What's the best way to slow things down without shutting off the market completely? I used to position trade but now I'm getting into the habit of daytrading/scalping. Last Friday I had a sizeable loss and it was my wake up call.
Wait for larger-range bars to unfold in order to get a better feel for price continuation in the direction of the range extension. You can better ignore the smaller-range, "random" bars that are of no value.
Good responses thus far. Eliminate the "noise" while daytrading and build your position as you take entries off a larger timeframe (5 or 15 min, for example). However, this may require you to withstand a larger intraday drawdown to allow the trade to work. Just my 2 cents.
don't be greedy......take the juicy piece in the middle. don't forget.....after something trends it consolidates or pivots.
Not sure if I understand the question completely, but if you have a method and different set-ups you look for, it should be rather easy to not enter unless you see a set-up unfold. Part of your edge is the ability to stay out of the market when there is no opportunity, yes? One thing that helped me is to set up dead zones, which is an area in which I do not initiate any trades as I see it as noise. These are most typical on clearly defined ranges. Play beautiful music and just relax while waiting for the market reveal it`s hand. If the market is really sleepy, I`m sure you could multi-task as well, but do that on your own risk. Another thing to consider might be a rule of not entering any trades until you have been seated and analyzed the market for say 15 minutes. What do you think?
"Another thing to consider might be a rule of not entering any trades until you have been seated and analyzed the market for say 15 minutes." welll put. I do the same. come on nazzy....you don't want me to pull my pants down that far......not on the first date. you've been around long enough to know how to spot a trend reversal.