Thanks! I sometimes look at bar charts. I think they give a nice "birds-eye" view of the chart. For entries and exits, I like seeing the bodies of the candles to get a better idea of support/resistance levels right in that area.
Candles are indicator based views, many find them to distracting and others find them easier. I myself like to color my bars. Green bars close higher then the prior bar and red bars close lower than the prior bar. when viewing (bars) pay attention to the open and close, especially near bounces and at tops but never ignore bar closes when market is trending. In the early stages of learning, its imperative that you keep your screen clutter free. Its harder to unlearn a habit when emotion is involved. Emotion in-beds it into long term thinking. Best to to start clearing your desktop and experiment with one item at a time. The way i do it, i have volume under my bars and i color up green and down red. Its self explanatory. Simple stupid.
Self discipline is unnecessary. Pattern matching is more important. Pattern match everything: 1. Do you have someone coming to do some work in the house? You should have a plan for that. 2. What does the market look like for your best setups? What's your entry/exit plan? Discipline is entirely unnecessary. If you aren't following your rules, then your rules probably suck. Start simply: 1. Buy the dip 2. Sell the pop
For sure, but hard to identify where a new-bie's head is at when they first start out. People always run towards complexity, because they think its harder than what it actually is. I guess that's human nature?
Today I created a 2nd demo account, which I'll refer to as the "practice demo account" to use for trading the open and trading throughout the day focusing on some problem areas when I don't want the trades to be reflected in the "main demo account." Here are the differences between accounts: 1. Live account: Strict adherence to all rules and limit to 1 loss per day. 2. Main demo account: Same trades taken as I would take in a live account. Strict adherence to all rules but unlimited losers per day. Need to spend 5 min immediately after a losing trade writing up an analysis before taking another trade. I will post weekly profits, losses and statistics. 3. Practice demo account: Used for trading the open or practicing an entry that I'm not sure about. No consequences for losing trades. I will post results from this account only sometimes. There will not be a running profit or loss record. Today's Trading Results: 1. Live Account: no trades taken 2. Main Demo Account: 1 winning trade. Trade potential of 35 ticks. 3. Practice Demo Account: Trading the first 30 min of the open I had 3 losing and 8 winning 10SL/10TP trades.
Well, I definitely do better when I trade very, very carefully. There's a reason I recently had 14 losers in a row in my live account and yet my main demo account is doing well. And that's because I lost all self-control and did not follow the rules in the live account. One of the main reasons for keeping this journal is to document my journey of learning to trade live as well as I am in demo.
Not trying to critique you, but if i was a bottom picker I would not have used that candle you to used enter, Good that it worked out for you. But im also curious as to why you passed up all short side candles only to wait for a long entry?
I agree. You can make the majority of your trading gains in a few minutes on a few days. Recognize those days.
I don't mind the critiques. 1. That was the first trade opportunity that I felt confident enough about to take, mostly using smaller timeframe support and resistance. It definitely wasn't even close to the best trade opportunity on the chart, it just happened to be the one I pulled the trigger on. 2. I'm trying not to trade the open in this "Main Demo Account." After the move down I was hesitant to jump in to a trend that might be exhausted and ready to turn. I was looking for a long opportunity and this trade was the first one I liked. Better long opportunities came later, and I almost tried again and probably should have, but I just wasn't completely sure of the entries, and I'm trying for high accuracy. Thanks for the questions! Made me have to think a little.
MCnoob they are everyday, but with one caveat Holiday trading, these are wild-card days due to limited volume. The bigsters are Island hopping and spreading suntan lotion. Years past I've seen some big moves because markets are easier to manipulate during holidays. Big fish in the little pond.