It does work but not as frequently though. I went back and looked at the 3 months charts to see if the reverse set-ups worked for the short trades. It worked but the win % was small. Many thimes you'd be stopped out and the position will be profitable. The best way to approach short is when you are stopped twice after the strong set-up occurs, it tells us that the market is weak and can fall hard. 6/29 was one of the big down days and had I traded the reverse set-up, I would have been stopped out but if I had traded the reverse set-up after being stopped out twice going long, it would have been very profitable. Like I said this works on down days too (going long), so currently I'll focus on that and as I start consistently making money, I'll look for other set-ups too. Let's see what this month brings. I am trying to start slow and make consitent profits without having huge down swings.
Hi, I just saw your chart and couldn't help marking it where I think there were good retests of previous swing levels , that may help you anticipate moves and enter with less risk. Not all of them produce large profits. Take care Gerardo
Thanks so much for explaining what you are doing. I will disturb your excellent thread no more. You have my insincere best wishes for your success!
I did not trade today because I have family in town. There was a long signal at 8.42pst, Entry 54.25 and stop 52.75. I would have been stopped out on this trade. This was a strong set-up and the market declined after that. At 12.41, there was another long signal B 23.75, stop 21.75 and this would have been profitable for 8 points. I will trade only the strong set-ups and if I am stopped out on that I will look for shorting opoortunity. Thanks everyone for your good wishes!!!
One would think that a long only strategy should do good on a day like today, but the market went up without me on board. I usually wait for a break of 30, to go long but the market never went below the 30 min bar till 11.35. I entered an order B 68.5, stop 68....but it came down to 68.75 and went up, up and away. Today's action is hopefully an exception. It seems that thepull-back has ended and am looking for 1200 in SP.
I'm not totally clear on your strategy. You wait for price to break down a 30 min bar before going long? That seems totally opposite of how to trade a trend. Wouldn't you be looking to buy a few ticks ABOVE an opening bar's high for a long entry? (Or a few ticks above a previous high for long entry into a strong trend.)
There were 3 strong set-ups today. The first one was at 7.33pst. B 99, S, 98, T 107. I did not take this trade because of the recent resistance above 1800 - 1803 area. This was a good decision because I would have been stopped out on that trade. As I had mentioned earlier that a failed strong set-up can be used as a short-trigger. In the attached chart, if you look at number 3 on the left chart, that's where you want to go short and would have been good for 20 points. The second set-up occured at 9.17pst, B 81.25, S 79.5, T 89.25. This trade was profitable but the target was never met and a trailing stop took me out. In hindsight I should have put the trailing stop at 83.5 which was 10 min low. I got out with $6 profit on this. The third trade was at 11.39, B 79, S 78, T 87. Price came down to 78.75 and went up to 86.75 before hittin my trailing stop at 81. I did not get stopped out because of 1 tick and didn't get my target because of 1 tick. Overall, 2 trades for a profit of $42. So far for the month and week I am up $36 and would love to end the week with a profit. I have attached the 3 charts. Note: I am doing very good in terms of waiting for the right set-up to play. I am not getting excited after a win or depressed after a loss. So far I am following my plan!!!
Every now and then you end up positioned just right and price makes an incredible unexpected move in your favor (such as the day when I was short the ES and Spain was downgraded). Your P/L gets bigger and greener by the second and you end up with a profit that's 5 or 10 times what you expected. I was very fortunate one day to be in a chat room with a long-time trader when this happened to him and he demonstrated the cool, collected way a seasoned professional handles a situation like this: "Yippie!!!"
Thanks. I have noticed a significant change on how I act and react now. Last year I traded live and did good for a while and started doing stupid stuff and lost. Now I am more calm and NOT trying to pick each and every turn. The last 2 days I just sat there because the set-ups that I was looking for did not happen. The good thing about my set-up is that on average stops are less than 2 points, so I'll have to be wrong 100 times in a row before I lose any sleep. Losing 100 times in a row is possible but not probable. This morning I thought about taking the short trade, but since it was not written on my plan, I did not take it. Sure I could have made 20 points there, but I feel even better that I followed my plan and stuck with it. I will revise the plan this weekend to incorporate short trades too. Let's see what tomorrow brings. I will love to end the week with a profit (Who won't???).