Food for thought... Have you see a Steel Cable ? They are hard, tuff but can bend. However to bend them it take some force AND they dont bend at 90 degrees easily. Now Imagine ur MA was a Cable like that....heavier it gets as you increase the period = thickness of the cable. Heavier is harder to bend. Price action = Forces to bend the Cable !! Longer candle, consecutive onese mean higher force !!! 1st trade, a good technique to limit the loss by stops based on money management. However, Always remember, and I know they you KNOW this - That your entries WILL NEVER BE PERFECT, nobody can do that!!! NO body. So once you make the entry, ur stop should ONLY activate if the price ACTUALLY changes Direction/ trend. Since you can never pick perfect entries stops should give enuf room to cancel the noise. Some will say it should be certain points for NQ, or right below ur entry bla bla... fact is it should be determined based on the Trend. If the trend JUST started or YOU anticipated the trend. STops hould be as close as possible (still based on the previous price action). IF the TREND is in motion (Give room) as that heavy cable (actually the market) is on your side. You should relax and be more confident. Its like a Anticipatory trade is RISKIER and there fore more REWARD as you get in EARLY. that why needs better risk and reward. on the other hand established trends have low risk, low rewards (expected off course) and can have looser risk management. You might think that you have a system with set rules. But practically and theoretically one system cannot achieve consistent results in a purely random structure of the market. Its like trying to fit random sized balls in a fixed size bucket, you will always get different number of balls in. That is the reason why folks dont get consitent results and think there is something wrong with them !!! i think i puked enuf for a lunch break !! need get salad and loose some weight.
Been busy w/ work last couple days. Today had some internet issues for a bit. Got 1 trade in for +2.75. Very unspectaculer trading on my part. Late entry had me second guessing, resulting in an early exit. Think i was more focused on replacing some mental capital over anything else. Some days i need that. No complaints. Thanks JP, for your 'steel cable' post.
I like to have names for the set ups and price action i see. Calling something an M Top, reversal bar , 2b sell, whatever, allows me to not only more easily recognize it in real time but to also go back over past charts and identify whether it's a valid pattern. Yesterday, i was watching the market drop but didn't see any patterns i could name. It just 'felt' like it was going to go lower. I figure this is my subconscious recognizing something that "I" wasn't. It happens sometimes and i kept hesitating looking for a name , a reason, to go short. Finally I found a setup but because i had "missed" so much already (unwarranted bias on my part) i exited too soon. Looking at it today maybe the DT is valid enough reason. I also now see a measured move some of you talk about that would have projected price going to 2346 which could have kept me in the trade.
Missed a couple short entrys and then to punish myself I shorted near the low. I knew as i was doing it this was a revenge trade against myself and a poor entry. I've shut down my trading platform for now until i have better focus and discipline. Overall, this should be an easy fix. My other workload is no doubt distracting me. Still, not too pleased at this exact moment.
Soon the quest continues. I haven't traded or looked at any intraday action in about 6 weeks. Busy season at work has passed so i'll soon be able to focus on trading. For the next couple weeks I plan on reviewing and adjusting my trading plan, reviewing set ups and generally getting back in to it. I picked up several books to keep me busy too. One Good Trade - M Bellafiore So far an easy yet informative read. A good reminder of the basics - discipline and hard work. Only about 50 pages in right now. Market in Profile- Dalton. Snowman recommended this book. I'm looking forward to it when i can devote the time. New Commodity trading Guide - g. Kleinman. Real Happiness: The Power of Mediation - Salzberg . Almost done with this and tried meditating once. I thought meditating might keep me more focused during market hours. Not sure how this will work out as finding the time to do it is going to be a problem. If i knew it would be helpful i'd make the time but not sure right now. But i guess i should try it more than once, huh ? Next thurs off to Cabo for 4 nights for the annual guys trip. After that hangover wears off i'll be ready for some serious market study. Looking forward to it !
Studied some charts this past week and am easing back into trading. It's not quite like riding a bike. Did 2 sim trades today for a net of 4.50 NQ points. Placed a resting limit sell order at my profit target rather than use my typical fully discretionary exit. This is new for me. The idea is to take out some of the confusion, second guessing and stress of when to take profits. Going forward i expect to always be using profit targets but will consider exiting sooner if PA suggests. When my consistency improves i'll enter w/ multiple cars and scale out. no chart, as who really wants to see Sim trades ?
Market a little slow and choppy so i'll post this mornings trade. Cash acct today- no sim. -1 point The entry is a pretty good example, i think , of reading price action and not trading a specific pattern set up. The exit is not so good but i was able to tighten up my initial stop at least. I'm trying to analyze the PA not in terms of price so much but as other traders. Who's going to get hurt if price moves here and what are they feeling currently. This type of thinking is not exactly easy for me but hopefully with some practice i'll get a better feel for it that will be helpful.