I have never traded woodies method either, but if I remember correctly... rule states that you enter like 15 sec before the close of the bar. If you wait till the close of the bar it's too late. So yes, you enter before the candle has completed.
While I could not make money consistently with Woodies method I have learned a great deal from him. Trading discipline Sticking to your plan Staying relaxed as you are trading. There will always be better trades down the road. Think positive. There are other people like me out there. I have found that his exits work well for me though and have incorporated them in my present system. Woodie was and still is a trading mentor to me. I still visit his room occasionally. It is always good to hear his voice. He has helped me along the way, but I sure wish I would have come across someone like him 15 years ago ......
The rules were that beginners should await close of the bar. As you advanced then the last 20 seconds was considered ok and with time some would anticipate quite agressively sometimes. Woodie himself has been know to anticipate by 2 1/2 minutes on a 3 minute bar Woodie said that you ignored whether the bar was big or small ... but some in the room used to say they passed on any really long bars.
Are these really such earth-shaking insights? If it took you 15 years to figure out that you need to follow a plan and stay relaxed then I think you're probably in the wrong business.
Hi chopper77, I think you took his post the wrong way. For example...I know someone that's been trading for about 18 years and 2 years ago he became profitable after having learned how important it is to have a trading plan. My point...there's probably more to the story that Beebers didn't want to mention. Now...back to the guy I know (a friend of my parents). For 20 years he worked a fulltime job and most of it as high salary consultant and retired young (55 years old). His first 16 years of trading was barely part-time stuff (a few hours per week) in things like Treasuries or whatever. He never put too much emphasis on learning how important it is to have a trading plan and didn't really have too much time to develop such because his consultant job was very demanding. The money he lost was small...a few thousand dollars (pocket change for him). Basically, trading was just a hobby or something fun to do. Now that he's retired (since two years ago)... He's now a fulltime trader and has taken it very seriously. He now has a good trading plan with enough discipline to stick to that trading plan and is profitable. In addition, he has a different outlook on life than most of us younger traders that's saving enough money via our profits so that we can kick back (not trade as much) when we reach our 50's or 60's while at the same time ensuring our family has a quality life. Like I said before about Woodies room... The goal for those that use that room is to take something from the room and make it useful in some aspect of their trading regardless if Woodies particular way of using CCI works or not... Regardless if he makes it sound like its the holy grail. That's why so many use that room...there's something (not CCI) else occurring in the room that's useful in other aspects of their trading. In fact, I know a few traders in Woodies room that don't even use CCI...they are using it for other things they find to be helpful. Look at EliteTrader.com itself...there's lots of traders sharing their knowledge under the umbrella of being insightful or educational without ever mentioning the specifics of a particular strategy. This is important because whether we are using CCI, RSI, MACD, Fib Ratios, Trendlines, Chart patterns, Candlestick patterns, Price Action Only, Volume et cetera... It really doesn't make sense until one particular insightful sentence or one particular educational advice or even a group of paragraphs helps put the puzzle together sort'uv speak. Myself...I've been trading a little over 15 years and most of that fulltime in the market and I'm still learning. Further, right now in my career as a trader...I'm finding out how all those little things, common sense stuff is so important... * Get a good night of rest. The above is a common sense statement, nothing earth shattering and nothing magical. That statement develops a new meaning when you have a newborn to 2 year old toddler It's just isn't all about an entry signal and I think most other veteran traders will agree. NihabaAshi