OK, I can't hold back any longer. I have to share something my mentor told me once when I complained about this exact thing happening. He swore me to absolute secrecy, but it's unfair for me to keep such important information secret when the livelihoods of so many are at stake: The market makers watch you through your monitors.
I'm no Livermore expert, but according to Wikipedia, he had $5 million in trusts when he died in 1940. Imagine having $5m in 1940! Not exactly broke, although the money was tied up in trusts. But yes it is sad that he committed suicide and considered himself a failure. But we can still learn from him, just as we learn from all people. We can learn both what to do and what not to do. Hence his quote: "It was never the thinking that made the money, it was always the sitting and waiting that made the money." +-*/ Math_Wiz
You know, if you get stopped out too often maybe the time frames you're trading are a little too short. Like, maybe try a 5 min. chart instead of 3 min. I know the time frames in Forex that are compatible with moving averages are much longer like 60 min.
Well, I reworked my strategy a bit over the weekend to pinpoint the most reliable trades and discard the rest. Today was a good day in spite of some technical glitches. Darnn IB connection and eSignal connections seemed to go out as soon as I put on a trade. I couldn't make my adjustment of my automatic stop to under support because my IB connection went away for a couple minutes. When it came back my unadjusted stop had been hit on the low tick of the reaction. The market was almost back up to my target by the time I could see what was happening. I also missed a couple good early morning trades, too, because the dog got sick and had to go to the vet right away. She's much better after getting a shot and some meds. Her narrow face was so swollen she looked like a boxer (the dog not a fighter). Enough excuses - com'on Tuesday!
Electronic markets have no market makers. Just ghosts in the machines. But, if you trade stocks or open outcry markets, here is something free that will clean your screen from the inside so you can see them too. http://www.raincitystory.com/flash/screenclean.swf