Chart #1 was a buy for me, continuation in a well-defined strong trend. Chart #2 was a sell for me, continuation in a wide channeling trend, pullback to a resistance zone. Chart #3 was a sell for me, continuation in an extremely strong trend. I'll post the follow up charts. Nathan, you seem to have a basic technical read on things, but lack a strongly defined plan. Why would you have no problem buying Chart #1 (which was an uncomfortable trade for me, and even more uncomfortable to hold during the consolidation action shortly afterward), yet consider buying counter to an even stronger trend on Chart #3 (a price environment where I have no second thoughts whatsoever). To be fair, in Chart #1 and #2, I was already positioned, but in Chart #3 I was trailing a sell stop that hadn't been triggered yet, so that chart was truly at the hard right edge for you. Solid technical trading is pretty uncomfortable at that edge, which was my point of the "test", to demonstrate what I already found in my experience with three trading rooms: There can be experienced profitable traders calling their trades in advance or sharing their precise trading plan so you know what you're supposed to do, but 90-100% of the other traders will not mirror those trades or if they do, will cut the winners short. They don't possess the faith necessary do mirror what the studied trader is doing. I think once you get a really precise plan together, you can practice trading it in a simulated account until your body does the trading despite all the crap your brain/emotions try to feed it. My brain/emotions feed me bullsh*t all day as I trade. The only setup where my right brain, left brain and body are all in full agreement is the one you see in Chart #3.
Nodoji, I was right on the first one, I was right on the second one and I was also right on the third one.. Remember you said u were a scalper and take 20 cent profits.. I knew the next bar on chart #3 would go up which is why I said buy and it did.. If I was trading it for myself, the only trade I wouldve taken was chart #1 and a pass on chart #2, 3
Nodoji, If you don't technically feel an edge on any given stock, then you should pass on the trade.. Trading is actually very simple.. If you have a good hard edge on the setup then enter and if you don't then pass on the trade.. Unfortunately, the emotions real time is what changes everything.. You have no idea how hard I've been trying to fix this problem.. Paper trading doesn't work because it doesn't involve money meaning there's no emotions involved.. I've tried it.. Maybe I just don't have what it takes.. Even a superb technical trader will not succeed if he doesn't have a grip on his emotions..
You've nailed it with your first and last sentences above. Trading for a living is not about feelings, it's about hard stats. Feelings are fine if you're taking a fixed amount of money you plan to lose to the casino to see if you can get lucky. The reason your emotions are getting in the way is because of how you feel about setups, for better or worse. Trading for a living means combining setups and money management rules that place the odds in your favor over a large enough sample size to generate profits despite the random distribution of individual wins and losses. I never "feel" an edge technically (except those "continuation in a very strong trend" setups). I "know" an edge technically. I "know" that based on the hard statistical data I've compiled for a given pattern in a given context that the odds are in my favor. I also know that the outcome of this individual trade will be random, but if I trade the same pattern/context over and over again, the net outcome of the randomly distributed individual outcomes will be positive. I no longer care how the setup feels or how it feels once I'm in the trade, because feelings used to sabotage my profit potential badly. I'll never forget my friend and I taking a short trade together, both of us "feeling" that there was support at a nearby level as the trade moved in our favor, both of exiting quickly for .10 profit at the exact same moment, only to watch price immediately break and drop over 1.00 in minutes. Wolf knows my trading well and can confirm that I am now much better at sitting with the discomfort come hell or high water until the market says loud and clear that the setup is no longer valid. I can't emphasize enough that feelings have no place in trading. You do research, accrue knowledge, develop rules based on that knowledge, then hold your nose and buy or sell when (and only when) your rules tell you to.
Nodoji, Thanks for the advice.. We'll see how I do next week.. This is the kind of week too where I should do really well and if I still can't control my emotions then time for me to pack a suitcase..