I will make a humble suggestion that may help you KP in lieu of continuing to journal in the method you have been. Since sim trading is not available to you on your platform, why not do exactly what you mentioned: identify your entry price, your stop price, profit target, etc on a spreadsheet. track things like max adverse excursion, max positive excursion, draw the SL, and DL in real time, not with the benefit of hindsight and you will find that you have to fan them far more often than you expect. You can "categorize" the setups with simple descriptions such as "DL break", "LH, LL", "Double bottom" etc. Of course you have to be honest with yourself: if you took a trade and it starts to go against you and you find evidence on a higher timeframe chart that woulda, shoulda prevented you from taking said trade, you can't pretend it didn't happen, just manage the trade the best you can and record the results. At least this way you would be building a setup performance history during real time rather than simply jotting down thoughts at different turn junctures during the day on a 1 min chart.
Hmm. Well I had this trade, but my entry had nothing to do with a triple bottom pattern on a chart. I suspect (like many chart lookers) you're a bit lost. Looking in hindsight will do you no favours as you don't know when to close a position. By the time you've noticed an opportunity I've sold some of my lots for a profit. And I know how to time the likely end of the move. How you can expect to make profits using something as slow as a 1 minute chart in this volatility is beyond me. Your signals will lag the market and you will therefore pay poor prices for positions all day. Here is a 10 second chart of the trade for comparison. RedNeck's post was spot on. If you're serious about trading then you should get off these forums, stop looking for a guru, and start to work things out for yourself free of other people's assumptions and textbook clichés. llIHeroic's post was good also. You would do well to keep reading it. I don't know what you're stuck on but this is going to end very badly unless you do some introspection. That is best conducted without all the chit chat online. The more perceptive of us here are concerned for you. Perhaps it would be best to abandon trading entirely. To those who can actually compete in this environment you appear hopelessly outclassed with no indication that you have any of the qualities required to be successful. We're trying to save you from harm (partially because you don't seem able to recognise the futility and danger of this endeavour and partially because you have been the victim of dishonesty-but it is now your responsibility for choosing to believe the lies after you have been told the truth). Not everyone can do this. This will also be my last contribution to your thread. I wish you the best.
What was your trade based on then? Everyone keeps chipping in, but unless people expect KP to read peoples minds, I fail to see the point in some of the posts and am not sure what people expect him to do! Everyone talks in such a nebulous, vague fashion and never puts any meat on the bone, with the exception of NoDoji (although wheter her stuff is all nonsense or not, who knows?) The theme is ''Be careful, KP. You're going down the wrong road. None of this stuff you are learning is actually useful'' - But an alternative isn't given.
Kp, What RN, and LLlHeroic is trying to say is you are not taking trading serious because you are ignoring great advice.. But maybe it isn't fully your fault.. because you are still new to this.. Your aware level isn't up there yet... I kind of hesitated to post here because I can tell you are caught up in your own world... and I don't like to keep giving advice to someone that's not going to change.. It's a waste of my time ... For example, multiple people have told you to write a plan (including me), and you still have not yet.. Please don't think you are ahead of the curve until you can produce consistent results... Yes you are making progress, but until you can make money consistently then don't talk about being ahead of the curve.. I can bet you haven't even back test one idea fully.. Listen , I'm not trying to bash you, but I'm just trying to point out some of your weaknesses .. How about you take one trading idea and back test it for no less than 3 months... And come back to me with the results ... If you aren't willing to do that then there is nothing to discuss ..
I know what that's like! I have no idea how GhostOfBlotto trades without a chart. Could be DOM/Time and Sales? Don't know. There was a good trader on trade2win who traded short term apparently without the use of charts or time+sales/Dom or anything else that I asked. I tried to read his mind and imagine what he used but unsurprisingly I couldn't do it and gave up after some very frustrating months!
Think I'm gonna tell anyone that? Not a chance. Any idea how many lots are available in those locations? You can see by the volume not many people trade where I do. Why would I share? Look up posts by nokomisjeff, garachen, Rearden Metal - all legit traders who have career to date P&L in the $millions - they all say the same thing - no sharing of edges, people will copy and eliminate the opportunity. By contrast, we have some anonymous posters who have time to "teach" in chat when the markets are open and thousands of ET posts who say that anyone can make money with a chart (and maybe a horizontal line). The point of posting it wasn't to teach how to trade, but to show that there are traders entering before he sees the signal and selling against him when he buys late. By the time the chart followers have noticed a triple bottom and it going up quick pro traders have covered longs. And what happened? Price chasers bought in late and were sold into, the market fell, and they were forced to become sellers lower down. This looking at chart patterns is voodoo which will lead to a newbie trader losing his account. I want one of the "gurus" or one of the "apprentices" or anyone else who advocates "trading by price" to put up a clearing firm statement showing they're up YTD messing around with their charts. Doubt it will happen. But people need to believe. The OP has fallen for fraud, has been sold a lie, and is now locked in to a fantasy. Alternative: quit. Abandon the fantasy that you're going to overcome the overwhelming odds against small independent traders succeeding in the futures markets. He isn't worth several million dollars a year in this business. He can learn that the hard way or the harder way. But until he quits, he can still be the hero of his dreams. Further, abandon the delusion that anyone is going to give away their meal ticket on the internet for free, knowing that if enough people compete in their niche their income will drop or disappear. And before the "all I want to do is make a living" dreamers chime in. If you can make a living trading 2-5 lots then you can sure make a million a year trading 20-50 lots which you would do if your method is profitable. It is either decent profits or the loss of your risk capital - there is no middle ground. And market liquidity is always limited. It has been a long day and I'm not spending any more of it at a screen. What is happening here is very sad. I'd just recommend to people not to post. We don't let children play with dangerous items or encourage them to place themselves in danger. We don't egg on a drunk or a gambler. Perhaps without feedback and encouragement the OP will grow tired of this and move on.
I take it you didn't quit. Why should he? Maybe he'll find something similar to your ever-so-secret sauce in time.
OK, so whatever you're using requires a screen. Good. I'm closer at guessing yours than I was with the trade2win guy who had a secret billion dollar moneymaking trading secret who didn't narrow it down for me at all!
Oh Blotto... we are in this relationship that just cannot be fixed! I still respect you for what you say because you're at least not swearing, which is a huge step up from some threads (LOL), but the way you write, its almost as if you don't want me to get closer. I have a 15 sec chart up and so I saw that amazing move up you talk about, but as ND would say, I'm messing around with the HFT guys... which I guess is you. I cannot win in this arena, but I can win when I take a longer time frame view. When you look at a 5 minute chart, the things you do become less important, but the trend of the general market becomes apparent. Where you hunt for 5 point moves, Db is comfortably in a short taking 50 points. I understand the value of looking at the macro view. I will never be able to compete with you and the HFT guys, but when I identify the trend we are in, and I find a good low risk place to enter, and I know what to look for that tells me this trend is over but I don't see it so I don't need to get out, there is simply no point for me to mess around with everything that you do. I will absolutely bet you that some guys trading price action made at least 50 points down today and then 50 points back up. I'm working on this post with my 5 minute chart for today with areas that jump out as places to take a trade. I don't expect that you will be able to follow, but whats important is that I can see what it means, and just you wait, I will have results with it soon enough.
Thanks for your post MarketAddict... but once again, what was the advice? RN said don't trust Db because he is just a guru and won't give me the secret sauce. Where am I begging Db for the secret formula? I already know what he does, and I do think highly of what he says, so I like to thank him and quote him. About the only thing that RN got right is that I have to do this myself. But other than my joke about someone helping me with a trade so I can buy MultiCharts, where do I beg traders to make calls for me? I have in every single thread on here about trading said that its more important to learn to how trade, not just be told about this or that trade. So I'm not sure where he assumed that I am not thinking independently. If anything, its ND who provided more specifics recently about her exact trade, the 5/1 BOPB... why isn't he jumping on this? I think its a wonderful setup that I too am incorporating... so does this mean I'm not thinking independently? llIheroic similarly points out that I am missing something... whatever that something is. He said others have tried to help me with this something, but I'm not listening. This sounds more like guru talk than whatever Db says!!! Now if what he is saying is that I am putting too much of myself in what I say, I can perhaps see it from this angle, but I must not be writing it properly because I have been coached about the importance of taking myself out of the equation. He doesn't understand why I write up my charts, well this is exactly because I am in a way forward testing what I'm looking at. And then he ends off with "I hope you find success in the areas that will better your life for it." I mean what the fuck is this? If he truly wants to help, just tell me in fucking English that I am putting too much of myself in the market. Tell me that instead of marking my charts I need to pick one setup and go test it. But all this fucking talk from some higher power and holier than thou perspective these past 2 days is just too much. Both guys want to be heard but neither say they care for a response??? I'd be better off not having wasted time to reply and looking at my charts some more. (yup.. I think I will never hear from them again so I can get on with my journal... LOL)