Who Here Trades Like a Sniper?

Discussion in 'Trading' started by TraderZz, Nov 12, 2010.

  1. I've been around ET for quite a while and noticed many types of traders.

    I won't go through all of them - I'll get to my point quick.

    There are many here who day in day out do very well with extracting moves with minimum risk flowing with price from level to level.

    Who here is a less active trader who snipes for his pray? I've recently cut down on my trade frequency by targeting a minimum 3 profit factor (hypothetical as I adapt to PA) for all my setups. The result has been increased expectancy.

    I know many say trade every setup with positive expectancy and there are great examples of that. At the same time, by picking and choosing with a UNBIASED filter that does not exclude more winning trades than losing trades, one can get to an easier place where DDs are shallower, less trades are taken, one prepares for the future which for me is to personally reduce day trading to a very minimum.

    Just starting a discussion. I am sure theres got to be some people in here that do this as well although it seems filtering trades is generally looked down upon by the PA guys here.
     
  2. As a tangential portion to this, I will add in an analysis I did to myself in the last few months that got me to focus on higher timeframes.

    Note, I do not believe it is impossible to daytrade on any time frame if your commissions and spreads of the market are reasonable enough so as not to cut into your expectancy. This is a personal list I came up with to get more into a sniping mentality.

    1) Less button errors, miscalculation of entry levels, or any other errors related to entry or drawing
    2) Less chances for concentration loss
    3) Losses spread out over several days (not several losses in 1 day)
    4) No need to be glued to screen all day (can do some testing of ideas, etc.)
    5) Gets me in the right mindset of BETTER and not more trades
    6) On average, the trades will be higher r/r so will provide more dollars per effort exerted etc.
    7) Again, long term, this is where I am heading anyways as i dont plan on intraday trading my whole life

    Since I listed the positives, I will say the drawbacks:

    1) Less trades = less compounding
    2) Greater chance for losing days since less trades are taken
    3) Provided you can trade a reasonable portion of your capital (to me this is 1% or less), if you are a new trader to get to a significant income as a sole means takes longer
    4) As one is learning PA, PA on larger timeframes takes naturally longer to unfold so one learns at a slower pace
     
  3. I'm hoping this might stimulate some good conversation not necessarily about methodology but on getting down and dirty and doing what it takes to break many traders out of break even to positive or negative to break even.

    I am also interested for myself to hear responses from other PA traders.
     
  4. you need 2 seek external validation b/c...
     
  5. You are very perceptive.

    I used to trade frequently. I am letting go of that now.
     
  6. I trade infrequently. I usually wait for the moments that seem to be the right time to get in and get out.

    With HFT etc.. you cannot compete against them but you sure can profit from the whole HFT BS and choppiness. Just need to be patient and wait for the right moment.


    Some folks like to be slaves daytrading hoping to scalp some pennies and preying not to get run over by HFTs' and other big institutions. That is not for me.
     
  7. Here is an ETer taking a practice shot:

    <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/YLTvUNn3Suo?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/YLTvUNn3Suo?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
     
  8. yeah but he lived and learned a lesson. LOL

    Gotta get in there and start shooting.
     
  9. Trade like a sniper?

    You mean to trade under the hot sun all day, laying in the dirty ground without taking a shower for days?

    Sniping and trading don't mix well at all:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_HThU7MFwI
    Maybe the guy blamed his loss on the slow computer?
    :p

    Ivanbaj or anyone else
    tell me how to embed youtube videos, plz.
     
  10. Click on your link to go to the youtube video. Then click on the Embed button and copy (Ctrl+C) the code given. Come to ET and paste (Ctrl+V) the code in your post.
     
    #10     Nov 12, 2010