Does this show up? http://cdn3.traderslaboratory.com/f...929377-re-trading-off-daily-charts-image6.png If so, give it some consideration (the blue lines are support, the pink resistance). Don't be afraid of price. It's not out to get you.
It shows up. For the first trade: I was waiting for price to move towards the R at 2786. I chose 2786 as R for the 1 min range because that was the R at 7:30 and was the closest reference point. But now as I am seeing price move up, this smaller R is being formed at 2784 (the one you have in pink at 8:15). Now I could buy the break of the R at 2784 - but that was not in the plan since my attention was on the R level at 2786. So when I see a smaller S/R being formed within the range - does it have a bearing on the larger S/R? I see the HL's and then the LL's. Red point showing the turn from HL to LL. So if I waited a little longer, I could have used the red point turn to short the test of R. Could you explain 'being scared of price'?
If you're in and out in and out in and out, you're afraid that price is going to move against you and that you'll lose money. Give price a little room. If you freak out every time it moves "against" you, you're going to have an awful lot of BE trades, or small losses/profits. Those little retracements give traders a second chance to enter. Let them. They may help to propel price forward. As for R, remember that price movement is in the market. Everything else is in your head. The market doesn't know about your lines and wouldn't care about them if it did. Focus instead on what price is doing. Note for example how price behaves when it breaks through that first R. It doesn't just wander through, it busts through. This is what you want to see if you've entered a trade. If you don't see it, then you may be facing a failed breakout and should be prepared for it. When it retraces a little on the third bar after, it doesn't come anywhere near a lower low. So let it do what it needs to do. Similarly, when price breaks that support line, it fails in its next two attempts to make a higher high. The lines come from you. The failures to make a higher high come from the market. So if you're short, stay with it. And when price eventually breaks that diagonal resistance line, it does so to make a higher high, and it doesn't fuck around.
4/23/13 Trade 1: -3.75 Trade 2:-2.25 Trade 3:4 Trade 4:-1.75 Trade 5: 1.5 Net : -2.25 Start 8:16 a.m. 8:31: Breakout from R. Wait for retest of S. 8:34 Trade 1: Sell at 2818.50 Price drops back to R. LH for last 3 bars on 1 min showing selling pressure. Not using any stops. Sell when there is confirmation that pressure has changed by HH/HL. Exit at 2822.25. Pressure changed fast making HL on 2 1 min bars. 8:41 Trade 2: Sell at 2819. Hinge is broken on the downside and price crosses S. Chopped up again. Pressure changed through HH and HL on last 3 bars. Exit at 2821.25 at 8:46 8:50 Trade 3 Buy breakout at 2824. Price break R since 8:30. No stops. Exit only if retracement turns to reversal (price goes back into range through LH and LL) Exit 2828 at 8:54 Previous bar failed to make new high and was of shorter length showing buying pressure reducing. Current bar showing stationary price. Thinking pressure about to change to the downside. 8:55 Price jumps to 2829.25. Thinking should I re-enter again? But will not because there is no established boundary yet and I am taking trades only at boundaries. 8:59 Buying pressure brought back low. Looking like the retracement is turning into a continuation. Buy the continuation? Wait and see if it breaks swing high of 2829.25 9:01 Trade 4: Buy at 2829.50. No stops. 9:03 Continuation does a retest of S. Keep holding to see if buyers are joining the 2nd retracement. 9:04: No obvious buying. Sell at 2827.75 as price is likely to get back in range. 9:16 Trend since the high of 2831 is down. Downward move retraces from low of 2824 to 2828. Chance to get in and go short? But this channel is pretty narrow so I canât tell if I am buying at the boundary or getting into chop. 9:18 The retracement becomes a breakout and price heading to the previous swing high of 2831. Buyers who bought at that swing high are probably selling now so expect to see R here. Buy at breakout of previous swing high? 9:21 R at 2831 is showing itself. Take some more time to see how pressure behaves through highs and lows. Chance for breakout over 2831 or short the bounce off R back into the channel. 9:22 Trade 5 Sell at 2829.75 Previous bar makes LH and current bar has very tight range showing pressure stalling and the wave about to go down. Need to think about what causes rise and fall of waves. What happens to traders when they see prices rise or fall against them? 9:24 Price at approx midpoint of range. 9:26 Exit at 2828.25. Downswing meeting R at 2827. Previous bar fails to make a new low. Summary: Focused on not being too attached to pre drawn S&R lines. Got more comfortable with reading the price swings as the day went along. Got a better feel for watching the momentum change. This resulted in decent exit points on last 3 trades. Felt better with not using stops and thinking about exiting only when I saw a turn in pressure that invalidated trade entry logic. Starting to see the waves and the turn points.
"There are two kinds of artists: one who paints the plan which has been made in his mind on the canvas, and the other who takes suggestions from the picture itself as he goes on painting. The difference is that the one is merely an artist and the other is a master. The latter is not bound to the plan; the former has designed something and is bound to what he has designed; he is limited" Hazrat Inayat Khan 4/24/13 Trade 1: -3.25 Trade 2: 0.25 Trade 3: -6 Net: -9.5 Start 8:15 a.m 8:23 Trend has been down since 6:30. Retracements haven gradual with incremental moves, but continuations from retracements have been fast and sharp. Focus on getting in on retracements for the sharp continuation. Be careful of betting on reversals here. Price approaching S of 2818.50 on the 1 min. Why donât reverse hinges appear frequently in markets? What is the situation when they do? 8:37 Market open has reversed the trend. Donât think about down trend anymore. The open is an interesting time. You have all this action prior to the open and it gets drowned by the sheer volume at 8:30. Was the support being formed 15 mins before open indicating the likelihood of the surge that took place at open? Does activity 30 min prior to open show where market will go at open? Look at S/R levels at close of previous day - the volume at close will mean S/R levels are more meaningful than the activity that happens overnight. Between down and up there is a turning point. This point is the end of the down move and the start the up move. 8:59 There is a bias in my mind. When I am looking at S, my attention is on the buyer bringing it back, but I forget the seller pushing it down. 9:00 Trade 1 Buy at 2831 Trend since open is up, but short term trend since swing high of 2838 is down. I am viewing this as a retracement. Seeing momentum change at turning point in retracement due to stop of LL in last 1 min bar. Plus there has been support at 2829 level. Now there is hope that price will go up. But I need to focus even more at this point and see if pressure is changing and then get out if need be. Exit Sell at 9:04 at 2827.75 Change was too fast for me to tell. But could have sold at breakeven instead of watching the pressure continue down. If price does not make a clean break above entry then give it room till BE point only - especially if price is moving fast against me. Can always re-enter. Donât expect to take a loss on the trade - that is influencing me to hold on to it. Also note that the retracement from swing high was almost 2/3ârds. So it was not likely to be a retracement - but a reversal. Plus the pullback length was far greater than the upswing length. These indicate greater chance of reversal. 9:11 Trade 2 Buy at 2821.50. 2 things made me buy here. 1) The sharp sell off from 2832 approaches the support from the open. 2) The sell off shows change in momentum as the last bar is brought back up with strength. Give the trade room till support. But get out if pressure is weak and you donât have to take a loss if you can get out at BE once you know that the down pressure is still there. 9:13 Exit Sell at 2821.75. Last frame was brought back down by sellers and it was not a clean take off so I decided to get out at BE. 9:15 Trade 3 Sell at 2816.25. Reasons. 1) Price breaks support open. 2) The trend is down with no indication of any substantial buying pressure during the last 3 pullbacks. But my entry was a bit late and well below support. 9:18 Exit Buy at 2822.25 Summary: Trade 1 was an error of mistaking a reversal for a retracement. The duration and magnitude of pullback meant that the trend had been negated if not reversed. It was not a pullback to buy. Trade 3 was a breakout chase. The entry point had too much risk. It was too far from support.
You're losing track of where you are. This is a problem when cutting the observation phase short and beginning to worry instead about where to enter and where to exit: one stops focusing on what's in front of him and worries instead on how to take advantage of it, which is impossible to do without knowing what's going on in front of him. Horse before the cart. You clearly have an uptrend at the open. Bar 0843 is a retracement of that. Go long there and watch to see if price makes a higher high. If it doesn't, your long is in danger and you have to prepare to take a reversal. If it does, just hold on until the support line is broken, which happens at 0849. Once that occurs, look for ops to short. These occur at 51, 53, 56, 57, and 59. By now, of course, it's very late to do anything, and at 0901, the resistance line is broken and it's time to exit the short and look for longs. There aren't any unless one trades the break, so one waits to see if the new support line from 0901 to 0903 is broken. When it is, one can short the break or short the first retracement at 0909. And so on. Relax. As long as you exit as soon as price doesn't do what you expect it to do, there is no risk.
"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignoranceâthat principle is contempt prior to investigation." Herbert Spencer 4/25/13 Trade 1: -2 Trade 2: -.25 Trade 3: +.75 Trade 4: +1.25 Trade 5: +1.25 Trade 6: + .25 Trade 7: +1.25 Trade 8: +.50 Net: +3.00 Start 8:25 a.m. 8:38 - The trend is up sharp since open and a continuation of action before open. 8:38 Trade 1 Sell at 2843.75. Seeing buying pressure stalling and thinking of going short for the coming pullback. 8:41 - Exit Buy at 2845.75 pullback fails as buyers cross swing high indicating the trade is not working. 8:44 Trade 2 Sell at 2845. Another chance to go short the turning point as weakness develops at the top. 8:47 Exit Buy at 2845.25. Support developing at 2843. Price not breaking down 8:48 Trade 3 sell at 2843.25. Trying trade 2 again as price breaks support of 2843. 8:49 Exit Buy at 2842.50. Buyers bring back last bar back up sharp from 2840 showing buying pressure. Current bar is brought back up from 2841. 8:57 Price bouncing around a small 3 point range since 8:51. 9:06 Trade 4 Buy at 2843. Price breaches support and is brought back fast buy buyers as it had 3 times before. Betting on buying at range boundary for the bounce back into the range. 9:08 Sell at 2844.25. Price was stalling. 9:13 Buying waves are becoming smaller and price has been drifting to the S of the range. More likely to break out of the range on the downside. 9:15 Trade 5 Sell at 2847. Price breaks out of R and is brought back to boundary. Betting on bounce back into the range. 9:17 Exit Buy at 2845.75 9:19 Trade 6 Sell at 2847.50. Price breaks out of range but meets R at 2848. Betting again on bounce back into range. 9:20 Exit Buy at 2847.25. Got scared of price that close to R with the potential to breakout fast. 9:26 Trade 7 Buy at 2850.50. Buying pressure building last 4 frames. Price breaksout out new high. Betting on weak resistance at these prices for quick upward move. 9:28 Exit Sell at 2851.75. Small height of last frame showing buying pressure reducing 9:29 Trade 8 Sell at 2850.50. Last buying wave turning to sell. Have resistance at 2852 to manage risk. 9:30 Exit Buy at 2850. Was not moving down fast enough. Summary Trade 1: The opening showed an uptrend. Better trade would have been to use the pullback to watch for buying pressure and go long instead of betting on the reversal against the strong trend shown at the open. Trade 2: Price eventually did go in direction of trade but it was correct to get out once pressure changed Trade 3: seemed a legit sell on weakness. Wait for this kind of weakness to sell instead of going too early for outright reversals like in Trade 1. Trade 4, 5 & 6: Relied on the range to hold. Trade 7: First clear sign of strength from the range. Seems like an ok buy. Action was choppy. Not many zones of prolonged trend. Most of the movement happening inside the range. Waited for the open to establish the trend but still made the mistake of taking the first trade as counter trend. Wait for the first up wave and down wave to finish to get perspective - then start trading.
Taking a step back to review the last week. Daytrading for just an hour or two in the morning from opening onwards is quite bearable. It is becoming interesting. Following the 1 min bar has not been too noisy. One can see changes in pressure and formation of turning points. Retracements are common. They present great opportunities. Principles so far: Follow trend + Wait for Retracement + Invite Pressure = Trade Need to study: Supply Demand Lines Context via prior S/R levels
4/26/13 Trade 1: -0.75 Trade 2: -1.25 Trade 3: -2 Trade 4: -1.75 Trade 5: +6.25 Trade 6: -2 Trade 7: 0 Net: -1.50 Start 8:12 a.m. 8:34 Trade 1 Sell at 2835.75. Immediate trend down through LLâs. Sold as price retraced back towards open. Stop just above open at 2836.50. 8:34 Exit Buy at 2836.50 Stopped out 8:37 Trade 2 Sell at 2837.25 Bears have a slight advantage. Stop above dayâs high at 2838.50 8:37 Exit Buy at 2838.50 stopped out 8:50 Price bouncing in a 6 point range. Likely to get chopped up in this range. Already had 3 significant hinges. 8:52 Trade 3 Buy at 2839. Price breaches R as it crosses dayâs high. Waited for price to retrace back to R. Stop at 2837 8:54 Exit Sell at Stopped at 2837. 8:57 Trade 4 Buy at 2840.25. Price crosses R to make new high. Did not wait for retracement - went for the breakout. Stop at previous bars low of 2838.50. 8:57 Exit Sell at 2838.50 stopped out. 9:05 Missed a good opportunity to go short once price cross the demand line and went all the way down to S. 9:10 Trade 5 Sell at 2833.50. Waited for retracement. Stop below swing low of 2835. 9:14 Exit Buy at 2827.25. Price crosses supply line. 9:17 Set a Sell limit order at 2828.25 to anticipate the retracement. Buy stop is at swing low 2830.25. Selling pressure is still high, showing trend is on. 9:19 Unsure whether the sell limit makes sense now. This selling wave could end in a reaction. Rather wait and see to act with a market order for now 9:20 Trade 6 Sell at 2825. Stop on supply line at 2827. 9:21 Exit Buy at 2827 stopped out. 9:25 Trade 7 Buy at 2828.75. Stop on 2827 below demand line. 9:27 Exit Sell at 2828.75 price cross demand line. Summary: Trade 1: Wanted to catch the trend early on a small retracement. Trade 2 should not have been a sell. There was buying pressure evident from the HLâs. Focusing on retracements led me to disregard what was actually happening âright nowâ with the pressure. Trade 3: Trend had changed up. Bought as S was breached and price moved back. Price retracing presents lower risk buying opportunities, but it also could mean that the breach is false. Need to get clarity on the difference between entering on retracement versus identifying a breach failure. Trade 4: Same thing as Trade 3. Used demand line as the basis for stop. Trade 5: Entered on retracement and then confirmation of trend via pressure (so that the entry was not at the retracement low). Better to establish what constitutes retracement and then enter once pressure confirms retracement turning in direction of trend? The Supply line made it easy to manage this trade. Trade 6: Saw retracement turning in direction of trend. Trade 7: Demand line caused exit at BE. Feedback please? Horse still behind?