some Jack's thought on tick extraction http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=26299&perpage=6&pagenumber=41
Going to watch live data tomorrow for the first time in awhile (as opposed to ensign playbacks). If there's currently a chat room where you all are congregating during the day, could someone PM me the location? Thanks!
Indeed - however most everything that you could possibly need and then some is already in the thread. Personally my chief area of focus (where I'd like to squeeze some more juice) is the Decide Act portions of the MADA protocol. I am very much enjoying some of Cnms2's posts in this regard (talking specific trades ie decisions/actions). I hope Spyder finds a bit of time to do some videos at some stage. Unlike some, I am not particularly interested in actual trades, I'd like to see the thought process unfold with the chart culminating in decision and suggestions for appropriate actions. Actually actions that a forest or possibly forest/tree trader might take would be more useful to me than what Spyder himself does. One of the most useful resources is the chat log journals when married up with a chart. Imagine that but with the chart unfolding in real time. To me that would really be 'putting it all together'. At the individual level it seems there are quite a few who are pretty much ready to take the training wheels off (simulator -> real). I'm really looking forward to hearing of their successes' and any insights they might want to share. It is a different world to drills and simulators for most. For me last week was a little better, certainly in the S&P (which I have started trading again). Couple of points here and there though still could do substantially better if I stopped closing 'emotionally' - there was a small improvement. I'll carry on working on it. I had a brain fart in the DAX one morning which was costly not once but 3 times in a row. Interestingly this concerned entries rather than exits and for some reason I completely ignored what the charts where screaming at me. Emotion and a lapse in Discipline. Anyway perhaps I'll write about that lesson separately as I did identify a cycle of events (personal not market) that can lead to an irrational bias to once side of the market and so ignoring your tools almost completely. Cheers.
For some reason I didn't feel like pulling the trigger today. One piece of advice I intend following is really look for the quality changes for entry. So anyway I decided to be an armchair general and splatted arrows on my chart where I would have entered. Amazingly easy to do this (real time) compared to actually entering trades into the market. More importantly much much easier to think rationally about exits. (blue arrows on the chart) Perhaps I am not as relaxed as I think I am when money is on the line. It really was effortless. This was a good exercise and I think if I ever am dissatisfied with my execution I should do this. It felt good, very good. Of course on the flip side I wish I had not decided to side line today. Anyway here is the chart, I should say perhaps I am not completely up to speed in the strictest of JHM protocols and willl probably draw some critisism, thats cool! My charts speak to me which is the main thing but always happy to learn. One 'formation' I will probably keep is a 'ledge' . I share it here hoping this is not too OT. I guess its pretty similar to a high volume stall. I define it as having 4 bars any 2 equal highs any 2 equal lows. I will consider 3 or 5, 4 is typical. I guess 9 times out of 10 it will be a HVS also. Cheers.
I just want to thank the great folks here who have painstakingly donated their time and knowledge! Thanks! Here is my chart today.... I'm looking for it to FTT on the 1462ish and test the LTL (I think I got my terms right? ) and let the price and volume dictate where it goes next...with spyder's caveat of course - don't let expecting lead to believing... Comments are appreciated of course.... shorted at 1464.50 and covered at 1462. Had to sit and see it go up to 1468ish...too trigger happy!
Some of you may get a kick out of this. Formula drawn channels in Excel. Does this officially me me an excel nerd? (once current price is above or below a point one, the channel is cleared so the formulas can be reused for newer channels)
Today was my first day trading a few contracts on the sim with this method. So far, +22 pts. Volume is thin so I'm sidelined right now. Probably today was one of those "easier days", don't know yet. RT