Hey folks, Tx for the nice comments! it was a dream chart yesterday. Trend followers would love to trade a pattern like that (ie Stair Steps--move up, level off, move up, level off, move up, etc) all the time--regardless of timeframe ;-) With the strong gains this week I'm throttling back. I'll still check my messages and may post a chart or two.
Results for week 24 attached. I will be increasing my position size to 3 contracts next week. Have a great weekend!
Excellent job...you should add a column to your spreadsheet that shows what your average weekly return has been since inception (compounded weekly), updated each week. That would answer the question of whether you have earned 3% a week. It looks like as of now, with just a quick calculation without compounding, you have returned 2.93% per week.
No trades today. Lots of slop and chop. Could be a pattern this week until some key economic data is released on Friday. Then the FOMC follows the week after.
Again, sideways day with a lot of choppy action--no trades. It looks like gap traders had an opportunity to catch 30-40 points at the open. One user PM'd me asking, "...How do you know if the market is going to be choppy?..." Simple answer is I don't; And nobody else knows either so save your money With that said, there are a variety of ways to guage market mood. I don't think there is an exact science and mine is certainly not the best, but, it works for me. I will look at the four main indexes (Dow, S&P, Nasdaq, & Russell) and a comprehensive list of sectors. In addition, there is my trusty A/D and A/D Vol indicators. I have found when there is confluence with the above, then my odds of catching a trend are improved. When I don't see confluence and there is a mix of green (up) and red (down) for these indexes/sectors; the A/D + A/D volume indicator trend in opposite directions (ie Like Today); or price moves in a narrow range (ie < .5%) then my odds of catching a trend are lower because the market is generally undecided as to where it wants to go. With all that said, scalpers seem to be able to take advantage of a choppy market. I'd love to learn how to scalp a choppy market, but, I haven't developed those skills yet. Not sure I've developed intraday trend following skills yet either ;-) Anyways... Preserve your capital and live to trade another day Ciao!
Hey folks, A few people requested the Tradestation ELD for the AD and Heikin-Ashi indicators. You can find them attached. Keep in mind I am still running TS 8.2 and these haven't been tested/used on 8.3 yet. To setup the ADLine Indicator you need to: a) create a chart with two symbols: $ADV and $DECL in that order. b) Right mouse click on the chart and select "Format Symbol". For each symbol in the list select format button; select the scaling tab; and then set the sub-graph value to "Hidden" c) Right mouse click on the chart again and select "Format Analysis Technique". Go to the scaling tab and set the sub-graph value to "1". The process is the same for ADVLine except the symbols. Just create another chart and add the symbols: $UVOL & $DVOL and repeat steps b and c above. Clear as mud? Send me a PM if there are problems. If I get a lot of PMs then I'll create a Word Document with screen prints.
Intersting day today. Nice surge in the am and then some violent choping during the afternoon. Ok, nothing new with this trade: A) price opened above yesterday's high, the daily and S1 pivot; We're going long! B) Look for consolidation and buy on retracement (ie gap fill) or a break-out to the upside C) Scalp 10 points D) Hold the last half and try to catch a trend. Trade 1: ====== (2) +10 (1) +30 +50 for the day A lot of slippage on both trades and there was quite a bit of heat after the scalp. Stop was at bottom of consolidation area. I figured if it got hit then I'd look to buy again around yesterday's high which was right around the 40EMA. Notice the hefty divergence between price and the PT.Trend with the AD lines retracing after price hovered around the S3 pivot.
Open Source ELD for Daily Pivots attached. Note: For futures, I always enter the inputs manually. For equities I set the input values to 0 and have the indicator calculate pivots automatically. I haven't tried using it for Forex yet. Given Forex trades 24 hours, it will probably work with default input values of 0; Enjoy!
Week 25 Results posted. Not much to report. Looking for the market to grind higher through the holidays--assuming another rate cut occurs. Even if it doesn't, momentum seems to have shifted. We'll see ;-)