Its so obvious these folks are just pretending and dont actually take these trades. Its a grand comedy show!
Yeah, I'm one of those that has had a personal diary since age 10 and it didn't seem unusual to begin a professional diary in my early 20's...a ton of info I've documented and that's help me often even in today's trading environment. My old man an ex-floor trader thought it would be useful (documenting each trading day info beyond just trades) if trading became more serious for me. Funny thing is this, by the time we decide to adapt...markets change again. :eek:
Revisiting this business of the changing market, I began noticing toward the beginning of April that traders' behavior intraday was becoming very much like a car with a bad transmission: lurch ahead, stall, lurch ahead, stall, lurch ahead, stall, roll back. Tons of congestions, including hinges. I didn't much care about why, except in an idle curiosity way. But retracements clearly were not the order of the day anymore. So even though I avoid reversals and breakouts, it was either that or take the quarter off (or the summer), and I spent considerable time and effort brushing up on all that. Now that we seem to be in the process of bouncing off the lower limit that trend channel, retracements may shine again. If they don't, then the "composite operator" is more concerned than is apparent on the surface. In the meantime, it's reversals and breakouts and a different tactical set.
The principles of successful stock speculation are based on the supposition that people will continue in the future to make the mistakes that they have made in the past. -- T F Woodlock To a large extent, that's what PAT is all about. The map may change, but the territory is the same.
That was essentially the reason for my breakout trade question a few days ago. Very often one does not get a retracement or one would be able to bank some points on half of the position. In terms of the behaviour of breakouts and reversals itself, I believe you are very rigid. So if they don't move quick and steady you are out? What I try to define are the difference in terms of risk tolerance and setup. So a retracement trade would differ from a breakout - which you maybe try to avoid. But for others it seems to be an option specially if one limits its trading to a timeframe around the open plus two hours.
What I do isn't particularly important, especially as what I do today may and probably will be different from what I did yesterday. Or last week. Or last month. The market in June is not the same as the market in January. The market in 2015 is not the same as the market in 2014. The advantage of PAT is that it is self-correcting and self-adapting, unless one is exceptionally stubborn. And deaf. Whether you have something flexible and free-flowing or rigid and mechanical is entirely up to you. The SLA allows you to be the trader you want to be, within a structure. It doesn't tell you what you must be. I suggest, again, that you read the appendix on Fear.
Don't see the end of the world here, but it doesn't matter one way or the other if one knows what to do whether price rises or falls. Worth noting that the NQ is much stronger than the ES or YM, one of the many reasons why I like the NQ. (None of the most heavily-weighted stocks in the SPX are in particular trouble; that of course could change for a few of them in a matter of days)
Conflicts with my personal (family) time schedule. Yet, Eurex DAX futures / Euronext CAC40 futures / EuroFX 6E futures / Hang Seng HSI futures are my preferred markets to trade. Maybe I need a clone.