tampa's "short skirt" trades...

...hey, could you guys hold it down! With all the squabbling going on, it’s hard for me to take my mid-session nap! And on top of that, I keep thinking that I smell a rat.

I don’t know what’s going on around here, but I have this overwhelming desire for a foot long ham and cheese with mayo on white bread – can’t figure that one out.

 

Tampa,

I have only read part of this thread, and I find many of the posts quite interesting, but I already have a suggestion:

You speak well, but always, imo, from the inside looking out. Hard to make too many changes this way, you need a more independent fulkrum.

No, I'm not suggesting you fly to Vienna ASAP and meet with Dr. Freud's great grand son. Only, try to step out once in a while and tell this fellow "tampa" how he should/could improve his trading. You have lots of insights, put that knowledge to use.

Write it down and, later, look at it. You may be surprised.

(I do something similar once in a while.)

Best of luck!

 

I don't know about this Freud guy, but I had been seeing Doctor Nevo, and then one day he just disappeared!

(I know what you are saying, and thank you for the insight)

 

Today made it 5 for 6 in the win column.

The Keltner Channels have improved my entries dramatically. But the profits remain small, as I remain impatient/unsure.

 

Keltner..
.
Let’s talk about Keltner: You have/will hear a lot of talk about “Keltner Channels” in this journal, so for those unfamiliar with them, here is a brief explanation. The Average True Range added to and subtracted from a moving average. When prices trade outside of the channel with higher highs and higher lows, you have an impulse move.

While my trades will be made from a one-minute chart, the three-minute chart will be used to spot and identify the so-called impulse moves. Most days will see two or three such moves, with two or three pullbacks per move. However, there will be times when there are none – usually on days with monster gap openings.

As I have stated previously, there is nothing extra special or magical about Keltner. But I have found them to be an excellent visual aid for me and my puny little mind. My success rate increases dramatically when I force myself to wait – no matter how long it takes – for the appearance of the setup.

So to summarize: Trades will be taken on a pullback to the 20 period EMA on a one-minute chart, during an impulse move on the three-minute chart. The only other indicator/filter used is a one-minute TICK chart, where trades are passed on if the TICK is at or near an extreme (+/- 800). In that case a pullback to the zero line would be required for a valid signal.

And that covers it.

The only point that I am trying to make is that I am not proclaiming the Keltner Channel to be the latest greatest must have indicator that everyone should have in their toolbox. It is a visual aid for moi – period – but it is a vital tool in the method I am attempting to trade.

 

...hmmm – Things have taken an interesting turn. I’m not sure how all of this journal stuff started, or just what it was supposed to be, but...

AllenZ is under fire. TonySanDiego seems to be in trouble. I don’t know what to make of 40yotrader. Journals come, and journals go.

This trading business is strange, real strange. It seems to be easy, and for some I guess it is. For others (most?), it become an impossible dream with profound complications.

You sit here reading this stuff and it sometimes leaves you shaking your head. Good God, why can’t he get it right? What in the hell is he looking at? Come on, you can’t be serious? Is he for real?

Journals come in all shapes and sizes – they range from informative to pathetic. Sometimes they are painful to read. Sometimes they are amusing. Sometimes they are trite and a waste. Sometimes they seem to open windows to the soul that allow you to see things maybe best left unseen. They can bring on emotions that turn ugly. They can raise doubts, mistrust, and downright disbelief. There has been a lot of that of late.

I guess it’s to be expected. I mean here we are, a bunch of strangers, anonymous for the most part, literally flung from one end of the planet to the other, yet all sharing a more or less common interest. We gather here to learn, and to pass the time. Far more of us take than give – and who knows how many actually come away with anything of value.

I think that it is more “soap opera” than anything else, and yet...

Are all of these stories for real? Are all of these people sincere? What drives these strange journal keepers, and the faceless folks who respond and participate? Is any of it worthwhile? Is it good? Is it healthy?

This is such a strange business. It can bring out the best and the worst in us. After all we’re talking money, and pride, and dignity – survival, and self-worth.

I’ve read some things lately that make me uncomfortable. I’ve read some things that are hard to believe, and leave me suspicious. And I’ve encountered things that I just don’t understand.

But what the hell, it’s all just entertainment – right? If some of the motives are less than honorable, and some folks are gullable, so be it. If some of the stories are real, and we are witnessing self-destruction, or even personal triumph and self-fulfillment, then that’s cool. We all just have some time to kill, and what will be will be.

Still you’ve got to wonder about it all – don’t you?

 

Tampa,

>>I guess it’s to be expected. I mean here we are, a bunch of strangers, anonymous for the most part, literally flung from one end of the planet to the other, yet all sharing a more or less common interest. We gather here to learn, and to pass the time. Far more of us take than give – and who knows how many actually come away with anything of value.<<

We have one thing in common and that is that one way or another we all have to find what works for us and how we can modify our thinking in a strange uncontrolled environment.

I have read through your journal and can find many of the elements in my past and possibly some will return in the future.

I have traded fulltime for over a decade and what you have been through is indicative of my past. You have wound down your journal to a degree of hoping that it will scroll off the board?. Actually you have not really achieved anything with the journal or within the openess of relating your trading during the period. Someone should have suggested that you had a minimum objective to get one trade off to perfection. You had some small winners but did not run one all the way = No cigar. The object of a method is to trade it right once, then twice then ad infinitum. Impossible yes but but near enough is better than never anywhere near.

This post may appear discourteous but I see that you are now looking at channels etc. which for me has always been a sign of desperation. Every time I have hit problems I have looked at helpers (indicators) and always rejected them, gone back to basics and found my way forward again.

The e-mini is correctly like a mad things on dubious substances and the 1 minute is all over the place in crazy rushes. I found, last month, that if I used the 1 minute I got 5 wrong out of 6.. whoops. If I used the 5 minute swings and used the 1 minute to finesse entry I was hitting 8\10, which is about par for course for the markets I normally trade (European).

I must set up LBR's short skirt parameters on the e-mini 1 minute because I do not think they will work properly. Unless you are going to ride pullbacks in the timeframe that you are trading the swing H\L or L\H must frequently run 3 points plus entry plus points to stop. Ideally the runs would have to 4 or 5 full points and although some are, they are not frequent enough. In the 5 minute timeframe the runs are often 7 to 9 points and the objective would be to find an entry off the 1 minute, with reference to the 5 minute trend with a 3 point stop or less and run it properly. The LBR 1:1 risk/reward ratio could be more properly translated up into a 1:2 or 1:3 R\R.

Good Luck, Traduk

 

Don't despair, the channels are an important part of LBR's method that was not available to me in the beginning.

And thank you for taking the time to pass along your thoughts

 

Aren’t you glad that you didn’t start that journal you had been thinking about?

Did you ever notice if you report really outstanding results, the folks responding to the journal split into two distinct camps: Those who express serious doubts and reservations about the journal keepers truthfulness, and those who wish the fellow “God’s speed, and report the detractors to the appropriate authorities – like the board moderators, plus the FBI or SEC?

No one ever accuses a man or a woman who posts poor results of lying. Did you ever notice that? You can come on at night and say I lost 97 points on 335 round turns, and everyone just excepts it. I wonder why that is?

Industry professionals have a tough time posting their results via journal. It doesn’t matter if they are good or bad – someone is always unhappy about them, and the journal spirals out of control – usually into something like: My guy is just having a bad month, you just wait till next month vs. How can a nincompoop like that charge for advice!

I don’t know why people post journals, but I have noticed that the more negativity, the more “views” a journal gets. Did you ever notice that?

 

FWIW, my ex used to wag her tail disapprovingly, even when i made dough.