I don't see anyone proclaiming a "Trading Bubble" in this thread. Or is it different if you think you have the slightest edge (due to news, experience, fundamental/technical analysis that has proven to work in the past, etc.) coupled with disclipline and money/risk management? Actually, I guess S/R analysis would have told us the first breakdown at around 10560 (or slightly lower) might have led to a test of resistance at around 10450-10460.
The eia report tomorrow will be used as a pretext to move the market down a little lower. imo 10400 is going to be near the bottom of a new chop zone.
IMC, that is a wicked chart and is very drawn out but it is still there. Joey, even though I had 2 losing trades today I still finished ahead. quicktrader, What made you want to fight the trend after the break of 550 ?
I noticed you're a big fan of head and shoulder patterns. Looks like we had a complex h&s pattern. I use 15 min and 30 min chart but posted 10 min.
I'm taking a beating. $60 first day $-90 second day (went down $200, but made a trade to bring it up) $-150 third day (I won't lie... fear of losing was what did this to me). I'm going to trade one contract. There is no excuses for what I have done today. If I were to show you the chart of what trades I executed. You would probably have said those were good trades... but I had set my stops so tight that I was afraid to lose money and I had three stops that got hit and cost me money 50 each time. And the funny thing, is all those trades, if my stop was not hit, would have been VERY nice trades. So no excuses. Fear, has gotten to me. But just like that book. I don't have anything to lose now. I can't afford my monitor, so I'm moving to one contract, and I'm going to execute my trades, and if I take a loss, I'm not going to sweat it. Doing 2 contracts was flat out dumb though. So tomorrow, it's 1 contract.... and I'm going to see, if fear is really what the problem was. Fear made me take profit too early, and fear made me execute dumb trades. So far... eveyone is right about moving to real money... it is something else. But, I execute the trades where I should be..... it's just my fear is really making me take profits way to early. So I will admit that round one, I am taking a beating... but I'm at that point where I'm saying screw it, I have nothing to lose but money, and I shouldn't fear that because I'm learning. So, tomorrow, I will see what is really going on and see if 1 contract will have any impact. But one thing is for sure.... only being able to trade the last hour, is freaking horrible. While i'm in school and look at the charts and keep my trades I'd execute in my notebook and see how well I'd do. I just know in my heart, that there is something wrong here in my mind that I will figure out. But I have learned extremely valuable lessons, and the experience that I'm gaining from this is awesome. I just wish I didn't trade 2 contracts at first because it was just a dumb move like many of you suggested. EDIT: Oh yeah, I put so much money into my account, that I actually had to take money out of it because I overdrafted 3 times in my regular bank account costing me around 150 dollars.... so I could officially say I'm broke... literally. So that just added to the fear. And this Friday or next Monday, I'm taking off the day off from school and I'm going to have all the time I need to execute any trade I like and not feel rushed to do so.
Hi JMowery1987, Where was your mentor ??? Your mentor should have been closely working with you as you traversed into real money trading. In fact, he/she should have been sitting right next to you for your first day or first week of real money trading. At the minimum...your mentor should be providing realtime guidance (in person or private chat room). NihabaAshi
Why don´t you papertrade for a while Movery? Might take of some pressure, you´re not in a hurry. I think everybody loose in the beginning - months or years - no matter what strategy you use. When you look at charts in hindsight it always looks good, but when you sit there live it looks like chaos . Everybody talks about the difference between simulator and real money. For me there´s not a significant difference, it all depends on your approach. I think about trading as a job I´m trying to learn. Since i really want this job I´m almost as nervous in the simulator as with real money, cause i don´t wanna fail. If you approach the simulator thinking "if i don´t make it I´m gonna have to work at mcdonalds for the rest of mu life" - then you will be nervous for sure. If i were you´re age and really passionate about trading i´d get a night job when i quitted school. They usually pay good and you have time to follow markets during daytime. If it takes you 2 months or 4 years to get a hang of it doesn´t matter. You have plenty of time to get rich... good luck, Stalker