MightyMouse

Wow! Monday is my favorite day and that too has been reflected in my trading. I guess its a matter of perspective.

Thank you for enriching us. I feel whole now.

The road to trading extinction is paved with perfectly executed flawed plans. An individual needs to know how to trade before he can build his plan. Trading is not buying or selling when a pattern appears or a line crosses over another; trading is knowing how to buy low from traders who are desperate to sell and then selling back to others who are desperate to bu. It is also knowing when not to buy or sell or when to sell instead of buy or buy instead of sell. Novice traders buy at the wrong time and sell at the wrong time, genreally because they are easily fooled; hence, they do not know how to trade. Adhering strictly to a flawed plan will likely minimize losses, but it won't give the trader what he is looking for.

I really wanted to know what you used it for. I try to estimate what traders may do next which means , no matter how I slice it, I am trying to estimate or predict behavior and determine if that is what I need to happen next or if it ok for it to happen next, given a particular trade I am in.

What is gained by learning/knowing the relative liquidity?

People who try to predict the markets and fail decide that markets are random. Efficient market theory explains why they can't get an edge on other traders.So, since the author cannot find an edge and he is smarter than most, then others can't find an edge either because they are not as smart as he thinks he is; therefore, finding an edge is not possible and if patterns are not discernible, then markets must be random, If anyone is buying into the flawed logic of random markets, compare randomly generated chart data to a days price activity. If you think they are the same, then you are as smart as the author and should quit trading. If it were random, then 95 percent of people could not lose.

Well, you asked a question that I dreamt about a million times and each time the answer was with options. Futures is tough and if that is what you had in mind, then I see why you asked. An adverse move could wipe you out if you made a mistake with leverage even though you have perfect knowledge. Of course, you could hedge your futures position with options.

That's why I would sell as many as I could and not write puts that I couldn't write. The calls above 1455 that I wrote would go down in value as well if the market went down 100. The calls below 1455 would be temporarily worthless. They would be worth the 1455 - the Strike price on 9/21. So I don't care what they are worth if the market drops in between

If I knew that, say, The S&P was going to be at 1455. I would sell as many in the money puts as I could below 1455, I would buy as many out of the money calls as I could below 1455, I would sell as many calls as I could above 1455, assuming that option ex is Friday the 21st. Even knowing where the market will end up, you could mess up with futures, but not with options. Options and Perfect knowledge are made for each other.

A good idea might be to figure out or get the algorithm that ninjatrader uses to estimate execution for limit orders in its sim trading engine.

It is simple, but then it isn't so simple. You want to determine direction and then strength of direction and choose a set up to enter or choose to stay away. Your actions/reactions when you enter should be a lot different from when you know the trade is right. So, you may want to start bailing shares or contracts right away if you do not get the higher high when you enter, but if your trade is right and you get a bar that doesn't make a higher high, you shouldn't still want to get rid of the contracts or shares at this point because a bar didn't make a higher high when or if the trade is right. Your trade management should change as the trade changes. Every new trade you take should be treated with suspicion; don't trust or have confidence that it is a good trade. Start chopping if it gets red or doesn't do what you need to see it do. But, a winning trade, should be treated like its a winner. Don't be afraid to let a profit get bigger. Stay in it and look for reasons to stay. Small profits are the biggest mistake you will ever make.

Can you be a little more clear about what you are asking? An example?

Does making a living mean living a decent lifestyle or just getting by? It means either depending on who you ask. Does the person live in the North East or does he live in Alabama? I am sure someone can come along and "make a living" in 6 months. I doubt the individual could provide a decent lifestyle for his family as a 6 month trader if he has a family. So, making a living is going to mean one thing to some and another thing to others. .

at this point, what is your point? Do you want a strategy that works? Do you think that no one here has a strategy that works? Do you believe that a person can make money in the markets? I will still maintain that the OP needs magic to make money in the market.

You have nerves of steel for trading silver if you were trading silver futures. 8 hours is a long time in a day trade if it was a day trade. Give yourself some credit if that is the case. No reason to stay in a trade if it is taking too long. You can always get back in when you get out. Separate your self worth, esteem, etc from your trades. You didn't fail if you exit a trade when it is not moving. you have no control over the market. You should be the only one that has control over what happens to your account.

You get a lot more leverage with the Emini than you do with etf. If you know how to take advantage of leverage, then use the emini, otherwise either will produce the same result. The underlying is the same.

If you want a strategy that works so that you can set it and forget it, then the strategy is to do the research to find someone who can take your money and earn a rate of return so that you do not have to to it. As you wonder about strategies, markets are moving. Money is being made. Commodities, stocks, currencies are trending. Hop on one and make some money. Buy something and sell higher. If the suggestion to buy low and sell high isn't good enough for you, then I suggest that you are probably someone who always had everything given to him and expects everything to be that way. Mom put money in your account and all you had to do was go to the ATM and take it out. You will not find mommy in the market so stay out if that is what you are looking for. There are no guarantees in trading. No ATM strategies. Stop dreaming. Markets are for people who have balls. Not people who dream of having balls.

Why is bigger, faster, stronger, longer, or etc, categorized as better? Bigger is only better if you are insecure. Faster is only better if you are impatient. Stronger is only better if you are weak and feel inferior. Longer is only better if you fear death. You can argue that the progress we have made over the last 200 years tremendously upsets the balances of nature which for eons was maintained perfectly by the less technologically advanced humans and animals. If we say that we are the most intelligent species on the planet because we have the ability to reason, It is both a self serving and arrogant statement to make. I am more intelligent than a squirrel because i can develop a hand held video game to play with during my leisure time and a squirrel cannot. But part of the planet needs to be destroyed to develop my video game. No action taken by the squirrel destroys the planet. Arguably a squirrel does more to preserve the planet than we do. Preserving the planet is in essence preservation of your species. We are not preserving the planet for our species. All that matters is us and now. Ego an arrogance at its best.

Your quotes ("") indicate that you take issue with the possibility of being able to understand orderflow through tape reading in a short period of time. Sour grapes aside, some things are easily overlooked when they are over-analyzed. If you came across something similar or better after your two year period, then all that matters is that you did find it and that is great.

There was one used a while back by LTCM. It worked for a while, but they sort of ran out of capital. Thank goodness for Greenspan.

Ok, if you are going to do it that way then it will probably take you 2 years. :haha:

A pirate walks into a bar with a steering wheel sticking out of his pants. The bar tender looks and him awkwardly and says" Hey, you have a steering wheel sticking out of your pants." The Pirate replies" ARRRRRRRH, it drives me nuts.

not to flood you with conflict, but 93-94 might be a good entry, risking a few points, attempting to catch the whole range on a day like today. Risky taking a trade a few minutes before the open so close to a globex extreme with the stop at the extreme. But, I am a pussy who doesn't like to lose.

I am glad I can amuse you. What is also amusing is that you make this seem so much more difficult than it is. If bluehorseshoe puts up the indicators as I suggested and watches for a short period of time, he will begin to understand what is going on in just a few days. I am not stating that he will be as proficient as someone who has done it for 1, 2, or 5 years, But, he will be able to see the entered orders and executed orders, how the sum of traders position themselves at various points in the market and at various points during the day, develop a read for the direction of order flow, and he will learn to tell when support or resistance may or may not hold. Once he gets these basics, he can then begin to implement them into his discretionary trading. Without tape reading, the best one can do is be a victim of target and stop. I am assuming, too, that bluehorseshoe knows what trading is. If he has to learn to trade at the same time that he is learning to read the market, then it may take him as long or longer than you are suggesting or he may never get it. It takes a lot of time for traders to learn how to trade because they first try to wade through all the bullshit only to find that most everything they read or learn is bullshit. So, a lot of time gets wasted. Most traders drop out, IMO, because they run out of time which I think is very different from failing. An instructor like you should greatly shorten the time cycle for a new guy. What else are you offering if you are not offering a short cut in time?

Sure you could. Put up 2 T&S, one unfiltered and another one that is filtered. Also, put up a DOM, a tick chart and a longer term chart. Stare at it and It will click. Once it does, you'll know what is going on by glancing at it. It might take you a day, 2 days, maybe 3 days. I highly doubt it will take you longer than that.