John, Thank you friend. I'm mostly a trend follower and very patient at it. I do not bet against it, if the current trend is neutral I tend to take the sidelines. No reason to gamble. First you determine the current trend, should there be one. Then you wait until one side panics and try to exploit the opportunity combining it with good money management and proper stops. I realize the market can do just about anything, even nullifying the signal that was so clear seconds ago therefore I make an effort to expect the unexpected. If the plan fails, no big deal, the loss should had been small and more signals will come sooner or later. At the end of the day you shoot for green and learn from the mistakes, should there be any. There is always room to grow, always. I try to remain completely neutral. I monitor no news. I use very basic indicators, keep it simple, and just follow geometrics, price action and volume. Hope this helps but the real key lies within yourself. You must act with no fear without getting reckless. If I had to break it down I would say, at least for me, it goes like this... - 50% Psychological (Discipline) - 25% Experience - 25% Strategy and Money Management In my case it was nothing special except getting the right state of mind. You don't need magical indicators or complex systems. It's all about you and your ability to visualize the actions of those on the other side of the court. Good fortune.
Thank you. I like to trade the YM and the ES depending on which is following who, if at all. I use a personal strategy, definitely not unique, that is simple but effective. You must make an effort to determine the current trend and exploit the best opportunities. Long the retracements during the bullish days, short the pop ups in bearish days, stay on the sidelines when market has gone undecided/neutral or simply exploit the bollinger bands while in the range. I continuously add positions and continuously scale out of them as the trade progresses. You can win even when you are wrong when using proper money management. Always leaving room for breakdowns or breakouts to capitalize with a trailing stop. Hope it helps.
Well done. Keep that optimism. It's always good to see someone finally reaping the rewards of their hard work. Your reaction does not seem like pride on my end. I have seen successful people in this business who suddenly "get it" and turn over a new leaf in the same way. Just remember you will inevitably go through losing streaks. Sometimes nasty ones. In the event that your optimism does change to pride, you will find your ensuing trading losses will directly carry over into your self-esteem, causing you to doubt your system and punish yourself for your losses. The ego is a fragile thing and constructs all kinds of defenses to protect itself when it is too directly invested. Maintain your equilibrium and always continue to learn. Ignore the pessimists whose egos are also heavily invested in their losses, who would feel better to have another crash and burn to confirm their view that failure is inevitable.
Congrats, Neet, it is nice to see something positive and upbeat on ET. Have you considered a visual backtest to see if your current method works in all conditions or atleast doesn't experience major drawdown? Ask yourself is there something unique about the last couple of weeks that has caused you to succeed which may not present itself in the future and possibly wasn't present before a few weeks back?
Dandxg, I know I said I like to keep it simple but my trading is far from mechanical. I rely on so many different setups and conditions I would not know where to start backtesting it. Perhaps the biggest hurdle backtesting this is that no trading day repeats itself over the course of time. I must say I do admire those that have developed consistently profitable automated systems that just milk money while they enjoy life. I'm a skeptic and I've never come across one but I'm sure they exist. The question is, do they work as well in all market conditions or do the pros flip automation as the overall market trends fades into a new one ? I suppose that merits a brand new post. Thanks.
You misunderstood me. I don't believe in automated mechanical trading, but I do believe in hard and fast rules for set ups, with a very small degree of discretion within that rule set. Given the more specific example I just gave you, does it work past the time frame you have traded it? Can you just visual scroll back the chart or better yet, if you have replay mode, replay some days in real speed from say last year and see if your current set ups work then. Maybe it's not possible based on your answer just food for thought. Good job again on your success.
I have to side with neet on this one and his strategy. Nothing unique about the last couple of weeks. Intermittent trending and choppy days. Very tough trading as I have seen on some threads. Have to be able to recognize past inside range breakouts and retracements, throw in a moving average on multiple time frames to trade the last couple of weeks day in and out. Psychology was and is your edge always..... Good to hear about your success neet....
Neet, Congrats on your success. It sounds like you're in tune with the market and what it is telling you. Ringing the register each and every day is a great accomplishment ! Keep in mind that US equities have been in the same uptrending pattern for quite some time now, and eventually this will change. Continue what you're doing at the moment, but remember to always live in the present. When the markets do finally change, change with them so you can keep that $$$ coming in. Best of luck ! -T
This is one of the best post I ever see on ET in a long time Neet has just found the edge!!!!! I had the same feeling when I found mine many moons ago. Neet , you and I have something in common - Stay on the sidelines when your "edge" is not present. As to me that simple rule has keeping me to get burned and my losses real low to the point of disbelieve. Hey don't worry about "hate mail"...envy is normal,when somebody got it made. I am sincerely happy for you. I would like to thanks you for sharing the good news with us. Now, a humble advice : Don't look anywhere but your own edge. Don't let other people screw your view on the markets. You have an edge, so follow it blindly. Just remember that sometimes markets lose volatility and you might have to do some minor adjustments. No big deal. Just adjust your Risk and Reward ratio and you'll be fine. Congtratulations.......and happy trading