Well emini..I think you are missing a very important element...and that would be a "SIGNAL" all these lines us traders but on charts can be a big help but I still think you need a signal bar off the chart.....so many times we see price shoot through support or resistence ( or what we think is S/R) so you need to see and entry in conjunction with your price levels..for example....did you see an outside bar form on a 15 minute emini chart right at the Va high...( or close too it) on the downside..today....just an example...if you want pivots and Value area go here..explore..I have no affiliation.. http://www.deltat1.com/dailynotes/dailynotes.aspx I'm trying to catch a long down near this 1308 - 1307 to get back near 1311 -1312.but I have no signal...so no trade...it would be nice to have a "set it and forget it " attitude..but I think for any kind of daytrading you need either a very large stop...much biger that your four points or you need to be a pirate and watch your treasure like a hawk.......so you get paid to babysit trades
sorry for all the typos but trading and doing this is hard.....just as an example again to follow yesterday...if we take one half of the first hours range today...4 point range and subtract it from the first hour s low get you down to 1208.25 where we have the S1 for today ( actually is 1307.75) and also a point where they rallied it from yesterday....and a high volume area from the Chartx site......I find many days the first hour range will be tested after it is broken it is as if everyone is saying..."hey is this breakout real"..with any luck they will see if selling returns at the 1312.50 area ...and don't forget that minus 4 number off the opeing which brought you down to the 1309 area..so the 1308 - 1309 will remain critical if down side fails again...if we break hour highs we should go at least two points above which will put us up into the 1316 zone...but I'm not convinced of that trade......but with all this stuff you still need a signal once you find a good area to initiate trade...
Hey...was reading your journal here. Most of these journals on here are bs...but yours I find very good. Unfortuneatly you are tackling the toughest beast out there in trading....the SP. I have been trading them for yrs along with bond, currency , and gold futures. They are by far the most rewarding/most painful out there. You have to love a market where you can build a position and be right all day, and in 5 minutes they take it all away from you. My success with this beast (and right now I am in a slump) has been to find areas of good support and resistance...wait patiently until they get there...then be aggressive getting in...when I get hurt is when I get involved in the "noise" area, or areas where there is no reason to get involved.....usually out of shear boredom...and right now the big areas of support are 1305 and res at 1321.50.....that leaves a lot of "downtime" until it gets there... The tricky part is how to set risk reward in these things...I usually like to have at least a 2-1 ratio....problem is..the sp's are so whacked out at times you really have to give them ample room....in my case I like to give them 2 points when daytrading...that means I really shouldnt be taking profit until I get 4 points....well....in these tight ranges 4 points is very tough to find... I guess the answer right now is to wait patiently and when your big areas/signals are hit, trade aggressively.....then set your stop/target and sit back and wait for you to get your profit or get stopped out....trust me..its very easy to get shaken out right now with all these 2-3 point moves that happen in 1 min out of nowhere for no reason.... Whatever you do..dont fade yourself...because the minute you start doing that, your calls will be right on target and you will end up in a mental hospital....
Perhaps I should look into that....I wish I had a straight jacket on the last few weeks so I couldnt have hit the send button... Actually the firm I traded for yrs ago had some people trading who I am sure are now residing in a mental hospital....