Interesting. I don't really know anything about reading the tape, but I always thought it was the other way around. I've been burdened with the assumption that T&S required more subjectivity than TA. I have broken down my version of TA into very objective steps with only a minimal amount of subjectivity involved. I wish I could eliminate all of the subjectivity, which I consider to be a vulnerability, but I can't do it. The result would be too wooden. Maybe one day... Interesting post, Mav.
First, don't take advice from posters on ET, now having said that, I will proceed to give you some advice.....but don't listen to me.....find out for yourself because that's the only way you will really learn. IMHO, Maverick's method will work, and there are other methods that will work also. However, if 90% of traders fail, then you need to NOT do what most traders do. There is no holy grail, but you can can get an edge; the best edge is one that fits your personality and trading style. I have found my edge, which is using market profile to trade index futures. It takes a fair amount of work to really understand MP, then it takes more work and a lot of discipline to actually execute the MP trade set-ups as you see them. IMHO, most unsuccessful traders are: 1) unwilling to do the work to find an edge, 2) lack discipline to trade their edge if they have one. just my 2 cents....
This right here is the reason that 95% fail in the markets. The ? is always, "what book do I need to read", or "can someone teach me". I firmly believe the only way to find an edge in this game is to watch for years on end and take copious notes and try everything you can and lose money at it and (if you are smart) make journal entries of EVERY single trade for years (thousands) and then systematically start grouping them into what works and doesn't and why. I literally filled up a stack of notebooks over 3 feet tall! before I figured it out. And to this day, I continue to journal every single trade and correlate them by strategy, time of day, whether or not I made an error, how I felt, etc... etc. etc... I lost money for 2 years straight before turning the corner. Would it have been faster with a mentor instead of being stubborn and doing it myself? Maybe. maybe not. Nothing in any book ever helped me one bit because trading is such a "get in there and get dirty" type of endeavor. No book with a picture of a chart that is frozen in time is EVER going to teach you how to trade. Everything works perfectly in the charts in books in hindsight. In the real world its a lot harder. Whats my edge? I'll even tell you because it won't matter, you'll fail unless s you are willing to put in the time. I trade breakouts and reversals using market internals and pivots in the broad market to gauge direction. Thats it. Obviously it goes deeper than that, but it would take 50 pages to describe how it really works. And like I said, even then, it would not help you because the amount of intuition necessary to know which trade is the one to take can only come from years of practice. My advice to any and all that want in to this amazing game: Trade 100 shares until you can prove to yourself that you can make a certain amount of points per month that will cover costs. Don't even think about making money because at that lot size you won't. While you do this write down every single thing that happens in every single trade. Then as months go by you'll start to see correlations between time of day, what the S&P was doing (I trade equities exclusively), what was happening internally in the market as you took the trade, etc. etc. etc. The most important data point to compile will be the "mistake" column. After a couple of months, start eliminating mistakes one at a time so that only the good trades are left. Do NOT under any circumstances increase size until you can get 2 good months under your belt and then do so very gradually. I blew it up a couple of times not following this rule, thinking I was ready but was not. You might make it, you might not, but maverick's post is dead on. I know and understand his methodology. I do something completely different, however the dedication that he talks about to truly make it happen are the same and thats basically what it takes. Many want it but few want to put in the time and pain.........................
well, im not an amazing trader or anything, but i have traded in the same room as a lot of thoughs people posting there p/l (millenium man, red ink, szeven, tradingonsoju) and i do consistently make money trading so maybe i can advise a little. first of all find a system that has cheap enough fees and can give you resonable buying power (i use genesis) than look at the top volume stocks every morning and just trade them in 100 lots. get used to the moves, learn to read the charts and lvl2 through practice, and slowing increase you share size as your consistency increases. it's a pretty simple concept, you find ur own method that suites you best this way. i took me 4 months of consistently doing a couple hundred trades a day, learning from my mistakes and keeping a cool head to start making money. Find ur own style of trading and realize there's no reason to risk a lot until ur consistent