I gave back some of my morning gains over bars 63-66 playing the BO. Trade L2 brought me in too soon and I should have washed. L3 was the rocket which worked but I got out a bit early. L4 was greedy/stupid as I chased more ticks at the end of the rocket and gave back a point. Details in attached log. Net +2.5 Icarus, thanks for the preparation clues and thoughts to ponder over the weekend. When I first started trading I loved the action but hated the analysis. As I gather more real world experiences each week the data has more meaning and the research (search for clues) is getting more fun. Great weekend all-
Anyone here uses market profile successfully? Since I had nothing better to do I tested a very simple idea - entering in the direction of point of control (poc). I did it for two four-week periods. Since entry has to be discretionary I replayed the charts on high speed. Used 30p stop, exited at 16.00 if target or stop not hit. No trailing (though I think it might be good). Generated in 23 trades in 40 days. First period: +165 usd. Second period: +1135 usd. Not claiming that this is of any statistical interest whatsoever, just did it for fun. So, anyone uses market profile as their main analysing method or in combination with other stuff? /Stalker
I spent the first three plus years of my trading career playing with strategies and software, changing them on a daily basis. It is lots of fun, and enormously fascinating. At one time I had 8 monitors filled with charts and quotes. I could hardly keep up with it all. I spent most of my time just learning how to use the software for studies, etc. I finally burnt out on playing with this stuff when I realized that none of it was making me any money. I finally settled down to one strategy with a couple of charts on two monitors. It was still a few months before I began to see results but it has been uphill every since. Trading is all about consistency. Methodically doing the same thing day after day. I am not doing anything now that I could not have done the first year of trading had I realized what is important. Market profile may very will be a viable strategy. Are you willing to stick with it long enough to find out?
Actually I´m more trying to convince my dad to get into market profile so we can combine usefull information I get your point and agree completely. I try not to jump back and forth between ideas, but often do anyway... I believe in what I´m focusing on right now, but it´s just an inner urge to find something mechanical without stress. Although your probably right that it´s a dead end road. The tough part with a discretionary method like playing trend channels is that when you can´t find the simple set-ups and don´t manage well, you tend to take it personally. I know it´s stupid, have read about this psychological phenomenia, but never the less I think it´s inevitable in the beginning. (I long for a big lightbulb that starts flashing telling me when to enter and exit ) /Stalker
i don't think jack's method is discretionary at all, the more i delve into it. nor is it mechanical (i use discretionary/mechanical here in the most common trading sense that we're used to...trying to avoid semantics). Here's my crude analogy. I play the piano. finding sequences in the market is akin to knowing chord progressions (sequences) on the piano. If we have two chords played on the piano that are in a sequence (key), we can tell which chord must be played next in order to remain in that sequence/key. When a note in the chord is misplayed or another chord not in the correct sequence/key is played...we have just seen/heard a flaw...change is coming right? else, the chord progression/sequence would be in CONTINUE mode right? this is how i'm currently thinking about it anyways.
I hate to sound like a broken record by repeating these things but I am trying to save you guys a lot of time. There are a lot of things that work but hardly anybody makes it to profitability. Constant experimentation leads to constant losses and constant losses to a negative state of mind that is very hard to overcome. You are going to take a lot of losses whichever strategy you pick but how do you slow them down and eventually get them down to a managable level unless you stick with one thing long enough for you to learn the nuances that come with every single strategy? In my experince pt 3's / ftts and bounces off the RTL are the best trades out there for a beginner, easier that rockets, imo. Which ones are good and which ones are not? Only screen time will sort it out for you.
Thursday afternoon you had two nice pt3/ftt combinations. If you did nothing but wait for these you would do ok. The first one occured in the 11 oclock area. This is a nuance. It happens a lot.