brownsfan019

Fun day so far Abe, lots of action! How would you say things are going? Another week in the books and are you feeling more confident or are things still in the air?

Mr Paul - had another idea today - take a look at the Euro FX. It's on the CME and at 12.50/tick, it could be what you are looking for. Commissions are a tad higher but could be a nice replacement to the ER2.

Richard, I do not use the Heikin-Ashi Technique myself as I like the regular candlesticks and understand the philosophy behind them. Here's a link to investopedia on HA - http://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/heikinashi.asp

http://www.oddee.com/item_88597.aspx Take a look at that webpage. Looks like some impressive stuff!

I am 'flexible' with my definition of a candlestick pattern on smaller timeframes. I would not discount their functionality however simply b/c of a lower timeframe. An additional filter may be necessary though.

BF - As much as I've read that comment in books, newsletters, etc. I never had any luck with that. What I mean is, I could have a gorgeous sell on the 30 min chart, but plenty of chances to go long on the 1 minute. What do you do? I just never had much luck with trying to use a higher timeframe for the overall 'feel' of the market and then using a quick timeframe for when to enter. It's probably a function of me using candlestick analysis as well.

I should have included in the original post that what timeframes you chose can also lead to a 'quality of life' discussion as well. What I mean is, when trading off a 15 or 30 minute chart, you have time to plan your trade out and implement when the time is right. You can take some time and strategize. It's a little easier mentally if you ask me, esp when you compare that to a chart that is printing candles every 20-30 seconds! Obviously there's a big difference there and that might be what the doctor ordered. It's a huge mental drain, for me at least, when taking 100+ trades per day manually. That will really wear you out some days. And then when I look at a 30 minute ES chart from today and see 4 nice trades, 3 winners, 1 small loser and a nice day of profits. Now, I may make more on a scalper method, but then it's a discussion of whether those few extra points were worth it in the end...

enlightened - I will not argue the point that the ES is the best day-trading vehicle, as I agree! BUT, if one can take advantage of many markets vs. being forced into one, I am giving a hard look at what is best in the long run. What I mean is, when the ES is in a junk day (however you define it) the ZN could be providing excellent opportunities. But if you are only looking at the ES, you'll never even notice the ZN trades. Anyways, I think it's a valid point that all traders at some point need to consider. Is it better to look for opportunities over many markets, which will probably require a higher timeframe, or focus on a small number, as little as one knowing that some days that one will just not be providing much?

Good points james. If one was short and still short on the shooting star, tomorrow is an important day as you noted, the low has not been violated. An aggressive short should still be short in my opinion and a conservative short was probably trailed out.

This past week I've had a bit of a realization, in part to my interaction with james_gsx in the candlestick corner... what you pick for your chart timeframe is so incredibly vital that I think it's easy to overlook. Allow me to ramble... In my opinion, the lower the timeframe you go, the more focused on that specific chart(s) you become. For example, I recently had my ES chart down to a 2000 VBC. For those not familiar with the VBC, a 2000 setting can literally print candles in SECONDS. 2000 contracts traded in a quick moving market is nothing. It's actually quite amazing to take a step back and watch. To see what I mean, turn a 2000 VBC on during the first 30 minutes, the last 30 minutes or around econ news (esp Fed). My point being that I literally could only trade the ES at this level. It required my undivided attention. Now, that was/is not necessarily a bad thing; however, I soon realized that I really narrowed down my potential trading targets to one market. As some here might recall, I used to post about the EC (Euro Fx) and we had a thread about the CL (Crude Oil) going as well. Well, those markets became a distant past with a 2000 ES VBC Chart. So my question/dilemna as I think about my trading biz currently is: is focusing exclusively on the ES with a small timeframe (and many, many trades as a result) more or less advantageous for me vs. kicking up the timeframe on the ES to then open the doors to the other markets once again.... There's no quick and easy answer (at least for me right now). It's hard to complain when the ES is treating you well with your current setup; however, this is all about exploiting as many opportunities as possible while they are there. And if I am glued to the ES while the EC and/or CL are producing incredible trading opportunities, what is my cost? Again, not an easy answer and more rhetorical than anything. In the end, I wanted to get this out there so others could learn from my struggles currently to find that balance of exploiting the opportunities as they arise. In a perfect world, I could have a computer do all this for me, and before we go there, I am not interested in that. Whether it's old fashioned or what, I enjoy trading and doing it myself. That may be an opportunity cost that I have to deal with. So I would highly recommend that all traders, seasoned or new, to at least glance at other chart timeframes occasionally so you do not become get a case of 'tunnel vision' as I have.

To continue some of our discussions on candlestick analysis, I wanted to talk about candlestick analysis on different timeframes. By nature, I am currently a daytrader using as low as 2000 VBC's on the ES, but there's MANY ways to apply candlestick analysis on different timeframes. There's some arguments that I've read that candlestick analysis loses it's touch the lower the timeframe you go. And on the surface of that argument, I'd probably agree. As with anything though, you sometimes need to dig deeper than what meets the eye... I hope to make this thread an ongoing look at candlesticks on many different timeframes and chart setups so that we can look at a variety of approaches... 30 MIN ES CHART I start with a 30 minute ES chart b/c that is a chart that performing candlestick analysis on easy b/c you literally have at least 30 minutes to gear up for a trade. That chart is from Wed, 8/29. So my question is... what candlestick patterns appear and how did they play out? 15 MIN ES CHART Here's a 15 min of the same day. How does the picture change, if at all, by going to a timeframe that produces twice as many candles as the 30? Is that good or bad? 5 MIN ES CHART And the 5 minute... ============================================ I'll leave it at that for tonight. What I hope you can see is that once you train your eyes to look for the candlestick patterns, the question then becomes on what timeframe and chart setup? And why? There's no right answer as each of us has different risk tolerances and expectations of each trade. For example, if you trade the 5 minute with a reasonable profit target, I think you could make money. I also think that if you go for a 'reasonable' target on the 30 minute as you did with the 5 that you will probably lose money in the end. But then I would argue that the 30 minute trades *could* be a stronger trade than the 5... Feel like this? :crap: This is why trading is hard and why I believe candlesticks are so misunderstood and misused. Just taking a hammer is only one small sliver of the puzzle. All hammers are not created equal. You not only have to recognize the patterns, you have to figure out how you will use it, and after all that, see if your conditions to enter a trade are even met to begin with! Oh yeah, and then manage the trade. :doh: Now, before I scare newbies to candles off, keep this in mind - once you get your system flowing, all of those steps just happen. They become inherent in your trading and you just do it. It's a matter of if/when you get there. It takes time and A LOT of practice. But when you are there, it can be very rewarding in my opinion. :applaud:

What an interesting day today... very bearish day on Tue and the end result for Wed was a very bullish day. Now, if you watched the price action as it unfolded today, you saw some bearish activity at the start and a few little pullbacks, but the bulls took it in the day, esp from 2:30pm est on. Here's today's dia chart with some analysis: After looking at that chart, here's my plan of attack: If still short, have to pay attention the rest of this week. At most the stop should at the top of the shooting star. At best, you may have been trailed out today, which is fine. Today was a major bullish push and I would have no problem seeing that this short just didn't have it this time.

Abe, Going to offer 1 suggestion here - instead of the short timeframes and settings, just see how a 10, 15, 30 and 60 minute chart looks to you. Just see for comparison if things would be done differently on your end.

Mine, I don't use the tape at all, if that's any consolation. There's probably some value there and as Walter said, it would require time to study and learn how to properly use it.

James, Well, we have some nice candlestick action here since you started this thread. Almost looks too easy... At this point: 1) All LONGS should be closed. 2) A new trade to go short was confirmed today rather quickly and easily. As of now, the classic candlestick pullback to SMA worked rather easily. Now it's a matter of trade management. Could be a little to no risk trade in one day. I like those! :thumbs up:

Ok here. What's been going on?

She was nervous James, but that was for real. No joke here.

I agree, not an easy question, but what on Earth did she even say? A good smilie for this situation... :did I say that?:

We got off track in another thread, so I'll post a few youtube vid's here for everyone's enjoyment... WHERE IT ALL STARTED: :doh: And of course, some great commentaries on this wonderful showing... And just in case you aren't quite sure what you just heard, here it is with subtitles:

I don't even know what to say. Honestly. I've come up with some BS lines before, but this just doesn't sound right... or make any sense... :crap:

Nate, I had no idea what you were talking about and then found this little gem... Wow.... :doh:

Nice... :helloooo:

SWEET!!! :fight:

I am in!! Someone needs to take the lead on this and set it up. I'm open to a free or cash game, if that's allowed in the US... :blushed: