Trading Rules Basic strategy is to trade around a bias. Bias forms short, mid, and long term. We’re mainly focused short term. For short term trades, we’re looking for trades that we’d be comfortable holding overnight. If not, we work to get an average we’re comfortable with (these are major/minor pivots i post) Forming a bias What's the underlying story/ market dynamics / risk on or off Where is the risk How significant is the risk What's the price action/tempo like Calendar events/catalysts/risks How are others positioned. Risk on/off?, offsides?, crowds?, HFs, etc Any sentiment reads Types of trades Positioning for swing (what price/size are you comfortable holding overnight) Intraday - scalps 1:1 (hit and run action, till we get to major/minor levels) Positioning for swing - Setups based on levels and time. Major - pivots for bias or theo avgs. Minor - levels provided daily overnight. Used to improve theo avgs/ around major daytrades/scalps - can be used to improve avg but r/r is 1:1 usually Intraday scalps - Better when Intraday range less than expected range, else trend scenario How extended are we from vwap (globex and day) What's the profile/structure type.. Trend day vs Ranged? Ranged - use minor levels - #2 above Trend Day - use intraday setups #3 above How are deltas (bid/ask) What are vols doing.. Also underlying vols. Vol can be hidden in one stock/sector that can cause mkt moves. Tools Theo worksheet: Money Management Patience for trades Hit the trades you really like HARD (learn your probabilities, note, they can change) Trade in rhythm, step back when not in sync. Avoid big draw downs. Adapt as needed Other Stay happy, not stressed Have a life outside of desk, explore Workout hard, golf, walk etc.. something daily. Sun, sweat, etc Read Keep in touch with influencers you like. Learn from others outside of your wheelhouse Note: these are not mine but from https://twitter.com/vader7x But I thought they could help some fellow traders or at least start an interesting discussion.
Intraday scalps - Better when Intraday range less than expected range, else trend scenario When range exceeds usual avg daily range, isn't it too late? If you were doing Mean reversion scalping you are already deep in shit loss or stopped out. If you were looking for trends it will be quite late to enter.
The info about having a bias and what to look for is something I think is critically important that must occur prior to the appearance of any trade signal (trade). Without it, the trade signal that shows up has no merit even though its a valid trade signal. Money management and the Other categories are great too...many forget about them or underestimate their importance. wrbtrader
here is my check list; i mostly trade short term time frames 5 min and 30 min: ma: if market is trading below the ma,for example only take sell signals which are provided by the indiacators. if ma is flat then trade both ways. bollinger bands stoch and money flow
Interesting point that probably varies for everyone..in my trading I've found the opposite, the more "like" (confident) of a trade, are usually the losers.
Or you could try "Enter long only when prices are above a rising MA and short only when they're below a falling one; if MA is flat then don't trade". I'm just saying ...
Do an MAE and MFE study on going long or short when you midterm ma in rising or falling with a stoch, rsi ...etc trigger. ES P.S. your longs will give you wider stops and targets just now (those are your higher probability trades that you post about).
Depends on how you define "flat." The slope of a MA is seldom zero. I would recommend a signal-to-noise calculation to determine if a MA is range bound and non-trending.