DKM has been at this, it appears, many years. Yet he still isn't seeing what he needs to see. I feel like I'm blind and deaf out in the wilderness. I do ask questions, but it seems that they have no answers. Just a few days ago I inquired about the prior discussion on understanding when/why the jokari window appears to fail sometimes. No followup on that at all, that I recall. I could ask a question about yesterdays chart (sorry NT just crashed as I'm writing so I'll describe sccenario). Early in the day there were two pairs of bars back to back. FIrst bar inc dom vol, followed by dec dom vol with LM. In first case no signal. In second case, signal. I stared at that chart for the better part of the whole night, looking for some hint or clue between those two situations. Over the the thousand or so hours of reviewing the journals I have found many statements which seem to conflict (I sighted two in my prior post). Without being able to correlate what's in the journals with what's going on in current charts, it seems rather pointless to do all that studying. There is an old saw about practice makes perfect. Never before has such an inaccurate statement been made. PERFECT practice makes perfect. Without any instructions whatsoever, somehow magically, we are supposed to have an aha moment and all is revealed. In all of my primary and secondary education, as well as in my own teaching as an extension instructor, no class or subject has been passed on with this technique of making the student guess. Perhaps trading is the one, single subject in all the universe that is different. I don't know. Of course, SPydertrader has the right to do as he pleases. I can't imagine that he'd put this much time and effort and energy into something he wasn't sincere about. I just find it mind boggling that no further description can be provided of what it is we are to be looking for or experiencing.
When the context changes, the answer to "What must come next?" also changes. You did not 'see' things incorrectly. You simply applied a ruleset for one context onto a different context where the ruleset used does not apply. For example, begin what you know for sure. Not what you think you know, but what for sure you absolutely do know. That is to say, what did the market do after Bar 8? You know for sure it changed direction, right? Therefore, you also know something caused this change in direction. Without a doubt, one can find examples throughout the various journals where the action required of the trader is hold in what appears to be the exact same scenario. However, in this example, the action required is reverse. As a result you know for sure something is different. That difference is context. To be sure, the Jokari Window indicates the required action. The difficulty you now experience results from not having the ability to differentiate between the two contexts. In other words, you have yet to determine when you (as a Beginner Level Trader trading on the 'Tree' Resolution Level [Traverses]) has enough information to know a specific traverse has run its course. In this example, the sequences which play out (time and time again) completed on Bar 8, and as such, a trader (again, trading on the 'Tree' (Traverse) Resolution Level) had permission to check the market for a possible change in 'mode.' The market, provided a signal for change at that exact same moment in time (as described in the bottom right corner of The Jokari Window). The difference here is context. You 'see' lateral movement, but the market was not forming a Lateral Retrace, Lateral Traverse or Lateral Channel. The Down Traverse had ended, and a new Up Traverse started to form. All can be learned, seen, done at EOD using static charts or in real time, or at close of bar - whichever one prefers. I recommend grabbing 20 to 60 charts and spending some time learning to draw trend lines once again starting with tapes building traverses and traverses building channels. Focus on nothing else until you can 'see' that which you currently find difficult to comprehend. Remember, signals for change may or may not apply to you if you trade on a different resolution level than the one where the market provided the change signal. How you know the difference is to stay on the traverse and not look for signals until the traverse has completed its sequences from point One to point two to Point Three and on into the channel. Again, for the time being, set aside what you think you know. You have amassed a vast knowledge of the methodology discussed here. All that remains is for you to learn when to correctly apply it and when to wait for that time to arrive. - Spydertrader
Everybody is diff but almost every one (except you-know-who) needs to take a break or step back to get a fresh perpective. AHA could come at any time when you least expect it. Am I going to see another BM case?
Spyder said focus on EOB and not Intrabar, if I recall. and Whoa dude! No instructions whatsoever???????
Believe it or not, I can tell where a person is (with respect to what they need to do next) by the questions they ask. As a result, when questions arise that take people off the correct focus, I ignore them. You'll note recent questions from Astral (Does Forex lead the Stock market?) and gucci (Was the YM in a Lateral?) also did not receive a response (just as your question did not). Often I find, I know where people need to go next better than the person asking the question. Oddly enough, those same people often don't like the answers I provide. - Spydertrader
The Boot Camp requirement has just been raised to 60 charts. but that is still a lot less than what Callmate has done. (hundreds!)
PS: Spydertrader, thanks for not answering. On a more serious note I would guess that not the sequences FAIL but the trader can not see the operating one.(jumping the fractals?) Dancing lady comes to mind. FWIW. http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22556281-661,00.html
I'll post my chart and blotter for the morning in hopes of providing inspiration for gravitonium77 and others who are frustrated. I can understand gravitonium's emoional state since I've had moments of doubt myself. I've been working on this since day 1 of the Futures Journal and I've had some bumpy days along the way. But recently I've been getting some big Aha's, as I mentioned last night. Guess what led to this avalanche of Aha's? I Monitored for 20 consecutive sessions, with no simulator, no log, and no finer tools except for the YM (I have since removed the YM from my layout). I then simmed for 2 sessions and my resutls indicated that I needed to go back to Monitoring, so I did that for about a dozen more sessions. This time I logged extensively, and I posted about 5 of those logs in this thread around late May or early to mid June. This whole proces took about 6 months since I'm not available to Monitor live every session. As guavaman said, this stuff takes time to sink in. And I still have a long way to go. In spite of having a profitable morning today, I made mistakes, perhaps most notably my reversal short. When Bar 15 didn't show more IBV to confirm Bar 14's FTP BO, it also showed a VE and IBGS on DBV. I reversed here, and subsequently "took heat" similarly to ehorn's recent trade. But Bar 19 showed DBV relative to the previous black Bars, and Bar 20 interrupted the sequence after Bar 19's FBP BO. So I was able to hold through these bars. I have a self-imposed rule to exit on or after 11:30 EST (10:30 CST on my chart). This rule is designed to keep me from trading during the midday drift. I exited at 11:30 EST on Bar 24 due to the FTT-like Volume after the VE of the red Traverse. (As I was typing this post, this bar turned out not to be an FTT.) As of 11:55 am EST, I am currently still anticipating another dominant up Traverse to complete this morning's up Channel. But since FOMC Minutes are due at 2 pm, we may just drift laterally until that time. Edit: Oops, I cut off some text on the lower right portion of my chart. It says, "Exit on first change signal that arrives on or after self-imposed cutoff time of 10:30 CST"
If I am instructed to turn off the simulator and go back to Boot Camp for my 20-60 charts, I will certainly do so...