<i>"i think i can handle the volatility we saw in november or the first two weeks of 2008, but just not the volatility we saw last week and possible today."</i> Volatility of past few days has been historical variety... off the scale of normal market action. We base our long-term career success on degrees of normalcy, which this is not. Markets will exhaust themselves soon. Volatility will be more like last July - Aug and Nov, with periods of calm in between. Nearing a bottom soon that will hold for awhile, which will be part of the settling process. Contrary to current belief, the indexes will not drop to oblivion straight down. It's about to get real bouncy, real soon. That's what these whipsaws are predicting.
hello, i have a quick question about commissions...i didn't want to start a new thread.... what do you pay in commissions for trading the ES? i just got charged $6 per trade and with all the fees i averaged up about $9.30. (i made only 2 trades). i just curious to know what other traders are paying, cuz i can't stop thinking that $6 per trade seems a bit too much.
Personally - it was very educational to have real money on the table on Wed. Really reinforced how much emotion can play into things and alter your decisions. I don't think you get the same effect paper trading After Wed I'm much more conviced I have to stick to a trading plan - Also seems to me the key is you have no idea how much you might make on a trade - but you need to have a very clear idea of how much you plan to lose on every trade Thats the hard part I'm still grappling with. but this market is a great way to learn. If you can make trades in this environment and still sleep at night, and not start drinking heavily ---- you can do it in more 'normal' times as well
So its a reasonable thing to do to set wider stops --- assuming you are willing to take the risk? I have been thinking the stops are 'etched in stone' --