Volpri makes an important point, setups occur within the context of current market conditions and dynamics. A careful study of Al's work will give you a definite leg up on understanding setups and context however there is no substitute for the many hours of watching price develop before the fog lifts and it all comes together. Most never get that far. I feel you are early in your journey to start a journal but that's your business not mine. Of course you are also opening yourself to the nonsense from the collection of ET trolls and fools but you seem to have the temperament to handle it.....All the best.
The referenced splice of @volpris' post is one of his best. Applicable to every trader, and nearly any maintained method. Differentiation. The ability to discern differences and-or sameness is critical for a trader to attain those "a-ha!" moments, which is a huge piece of the puzzle in order for the trader to take ownership of the methodology, and personalization of the methodology to match the personality and comfort level of the trader.
That's a mighty big if... To be honest - I don't know, but I imagine there's less and less discretionary day traders at these firms. You might also ask yourself why the Brook's course isn't the industry standard for teaching new traders. You can bet yourself he would promote that if so were true. Now, by all means, give the course your best shot, but please be critical and do not believe anything you're told either by Brooks or anyone else. At the end of the day you need to test and understand this for yourself. It's a long and lonely journey. Regardless of who or what you study - make sure to test it and gather your own data/observations. This leads me to my next suggestion. If you're completely new to day trading you may consider to back-test/back-trade historical charts and take notes instead of simply 'learning by doing' with live trading. For example, you can find that doing this you'll be able to 'trade' and review 5 days in a single day. That's approx. 150 trading days in a month compared with 20/25 trading days if you're just trading/testing live. In 3 months that's 450 trading days. The way to do this is to simply scroll from left to right one bar at a time and "trade" the historical chart entering/exiting based on signals that arise. If you're really diligent - make a spreadsheet and log each day. It's a ton of work, but no shortcuts in this game... If you do this for a while you can efficiently garner a lot of experience in a fairly short amount of time. After that it's time to move on to live charts and trading your observations/learning with live data.
All very good points and suggestions, @Laissez Faire and thank you. I think this is a good idea. I like the idea of learning by doing "in SIM." Also the back-test idea. I'll do both. Still having difficulties with the Ninjatrader data feed this morning. I think the problem is on my end and not theirs, so I'm not complaining or being negative to them. Will spend the day watching on my Think or Swim account. On the face of it, no large firm is going to need an Al Brooks to teach their traders. Goldman Sachs has been around the markets a lot longer than Brooks has been. They'll be around long after he is gone probably. Also, from what I have seen here at ET, there is a widespread distrust of all things related to paid education for trading. It's as though there is a belief out there (in here?) that of all areas of human skill, trading is the "one" that is not teachable. But if it is "learnable," how can't it be "teachable?"
So far others have been helpful. That's why I did it. I'm pretty good at knowing what to take to heart and what to ignore. Thanks for being a helpful one and not a troll!
@NumberZ, maybe I can help. What problem are you having with the data feed? Which connection are you supposed to be receiving live data through? By the way, since you have Think or Swim, you can connect your TD Ameritrade to NinjaTrader by following this connection guide: https://ninjatrader.com/ConnectionGuides/TDAmeritrade-Connection-Guide
I have to give @NoDoji credit for the idea. She was greatly into Al Brooks by the way. If you search up some of her older posts you'll find it. I used to do a ton of that myself in the past. And up until recently I would always log and review the day. Yeah. With good reason, IMO. It's just common sense, really. If we leave the question about trading being 'teachable/learnable' out of it - the natural question is why someone is selling courses or systems if they were any good? Why spend time trading those methods when the markets offer the opportunity to literally become very wealthy? That's not to say there is no material in the public domain that can be of value. And I'm sure there is value to be found in Al Brooks. I'm just saying it's wise to be skeptical and don't believe anything you're being told unless you can test it and verify it for yourself.
very good points mister. unfortunately, @NumberZ will continue to harbor distrust to those who are skeptical of the trading books / gurus. He is treating trading books like a bible. It will take years (or never) for him to be ' wise to be skeptical and don't believe anything you're being told unless you can test it and verify it for yourself'. anyway, all the best to everyone. I wouldn't comment on him anymore as he has a very very very very strong view that traders should follow the book (especially Brook's book) no matter what. He wouldn't make it and he is beyond hope unless he makes a 180-degree change. He is treading all disbelievers of Brooks as Trolls. my goodness!