win rate is around 60-65pct and I typically start at 1R and go up from there (start by scalping). I've actually found this to be counter-productive but it keeps me in a comfort zone to start out the day. Losses don't bother me anymore unless I have a string of 5-6. I know then I've obviously distorted my edge (I'm human...I make mistakes). Overall, they're kept so small I don't really focus on them. The entries are precise though. That's the key. I trade the E/U spot. I really made the turn in trading about a year and a half ago when I had consistent gains based off a strategy I could replicate. My drawdowns were quickly/easily recouped without any emotion or worry. That's when I knew I had a strategy that fit me. I went through just about everything and then found a poster on here who knew what he was doing and was willing to help. I read his posts and talked to him off the forums (he offered to one on one with be, but I felt guilty about wasting his time and not being able to return anything) so I just fired occassional questions. I used a key part of his strategy that he had stressed over and over and it was the key to unlock my edge. I would have never been profitable unless I had met him. It would of been impossible for me. I want to take credit for it, but honestly most of my trading is using a combination of other ppl's techniques. With the exception of a cycle strategy I use.
If you think these are 'edges', then you misunderstand the meaning of the word Putting up a website with content sufficiently persuasive to encourage a % of visitors to end their visit with the Contact page?
There are more 5 minute bars than daily bars.Scalping randomly around the the current price can have an edge, as long as it is not against the major trend lines of the day.A scalper can probably do a hundred trades a day , and get an edge because he can see the imminent direction/s r /randomness which we call s/r and trends.
If you're scalping randomly how can there be an edge? Especially when you consider that the effects of the spread are huge when one's profit target is only a few pips. Incidentally, the only scalping 5 minute bar system I know of that works uses the ADX, to summarise it, it goes something like this: When the ADX is higher than both the -DMI and the +DMI and rising go long when the +DMI is higher than the -DMI and short when the -DMI is higher than the +DMI. Use a profit target of x points or exit after x amount of time, whichever happens first. This may work on 1 minute bars too.
This is because markets range 80 % of the time ,by using the probability that price will randomly fluctuate , many many more times closer to the current price for a longer period of time and give more opportunities/trades.A price is more likely to visit the same price many more times a day , within the daily range, it is less likely to trend/breakout on a daily basis. Your edge is the ability to see the price action , feel the current market beat around the immediate price , feel the support /resistance and maybe foresee the direction . Imagine the land around you is flat , yet the world is round ,you can see the flat land but not the round world.On the smaller horizon , you can see clearer than the larger horizon. I say randomly because most scalping is done on randomness, and most profitable scalping is done on probabilities (not trends). There are traders scalping less profitably on intra day trends. http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=118599 The system you describe will fail due to randomness.
Can we please stop pretending that "scalping" exists? Scalping used to refer to pit traders who would trade inside the bid and ask. Then it referred to daytraders playing volatile internet stocks, SOES bandits (whatever that is), etc. It doesn't exist anymore. If you've been scalping while the market went from 1550 to 666 and from 666 to 1360, then you've kind of missed out on two massive moves, not to mention the commodity bull market. And any current "scalper" is getting eaten alive by computers, which are much, much better at that sort of thing. So please stop pretending that you're a "scalper," unless that means you make $15 while trading 100 shares of NFLX. It doesn't exist any longer.