Finished the week trading well. Not a lot of ticks, 18, but was patient, no trades in chop, valid trades , managed properly. Felt relaxed in in control of myself and clearer on what I was doing. shit, finally. more review of beliefs and charts this weekend
Pero teniendo en cuenta el estado en que reside, es casi una necesidad en estos días ED..., umm I meant RN
Jas, It is obvious to you that a signal is easy cause how many years you been looking at it? Longer the time you looking at anything it becomes a friend. But it is not obvious to the masses who have little of no friends. All you should care about is hitting a button-how hard it that, one little button on your mouse, come on, it not that hard. But you making it like a gorilla is holding that mouse and you have to get it from him and he hasn't eaten this week. Stop the "little Jas" in you controlling all of you, the "little Jas" send him to the corner when trading, then when done-invite him back. When I am trading, the world knows don't come into my office even if building is burning down, I am psyched up to maim everyone and anyone who is trading. I am thinking of taking ever last nickel. You have to be ruthless psyched, you trying to steal it from others who trying as hard as you. Capital appreciation, every nickel and dime that goes into your account is only reasons to be trading, don't get delusions you can strut around telling people what you do for a living, they don't have a clue and basically you are bragging, I try hard to be Casper the friendly Ghost, no one much knows what I do, they think I am retired man who drinks Starbucks a lot, when they ask me how it is going I have it down perfect, I am thinking of I just passed a kidney stone look on my face and say "things could be better", hell things can always be better, then whoever goes about their business and I sip coffee. You want your account to go up and only you know it is, can't let it go down much and try only intraday and end of the session you making new equity highs.
Gnome in his marvelous thread http://www.elitetrader.com/et/index...llion-profits-a-to-your-qs-today-only.113113/ talks about attaining high goals. It’s got to be great just to sit with that experience. At the same time RN, you are teaching, giving back; even on this great day for you... "didn't matter today, won't matter next week". Just goes to show that giving and receiving can go together. ……… It’s odd in a way. Anek years ago talked about a group of traders on ET believing that anyone who shared anything that worked… the more who did that particular thing that worked… would eventually make so it didn’t work. The market would catch on and change. So those traders would attack and put out misinformation, etc. Talk about coming from fear. And thinking the 100 or so people on ET changed the whole trading world -- and would ruin theirs. What we are seeing is… Susana thru out all she didn’t understand and came up with a simple plan. The successful anonymous trader threw out 99% and came up with a simple strategy that would last a life time. Gnome when asked about his ‘secret’, his Holy Grail, said all he did was nothing special... just the basics. Linda Raschke has stated also that her success comes from only doing the basics. SO what did you do RN on this special day for you? Did you do anything any different than usual? Apparently one of the basics is that you were not watching the P&L along the way. I assume you knew you were having a good day… or were you even that much aware of that? Or were you just doing the routine? At any rate your peaked at the end and you jaw dropped! Knowing that not watching the money is one of the basics is important. And perhaps the basics are the Holy Grail. ……. For me it is easy to say that I’m going to simplify my plan, my POV on trading. But by analogy that kind of makes me think of going into my storage shed and reorganizing my boxes; maybe combining some stuff, re-labeling some things. Maybe throw some things out. To actually simplify my plan, my thinking about trading… I almost have to start with a different question: what are the basics? Everything comes out of that… my plan… and my plan shapes my behavior. And the basics cover some different areas. The mathematical and logical side (of probabilities and order flow) as foundations for your plan. Basics as to what actually goes into a plan and journal that keeps your stats real and repeatable. On the other side of logic… basics around your own psychology and what makes your humanness work for you… like the example of not thinking about the P&L from day to day or even week to week. To simplify, let the basics change your plan. To simplify, let the basics change you.
What still makes my jaw drop (usually on a daily basis) is a certain little counter-intuitive setup in a new trend or strong established trend. At its core, it's basically buying (or selling in a down trend) at the point that feels like the trend is reversing. It's hitting that mouse button on the opposite side of the DOM to where you feel you should be hitting it. The majority of the time it not only works, it works quickly in my favor and I laugh as I think about all the TA bashers on ET who claim that this isn't possible because any edge in the market dissolves quickly due to "HFT" or whatever force is out there specifically trying to screw small retail traders. I must admit that no matter how long I've been successful with this tactic, it surprises the heck out of me every time it works because at the hard right edge it absolutely feels like I'm making a huge mistake.
Hooti Great post Sir I.., with all my heart..., believe this to be -> along with the necessary mindset re-arranging - yes re-labeling - yes combining - yes throwing out - yes Also re-vamping the contents..., sometimes partially..., sometimes entirely ======================= Side note At this point in writing..., I had / have two thoughts - I'll share both.., though in rereading them..., maybe the only place they make sense is in my head Thought 1: With basics..., comes simplicity - with simplicity..., comes clarity - with clarity..., filters are removed With filters removed - becomes possible to see the mkt for what it is..., how it works..., how to go about exploiting it..., while protecting our butt Thought 2 With uncertainty - not much externally is required (which is why simplicity so paramount - because no matter what...., no matter whatever we incorporate into our A/M.., or our self - we never know -> anything can happen...., every moment unique - there no need to ever fight this And no amount of what ever - will ever change that uncertainty When we do fight it (the uncertainty) - only internal strife and turmoil ensue (and the obvious loss of capital - along with the internal shit that musters) Can't ever beat it..., can only ever exploit it..., or allow it to exploit us) With routine..., discipline..., patience -> uncertainty can be harnessed - to find exploitable opportunities - to the extent where uncertainty becomes repeatable and profitable - consistently When an exploitable opportunity no longer exists / or not present - we get out / remain out Hope either..., or both above make at least some semblance of sense First - I recognized and accepted - I was affected Next - I stopped trading Then - worked to compose myself..., which didn't happen - so I didn't trade the remainder of the day ===================== Funny thing though - I take snips of my PNL EOD and save them (use em to vet the monthly statement TS sends..., and admittedly..., occasionally jack with the folks who say trading can't be done / TA doesn't work) I forgot to save Thursday's (so I actually did end up letting it go) And..., since I can't prove it..., it never happened Nothing to affect me going forward..., nothing to cling to..., be held back by So tomorrow..., it back to business as usual - work RN
NAW, I don't believe that at all, at least on this forum, 99% on this forum don't think anyone would give something good away for sake of sharing, or they want my brokerage statements for last three years or they want to change my world by watching me trade sitting next to me for next 6 months. Yep, some losing trader wanted me to hire him and teach him so one day he can work for prop shop, yea I really want my work to be traded this way. First off, I am not going to change my life for anyone, I usually trade in my PJs, I do not like anyone sitting next to me and even my staff who I had to train knows if they don't get it in three days, that is all they get, and yes they had six months of practicing, sim training, me screaming at them, far difference from quiet settings of being an engineer, those who got it have job till they retire and those who didn't get or got tired of me screaming left for much lessor money. I know I am an asshole, you would be too if someone losing your dimes.(Dimes=ten grand) If they good losses, I never say anything but always tomorrow, they have all become COGS like me. Same patterns, same setups, same everything, I make them all trade same system for six months before they start coding it for automation, then onto next system. I think we just live in a land of not believing, and yet I believe everyone cause I will have something back tested, but usually what happens is it will generate something else in my head and I could form totally different ideas to make it even better. Except for two "Holy Grail" systems I made by luck, I share almost everything, what most have no clue when day trading Indexes is breaking down price, I actually only know of NoDoji doing it as she trades Crude Oil and she pretty good at ES as well, I know of four others who prefer to be invisible, there is RN but he favors stocks, it been long time since I did stocks but I did day trade IBM for five years, before they went to pennies, much easier back then. I know there are more very good traders have as well, but I don't venture much into other avenues of the forum, I don't sit here all day. There is a huge difference between trading and breaking down price, I been mentoring 2-6 traders past few years with extra time I have since I been ill, I give them one on one time, calls and emails, and show them you have to understand the trees so you can better understand the forest. Each bar should have a name and during a full day of trading you might end up with fifty names, You make comparisons with other days to be able to make sure the name you gave it and meaning all some resemblance to prior days of same bar, you not going to understand much first couple days, takes couple years actually, but little by little you study each day as you are trading and after when done. It comes down to how much you want to really get into knowing possibilities of fine tuning your job. I have no fear of 99%, they will never get it but will be on the forum ten years from now still be nagging nothing works. I still make more in long term commodities, I am very patient, and I have learned well how to use options to make extra monies on small counter-trend trades on a long term position. There is actually much less risk in longer term trading than in day trading but you have to be able to figure it all out well. Think of it this way, if you doing ten trades in ES and risk $100, you are risking $1,000 in hopes of making $300, long term I may risk $800 in hopes of making $30,000 plus, it might take years to get it but I have time, plus when I got in I was hedged, so risk was lower than $800. Earlier in year I showed in forum Cattle Top what I did with trades and I am still short Live Cattle and Feeders having to do rollovers. But day trading is always much more risky whether you doing stocks, commodities or options. I have gotten very proficient at day trading, but I wished I went into trading commodity spreads and not day trading, huge huge money in this. Much less margins, slower way of making money and you can still hedge, you build your account and can make million dollar years. When you can't find many trading a niche market it is because they know how well they have it. Great Sunday to all, Starbuck time.
Make sense to me. One thing I realized recently is my micro -analysis of pullbacks is causing me confusion resulting in missed trades or early exits. Pullbacks can be messy, I believe. If I keep it simple (look at the overall structure and a couple other things I watch for) it does become clearer, less stressful and easier to get into the flow. We'll see how this develops going forward. Not sure if that's a good example of what you're talking about. Oh yeah, I've been living that lately. Lot's of review, working on simplicity and having patience is getting me back to where I need to be. Which is, seeing and trusting my set ups.