enochbenjamin

Well superman did not get to Lois in time and some gang bangers roughed her up a bit at 111750.

Today there were 4 tweezer/shooting star set ups in CL. I only took the last one (+35). The reason I did not take the beautiful shooting star is because the risk would have been too great for my style. I put the SL 1 or 2 ticks beyond the candle that provides the star/tweezer. The reason I did not take the next two tweezers was because price was well beyond the 2nd SD and to me that was in no mans land - scary! The third set of tweezers was also outside of the 2nd SD but it was not so far away and was just coming out. It was a judgement call. Shorted at 8100 with a 8 tick stop. Because it was the end of the day I decided to ride her down to the 1st SD + some. From the way things ended I got out just in time. A side note on the above tweezers. I don't like em. I prefer for tweezers to have long wicks. However, according to the candlestick sensei Steve Nison "Tweezers are two or more candlestick lines with matching highs or lows." He goes on to state "The tweezers could be comprised of real bodies, shadows, and or doji." (page 88, Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques)

Ok - there was a nice virgin trade in ZN this morning but once the virgin is violated my charting platform won't show her anymore so.... I found a couple of ES virgins. The first time - AND FIRST TIME ONLY - the virgin is penetrated fade with a tight stop. So buy virgin @ 111750 and when she's done if there is time buy another virgin @ 111425. Virgins are good until violated so if we don't get to them today they will still be good tomorrow.

Price traveling to the third SD is so rare that I don't think its worth the effort to add it to the charts. Also if price gets to the third SD then the market is REALLY trending and any fades would be unwise in my humble opinion. This morning I was chatting with a fellow trader and I recall saying I was going to be VERY CAUTIOUS today because at 6:30 AM all the vehicles I monitor were outside of the 2nd SD. If price gets outside of the 2nd SD by more than a shooting star or tweezers you really should just pass on trying to fade. Just my opinion.

I agree that on days when price "hugs" the 2nd SD it gets a bit tricky. I have been searching for a secondary filter for a few months now and have determined that the best filter is good money management and accepting that there will be days when this just flat out does not work. With oil there is usually at least 1 day per week when price gets outside the 2nd SD and gives many false star/tweezers. On those days I used to lose big, but now I just accept a daily loss limit and look forward to the next day. That being said I will start monitoring the value area as that would be a great way of selectively entering trades. One question - did you use the current days developing value area or the previos days?

Slowly getting my groove back. +260

It doesn't get any better than this. If I had the patience to wait for set ups like this I would never lose!

I did as well. How'd that happen? Anyway - +162.50

Virgins - young fresh and clean. ES /Buy @ 110300 ZN Buy @ 117'04 and at 116'30 There is another virgin at 117'07 but I usually discount virgins as wannabes that have been probed once price comes within 4 ticks. During RTH's price went to 117'08.

I'll post some charts soon.

I have this same journal at another trading message site but I like the people at this one better. Much more willing to help one another here. So...I am duplicating my thread here. Anyway, the title. I love trading virgin approaches to established (by me) support and resistance levels. I define virgin as a level that has not been revisited since it was created and do not count levels created in the current session. I also do not give as much weight to virgins that have been violated in the overnight sessions. My vehicle of choice is the 10 year (ZN) although I have been known to occasionally trade other markets if a pretty virgin entices me (6E,CL, ES). I'll be posting virgins the night before I see them and try to update the levels every morning. I'll be posting tomorrows virgin plays as soon as I finish reviewing the profiles.

I am done with my banishment and back to trading real money. SIM trading just doesn't work for me. I crush the SIM market - if my creditors would take SIM payments I would only SIM trade. Back to real money +$162 - small but back in the black.

My daughter had a snow day today (again), and she had a blast clicking chart trader buttons as I was shouting "Buy Market" "Sell Market" "close" "reverse" (It was all I could do to get my own orders off - between CL's fluctuations above and below 78.83 and the two of us laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes and I could neither stand nor sit in my chair. Classic! I always make money when my boys are home during the day because they see the painfully obvious. Dad - why are you selling when the chart is going up? Shouldn't you be buying? But I am way to nervous to actually let them hit the buttons...

I for one subscribe to the philosophy of the late George Lane (father of Stochastic) that you should never give 1 broker more than $5000 at a time. If you are trading 1 or 2 lots 5k is plenty and when you make profits withdraw regularly. If your starting with 15k open 3 separate accounts and only trade 1 at a time. Just my 2¢

not an accurate statement. read this post: http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/f6/mp-vs-ensigns-price-histogram-3341.html

I think the timeframe you use depends on the markets you trade and the only way to know for sure is to put in the screen time. On CL I think 5 mins works best as far as the reward aspect goes although I have traded the reversal candles on both 1 min and 3 min. 5 just gives you less head fakes.

Truer words could not be spoken. I used to have a sign on my desk that referred to trading being like a bricklayer - come in and do the same setups every day, day in and day out. Note - bricklayers don't try to build a house in 1 day. They know to complete the house on schedule they have to come in and do an honest days work every day. I have not been posting recently because I have been taking a bath this year. After ending 2009 with consistant profits of $350 - $1000/day I decided to be a rock star in 2010. Go figure. After having a year (2009) in which my largest losing day was $350, I have already had 3 losing days of over $1000 in 2010. Needless to say, for me it is time to get back to being a bricklayer. Today was my first day of SIM trading in over 2 years. Figures it would be my best trading of the new year! Life is queer with its twists and turns as every one of us one day learns... +$900 on 2 trades ($400 in CL and $500 in ZN)

To me this is bizarre - why would anyone trade this? Why not just trade the 30year. Or for better liquidity the 10year. In my humble opinion this is just a new product designed to reduce the capital of the retail trader. In other words it is not designed for the retail trader.

Does it matter? The reason I ask is because I trade oil. CL and QM. CL has very good daily volume while QM has almost none, but it doesn't matter because QM just mimics CL. The price trades lock in step just with 1/2 the value. The reason I sometimes trade QM is because I can double my stop while keeping the risk the same. A 10¢ stop on CL = a 20¢ stop on QM both are approximately $100.

Dude if your going solo - find a broker that offers TT free. You wont get the pro version but you get most of the features. The catch is that you will pay a bit higher commission - closer to 3.50 RT. As far as funds to start - the late great George Lane (inventor of stochastic) argued that regardless of how much capitol you have never give a broker more than $5000. With 5k there are numerous brokers that will let you day trade 8-10 cars. If you know what you are doing you can make a decent living with a 5k account. If you need to trade more size I would suggest using multiple brokers. I think its quite obvious I don't trust ANY broker. Keep em on short leashes and regularly withdraw profits. just my 2¢

My stop is never more than a tick or two above the shooting star. If the wick is very long, say more than 10-15 ticks away I will pass on the trade. So for me it is always a low risk trade. Also thanks for the very understandable explanation of standard deviation. It confirms my belief that fading the 2nd SD is a very high probability, low risk trade.

I use VWAP + pivot points. The green line was S1 which because price was below acted as resistance.

Silver is not a good contract to trade for the little guys. You will make some quick easy money a few days and then get your head handed to you on a silver platter!

Tweezers at any significant support or resistance level are usually pretty reliable. note: in the image i mistakenly labeled S as R. The tweezers formed at support.