I trade Futures, Options, Stocks and Commodities. Price is price and perfecting incorruptable. I trade watching Constant Volume Bar charts and trade Intraday, Swing, Position and Long Term increments. I trade based on chart oscillations, not time (minute charts). There is a huge difference between the two and it is something you have to see for yourself. Me simply telling you there is a difference is worthless. If you have been lucky enough to catch some great moves trading the news that is wonderful. One word of advice though, use tight stops each time you do.
Once you get as old as Jack and I and if you survive this industry that long, you will understand that regardless of how profitable or successful you get, it is not anyone's business your personal numbers. Everyone has good day and not so good. Everyone has good months and not so good. I love to fish and have been fishing for years but when someone with obviously more experience than me offers some suggestions . . . I listen with my full attention, respect and with both ears. I never take the position of summarily dismissing what that person is telling me just because I have a basket of fish. They day we stop listening and learning is the day we cease growing intellectually.
I trade technically intra-day but not during major releases. I sideline usually 5 mins before and after major news. I trade currencies so liquidity has a tendency to dry up right after release. The EURO can pop 60 points on NFP day before you can even get a quote. Do I want to be on the wrong side of that trade? No way.
you are talking like you are on some other level or something. when i hear people talk like that in the market it makes me feel like they are bs. in fact, anytime i have seen anyone make statements like you just made that person was full of it. who knows...maybe you do alright but maybe you think you are better than me...maybe you are...i dunno. it's of no importance to me. basically, all you are saying is that your trading is one aspect of my trading. you trade whatever is moving on any time frame. i like to trade that and i also like to know why things are moving and what drives the buying and selling. i like to know the fundamental and news side of things. it's a huge part of the market and maybe you should try opening up your mind to it. and i rarely use hard stops. if i were to use hard stops i would get some horrible slippage lol. i usually just go by wherever the buying and selling comes in at. that could be a bid, offer, support, resistance, or whatever. obviously, you have to have an exit but the trades (news based as well) i look to get into are pretty much always low risk/high reward.
lol he was the one who brought up p/l and started talking trash first. edit....i just realized i'm a fool lol! when he said PL he didn't mean p/l...he meant ProfLogic anyhow...i will gladly post what i my p/l and consistency. i sure as hell know i'm nowhere near the best trader in the world or anywhere near as good as i could be but i will gladly prove i'm not the regular ET blowhard. hey this is the INTERNET...THIS IS SERIOUS STUFF!
I think being aware of the news is quite important. Take this morning for example. Pending home sales comes out, suprises on the upside. The market shrugs the news off, and turns lower after an initial burst higher. This is as good as it gets: the market is telling you it's headed lower at that time. You don't even need a chart. Being aware of the news, knowing it was good, and knowing the market ignored it, was worth about 15+ handles on the downside. Every day is a little different. But every day the news is an ingredient to measure the market with. News is an excellent tool to evaluate market action with. OldTrader EDIT: By the way, I think attempting to chip out a point or two on a news announcement is a lousy way to trade. That's not what I'm suggesting.
I never pay any attention to news. I actually lengthened my time frame in trading so that I could minimize its effect. Has worked wonders thus far.
To be clear, there's a huge difference between trading the news and trading the price action that reacts to the news. I do the latter and highly recommend it if your into volatility analysis or supply/demand analysis. Thus, news (economics, breaking et cetera) is a critical aspect of my trading as a futures trader... Helps me tremendously with my volatility analysis and supply/demand analysis. It's been that way for me since the late 80's. With that said, I'm a price action only trader (no indicators) that's dependent upon TA. News helps me to understand the price action and if I don't understand the price action... I ignore my TA and stay on the sidelines. Don't trade the news, trade the price action that reacts to the news. Simply, I don't tune out news and that helps me be a better trader. Also, based upon a few comments in this thread by a few against news... Their commentary seems like they have attempted to trade the news itself and not the price that reacts to the news. Simply, you don't need to know what the economic numbers mean (bullish or bearish)... What you need to know is when that economic report is going to be release so that you can better manage your trade if you are in a trade when the economic news event is released. Ignoring what caused the volatility to change or caused the supply/demand to change is a fools game for any price action only trader. http://www.forexfactory.com/calendar.php http://fidweek.econoday.com/ Also, here's an example of a reaction to a news event via FOMC trading days. Anybody that saids they don't care if its a FOMC announcement day... That's a trader that truly doesn't follow the news. Yet, just telling someone you don't trade on FOMC days...implies that you do follow the news and that it does have impact on your trade opportunities via keeping you on the sidelines. Another example, changing you position size, locking in some profits or staying on the sidelines due to a news event also implies news has impact on your trades even though you may not care about the exact numbers being released by the news event. News is cool and TA thinks so too...it's a happy marriage. Mark
Just because you don't understand how I trade doesn't make what I do bullshit. I don't understand cold fusion but respect those that do. No one, especially in this industry, is any better than any one else. Some are just more open minded than others and some just have more experience watching all things related to how price moves. Everyone has their own personal level of expertise and others have many. Sorry you took your lack of understanding of how I view the markets as a personal assault. That was not my intention. It was just meant to give you another point of reference. I fully understand the fundamental aspect of the markets as well. Practical experience will teach you that fundimental analysis is a part of the process but not all of it. I never use hard stops either. When you can read price direction and the strength of any chart you are trading then support/resistance oscillations become your execution points and targets. Oh, all of my trades have to be low risk and high potential because I monitor 500 different markets and contract months each week. Sounds like you have a good start going. Keep it up.