Chart for the morning. Compared to yesterday it was crystal clear. I participated in the major moves. The first one was even from 9:45 until 10:50 netting 4 points or so. I just lost some ticks after RTL break around 11:00. This was mostly for trying to be short early instead of waiting for tape to be broken. In fact I did not respect my timeframe. When you're trying 3 times to get in, get out, etc it's easy to lose 1.5 points or so. The signal at YM was very clear and squeeze gave a signal first so there was no reason to lose ticks. I find it hard to get into "continuation" mode again after a few washes. Because you're in the "washing" mood you tend to get out with a small profit although all the lights are green... That is not a good thing because every big profit starts with a small move and if you're not in... I recorded some nice material with good examples, will post soon. regards, Ivo
That's funny, I get into that same mode... I hate it but it's hard to resist taking that little bit of profit and feeling 'safe' again. Up 2.25 pts this morning. Love the examples and videos, keep them coming, they are much appreciated. Bryan
Yeah, I think human mind prefers a certain small profit above an uncertain (but good chance) bigger profit. Next to this we experienced a few small losses right before so we have the tendency to make up for it instead of moving to coarse level.. Very hard but a key thing to learn imo. regards, Ivo
Well that was fun. Sat down at about 14:10 after sleeping in, made 3 trades for +7 pts, and quit for the day at 14:50
I just had a pretty neat experience and thought it worth sharing. I've had some fairly frustrating attempts at going to the sim. After some help from the arachnid world, helping me to see I was changing resolutions without realizing it, I started this afternoon afresh. While the shift in thinking that was suggested to me was as important as anything, there is one major change in how I approached using the sim that I suspect turned out to be useful. Keep in mind that my mind has been sullied with years of "set up" (or edge) trading mentality. So, while I know I am supposed to be thinking change or continuation, my behavior (actions with the mouse at the sim) was one where I kept looking for the right "set-up" to enter. For example, I would only enter at the FTT or at the pt3. That behaviour I now realize caused me to focus on my entry point no matter how hard I tried to avoid it. I tended to keep questioning whether I got the right entry and then kept mentally whipsawing myself. Talk about painful. I had this so bad that I would do anything to avoid trading if I didn't make the opening bell. It hurt to just jump in middle of the day. This afternoon I did something wacky. I determined what the trend was IN MY RESOLUTION, and when price got closer to the RTL than the left, I just got in and continued to monitor for change or continuation. For some reason this just felt much much easier and more comfortable. Without writing a book on what I'm driving at, I'm not sure if any of you will get what I'm driving at. Perhaps just try this if it seems appropriate for where you're at. Spyder, if this seems off track or wrong I'll delete this post, it just seemed to help me so much.
Funny. I was following str/sq very closely today but it was giving so many contrary signals in the last hour. Did anyone notice this? regards, Ivo