Contd 3: I don't know why my image duplicated above, but they both are the same image. I have created a template and saved this setup first for the panel and in these settings called "market stop" as you can see above. You seem to be quite a sophisticated trader beyond my understanding with options, etc. Why don't you give Medved Trader a try. You can download it for free and try it out, I'm sure it is full of great features for options.
This is my TOS sim trading screen. If I trade rhythm I use the 1 min. If I scalp, I use the left hand tick chart. The tape in the middle gives me indication of momentum/action, etc. for both. Nothing fancy.
Thank you. You give me enough ideas to try. I can't ask for more. I will figure out the rest myself. I am really not that sophisticated, just an amateur retail using options as a vehicle to speculate. No different than using margins. The idea is to use options to construct leverages on regular stocks in my portfolio for higher (e.g. 1.5X) returns.
The tape in the middle is what I have detatched and the ladder part is what I have hidden. The butttons at the top of the tape I've changed to what I showed in my image and under there is where you can set the stop I showed you. That's the thing I use.. but detatched. I wish I understood what you explained about using options to increase what you have and how you do it, but I figure over time I'll understand that aspect but now I'm locked into trying to get consistant.
I wonder what that "urgent" message said? I could only go long.. no shorts available. It was a hell of an experience. Now I've got to earn all that drawdown back.. set me back a bit.. sigh.
There is nothing harder than day trading. After nine months, instead of getting better I am getting worse. I don't want to blame TOS Sim, maybe I really don't have any edge, it is all random and an illusion.
Nothing fancy, think of buying stocks on margins. Instead of using borrowed money to buy more stock, I buy options on that stock. It is tricky, only works about 30% of the time.
I haven’t read your previous posts, so please forgive me if the following is out of context or inappropriate It seems to me that you’re ‘style-drifting’, and if you’ll continue changing markets/instruments and trading approaches with the hope that one day it will just click, then more likely than not, you’ll end up being a jack of all trades, searching for a holy grail and being married to the monitor. I think for time being you need to focus on mastering only one trading approach, the one which resonates the most with your own personality, and is in some way based on how the markets behave, and is somewhat objective. It does not need to be a strategy that you'll use for the rest of your life, just something to start bringing in small regular income (with minimal drwadowns). Later on you can work on adding more profitable strategies. Don't go for large returns at this stage, it takes years of strategy development in addition of mental development to get consistently high R/Rs. Buying options seems sexy, but unless you’re relatively precise on the timing, magnitude of the move and IV, then you can end up being right on the direction and still lose money. Be warned, options are deceptive.