This is where knowing who is in control helps a lot, knowing the possibility of a breakout. It is always possible, but you just have to trust support and resistance until there is real evidence of a breakout... until then, I'd just suggest taking profits. BUT, if you think there will be a breakout, then just take half of the profits *or however much you prefer* and wait to see what happens, if you know it won't breakout, then possibly take all profits and reverse your position, or hold onto it and wait for to see if it'll break later on. Sometimes I take profits on all, sometimes I take half my positions. It's just a feeling of trying to understand who is in control.
Jmowery1987, I pm'd you but am unsure if you received the PM. I thought that this post was important enough to be made public. Please don't take this as being rude even though I know it will sound that way. I know who your mentor is. He's a very nice guy who does indeed enjoy helping people. But I'm almost 100% sure he does not trade his own account. There has been a couple of people who quite their jobs trying to trade full time because they thought it was SO EASY because of his teaching. They thought they discovered the holy grail and would own a mansion in a week or two. Well, I believe they all went back to their job because they all were net losers. Most blew there accounts in just a few weeks. Scalping is one of the most difficult trading methods to pull off. A newbie can lose 5-10 pts on each trade and do it 5-10 times a day. This with commissions and slippage and you will blow out in no time. I pray I'm not wrong in your situation. Sup and Res is classical technical analysis. But, sup and res are but a few pieces of hundreds of concepts. Before you start to "actually trade" ask your mentor to talk to some successful trading students of his. Talk to these successful people (if there are any) and make sure they are actually successful and actually trading real money. Also ask how long they have been trading his style. I just don't want you to go and and blow your account because of false hopes and expectations. Like I said please don't take this post as being a negative one even though it sounds like one.
He has never emphasized "scalping"... actually swing trading support and resistance. And one of the people he is teaching right now, he is having problems and he is extremely emotional. And there are several members on this forum that use support and resistance and have even been able to execute from what he has tought me. So we will see next week what happens, if i blow out my account. It is 100% my fault, but, I have not had a single problem as of yet with trading. But, again, next week, I shall see. But I must say, what you described your method of trading and what he said about the way of your trading, certainly is different then what he is teaching me. But again, we will see. But me and Volente seem to be on the same track, now I have yet to trade live, so there is the challenge.
Thank you very much for all the answers Movery and Volente. Me, i´ve got no idea if I´m gonna learn to play this game or not, I just try. if I make it, I make it, if I don´t, well, I already got two jobs... A completely different question - is anybody looking at put/call ratio to get a hint where dow is heading? Is it useful on a day to day basis? /Stalker
Jmow, Thanks for the reply. I agree that Sup and Res be be a viable trading method. It's just sometimes a lot harder to put together into a working strategy. Scalping S/R can also be a very dangerous method. Little losses add up quickly. If you follow your mentor in his method and throw out the scalping I think you'll be more set. I just feel bad that I knocked him a little. I really like him. He is a very nice guy who does indeed try to help people. I just don't want you to get gunned down by not being prepared.
Just keep it simple... control your emotions. As for your second question, I'm not knowledgeable of what you are asking, maybe someone else can handle it. Good luck to you.
Thing is... i'm not aiming for scalping. I'm aiming to swing trade. I have not had any problems trading. If I do get gunned, it is completely my fault, not my mentor's. Because I have learned sooooo much these past few weeks, more than I have ever. So, it will be known within the next week or two how I will perform.
3 Trades... http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/8213/snapshot284sk.png Again, simulated trading... also tired, but still pretty nice. Very easy to identify support and resistance, I like that. Support and Resistance was all that was needed for this. A few lines and that was all. There was no indicators, no volume, no MACD or RSI. There are 2 moving averages that are there just for looks, that is all. It was really simple today. I think any newbie that has the concept of buy at support and sell at resistance, can do this. As long as he allows trades to develop. No losing trades. I'd say on days I have had a bad trade. I averaged 1 - 2 bad trades, that at most cost me $25. And were almost nothing compared to the huge gains for the day. Easy? Depends on who you are? Possible? Absolutely, you just have to follow some simple rules and have the right mindset to act upon it. This is just another display of how support and resistance is all you need to be successful trading. Well you also need to be a good trader with knowledge of concepts of who is in control, but beyond that. What you see in that screen shot is a reflection of what is possible. And this is what I am expecting when I can trade the full day after I get out of school in 4 months. I again will take off a few days to trade the whole day with my mentor, but I am expecting very nice results, and will post all my results truthfully, and when do, i'll post a chart. If I make mistakes, Il'll make note of them, because everyone learns from their mistakes, so if you see mistakes I make, you benefit, and I benefit because I'd be motivated to not do that mistake again. So, again, newbies, just keep it simple. Support and Resistance. Maybe the other technical indicators could be helpful in locating reversals... but, I believe if you can trade price... which is what you are trading anyways, instead of trying to trade a mathematically formula that will ALWAYS lag, and will never be perfect.... it just makes sense to trade price and volume (never seen the use of volume with Futures, but haven't really paid attention). So Volente, do you agree with that? I mean, again, i know I'm not trading live, but the understanding of these concepts can help anyone, but can really benefit those that understand the concepts of who is in control, where support and resistance is, and be willing to do the right trade at those areas. I have also moved to a 10 stop strategy. Once I get comfortable, I'll move to a 15 points top strategy, and if I ever get automated trailing stops, I'll set it at 15 as that seems the ideal stop size. Anyways, It's 2:45 on a school night, and I'm tired. G'night all, and good luck trading tomorrow... have fun without me while I'm in Government or Marketing.... just suffering.
Movery, i agree with blackbeard that you should lower your expectations a little. It´s good to be optimistic, but it takes a market wizard to make 500-750 usd/contract and day. Even if you look at videotapes with maradona, zinedine zidane, van basten or any of the best soccer players, it takes a lot of practice to replicate what they do, and most people will never be able to do it no matter how hard they try. As i said before, i really hope you make it, you deserve it, but i think anyone who starts out with trading real money should be happy just to take small profits in the beginning. I think it´s easy that you make mistakes if you expect huge profits every day. best wishes, Stalker
Oh yes, I agree completely... BUT........I have never indicated in a single post of mine that I would take profit on the first couple of days of trading. I like pointing out potential profits on the majority of my charts. 500 - 750, I must tell you, I'd be beyond happy if I was able to do that much in a day. And the fact that I have had $1,000 days with a singe contract is also a result of paper trading. I mean, I have already proven the possibility. It just comes down to the question of if I will be able to handle trading for real. Again, I must reiterate the fact that I'm not new to live trading. I have traded equities and Forex before, and I do not have problems with emotions. But I expect the first couple of days of live trading I will be somewhat excited to get started, so expectations are to make small profits. I will be mentored throughout the day, so if I end up taking a loss, it is completely my fault. I will know it, I won't try blaming it on anyone else. I even told my mentor about 3 days ago that I don't expect nearly the results that I get on simulated trading because they are very very good, and I can not expect those results during real trading. So, I will have to wait and see. But the fact also remains, it will be impossible to get an accurate expectation of what I can make, because I am going to be limited to the last hour of the market because of school. So I'm looking at 1 to 2 trades at the last hour maximimum. So it will be interesting.