so i suppose the biggest risk is a long strong trend without pullbacks, and the biggest opportunity a sideways market with large swings?
yes that is a technique that is used --- i see it in the ER2 at times also. the buyer will cover his highest positions at a determined level for just above breakeven {to cover commissions or the spread} and then only hold his most "in the money" positions hoping that his created move will continue.
yes you are right ---- missing the big runs against you is where the "timing" of the trade is more critical. if you do get a big run then you can also flatten and reverse the position and then look for a better priced entry latter. this is a big reason why i track buy and sell program activity and watch what price does at major "market profile" based s/r levels. if your position is backed up to the wall right near a major s/r level that needs to hold for you, and then the level busts, you need to reverse and ride it. we do this several times a week in the IOAMT chatroom, so the practice of this technique becomes "natural" when you know how to watch volume at the major s/r levels --- you WILL know when a busted level is a breakout or not from the methods taught. today my swing trade did not book any profits but the close below yesterdays close and at the lows of yesterday for the ES is showing some possible exhaustion at these price levels. price action is acting like it needs a catalyst to go higher from here.
Do they use market orders to slice through many PIPS at a time (sell 500 MKT with bids of 40/50 down can shoot the price 7-10 pips right?)? Are there any other techniques?
Macro, Won't you lose a lot of money when you "reverse" your positionS that you have at every increment currently in place ? I know if you didn't reverse, you would lose more, but I would think reversing all positions on a definite loser is a big hit on the books? Do you basically "go all in" on the reverse in hopes to recover the flip?
No --- on the reverse you go with the whole package {whatever size you are holding} and you do not scale out positions until you are at or near breakeven from the losses you had at the reversal point ---- we do this in the IOAMT room occasionally during the week when price breaks through a major market profile level that we are fading.
they do it with a team of traders that know the game and work the action with a set plan {they trade with a strategy team}. they also do it "automated", so the details are in alignment with how ever they have found to be profitable doing this --- i am sure there are market orders used for portions of the strategy.
1251.00 is my next planned 1/8th position covering price level --- targets there and waiting. OK the SPX is trading below 1253.00 right here and i will be watching this level ---- if we can't get to 1251.00 today but we are near 1252.00 or so at the close i will cover 1/8th more of the position today.
OK 1/8th covered here at 1251.00 -------- HOOOUUUAAAHHHH! i am still holding 3/4ths of my overall swing trade position --- todays cover was +20 points for 1/8th of my position.