Thanks to Maria the day wasnt a total loss. I had a total of two washes before the bottom fell out. Still trying figure out what happened to my TWS. That is the first time in my memory that it froze. Fortunately Buttontrader alerted me instantly that data was lost. Apparently a few others did too. Hopefully we'll find out why.
well i went long on the opening of that bar (it was fast/extreme to the upside at first)....however, when it started to tumble i just froze up. guess i kept thinking, it'll slow down a little so i can get out with a small loss. blah. the only good thing to come out of it for me was that i know EXACTLY what I did and didn't do. AND what to do if it happens again. 1. i wasn't going with now...i was projecting what i wanted to see on top of what i WAS seeing. 2. I didn't recognize that it was a EXTREME if1/if2 situation. as soon as that bar had run past the prev. close against me, i should have been itching for a REVERSE. Soon as it had bust out the end of the bar against me i should have been short. it's funny, i'm trying to be mad at myself...but i'm finding i'm not really mad or dissappointed in what i did. It is probably due to the fact that I can determine my mistake for the first time with pinpoint accuracy. just wish it didn't cost me the dough to be reminded, lol. I was not ready for a frickin bernanke! lol.
Nobody was. The only way anybody caught that first leg down is if they were already short. Caught me totally by suprise but I was ready for the second leg. Most days the afternoons will chip away at your account trying to catch breakouts. It just aint worth it, imo. Headfakes are the rule rather than the exception.
Nice debrief Dan, and I was right there with you on that long. When we didn't have any volume for several hours I felt the market was acting like it was in a leadup to an announcement, but when I went looking for news I couldn't find an explanation. I expected an afternoon BO so when PRV spiked on the long I thought I was about to be rewarded for my patience.... then I got smacked on the quick reversal and was very slow to react. Then I compounded my mistake by exiting instead of reversing.... I should have been thinking IF2 but I couldn't get past WTF.
For any of you using camtasia to record portions of your trading day, here is a doc showing the settings I use. These settings versus the defaults decreased my file size for a six hour recording from ~800mb down to ~150mb. I arrived at these by trial and error... if anybody has improvements on them please let us know.
All, attached is a tradestation version of Mak's xls. It takes a direct feed from TS data and bypasses the DDE component. Clealry the visual impact is no where near Mak's handsome formatted version but the information I believe to be the same The PRV bar starts out yellow and then changes to red when it moves into FAST pace (crosses the red line) @ 10k. Volume itself is represented by the dots which are also color coded starting off blue, then a range of colors as volume progresses from VDU, DU etc. thru dark green for extreme. By the end of a bar VOL and PRV will be the same and so the dot appears at the top for historic bars - in the current bar by contrast vol can be seen lower than the forming PRV Am currently torn between the 10k confirmation for entry and the exit from VDU as the entry. Am also unclear on when to exit/wash when the entry is called but a reversal is not e.g bar 25 (11:35). Pace was fast, thresholds were crossed. Very little follow thru today. IRL
That's looking pretty good Ireland - nice work. My understanding of the 10k/VDU is that they are separate concepts. When actual volume exceeds VDU, then you are confident that the pro rata volume will be correct. The 10k PRV mark is the threshold for fast paced markets, which is where beginners (skill level) should be working on. So for me, as a beginner, I'd use the logic: if PRV >= 10k AND VDU > 2500 then... As to enter/exit vs enter/reverse, I view those as skill based criteria, which are beyond my level at this point. Every exit is really a reversal when you get good enough (excepting low volume markets.) I have noticed that there seems to be a lot of bars with the same open and close, and high volume. (HVS?) I know Mak recently mentioned stalls and HVS, but I haven't come across a definition of what they (and hitchs and dips) really are. I'm still struggling with being able to identify these HVS before they run past me and take back a lot of profit. Anthony
Sexy Idea !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! a combination of synch, if1 if2, APA , PRV & VDU A 1 minute chart of the ES is combined with a 5 minute chart of the ES. Wait until at least 845. (synch) The main signals come from the 5 min chart and the 1 minute fractal is used when APA is called for. ( Additional Protective Action afaik). When the volume exceeds 5000 for a 1 minute bar, i.e. PRV of 25K, then enter on a breakout of the 5 minute high or low.( if1 if2) If you have profits at the end of the 1 minute bar, scurry back to the 5 minute bar for monitoring. If you have losses at the end of a 1 minute bar reverse at the hi/lo of the 1 minute bar, then go back to the 5 minute bars. Also monitor a 5 period average of the 1 minute bars volume. If volume average drops below 1000 sideline. Otherwise ride the 5 minute signals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hope somebody made some money today. I had one wash. Thats the way it goes some days. I need a move to make money. My sct sim trading is pretty much a wash, too. Cant seem to make any headway. One day I do great, the next I give it back. The only time it works well for me is when there are nice swings but I make money on those days anyhow. Cant seem to get the hang of these slow paces. I havent had a losing cash trade in 8 days tho so I guess I cant complain.
Easy yep - you definetly did better than I did today by taking just one trade. I had a very rough day - it seemed anytime PRV kicked in price had an allergic reaction and kicked me out with vengeance. I tried to stick to fast pace bars only but there was no follow through or the entry was quite a way into the bar resulting in a poor fill. Hopefully the DOM stuff will add clarity along with more screen time. Like you I did real well on high vol days but give it all back on days like today - very frustrating IRL