I only use charts and indicators, matter of fact, I don't watch Business news on TV or internet, by the time info comes out to public, it is old. While most are bouncing around from one indicator to another, trying to find the FASTEST, I prefer slower indicators like the TSI, 20 ema, BB. But where my work has sent me through the decades is going beyond Price Action. Almost ever book I have read only goes so far whether price action or indicators, got to go beyond and write your own chapters. Learning bout the same indicators and NOT changing, knowing what they SHOULD do when price does something, and when they don't, it is a form of divergence from the norm. I segment my ES day, 1st 30 minutes, 4.25hrs, 1.25hrs, each has different rules/signals/targets. I know how many signals should occur in each segment, and when they are different-that is divergence, I might add more contracts or subtract in late afternoon session. And there are a few days where I sit there all day and no trade, which is very fine with me, as I really don't enjoy putting on trades, took long time to trade my brain this way. I think in percentages, not money, I have so many minutes to be in a winning trade, it has to go so far in so much time, that comes from thousands of hours of testing. I know by just looking at past couple days what the ave swing is, do I need to extend my mental stop or shorten it. I spend at least 90 minutes after day session close to get ready for the next day of trading, I use a checklist in my mind of what I need to have done, then min of 30 minutes before market opens, I am reviewing my charts. I work very hard at what I do. Position size, for me it backtests better and I don't have to think about changing it. I have a daily goal each day of 2-4pts, when I make that, I cut back contract size on each tic to that amount, and afternoon session, if I am doing well, cut back size again. If I am doing so so, often times, I cut back much more so I come out positive on the day. To me it is all about making something each day. Actually, I do the opposite, I manage the profitable trades and losers lose, I can't do much on losing trades, just take the loss. Trading comes down to How bad you want it, working at segments I never wanted to learn like programming, I never wanted to buy all that tic data, I skipped vacations to work at home at learning this. I paid the bucks for seminars, gurus, books, indicators, videos, and I learned something from all of them or they made me have new ideas to test. How bad you really want to work at this? What are you willing to give up? Huge amounts of time....
good post Handle123, one thing you didn't mention but seems to be implied in all your posts is that you understand the limits and possibilities of retail remote trading, and over time have lived within those parameters.
You do the same as i do, basically. Its important to concentrate on things that work and become an expert in that area. Its not important to gather informations from everywhere. As chartist, we know all informations are always still based in the price. Only important news, are very few, for example Central Banks Interest Changes & US unemployment rate, where statistics show, that something unusal could happen, through too much volume. I also have specialised myself on a few indicators, and i know the in every aspect, and with them i am able to read the markets perfectly. So, i can look behind the price and read the odds, exactly how the 5% do, calculating the odds for the next possible move. In other words, i am watchin price, while i see where it "must go" under my market laws and i am 80% correct, but i dont trade what i know, i only trade about 20% of what i know. Because only this 20% are the best of the best and i am able to risk my money. So, i always see and watch and expect where price have to go, also if something changes, odds change, what then the plan is. In easy words: I am always forward looking......... Always asking yourself, whats the plan of the price for the next time, because the price always have a plan. Testing and retesting of support and resistance prices, while moving in cycles, creating pattern in pattern, what are trades in trades - mystically markets matrix. I love you my markets. I can read you like a book. Its a wonderful feeling. Thank you god, for giving me this ability to work hard and never give up. AMEN
yeah, that's the other thing with something like ES when you watch every tick everyday. After a while, you don't even need a chart because you already know what it is going to look like. Same with indicators, you may say you don't use them, but they are kind of ingrained in your brain. oh well, I just started this thread because they were going on and on about everything traders do wrong, and everybody seemed to know what traders always do wrong, so I just thought I would have a discussion about the few things that traders do that have worked over time for them. different strokes for different folks. most have credited some sort of consistent strategy that they work within. The strategies may be very different for different traders. Some have strict rules or are automated, others have loose rules depending on the market. very few talked about particular set ups or indicators. Apparently, not many credit their secret for the secret for their success.
It's Lamborghini (where did you learn to spell ) He should also learn to spell Princeton, Harvard, or Yale (or whichever one he went to) - he'll finally be able to pay them off for teaching him his roots and giving him his prestige
Wrong on so many levels. The people that asked questions during the securitization of Mortgage bonds, and bet big on black, made a KILLING.
This is the trading knowledge you get on E T , what we read is opinions of people. The systems that work are not known by the 95% that hang around E T or other forums .Most of free systems seen on forums are written by amateurs and forum ding bats.How do you expect to see winning systems for free on forums? There are systems out there which make well over 70% a year , but no-one including me is going to disclose them here. Systems trading success depends on the flexibility of systems to adapt to changing market conditions , and depends on the quality of systems. I have portfolio of 44 profitable automated systems ,so your opinion is read with a pinch of salt.