MCM

Found this thread yesterday - and spent a few minutes doing the Thales H/L method. Ideal entry not available (too far ranging) for this trade - but did find a nice low risk entry into the retracement to a previous pivot low after the H/L/H/L pattern shifted from downward to upward. Thanks to Thales & Browns Fan for this thread.

Good morning, Q : Pulling the ripcord - due to no steam behind the move. Sounds like a subjective feeling - or are you using some indicator as well? How iron clad are your trading rules? I only ask - because as a somewhat rookie still (1 year) of trading - I still dont trust my subjective gut. Wondering when some of the veterans will start trusting their instinct more than their screen. (getting out because "it didnt feel right"). Enjoying the thread.

Look forward to following your trading. I laughed at your comments regarding the wisdom of following some of the seasoned traders here - I feel the same way - surrounded by giants!

Rats - had been looking for the "Drain The Banks" program. Thought I finally found it. I think in retrospect the fancy colors attracted me. Man - I tried to follow the method...and got fatigued. Well - gotta go send some money to "Secrets of the Trading Stars". Enjoy your day.

Dare I mention this (at the risk of entering the fray) - I have been trying to get the code that was posted for the DTOsc (have been a fan of Miner's book for some time) - and cant seem to get it to run for TS. Sent a PM to Smuhr but havent heard anything back. Am not exactly ELD savvy - but am getting error messages when I try to verify the code that was posted. Thanks for the response in advance. (And yes - I used oscillators at points I believe the product may turn - which yes - is actually some fibonacci levels/alt price projections/external retracements - which I know some believe is voodoo, etc. But since we all skin the market in different ways - I figure its all good!) Paul

I am a Long long suffering Vikings fan....sigh - I remember the 76 Superbowl against the Raiders and I was all of 7. Am still in disbelief of their ability to find a way to lose last week against the Saints. Look for the Vikes to make a play for McNabb - old Childress connection - and would fit into our scheme (old quarterbacks who can play brilliantly one week - and not so brilliantly the next). Tomlin should have the support for a few more years. Look how long Cower had it prior to winning the big game. Goes to show how much one impact player can affect a team. Troy P is such a huge player for their defense.

Much like Maverick said to Goose, after being implored to "Take the shot"...it just didnt feel right. Revenge trading (from the past couple weeks of destruction) is an invitation to disaster. Did some watching of the market this week - with very little trading. If anything - it helped my discipline. Avoided making those "jump in - the market is moving trades". Perhaps it was fatigue - perhaps it was crazy work schedule - or just maybe - I am becoming a bit more diligent to sticking with my plan. Missed two entries by a little - which would have been nice trades. But thats life. No chasing cars. Will be in front of the screen for a limited time the next two weeks - happily because of vacation. Will try to keep active via some pre-set swing trades. Good weekend to all. Not much else to post. Like the idea of posting charts - will include that in my future posts as well.

Got back on the horse today (ok..perhaps pony..or minature pony). And sat around and watched the chop. In the end - two quick trades that were breakout / momentum plays. Not great. Not horrible. But I needed one of those days for my confidence after the past couple weeks. First trade missed the goal by 1/2 pt - and just got out to cover commissions. 2nd trade - could have exited later - but end of day and thought better of hanging around in it.

Howdy folks. Catching up on the threads. I have hit my first official funk of trading career, with a net down 1000 bucks for the week on about 7 trades. Have run the gamut of emotions from anger to disbelief. Identified plenty of trades - and didnt take them - or exited too soon. Lots of internal errors - which affected me so much I did decide to take TH/FR off for the most part except for a couple small trades and a couple sim trades (testing new platform). I typically dont trade much more than 4-5 trades/day...and literally had an 0-7 streak. Am spending the weekend going over each trade (painful) to review - as well as re-reading and recommitting to the trading plan. The only bright spot is I didnt do any irrepairable damage to the account. Feel like a bit of a twit not posting the individual trades throughout the past few days. Next week is new. Will review some favorite passages of some books/notes I have taken during the past year along with self-berating. Any experiences regarding dealing with your first slump (where literally - you felt like you couldnt get on the right side of a trade if you wanted to..and was temporarily insane) would be appreciated. P

Post by Brett Steenbarger concerning trading with a mentor/group. Thought of our recents threads... TraderFeed: Cross-Talk: Trading as a Team Sport

Aye - we definitely trade with different styles. I had been watching some of the stocks that appeared on your screen you had mentioned - and found it was an easier approach for me to find appropriate candidates for my trading style then pushing through my typical 50-75 stock universe. Especially in the early portion of the day when some of my universe was not showing any movement. Just goes to show - more than one way to skin a cat. I am hopeful I can reach the same success with my methods that you have with yours. Cheers... Thanks

Light trading on Friday for me. One ES trade and two swing trades - will put up the final results when they occur. (Thales....I did use your screening criteria along with my trading style - and lo and behold have got a couple nice trades going. Will see where Monday brings them. Shorted both of them into heavy supply as they were skyrocketing up.) One trade in the ES - for a 38 dollar loss (one contract, stopped out for 3/4 pt loss.) Which brings me to my question. During the sole ES trade - market just sort of sat there. Went up 1 1/2 pts..then back down to my entry......and stopped me out. Seems the market needed to go another 2 pts lower before it popped up. Followed the trade set up and exit - so no complaints. Unfortunately, no profit either.

Couldnt agree more - it is about working through the process on your own. your posts always have a nice amount of thought processes you are going through during the day/trades - which I ring very familiar to me. I really didnt want to come off in my previous post like some jack*** know it all...I am far from it - adleast the "know it all part" - as for the jack*** part, my wife would probably think I own some of it! So please accept my apologies if it came off in any way like that. My prose stinks...Im gonna shut my yap now! (3 posts in one day...the board has suffered enough)

Robert - let me preface by saying I have only been trading for the past 8 months or so...actively even less than that. Reading and attending some classes for a bit longer - so my opinion carries little water - but the nice thing about chat boards - is you can throw it up - and then see what some of the Master Traders who reside on this thread think. (really have gotten to respect some of the words & wisdom y'all throw out). "What is a trade" Simply put - it is you attempting to extract money from someone else. So in the price/chart - you need to appreciate that opportunity - otherwise you shouldnt get into the "trade". When reading your updates - it seems you dont always have an exit in mind with your trades. That indeed - you are exiting on your gut feel. From everything I have read/gleemed/picked up from some of the experts - that is a recipe doomed for failure. Unless you had planned on getting out at the S2 level before you hit the trigger to buy/sell - it shouldnt be a decision at that point. I am wondering if it had more to do with you getting "even" for the day with regards to money. In other words - before you enter a trade - you should already have the exit planned. (this is where you take away the money from the person who entered the trade with you) Then walk away. If the market has some major hiccup or some disaster happens externally - you can always change your stops - but it shouldnt occur too frequently. This has been incredibly difficult for me to learn - as I was always concentrating on the money (green/red) during the intial few months - and really got out of many trades way too early. So every set up should have an acceptable loss (or dont get into the trade) - a Risk/Reward that fits into your system (or dont get into the trade) - and let the market go where it desires. (and let your stops take you out of the trade) In the end - you are trading your own personal edge. In that respect - I am a solo trader - since I have my own system. The rules would therefor not make sense for someone else trading. I doubt I would feel comfortable trading the way Brownsfan/bathrobe/thalestrader does due to the fact we are entirely different people. These forums are nice in that they keep you connected to a community - but dont influence your day to day actions.

Spent the day on the trading plan - rewriting some parts and working on the Van Tharpe homework. Took two trades towards the end of the day. Market seems to be at a huge inflection point. My downside bias is itching to get short. Will wait for the appropriate set up. Thales - agree with Brownsfan - is a pleasure watching you hunt out some of these stocks. Your trader IQ seems to say beginner - your results scream something far different!

Lots of chop today in the ES. Didnt hit any bigtime supply/demand levels, so ended up trading via my fib/timing patterns. Had entries according to the plans - trades just didnt materialize. Stops were followed. A good day of following my rules and gameplan. Results - well - werent great. I guess sometimes the market wont giveth. Someone always said there would be days like these...

Two left feet today during the dance. Someone remind me why hindsight is 20/20 and foresight can be blindingly impossible some days. Walked in with the wrong thoughts - and didnt respond to the first 30 minute push which should have suggested a strong trending day to me. And I just kept pushing against it. In the spirit of finding the good for the day 1) Didnt let any of the losses run past their original stops 2) Didnt chase any entry late in the day - which (in hindsight) would have made money - but for all the wrong reasons. Hope that pays dividends somewhere down the line. Reset for Thursday - my next trading day due to other committments. Thanks for the wisdom Brownsfan019. Since I am still < 6 months into this - still OK with spending some time watching the market. But certainly appreciate there are some times to stay out of the chop. But eventually would like to move towards your methods of finding the first quality moves - trading them - and being done P

Tams...couldnt be more right. Sometimes I let the internal bear in me (love being short more than being long) move me into taking some counter-trend trade. The one set up I had for long (that I missed - see above) just hit its first target. Probably no coincidence that it was in the direction of the trend.

3 trades thus far - all short - and all losers. Not great set ups - but certainly not dogs either. Just didnt work. Good thing - I stuck to my exits. So dont feel bad - you have company. (By the way - Nice trades earlier Brownsfan !! Love how you are packed up and done in a couple hours!) Of course I saw one nice set up - and didnt get the limit fill - then took it off the table - only to have the market come back and hit the # again when I wasnt by the computer. Of course - it looks like that one is gonna be a nice trade (891.25 to target of 898) Nice to sid idly by - and watch it - with zero money in the trade. Will hang in there and see if something sets up this afternoon. :missy: P&L later - but it is likely gonna be red today.

I made a whopping $10 bucks for the entire month of April on my last trade at the bucketshop. So for an entire month- no trades really, but as one of my closest friends told me.. "Maybe this was the best thing that could have happened to you" And he is right. Inconvenient, but necessary! Aaron I would agree with your friend. As they say - capital preservation is the most important aspect in trading. By escaping these clowns - you probably saved alot of future heartache and losses. So perhaps April was a heckuva lot more profitable than just that $10!! Regards

Enjoying the thread - even if input is limited sometimes. The nice part - no one is selling anything - so you know the input is (likely) genuine. Helps reinforce the concept that you can trade what works for you - and be successful. Spent the better part of the week dealing with the Swine (overhyped) Flu. Am an ER doc/director - and it has taken me away from the market since Monday. The good - missed some of the chop that was the ES/NQ. The bad - missed the set up for FESX once again (2270 level paid off three times...unfortunately only got it once.) The one thing I am starting to notice on my performace - have two accounts. One is with TS - which is where I do my charting. Very easy/convenient to drop a quick (impulse - feeling - gut) trade. Other account is with Ninja - where I set up some "perfect" level trades. TS account: -5% for the past month. Ninja account: + 40% with a 90% win ratio. Nugget in that statistic...just need to keep reminding myself of it during the day when the impulse to push the button hits. Four days away from trading did let me know one thing - I missed trading. Looking forward to the markets opening up on Monday! Hopefully the CDC & Media wont go crazy over the weekend.

First post regarding P/L. Not a typical day - caught a nice 2 day swing in the Eurex. Had the trade planned for a week - and it triggered nicely. Should have done better on exits - but somehow my interface with Ninja and the futures holding was not working - so just exited the contract when the market opened last eve. The Bond and the Emini were more typical of my trades. Trying to work a plan - ironing out entries and exits. Hope it continues...

As a beginning trader (less than 6 months) - I found sim trading to be of little use except using it to learn the platforms (especially Ninja). You swear to yourself that greed / fear / pride wont affect your trading - and by god you do well. Really thought I would hit the ground running after a month of sim trading. Until you go live - and the three henchman are sitting in your chair taking turns pummeling your ego. Cant count the amount of premature exits I took - (and still take, though at a lesser clip happily) and the 2 or 3 "hope it turns around soon - hell - should I add to the position and average down" - cardinal sins that I swore I wouldnt do. Live trading taught me I overtrade - I wasnt picking my spots - and I was not trusting my positions once I did pull the trigger. Happily - no account was blown out - and was reasonable about the amounts I let flow into the hands of more skilled traders. And - nowadays, I am seeing more green than red typically. (though not always). The good thing - I am mostly succeeding at rating my day as a success on whether or not I follow the plan - and trade the plan. I have actually got damn near to convincing myself of that "good" trade that lost 2 points in the ES. Am a little hesitant to throw the results into this forum - but after reading the 27 pages - it is clear you folks are kind...perhaps I will be brave enough to post. Appreciate alot of the comments - it is a great community to learn from. I have alot to learn - look forward to peaking over everyones shoulders. P

Greetings everyone - have enjoyed being voyeuristic on this website - and the more I look - the more useful information I am finding. New to the trading gig - after a couple years of reading/classes, have set out the past 3 months. Unfortunately - I am still in the process of developing the trading plan - and actual rules. Have made a vow to not trade anymore until that process is complete. The question (and problem): Lots of books, lots of ideas. Have tried to implement a few, some with success, some with failures. Have read numerous times - that nearly everyone blows up an account. I havent, am basically down 2% over the past 3 months - but that isnt going to cut it (obviously). 1) Did you blow up an account? If you did - was it "key" to your education? 2) Did you all have a strict plan before your started trading. 3) In developing the plan - how many "types" of trading did you start out with? I enjoy trading fib retracements/extensions both in price and time. Am struggling with finding ample opportunities (TS easy language is anything but for me). Thus on days when I cant seem to find those opportunities - will trade some breakouts from S/R etc. However - in the end - I feel like I am aimlessly wandering - or as the old saying goes - king of half a**. Doing lots of things - none of them particularly well. Realize this is a long and rambling message...but looking for some guidance on how you got over this initial problem (cant believe I am the only one) - on developing your own personal "style". Appreciate any comments - have a good evening. MCM

Find someone who does alot of them... Steer clear if you have bad astigmatism.. If you are nearsighted (cant see far) - you may be switching one set of glasses for another (pull out the reading glasses) Every year you delay - the technology gets better. I was thinking of having it done several years ago during residency...now I just keep putting it off due to the continued advances. Will probably wait until I need reading glasses - that way I go from 2 pairs to 1 pair! (just say no to bifocals)