Emotions are part and parcel with our humanity. We can’t just squash them. However, it is important to understand that no amount of emotion from an individual perspective is going to change the outcome of the market. So it becomes necessary to have trading strategies and tactics that are based upon logic. That said, emotions can be utilized to keep a trader consistently profitable. We can leverage our emotions to help us execute a trading system based on logic. The key is when to buy or sell. That is, the moment of execution. That is this precise moment emotions, at their highest level, tend to kick in. Granted they will build up to that moment. Fear, greed, hope will always be here even if only momentarily, in the background. How we deal with these emotions is key to being a successful discretionary trader. The application and use of emotions in successful trading is counter-intuitive. In other words, it is hard to do because it goes against common sense or logic in a specific environment. It is not natural. In successful scalping there is a time to be greedy and a time to fear. And a time to hope. Basically, what we have to do is leverage our emotions in a counter-intuitive way that correlates with a logical trading system we have developed. We cannot deny emotions. They WILL come and they will be there. How we use them in trading is a key factor for being successful. Many have tried to eliminate the emotional element of trading by using strictly computer trading via algos..etc. However, that in itself has it’s cons and it’s pros, I might say. Often a much studied..backtested..coded up..algo works for a while then ceases to work very well or does not any longer work, at all. It also requires extensive and continuing study of the markets and market structure and changes to code algos that will work or to adapt them to work over long periods of time. Someone like Simon’s Renaissance has the $$$ and expert personnel to pull this off. However, the average small trader does not. Therefore, he has to depend upon other mechanisms for his trading. Especially in price action trading the human brain is many times over more powerful than an algo in detecting patterns and adapting on the fly. It can process enormous amounts of data very fast and categorize them. It in essence, can reprogram or code on the “fly”. Not always, but it has that capacity. In short the brain is much more powerful (IMO) than the computer that traders use to trade with. Some of problems associated with discretionary trading are of course: 1) the emotions 2) the subjectivity 3) The Worldview or structure that the mind has developed in the trader, because of his/her interactions with life and reality experiences. These are used to form belief systems (true or erroneous) that tend to govern behavior. Most traders will need a paradigm shift (a fundamental change in underlying assumptions encrusted in their W.V.) to become successful. 4) the assessment of probability that the trade will likely hit a profit level before it would hit the SL level. That requires experience and practice. The good news is much of the above can be developed via using a SIM. And leveraging of emotions to some degree can be developed via SIM. W.V. change is slower and takes time to become integrated to form new beliefs that lead to new actions and reactions. Subjectivity will always be with us. You will see what you will see, and I will see what I will see. However, we can train ourselves to see things more clearly and to act upon them more quickly. Such things are required in successful scalping.
Over next couple weeks if I find time I will be making some comments on trading PB’s and bar counting. I will likely do this with MES Trading minimal amounts such as 1 to 6 contracts (never more than 10). The amount of money made will obviously be small in terms of dollar amounts but the purpose is not to make big amounts of dollars on these trades but to instead highlight the processes involved in trading PB’s (pullbacks) and to look for entries by using bar counting. I am doing it with very small amounts of contracts and at times employing averaging down in the process. I suspect there are many traders on ET with small accounts that would be happy to make 50 to 100 dollars a day after commissions. Their accounts are too small to utilize the techniques trading ES, HOWEVER with same thing applies to the ES. So, the processes are exactly the same, whether trading MES or trading the ES, or trading 3 contracts or 30 contracts. The stated goals are: 1) to average 50.00 a day with MES after commissions. 2) to teach and explain the processes using posts and charts. I will show EOD charts indicating the trades taken by the platform and explanations. I will not be calling trades out in advance and posting the calls as I will be trading and making notes on the chart as the day unfolds and then posting the chart after market closes. It is too difficult to trade live..make calls..annotate charts and post them as the market advances so I will post the chart with my notes after the close. So..yes you will be seeing the charts hindsight but the processes can still be learned and studied from hindsight. Much of life’s lessons are learned hindsight anyway. So, please don’t start railing in on me about hindsight this, and hindsight that, BS. 3) To show how a trader with a small account might be able to trade his small account and perhaps make a few dollars a day, on average. 4) To maintain a high win rate as these will likely be scalps of 1 to 8 points and require a high win rate after deducting losing trades. I won’t be taking every trading opportunity that appears on the chart as often I may already be in a trade and it is working and therefore have to bypass some trading opportunities that appear as I am already in a trade. Or I am busy making annotations and just can’t take every trade. One way around this thing of missing opportunities is to have couple of funded accounts and trade as many of the opportunities that appear in ES in one account and MES in the other account as ES and MES pretty much track together. Or in the same account trade them both. So, if a trader has a trade on in MES and waiting for it to unfold and another opportunity shows up he can take it in ES. Again, the purpose is to help a small account trader “see” how he/she can trade their small account and on average, hopefully do ok. And to help him/her understand and apply the concepts. Of course, if you are a trader with large trading accounts, you may be able to make large amounts of money using the very same techniques. To show how how a trader with a small account can do this I will use MES and try not to enter more than 5 to 10 contracts on any one trade. However, the concepts are the same whether trading 40 Mes contracts or 10 ES contracts. A trader with a larger account can do the latter. Since I will be using MES (or maybe MNQ) the dollar amounts of profits will be tiny but that is OK as the goal is not to show how much money I CAN make but rather to explain a process. Please don't ask me why I am not trading ES instead of MES. I think I have explained that above. The issue is not me making money but showing others how they can use the techniques to hopefully make some money at some time in the future, maybe. But understand nothing is guaranteed so read and learn at your own risk. Trading futures is risky and a trader can lose all their money and more. It does take time and practice to learn how and when to implement the techniques so I only recommend that you do this on a SIM. In fact I will at times use a SIM myself as I explain the concepts and how I implement them. And at times I will likely use a real account. I probably won’t disclose which one so don’t ask! LOL. Then again if I am in the mood to do so, I might. I won’t trade everyday. I am a diabetic and have days where my mind doesn’t work well or I just don’t feel well. I will start off first by laying first a bit of foundation explaining PB’s and bar counting. One other thing. I consider one trade as an entry and exit. I also consider as one trade an initial entry and any averaging down entries plus the exit of all positions whether scaling out or a complete position exit at once. Usually I exit all positions at once.
Translation... "I tried to average down, but lost my shirt. So now I am going to feel relevant by telling people how it CAN be done, in fantasy." How you can do it with 40 MES or 10 ES? Yer off yer head there. The difference between those two concepts is beyond even you, to suggest it. Welcome to the world of real money, Volpri. It's about time! Don't screw it up, and make some sense this time! (And I still wonder how the hell you survived trading real money before May 2019, when the micros were introduced. I mean, your whole spiel has been micros. What were you advising peeps to do before then, with the minis?)
"...In fact I will at times use a SIM myself as I explain the concepts and how I implement them. And at times I will likely use a real account. I probably won’t disclose which one so don’t ask! LOL. Then again if I am in the mood to do so, I might. I won’t trade everyday..." How convenient! If I am wrong, I am right! You had BETTER post some losing days, for once in your ET career, Volpri, or you will lose all cred here, diabetes notwithstanding.
Don't you understand how maddening this is to your journal readers? "...In fact I will at times use a SIM myself as I explain the concepts and how I implement them. And at times I will likely use a real account. I probably won’t disclose which one so don’t ask! LOL." Fer God's sake, WHY would you do this? Why the opacity? It's NUTS! P.S. (Sorry for ragging and ripping into you in your journal. I know you put a lot of work into it, but those statements just rubbed me the wrong way when reading them from the POV of an outsider trying to discern a system.)
Overnight, don't you understand ? For several years volpri's entries have been among the most transparent and worthwhile in public fora. Don't assume your views are representative of serious traders, who just might not be as vocal as you and your 17,166 posts ... (man, that's more than 4x the number of volpri's posts, very impressive)
Overnight understands very little about himself or other human beings. He posted recently that I blocked him for political reasons. I've never blocked anyone because of his or her politics. I block Overnight because he is an idiot trading forum troll and ET is better without him. I have no idea what he is saying here now but I would bet I could guess and be pretty close. Using the "block completely" feature here at ET on ON has made the forum instantly more readable and enjoyable. I know others have found this also to be the case, and y'all probably will as well. So go ahead and block him.
Yeah, never mind your bad and repetitive tired old joke of typing "cheep shit" which has been going on for years thinking that somehow this is clever and not annoying.