Is this Trading Psychology?

Discussion in 'Trading' started by TheBestGuruEver, Jun 30, 2009.

  1. After 14ish years of trading, investing, swing trading, etc....I have a few things I look for (see attached chart in next comment, my bad).


    1. "impulse" leg up. No clue if the top. I used to sell, now i don't.

    2. then another move up, and i still want to sell, but don't

    3. Now another move, and then finally some consolidation, and then finally a bear trap move lower. Now I want to sell the next move up

    4. So after I sell the next move up, I'm sure I got in to early and it needs to go up and once again play with bears

    5. So i give my stop ample room

    6. Then nothing happens

    7. trading is boring

    8. Then i finally realize i have no clue

    9. then (sometimes) the trade goes in my favor and then i look for other reasons to take profits

    10. maybe a stop above a recent high? nah, they usually come up and tag it and then continue down

    11. maybe get out at 50%???

    12......i don't have all answers to this.

    Anyone else think like me?
     
  2. sorry, here is the picture
     
  3. You could have started and stopped right there and you would have saved us all the three minutes it took to read through your whole diatribe. :p

    But thanks for confirming that "you have no clue" ... it's what I've been saying all along. :)

    Link


    Just ... LOL! :D

    P.S. I love ET ... !
     
  4. ArcticTrader

    ArcticTrader Guest

    It's obvious that you have no tested trading plan whatsoever. If you did, you would know what to do in these situations. I suggest coming up with a set of actions that you will take in various types of markets (trending/choppy/etc.), test out those actions by walking through some charts manually and backtesting them, and come up with a strategy. Any set of trend following indicators will work great when the market is running, and will get you killed in choppy conditions. The trick is to detect which conditions are prevalent and trade the appropriate system.

    Another thing I might add is that it seems that you are always trying to catch the absolute top. Don't do that... take your profit and move on to the next trade.
     
  5. ArcticTrader

    ArcticTrader Guest

    And since you asked, here is how I would have traded that chart. When the market went vertical I would have held through those short consolidations at the top ends of those vertical candles, as those are generally continuation patterns.

    The minute the market went horizontal for a period of time about twice as long as the previous consolidations I would have been out, as that is generally the end of an impulse move. Of course I daytrade, so I always read the price action to determine what is going on, but in general if the market stays too long at one price without moving, it's time to get out as the trade is probably over. You should have exited there and looked to re-enter for another long or a short position later on as circumstances dictated.

    You don't just hold an impulse move into congestion and "wait to see what happens", which seems to be what you did here. And another thing: the minute you got a long bar down (which probably occurred on higher volume), you DEFINITELY should have been out of your long position if you weren't already.
     
  6. Exactly right.

    You need to have an exact trading plan of what you trade, how you trade with rules and everything.

    Most traders don't have that which is why most fail.
     

  7. Oh, OK, so you DEFINITELY HAVE A CLUE??

    Well, show us P/L statements

    soo simple

    it's like you now saying you definitely know where the market is going.

    well, guess what TROLL, you don't!!

    tell us what you DO know about the markets??

    oh yea, absolutely nothing
     
  8. ArcticTrader

    ArcticTrader Guest

    By the way, to answer the topic of this post, your problem is not actually trading psychology - your problem is simply the lack of a trading plan. You absolutely need some type of plan or you cannot succeed as a trader, period. It doesn't have to have 100% rigid entry and exit rules, but you should already know exactly how you plan to react to every market situation BEFORE it actually happens, not while it's happening. If you don't bother to do that work ahead of time, you will find it very difficult to consistently make money. Take it for what it's worth...
     
  9. ArcticTrader

    ArcticTrader Guest

    And since I'm doling out advice here... it's obvious from looking at that chart that the area of congestion after that impulse move happened right at a major resistance zone.

    You should have already known those zones ahead of time. If you had known that you were approaching a resistance area and you saw price slowing down, you would have had no hesitation about exiting your trade at that point.
     
  10. ROTFLMAO! :D :D :D

    1. You are the one coming on to ET and calling themselves "TheBestGuruEver".

    2. You are the one who crows everytime the market drops 10 points in your favor ... and then starts shitting your pants when it is obvious that the market is just finding support in preparation for the next upmove.

    3. You are the one starting a thread asking for help ... because you don't have a damn clue!

    4. You are the one who is going to be closing your ill-conceived short @ 931 at a loss!


    Boy oh boy!

    I hope austinp is reading this thread, sitting back and Laughing His Head Off!!! :p
     
    #10     Jun 30, 2009