OldTrader, I appreciate your post, but your first paragraph is misguided. I did not ask about others' results as if they were using the same methods. If they were using the same methods, then I would already know their results. I was wondering how their methods have been treating them lately in actual ES trading. I have no doubt that some people are doing far better than I have been doing this summer. That's just how it goes. Again, I was just asking for a show of hands. I am not looking to be fixed. I don't need, nor did I ask for, a retrospective assessment. As you yourself wrote, what has "worked in the past is irrelevant to Ms Market." Therefore, I don't really care what I "should have done" since that no longer matters. Why do I feel like a guy who just asked what time it was, and was then told by people what kind of watch I should wear and on which hand? P.S. You still didn't answer the question.
OT, Great post, as usual. I do not trade stocks so I cannot comment on that but I do position trade the equity indices (particularly ES) with fairly decent size - both on an intra-day and a multi-day basis. I am actually doing better than I was for the same period last year. I personally attribute this additional profitability mainly to keeping my stops well outside the trading range. The beauty of a non-trending market is that its not going against you in a hurry either. IMHO, the most important skill for a trader is the ability to characterize a market successfully and objectively in his chosen timeframe (sometimes called market topography). In my case, most of my losses and profits result from my failure or success in this area alone. Happy trading.
Same here the index futures are up a tad to much without any real pull back, and it appears they just like sitting in a 1% range for weeks on end. I think YM is running up on two weeks in a 1% range. I like you have moved to different instruments, the EURO looks interesting as it has fallen for four months now and has been basing for about a month. I have been trading it from the long side and am doing very well. If we get a nice 5% correction in the index futures I will give them a look over, but for the moment I have moved on.
If your talking to me your right, I have missed many intra-day moves by wasting time typing out messages on ET. I am focusing more on my work now, thanks for the reminder.
I just couldn't get past their (mis)spelling of "Sydney" on the world map... (maybe they'll fix it now)
This is what I have observed. Of course ... I call this "Chop": That is complete retracement on any move ....... I simply have adapted by taking profits on smaller moves and by not trading as often - fewer signals as someone else said - and by taking offsetting positions in other markets. So, the bottom line is I trade where i best view the opportunity and if there are fewer trade signals in a particular market then i trade something else that has more opportunity. So, to answer your question, yes, there is a different dynamic going on right now in this market - temporary ? Most probably ....
Thunderdog wrote: Why do I feel like a guy who just asked what time it was, and was then told by people what kind of watch I should wear and on which hand? We're sorry we haven't paid attention to your original question. Maybe so many are doing so badly they don't want to answer truthfully. No one will pay attention to this either, but, maybe next time round, insist on a reply that is only a number (?) 5 = significantly better than average 4 = somewhat better than average 3 = average 2 = somewhat worse than average 1 = significanlty worse than average My Best, Stephen Szpak
Stephen, Yes, I agree that a multiple choice poll would have been more useful. I will try to remember that for next time.
Thunderdog, thats probably due to the lack of volatility, I noticed the same thing happening last summer.