Very much agree with this. And Id suggest to stop looking at the DOM. You see price bouncing around and you're probably noticing your PnL going back and forth from negative to positive too. But it's just noise. Watch your charts to look for a valid reason to exit.
thanks guys. yes, i've become too focused on PnL and bid/ask. I need to focus on the chart which is what's getting me into the trades. Sometimes i'm getting pretty great entries too , i think. Then i blow it because i'm taking focus off the chart. Entries and exits off same info. Ignore noise, stay focused and hold until chart says the trade is no longer valid. From the psych side of it .....when in the trade; just relax a little more. it's only one trade. And as i type that i realize i'm also being influenced by prior losses in the day which is making it harder to relax. So from now on my first trade must always be a large winner so the rest of the day will be stress free. Oh wouldn't that be nice
Well said.. I actually changed platforms from one that had no other useful entry method other than the DOM.. drove me to madness.. I will ask the question you jas may not like the answer to... In recent months how has watching the trade every minute IMPROVED your results? Ninja does a good job of risk management right?
Thanks rashid. There have been times recently that by watching closely i've been able to recognize i was on the wrong side, exit and quickly reverse the oher way and make money. but i think your point may be that in a trade that is not showing signs of reversing against me then i may be better off stepping away and letting ninja manage my stop. Certainly there have been times that would have been the best strategy. I may be ready to give it a try. Interesting way to force myself to be patient. thanks
I dont know ... may be i am lill old school... but i am not in favor of letting STop's be used as an exit or use set targets with the system. a- for the most part it takes the fun out of the game, b- It takes away the learning experience. c.- if a stop is SET or A target IS FIXED >>> this only means that YOU expect/hope/even WANT the market to behave according to your rules. Learnin in trading is to read the price action - plain and simple. Making decisions come naturally then & that's how it is suppose to be. Big money cannot be made with this type of trading. just a personal read.
Jas, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS have a stop in place. Don't listen to anything else. Mental stops are b*lls**t.
Thanks Snowman, I agree. I always have my stop placed at the time my entry is made. It's a fixed stop based on my average MAE of winning trades. Sometimes i'll widen it a point or so depending on S/R levels rock n roll in the market today. going to be volatile and interesting.
Yup! You know the day you don't put a stop, is the day some stupid news will come out and move the market a zillion points in the opposite direction and you can't click "close trade" fast enough.
10 trades , zero points The usual early exits. the only good thing going on is my read of the mrkt on entries has improved over where it used to be. Not sure how it'll be when volatility dies down but expect the set ups not to be effected. I need to seriously think about what i'm trying to accomplish with my trades and understand better why i'm doing what i'm doing. Conservatively i should be up +25 right now , 40 if i were real good letting them run. One thing i've heard good traders do is to try to visualize future price action. Anticipate. I'm not doing that. I think i'll pull out my copy of The Disciplined Trader. This is a mental problem only i can resolve. PS my short i exited early is still falling chart later . 3 hrs to go . I may be done for the day wondering if my constintency is good enough to try 2 cars and scaling out. I';ll have to look at the numbers.
I am afraid, adding an extra car is only going to increase your risk per trade... you are still very sesitive to your PnL with one car... i would not recommend, until you have mastered learning to differentiate between winners and loosers.... rather i would suggest trying to add once you know its a winner...that way you have certain cushion build up to carry the 2nd car rather than starting with two cars ... Humas usually only analyse positive outcomes better than negatives.... incase a two car trade runs against you and hits ur stop... you will be thrown off balance mentally. adding a car @ initial trade = adding more risk to begin with!