.... Even for an automated trader there is still discretion involved in deciding whether or not a system needs to be modified or even taken offline completely. I do agree in spirit though, we should have a playbook and gameplan and strive to eliminate discretion where we can. That is what I do. But like a basketball player knows his playbook he still has to make discretionary judgement calls in the moment based on what the opponent and teammates are doing.... whether to pass, take a shot, drive to the hoop, etc... No way around it as I can see.
That's not true. They all teach other tools but the problem is they don't go into any in-depth details about those other tools because they know its what most are not interested in talking about. Instead, they go into a lot of detail about price action, TA or trade signals while just mentioning or briefly discussing that risk management, discipline and such are important. These are the folks you have problems with and they are the same ones I consistently see you debating with or about. Yet, ironically, you consistently ignore their brief discussion about those other tools whenever they mention them. Surf, you as a journalist should be able to read between the lines...you see someone go into details about one thing and barely mention another thing...you should know that the "other thing" is not going to get them an audience. Yet, via your personality, when they say they use nothing else or price action is all they need...you then shut out those other words by them when they mention those other tools. Note: You do it too. Al Brooks does talk about risk management, discipline and many other things...just no where near the detail as he talks about his trade method. Therefore, if he were to say to me right now that he uses only price and nothing else...it is possible he and many others feel that discipline, risk management and all that stuff is the trader's responsibility to figure out on their own. I remember someone here at ET arguing relentless that Al Brooks only use price action and nothing else. Then when I pointed to the moving average indicator on Al's charts and pointed at a brief discussion by him in a webinar about "risk management"... His reply was that I was still wrong. Surf, you need to read between the lines...next time you see one of your TA gurus saying its all in price and in another thread briefly mentioning discipline and risk management...does it really give you that much pleasure to debate with them that about "price is all you need". ??? Guess what, its not just them. EVERYBODY does it too. Many folks talks about that one important thing in their trading and barely go into details about anything else they're using. You as a journalist, consistently surprise me why you get stuck on their TA or PA while you intentionally do not discuss with them their use of those "other things" in their trading. You know they use other stuff but you would rather debate the PA/TA thing. :eek: Seriously, look at ET right now. Start a thread about the importance of risk management and you'll barely get a dozen replies. Now go start a thread about your trade method or trade signal, the threads seem endless even though the most important info was posted early in the thread. P.S. Michael Jordan was once asked..."what does it takes to be a champion". His reply was "hard work". Surf, come on, we all know its more than hard work...read between the lines and stop being naive. There's a lot of things in trading that people do that they are not able to discuss or they themselves put less emphasis on it when in fact it has a great importance.
I have days were I gross three points and nearly net the same. I have had days were I grossed three points and was net negative one point.
These were well established probably from my youngest years beyond memory. They only became a problem in my trading...well...when I first started trading...long before I know who Brooks, or Capra, or any other trading educators were (I knew who Bill O'Neil was, though). It is objectivity that is my goal, and contradictory to your thought above, his style of chart reading is helping me with objectivity. I never read or interpreted anything in Brook's books about being in the zone, or intuition for that matter, and in fact find his approach be a cold, logical approach to the market. Remember, I spent 6 months going through the books, and spent many hours on just a few areas at a time, so I think I can reasonably determine if his stuff works for me or not. Other than that, I think you offer some good advice. Thanks.