Mastering the trade

Discussion in 'Trading' started by Justins62490, Aug 28, 2011.

  1. I am new to trading and have been studying trading strategys lately. I am currently reading Mastering the Trade by Carter. I beleive this book was written years ago and my question is are these strategies still useful today? I have studied his strategies on today's markets and they never seem to work out. Im just wondering if these techniques are too old for the markets now a days.

    Thanks
     
  2. J Ski

    J Ski

    I'm a newbie too, and unless you write something really stupid, then you will sit here like I did and ask questions and hope for the holy grail answer.
    Recently, I have read some threads and it has cleared a lot up.
    But, I am nowhere near the holy grail, and I am new.
    From reading what you wrote, you have answered your own question.
    "Are these strategies useful today?"
    "I have applied these strategies to today' s markets, and they don't seem to work."
     
  3. I guess your right. Know any moder books on strategies??E
     
  4. tim888

    tim888

    Are you sure you understand the methods? Can you describe one?
     
  5. Pivot points:
    If a stock breaks a pivot point and then turns around right after and come back over the pivot point to buy. Then it should continue in that direction and then sell as it reaches the next pivot point above. To me that sounds like trying to catch a falling knife with only the hopes that it will reverse due to support from the pivot point.

    I have checked stocks to see if this would work, and honestly, they seem completely unaffected by pivot points.
     
  6. I have not read his book, but based on what you described, it very much sounds like a false breakdown below a defined support area (a pivot level in this case) and a subsequent rally to squeeze out the trapped bearish market participants. Such setups do work well until today. You have to look at what's happening with price action in more detail to really determine if a false breakdown is at hand. The 1 hour time frame will help you in this.
     
  7. Handle123

    Handle123

    There are those who only take what is read and then only backtest as it was written and find it fails miserably. That is what generally happens with any method written in books. You have to think outside the bun, and this takes years of study and backtesting.

    I been trading over 30 years, and most of them are catching the falling knife, but depending on the instrument, and they all have different personalities, and one has to take into account the recent price action of when to catch and when to step aside.

    Read just the basics of Elliott wave, the biggest move is the 3rd wave, so where you want to catch the knife is the corrective phase of the 2nd wave, completion of wave One was the trend change, then wave Two is the pullback where I will get in, then wave Three will be a profitable Price movement, this swing offers the least risk and greatest profit. Of course, not every trade is this perfect, that is why stops need to be in place.

    Only need 1-2 ways to enter, then 40 plus ways for money management, to include reasons of not taking a valid signal, ie too much volatility, or corrective wave happened too far off the lows, or end of wave One happened in a too few of bars from the low.
     
    beginner66 likes this.
  8. Yes that is exactly what it sounds like. To me, there seems to be to much risk, and with the research I've done, the probability of gains is very low. Does you or anyone know any good books to read for strategies?

    Thank you
     
  9. Handle123

    Handle123

    If you are looking for books to give you great systems or near "Holy Grail" methods, you can forget it. Great systems are created over years as your experience increases. I started trading futures in the 80's, first the S&P's then ES, first methods went for bigger profits but drawdowns were high, as I gained experience and changed my outlook on day trading, what was important in the beginning is not important to me now. Now I don't seek big profits, my only focus in extremely low losing percentage which opens other doors like adding on to trades that go against me since I have very low losing %. My strategies are what all the books say never to do. The trouble with doing nothing but backtesting ideas, is one loses out on thousands of hours of studying charts manually.

    If you looked at a chart of five minute bars for a day, and labeled each bar a name that you gave it and a definition for that bar, after one year, you would be able to read charts much better than today, but most folks don't want to work hard at this, especially manually, but this is a perfect way to self teach oneself.
     
    beginner66 likes this.
  10. Well I'm definitely not looking for a holy grail. I much rather prefer to do things myself bi just wanted to get a Better understanding of how good strategies are set up ie: how many oscillators, if I should use trend lines or pp's. But ya I think I'm just going to try to come up with some of my own

    Thanks
     
    #10     Aug 29, 2011