JEHs

It's like anything else, trendlines, action/reaction lines, chanel lines, pitchforks, whatever... they all work and they all don't. I would venture to say that a good percentage of us draw lines on our charts that approximate the angles of the trends or ledges or flags, but most of us don't necessarily "trade off them" exclusively. I would say even if we don't draw the lines we still see them on the chart...

All you can know for sure is that fills will be occasionally different in paper than in real. Sometimes worse and sometimes better. For the most part, most paper trading approximates real pretty well from what I have seen. I remember using an IB paper account years ago, and I think it worked pretty well. I believe with stocks the fills will be a little slower than with futures. I don't know why price would spike through a limit order and not fill at your price or better unless you mean price spiked through and back very quickly and you didn't get a fill, then I would say sure, this could definitely happen in real life. Especially if you are trading odd sized lots or something. The only way to know for sure is try for real and see if it happens. my

The answer is yes. One tick is one penny per share as it is on any stock or ETF. This is not like futures where every one has a little different tick value. So if 100 share moves 1 penny or one tick, it equates to one dollar.

I think this is the stuff that confuses most of us who are trying to figure this out. I think you are trying to explain stuff that takes place on an intuitive level. I'm sure it all makes sense and probably some of it I am already aware of, but if I have someone constantly explaining stuff like this to me and try to understand it I would go nuts. There is to much for the mind to process at any given time. It would be if someone was trying to explain how to throw a free throw by talking about force and trajectory, etc. There is something to be learned there probably but the only real way to learn to throw a basketball and get it in the hoop is to keep doing it. When it goes in you don't know exactly why, you just know that you are getting better at it. I find I have been watching charts so long now that there are times when I just know what will probably come next. The trick for me is waiting for those times. As time goes on I'm sure I will see more and more of those areas, (many of which are probably the areas now that frustrate me because I don't know what is happening), but for now I need to go with what I can see... ...but I think, in short, what you are saying is, "trade what you see", which is generally good advice so I will take it as that. Thanks.

Looks like if you were up at about 2:30 or so you would have had your entry. One of the things I like about this method is the ability to disregard the time...

...lets see... I don't know. Yes. Yup. OK. It depends, but, in general, I suppose so. Thanks. I have much to learn. This is hard but I think, for the most part, I am moving forward... :shrug:. John

Here I tried the first breakout on the smaller formation. Moving my stop according to plan I was stopped out at -1 tick. Then, on the larger formation breakout the move was much stronger. I am looking for the ones like this that take off and don't turn back. I don't see any reason for a looser stop. Either it goes or I don't want it. This one I exited at the strong resistance of a previous high. I'm afraid I was just excited to have some profits and didn't want to give any back. I left a lot on the table as a result...:doh:

I'm thinking you are stopped out now with maybe 15 tick profit unless you waited for the signal to go long, then you didn't make much at all. Now it looks like we would be long.

...so we would have an entry at 7:31 central time if I am understanding right.

We seem to have the three down bars overnight and a lower low as well... Do you wait for the break of that new low or, being it is a lower low already, do you look for the entry here?

I'd say definitely. Go for it. let us know how it works out.

My QQQ trade ended yesterday. It turned out better than expected since the market is really still in an uptrend. I think I might have botched a long I was looking at on XLV... That's the thing about trading off daily charts, the opportunities don't come along every day and you need to be paying attention and take them. The nice thing about trading off daily charts is you get plenty of time to see things and think about them. Maybe too much time sometimes...

I was thinking I would explore the breakout type entries. To me, they are usually the most recognizable and easy to trade set-ups, (using the word "easy" loosely, nothing is really "easy"). I posted my trade yesterday on the "reading charts in real time thread", and here on my blog: http://mydaytradingcharts.blogspot.com/2011_06_27_archive.html Here is my chart for today. I did not manage to do this right today, I had some other stuff going on that I needed to deal with. This one turned out to be more of a pull-back entry in the end, but the idea is the same; the break will most likely be in the direction of the trend...

For me, this is the key. And also the hardest thing. ...the waiting...

Just for the heck of it I will try to posts daily charts that I am watching or trading. These are not futures, just ETFs and maybe the occasional stock. I'm not sure how to actually help someone else become a successful trader. I'm sure this is not the way but I haven't really seen anyone with a better way. I don't think there is a way. I have come to the conclusion that we are all on our own. Anyway, I am still struggling. Maybe this will help me. I will start with a trade that I have been in for a couple weeks now... yes, all hindsight. Nobody reading this will have any clue if I am really in this trade or if this was just one lucky trade in the midst of many failed trades that i am not showing but, whatever... there is no way anybody here can know anything about anybody else anyway so this is all I have to offer... ...and here is the post on my blog: http://mydailychart.blogspot.com/2011/06/trade-as-it-looks-this-morning.html if I don't post on TL, I always post here, especially if I actually take a trade, but sometimes just things I am watching or thinking about...

A break-out trade. I left a lot on the table after this, but I stuck to the plan... http://mydaytradingcharts.blogspot.com/2011_06_27_archive.html

Just going by my wife, who is always right, this makes perfect sense.

Course, I don't even have an IQ apparently, so it probably doesn't even apply...

...so I could have a traders IQ of 100 and never even really be a profitable trader? Dude! I'm going for it. If I never earn a penny from trading I want that upper 90s traders IQ! Now I have an attainable goal!!!

You are probably right. Fraud is something to be avoided. I was not reading your posts right. I was just thinking of 5k to start an account. The part on the application for net worth, i don't even remember because I breezed over it. I am an older guy with home, land, 4 cars, wife, 4 grown kids... I am not wealthy but 50k net worth is pretty easy for me. If that is really what they want, you will probably just have to work and save till you get there... I'm not trying to be flip about this, I just never really thought about it before... Keep trading sim and keep working at it, it is probably not as far off as you think...

I guess things have changed since I was with AMP a year ago or so. I had an account opened with $2500.00. OEC will open an account with 3k.They do not have Ninja, but, like I mentioned, they have a chart platform that is just as good. I'm sure there are plenty of others, but I have been happy with OEC.

I re-read your initial question and it seems that you have answered it yourself. AMP will do it for you. And you like Ninja so, that's your answer.

AMP trading will do it I think, though I haven't been a customer there for a while now.. If you want to use NInja, that is probably the way to go, but I'm sure there are plenty others... Open ecry is what I use. If you maintain a 5k balance, you can use their demo platform indefinitely. It is very similar to ninja, (without all the crashes and other issues that I remember with Ninja).

:rofl::rofl: .......................................woah... dude.

This is the hardest part of that whole idea...