Sledge

forsearch- What is the deal with all your posts having a YouTube video attached? It's kind of annoying.

arifwise: How long have you been trading the GBP/USD? That is my "bread and butter" pair. I traded it exclusively for about 6 months until I got a little out of my comfort zone and tried a few other things. But this is my day to day trading pair.

I'd have to disagree. The Close of the bar is very important in doing analysis of any kind.

Ok I have to admit-- those pictures you have posted... you'd have to pay ME to own one of those ugly ducks. Looks like a 72 Pontiac Bonneville and the Batmobile had sex!

Winnie- That is what the Tradeguider folks would call a "Polar bear in Hawaii" it is out of place- thus should be disregarded. To me that bar shows that the brakes are being applied HARD, and would be a very wise bar to perk up and pay attention too. I know the TG folks would say that about the Wide Spread Down Bar, but the bar you describe shows that some profit taking is taking place and a lot of offloading took place on the WSB- logically that makes sense- you don't see too many "smart traders" seeing a huge down bar and say- "ooh I should go long" Hope this helps. Sledge

My son is only 2 and a half- but hopefully I'll have him as a sounding board once he gets older Aaron

Look back on this thread and study it- that is the best advice I can give. We are very lucky to have a very smart and great bunch of folks who have a lot of experience here that are offering steallar advice to get you to where you need to be in your trading. Sledge

Jaronimo- Thanks for your reply, that sounds very on-par with what I am attempting to do. My theory is- if I can make it "elementary" by having to run through this routine say 100 times, then I can also just have it be done "second nature" instead of having to check every single trade off. I'm sort of already there and going at this backwards- but for some reason I want to write it down and have my criteria in black and white. I never wrote down my "edge" because I was still trying to define what my "edge" even was!! Sounds horrible- but If I were to die tomorrow- I'd want something my wife could follow and trade without knowing much about the market (a little over simplified, but I'm sure it makes the point) Aaron

Ok Blowfish took all my answers. :o I really can't say much else than what he covered. Stellar place to learn, grow, ask questions and give back. 5 Stars personally!

James- Thank you, After self-analysis, I appear to be in your former state. I don't like drawdown, but my trades virtually always work out and end in the + side of my sheet (sometimes not at the dollar figure I had intended because of the further downward movement.) I think I would prefer to be a little later in the move- but be more certain that the move is going to bank money. Anyone here work out their trades in this way, I have been toying with it but not come close to mastereing it at all: Instead of doing an instant execution trade and having drawdown, you put in a pending order at some pre-determined price and when the market does go in your direction, you are filled. This way their is little or no drawdown and you are in on the major part of the move. I'm looking at this as a potential way to solve both problems. I get into the major part of the move, but don't ride the drawdown. If the order doesn't fill, I'll reassess after and see if their is a better entry. Thoughts? Aaron

The more threads I have read, whether it is about a trading style, a type of method to trade, a timeframe preference.. each thread invariably tends to take a detour briefly.. One poster thinks another is being hateful or stepping on their method, the other poster backpedals signaling that "was not the intent” and it occurred to me that a lot of these tend to boil down to one simple statement: "Oh well I trade this way because that is what I am comfortable with and what works for me." Generally one trader is far more aggressive in their trade choices than the other trader in the conversation. With my study of VSA I also saw this come to pass even with Tom Williams and Todd K (both work together in the same company and present VSA to students.) Tom Williams is an aggressive trader- when he has determined that he is looking to go long when he sees a bar that suits his fancy and BAM he is in. Todd K on the other hand waits for confirmation. He will wait out the next bar or even two before he gets in to his position. What this does for the more conservative trader is give him/her a higher probability of success. What it does for the aggressive trader is let him/her be in on the entire start of the move when it does plow northward. I have a good fellow trader who is more "confirmation oriented" and I tend to be the Tom Williams aggressive trader apparently. I wanted to get a feel of how some of the traders here feel they fit into what category vs. the other? If I see a beautiful bull move on the horizon but will be unable to physically be at my platform to pull the trigger at the "perfect moment" I will accept the drawdown to be sure I get in on the trade. My fellow and well-respected trader from above would think I was crazy because he'd wait for the confirmation of that trend to form before pulling the trigger. Plus he is less susceptible to the fact that if it did decide to punch down a tad lower- I am now either stopped out or riding a nasty drawdown before the good times come. I'd be interested in hearing others own self-reflection of what type of trader they really are. I'd be very interested in people who once sat in the "Aggressive Chair" and had a moment of clarity to become a more "Conservative Trader." Once again I see an inadvertent lesson I was taught by a wonderful friend and fellow trader that I had to come too on my own... my aggressive days may be coming to an end... I may be leaning towards the “Conservative” and “boring” side with higher probability of win than I currently do now! Aaron

James- The idea of looking at it from differing "What if" scenarios is an outstanding idea, and one I had not thought of. This may really offer a breakthrough for myself as well as others. If I look back in my memory bank I have looked at a particular instrument and said "Ok I see that this will most likely be moving northward very soon (say within that trading day) but that it will still have to get its supply on the bottom out. So I have made those plays in my head- but to approach it more from a "It could do this" or "don't be surprised if it does that" is a much better approach than getting in and saying "What the hell" when you see that it went opposite your trade. I think that people in general get into a position because of the criteria they have set and to them it looks like the proper position to take- or they wouldn't have taken the position. But a perspective-taking stance of not being so surprised because of multiple scenarios is a very beneficial exercise! Thank You. Aaron

I read this yesterday and it bodes very well with your observation: Dollar General Q3 Profits up- 7.1% The Matthews-based retailer reported Wednesday that its third-quarter profit rose 7.1 percent, thanks in part to companywide belt-tightening and increased sales of household items such as food, paper products and detergent. That's largely due to warmer weather and the federal economic stimulus checks, which had only just begun to arrive by the end of March-May quarter. Their fuller impact should be felt in the current quarter. So this $600 that was intended to "stimulate the ecomomy" is doing nothing but allow people to "survive" a little nicer until it evaporates. The governments idea that people would take that $600 and go out and buy big ticket items appears to exploded in their face. Sledge

Damn, well I'd have to go with forsearch and say "Neither" as well. I guess it depends on what your acceptable win ratio or profit target is! Any system that had at BEST --40% Losing trades, I'd keep trying to find a better "edge" I could flip a coin and get nearly the same results with quite a bit less mental strain! Sledge

Tess- Good to see you back. Yeah $ is banked for now. With trading tonight looking pretty lean with the upcoming holdiay- may be a "tradeless night" going down. Looking over the currency buffet- it appears most of the good fruit is picked over- only renegade pips and gambler trades for tiny scalps left-- I'll leave those for the desperate :o Aaron

All- Wanted to see if I could spark a discussion devoted to your pre-trade checklist. This sounds absurd, but I have a loosely mental checklist and am trying to put it down onto paper and having a hell of a time getting it into a "decision tree" type format. Since the markets are made to be in such a way that we may have to "roll with the punches" the idea of making some highly rigid list of things seems to be that nothing may ever line up and trades aren't taken at all- or so loose that you are in too early, experience a bad drawdown and get out with a little scrap of profit. Here are the factors that I am trying to put together into some type of useful format: -Be sure Daily Trend and 4 Hr Trend are in agreement (These are my timeframes I use) -Where is the market in relation to S/R levels? - If at a S&R level or close- how is it acting? Does it appear it will bounce or crash through? -What is the news tomorrow? That may push to or through an S/R level I'm looking to organize my thoughts- but not have a 60 minute per chart checksheet to see if a trade is good or not. Wondered if anyone has overcome this mind-block and been able to get these down for themselves. Seems simple enough to me- but having issues nonetheless. Also be interested in seeing what others do look at- how did they narrow what was relevant and what was fringe data that is a tad less important to making the trade. Thanks, Sledge

BF- Going tp probably resurect this thread- but hey, it is a good one for more people to chime in on. By now you probably have figured out what else to do in order to get your mojo flowing. I think the goal is to be successful and accomplish the things you want to do. For example- my goals are: 1. Eliminate all college loan debts of my wife and myself (mine is now gone) 2. All cars paid for (my truck is now paid for) 3. Make my Mortgage-- a thing of the past. You may already be there- if so, congrats- owning an NFL team is surely a larger goal than my own at this point in my trading career. After completing 1 through 3, I would like to pour money into the house and making it the way we dream of, saving for kids college education and having disposable income to not "worry." The freedom of no boss, no job- no quota, is an always prevalant mindset. Other than that- I personally just want to live, want to escape the rat-race. But I'm a faily simple man- I drive a plain jane pick-up, live in a modest home, my tastes are more Timex than Rolex. Maybe time is your answer: meaning, you trade enough to be satisfied one week or two weeks a month, the other time- you travel, play golf, scout NFL team members- whatever suits your fancy. Their is nothing in life more valuable than experiences of things you have lived, places you have visited, sights you have seen! With a nice balance of money and "living life" life itself can become very rewarding. Remember: I have never seen a casket with a vault in it! Sledge

Since the name of the Topic is Emotions while Trading, I thought I would add a few points in addition to the "fear and greed" vein. Fear and Greed will definately effect your trading and I think it has been well covered. But you must also add these to your checklist as I can speak from experience of it: 1. If you are mentally drained (i.e. you have a lot going on in your life)- it is best to take a breather from trading. Right now, as a matter of fact, I have a lot of personal issues going on with my wife and the birth of our daughter. It has been about 2.5 weeks of hospital visits, emergency rooms and doctor appointments. After the crisis mode was over- I mentally am not sharp. As a fellow trader said "I'm not in the Zone" and he is correct. To not get slaughtered in this business you have to be at the top of your game. Trading is tough enough without making stupid mistakes due to sleep deprivation, mental strain, or emotional strain. My .02 Sledge

I was absolutely STUNNED to see oil hit $142 a barrel. When you saw 3 days of sickening volume banging its head at $139 and not making any further headway. It looked as if a top was in place. Anyone who was a technical trader would never have said "Ooh lets go long" on a chart like this: [ATTACH]7223[/ATTACH]

If that is the case then you are indeed correct. I was referring to Velocity FX.

Art- Thanks for the insight, quick pops on all currencies seem to be the better route to take as of late. None of them seem to have the balls to pick a strong direction and stick with it. I'l be sure to check my S&R's and be sure they match up with the levels you have posted. Aaron

Words of advice: Professional Traders (I'm talking the Big Boys and Girls whose pips are worth THOUSANDS of Dollars and are responsible to manage others money) tidy up their books and sit tight during the release of Fed News- GENERALLY, not looking to add-in or scale out at that time... .....why in the world would a retail trader attempt to do so unless he/she is very seasoned and is looking for a quick in and out?

VELOCITY is a band of theives, bad fills, horrible slippage to their benefit at all times (not just news times) When you should be getting + swap $, they actually deduct from your account at least on GBP/USD longs, that was reason enough to bolt from them. No one steals from me! Add to the fact that they are on the edge of death with not having anywhere near the capital requriements to stay afloat, I will attend their funeral and spit on their grave when they are buried! Want a GOOD Market Maker Broker (if you decide to go the MM vs ECN route?) Go with Alpari UK- a stellar band of fine gentlemen and the best MM out there IMO.

Firewalker- I'm sorry, It was not my intent to sound hostile. I did not mean to come across that way- its so damn hard to try and make points without voice inflection to have someone be able to hear them as they sound in my head. I'm defending JJ, but I'm not trying to sound harsh towards you. I apologize if it came across that way. I respect JJ and his trading- but I sure as heck can't be upset with you or your trading style as it sounds as if it is a reflection of my own Sledge

Firewalker- Ok here I can speak from a very strong perspective. JJ and I know each other pretty well, and please know this: I have learned A LOT about VSA and patience from JJ. I give him a TON of credit for the guidance he has taught me and lessons he has taught me as well. I would not be the trader I am today without his friendship and help. With that being said, I am a more "aggressive" trader than JJ- this is by his own words. JJ is an outstanding trader who makes money daily and rarely loses. His style is to be a bit more conservative than myself. We both make money, but we have different trading styles. Also note that he is actually able to be in front of his platform during his trading hours, he is much more nimble and able to squeeze out pips or reverse his position in a heartbeat if he sees something that warrants him to do so. I on the other hand am working towards that- I trade on a longer timeframe because my present circumstance demands it. On that call I was correct, but knowing JJ, he would have still taken that trade, but gotten in a little later than I- because he would want to increase his probabiltiy of a successful trade- and as you know- that is what it is all about. When JJ pulls the trigger, his analysis is solid, he knows the probability is even higher for success than mine. Maybe he grabs 10 less pips on it- but his probability is higher. Also factor in that with me, I may have made that call, rode the up move and by the time I got back to my platform if it didn't hit my T/P target- I may actually gotten to it on the pullback and made LESS than JJ on the same trade (because he spotted the exhaustion and closed out) So to nutshell all this rambling. JJ is a highly skilled VSA trader, with a more conservative approach. He puts money in the bank on a daily basis. His style may be a bit less aggressive than mine personally, but that does not mean that just because he doesn't trade like me, that I can't learn from the trading smarts he has been so willing to share and help me further my own VSA education Sledge