STEVET: I agree to some extent, however these specific data I am not selling, merely bringing what I consider a GREAT tool to the knowledge of other traders: www.technicalanalytics.com provides data to some of the floor traders (who do not have access to charts)... they do make a living from this service but it is not because they "dont know how to trade" it is because of the demand they got from the floor traders)
Today was flat out not my day. I have been in a pretty nice win cluster the past few weeks came to an end today. Not a huge down day but just a very frustrating day. Moves were a bit too volatile to keep the stops I keep. Just one of those days. I took every single trade my system gave and none of them worked. I was able to scalp my way back a bit. I just wanted to vent on a day I found personally frustrating. 1. too many trades 2. poor discretion, when used Not really any mistakes, just not my day. AllenZ realitytrader.com ( someone asked )
What charting (backtesting?) software did you use to evaluate these patterns, and what was your source of intra-day quotes? Tia, dis
I use Real Tick charts and did manual back tests for past few months. For data prior to that i had another trader in the room do some work. I looked at patterns on the timeframes i was interested in then broke them down to shorter timeframes to find out what was going on when they triggered. This took some time to accomplish but i wanted to understand what was happening when certain trades setup to see what factors might effect trading decisions. Just backtesting patterns is tough because they look so obvious in hindsight, this is why it is important to go the step further. AllenZ
Thought i would give a little update since yesterday was one of the most frustrating days I have had in awhile. Today was simply wonderful, trades setup, I took them, they worked. How sweet it can be. This illustrates a very good point I think I first read in Market Wizards: " Good trading should be effortless. How can good trading require hard work and yet be effortless? There is no contradiction. Hard work refers to the preparatory process- the research and observation necessary to become a good trader- not to the trading itself. " When I set out to develop a trading system I wanted to take some of the emotion out of my trading and remove my daily bias from trading decisions ( if possible ). Today was a good example. Most of the trades I took, I felt somewhat uncomfortable with at time of entry, yet I had a very good day. Nice when things work out. Number of trades = 17 Net Points = +25 System Setups = 5 System Net points = +19 Win Rate = 80% Net points includes system setups net plus any scalps done on the day. In the above example 5 of the 17 trades were system based so the additional 12 trades netted +6. AllenZ
You said; "I am looking for 3 or 4 trades a day max, most days less. When I see newbies making 20 or 30 trades a day, I really wonder what it is you are seeing that I am missing. ". Right on.... my system triggers 4 to 6 times daily and 2 will be scratch trades a couple of them will amount to 80% of the gains. Problem is I have no idea which ones will pay off. Solution: Take all trades triggered and keep close stops. ~EC
Currently I am only trading 2-5 contracts depending on some personal factors. If anyone would like me to post a days trading statement or a chart showing a trade i took please ask and I will do so. I am not going to post daily statements but I will do an occasional one when requested. Again nothing special just 2-5 contracts as i build this system and it becomes more and more consistent i will be working it up to 10-20 contract range. Trading is a marathon, not a sprint so no hurry to build size. Just a thought. AllenZ