Thanks VST! I'll give it a look. I need anything I can get to help me understand the open. Today for instance, I froze up on a pretty gimme AMD short because I don't trust what I think I'm seeing from about 9:27 to 9:45 and a lot of that self-doubt I've realized is caused by premarket fluctuation and not knowing how it will affect the open. I think I figure that out, I'd actually finally know how to trade.
Yeah I hear you, that was more of a figure of speech. I wake up with an open mind, I just don't know how to take into account what premarket does to the open, so I regularly miss the big move and then feel like I'm chasing it over and over the next couple hours as a result.
Hey VST, some of this is over my head, but it's interesting that it's trying to gauge when futures are over or under valuing. Another newbie question: is there kind of a minimum futures being up or down for it to be meaningful. Today it was deemed "neutral," NQ was up like 30, which I know is prolly not meaningful, but I kinda let it tell me this might be an up day.
While I did trade the Open - based on the FairValue_Premium concept - about 20 or so years ago - I soon found out - there were better ways to trade - for ME. I did very well using F_P - but I was always looking for a better way - again - for ME. I have a Motto - "Discipline plus Simplicity equals Success". I - NEVER trade more than 2 hours in the morning. I have a Net Daily Goal in Dollars - but I need to make it during that 2 hour period. If I don't - so be it - I am done for the day. When I first started day trading - in the middle 1990's - I would trade all day long. Most of the money I would make - was early on - and quite often - by trading all day - I would lose most of my Profit - or even go Negative by the end of the day. That has a tremendous Psychological effect on a person - knowing - if you had just - followed my Rules - I could have been Positive for the day. But NO - greed kicks in - so you trade all day - then quite often - Totally Blow It. If you worked for a company - and did that - you would more than likely be fired. I literally sat down one day - after always blaming the Market Makers - Brokers - and everything else - it finally hit me - I was personally - MY OWN WORST ENEMY - I had NOBODY TO BLAME - BUT MYSELF. That is when I started trading for 2 hour Maximum - and actually FOLLOWING MY DAMN RULES. Sorry about the rambling on - but that is what I did. With my Engineering background - I thought I was fairly smart - but when it came to trading - I did some really Stupid things - almost had to go back to work. If you would like to talk sometime - send me a Private Message with contact info - preferable Skype. Be happy to show you what I do. For me - it is all about my Algo's. I still prefer trading Discretionary - taking Signals from my Algo's. However - still my favorite trading method - is a Simple chart setup - where you do NOT even need an Indicator. I have many Clients - but they are Big Money clients and I am NOT looking for more. I will give you some FREE help - show you how to setup a Simple chart. While I can't spend a lot of time with you - it would NOT take long to show you. By the way - I haven't traded Equities for many years - only trade Futures - so if you are trading Equities - this trading method would probably NOT work for you - it is Scalping - and Scalp_Trend combinations.
That's a cold shot man but AMD was still a good find on your part! If those can't be traded outside of market hours, then... work it during market hours? There was a nice AtoB CtoD setup there...not as good as the T-Line Trade at the fifty resistance but not too shabby nonetheless. Where you spending your days? Trading the T-line - cut to the chase ...Stephen Bigalow https://www.elitetrader.com/et/thre...t-right-here-baby.335635/page-15#post-5162295 There's always another train leaving the station. https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/maintaining-self-discipline.337713/page-26#post-5090545
Use your pre-market screener results. I have found that it's a great way to know how the market will open and which stocks to start the day with.
VST, thanks for the offer. I'll def take you up on a quick free consult. I'm still just trading equities but interested in all of it, and so just to see how you think through a situation would be incredibly eye-opening I'm sure. One thing we're exactly on the same page with: trading only a couple hours a day. I need to be at my day job by noon most days, so I'm hoping to have my routine be up by 8:00, trading 9:30 to 11:00. Problem is 9:30 to 10:00 is still too fast for me, and as the momentum tends to slow even in the 10:00 hour, I end up chasing, hoping for a second big swing. So I need to get more confident in those first 30 mins I think. I'll shoot you a PM later today, thanks!
If you have time in the evening - and/or on the weekend - I can spend more time. Actually - You - and anyone else who needs some help - that gives me an excuse - so I don't have to help my lady - in her flower garden. You might say - I will be "using you" - to get out of work.