bathrobe

On the trade on page 97 the divergence was on the 5 min chart using a macd oscillator. I use 5m,15m 30m, 4range and 1000vol, charts to get signals from. Chris

completely missed the move near the end of day but still had a pretty good day

People often say on boards that they just want to make 100k/year, as if 100k is no big deal. They are saying this in relation to the traders that make 100m and 1B, so they think if they can squeeze out 100k, no problem. I always find the statements that start out "I only need to make..................." silly and they do not take into account the psychology of the trader if/when they make that much. In a business where you can double your income if you had traded more contracts it is NEVER ENOUGH. If you shoot for a 100k year, when you get there you will be shooting far higher the next year. This breaks down on a monthly/weekly/daily basis also. As for the original question "How long..........." I think it is entirely dependent on the individual and the situation the individual is in when they want to become a trader. I do not think their is an amount of time necessary to put in. FWIW Chris

I will still be pretty busy with outside activities this month, but I will try to get in more than only 9 days. Analyzing July's trades, I did not place a losing trade (some trades had "legs" which lost, but the overall position was profitable. Also, I was happy with all trade entries/exits except for one where I moved the exit prematurely.

I took 2 trades today, the attached charts show entries/exits. Had a good month, although I only traded 9 days. Chris

I have scoured the NT forums for this and only come across a individual coder who does not want to share the Ninja Trader "Market Delta Footprint", could you provide a link please? Thanks, Chris

John, I may have misunderstood your question. On the second trade (scalp trade) I did not buy @ 91.25 and add at 22, I bought at 922 and because I felt I was on the right side for a scalp I added at a lower price (on the first trade of the day I placed one order at S and sold at R, I never buy again at a higher price or sell again at a lower price, (against my trading plan)). Also, although the first trade continued to rally up to daily and weekly pivots after my exit I never second guess, and felt the level had been touched enough times to make it a possible turning point so I made an intra-trade decision to not leave any part of the trade as a runner. I felt I was on the right side of the trend so I bought 55 contracts at 922 and another 55 at 991.25 and my profit target was 2 ticks, I only buy/sell more when I am sure my analysis is correct. I hope I was able to answer your question. Chris

I have been trading or investing in some way for about 8 years, I have been profitable for the last 5. Regarding the first trade, I had a limit order for 30 ES at support, NT shows on the chart how they are filled (several single contracts and then 10's or 20's). Chris

Attached is a chart with reasons for taking first trade. Second was a scalp.

After the move down I faded the retracement. Only was able to trade half the day.

In my own trading I frequently use what I consider to be price action (have not read the threads that define it). The speed of a move, the speed of the pullback, how quickly it moves for or against me all help me decide whether or not I will stick with the trade for a larger gain or a minute one. I use many timeframes and non-timeframe specific charts along with a ma, used to use a macd but I am moving away from it. (thanks Thales) To me what I described above is trading price action as I am trading based on the action of price. P.S. I have read many threads where traders extol the virtues of PA thinking when they master this they will be successful, on other boards it has taken on a somewhat mystical nature. Those who claim to be PA traders are regarded highly on this argumentative board.

Hello, was gone this week. Several longs today buying support and then buying again later in day. Good day all around.

Well stated BF, wait for the pullback. If it doesn't come and you miss the move at least you did not lose money.

Great day for me. I included charts for today, bought the breakout of VAH, later faded $TICK, and later day sold at resistance.

Traded later day breakout around 245 est.

Several shorts and one long, took the afternoon off.

I suffer from frequent migraines, the normal meds dont work so I have to take narcotic pain relievers and then cant trade, I can actually tell when it is going to rain due to the kind of headache I get from the barometric pressure.

The latest issue of Futures magazine has a wonderful article by Al Brooks about trading treasuries using price action. In the article he explains how to avoid what he calls "barb wire", which is the same as chop. In the article (page 28) he refers to barb wire as a bar with 50% or more of the bar overlapped by the bars immediately before and after. This is a quick, 3-bar way to identify chop, and breakout strategies could be applied as a simple way to trade, I think more confirmation would be in order to take a breakout trade, but this is a start along with the other ideas earlier in the thread.

Probably the reason I (and maybe some of you) trade when you should take a sick day: I have a problem with what I would call "over-excitement" regarding all markets, trading them, spending tons of time (possibly way too much time) trying to build systems, coding indicators, reading books, both good and bad, and going through the ever-expanding wealth of information on the internet regarding trading (much of which is not worth going any where near) THIS SITE IS THE EXCEPTION Nonetheless is am sure we all have this problem, our obsession drives us to become the best we can be. Chris

I consider this (short) trade a bad trade regardless of the P/L, you can see from the attached chart my entry and what happened a short time later, I failed to follow my trading plan, was preoccupied, and was not at 100% physically (migraine). I think some of the best ways to improve is to look at trades you should not have taken regardless of trade outcome. Chris

Thales, I am extremely impressed by your daughters trading. You must be a very good teacher and very proud. Actually, I know you are are a great teacher because of the help you have given me (spotting divergence without using an indicator (MACD histogram in my case) As for my P/L posts lately which have been infrequent, I have been in and out of town and helping with my family's business.

Good day all around, done early. +5,450

James, just wanted to add my 2cents, I love the forum and the exchange of ideas, also the I have come to know a small group of some of the posters and the sharing/learning is second to none. You do an excellent job of keeping the petty arguments that take place on other forums away from TL.

Here is screen shot for today

Scaled down size this week because of holiday. +375.00