brownsfan019

Abe - first, it's nice of you to share your charts with everyone for a visual. Second, GET SNAG IT already!!! Seriously, it will save you so much time!! You should be able to take your screenshot, draw your rectangles (and clean looking ones) in about 30 seconds. I have a feeling it's taking you a bit longer with whatever software you are using. I know how time consuming chart annotating can be and just trying to save you some of that precious time!

Guys, throw up a volume based chart and see if that makes a difference of your view of this 'bad chop'.

James_gsx - I hear ya! Some of these setups are occurring rather quickly and the most important thing is to get in and then get those stops/targets on.

In futures many brokers refer to this as a block account. I use it daily for my accounts. No need to try to place trades in multiple accounts. If this interests you for futures, Open ECry actually has a really, really nice block account structure. You can set everything up yourself and make changes easily. Right now, while at Mirus (need to get funds moved!) I have to email them whenever I want to make changes and then watch the statements closely to make sure it was allocated properly. And until I demo'd OEC's block allocation software, I just assumed they were all like that as that's what I did when I was trading @ Alaron as well.

With the current volatility it may be a good idea to revisit VBC's if you find yourself saying "There is so much movement on my minute chart!". I have/had been using 3 minute charts to trade the ES and w/ this volatility recently, I am finding trades are requiring 4+ pt stops. For me, that's a bit much. I'm willing to risk up to 2.5 normally and normally that would work fine on a 3 minute. I am currently running a 5000 VBC chart on the ES. That may be a bit fast for some, so play around with some settings to see if a VBC could help you more in this trading environment. This is where being a human trader in the game each day has it's advantages over a computer program. How long would it take for a computer program to realize that a 3 or 5 minute chart is just not working in the current environment?

Hey fellas, great action today! One idea - it may behoove you to look at volume based charts as well. As you know, I was mainly using the 3 minute but with this volatility, that is TOO LONG in my opinion!! Running a 5000 VBC chart on the ES right now. I'm not suggesting you use a 5000 VBC as that is fast, but even adjusting that up to 10k or 15k can produce a smoother chart in my opinion.

Please clarify what you mean by umbrella account.

No idea Nate as I don't use MP. As long as you plug the data into a charting package that supports what you need, I don't see why not. For example, on Multicharts I can run minute charts, volume based, etc. etc. even though you cannot run all of those specifically on OEC's built trading software.

Nate - if you decide to daytrade futures, an inexpensive way to get going is to trade through Open ECry. Reason being they will provide you all the data you could possibly want, free charts and free trading software. Normally I cringe at hearing 'free' but this is not bad at all, esp if you are looking to test the water. You can also take their data and plug it into other charting services, like Multicharts, if you want a more robust charting platform. So, at OEC, outside of your normal brokerage commissions and internet cost, there's no other fees if you use all their stuff. If you add in Multicharts, that's a one-time up-front cost. Not bad in my opinion as I have at one point paid $100+/mo for data and $500/mo for my trading platform and then the cost of a charting package as well.

What a day here... I can't begin to explain how rough this day has been. Right now, it's about break-even roughly and that's a miracle in itself.

I believe your chart is showing a shooting star in book terms. But, I personally prefer inverted hammer b/c that's what I see - an upside down hammer. The important part is understanding why that is bearish, which you obviously get. Nate and others reading this need to understand WHY that candle is bearish and not be overly concerned about what to call it. Call it 'Tin's Bearish Candle' for all I care!

Nice chart tin! It's technically a shooting star in case we have any noob's wondering what that was. Point is that you recognized a really nice opportunity to short.

As of now, at a whopping +.37 pts net. :bow down: Some days are a grind it out day and today is one of those days for me. The first 30 min's just mutilated me so that +9.25 trade was much needed. I don't usually see that kind of chop on the ES with the way I enter (buy/sell stops) but a couple I got ticked in and bam, straight to my stop. Part of the game. You have to take days like today as they come and then cash in on days like a few last week. If I can chug out a small profit today, that'll be a big victory in my book. Psychology of trading, ain't it grrrrrrrrrrrreat!

Thanks, but it was tough. Had I not taken that ONE short, I'd be down pretty big for the day. Moral of the story - take your setups. All of them. Note - out at +1 on that long.

This reversal long at 83.25 is a tad more risky, but parameters met so staying long.

Currently holding all trades until a reversal signal confirms, based on the volatility that we have.

Covered that short at 83.25 for +9.25. Wow, that was a fun ride. And a much needed one. I was all over the place going into the 10am news - 5 trades for -7.75. Not pretty, but we are up so far for the day.

I got tossed around like a 2 dollar hooker before the 10am news. :cry: Short now from 92.5 and still holding. I at least made back the other losses and now holding....

I was referring to actual threads, and mainly just the daily progress one.

Tin - they do support some brokerages now and plan to add more. Once the brokerage and DNA are hooked up, you do not have to enter ANYTHING manually. That's the beauty of the software if you use a broker that is on the list.

James, What I mean is have it set so that the webpage would automatically reload or refresh w/o the user having to hit the reload button. I've seen sites that do this, it's mainly sites that have info that needs updated throughout the day. I'll see if I can find one, or if anyone has examples, please post here.

darth - hopefully Open ECry will get it done w/ TraderDNA soon. I am very anxious to see my actual reports as I've seen some demo's. It would be nice to state with no hesitation that my most profitable trades occur when XYZ lineup.

Nate - my understanding is that if you get TraderDNA to 'talk' to your brokerage firm, all your trade info (date, time, enter price, exit price, etc. etc.) is then run through a program that will produce some impressive reports on your personal trading - when do you trade best? worst? are certain days better for you? etc. etc. I really liked what I saw so I have been pushing Open ECry to get their api to talk to TraderDNA this way NO inputting is done on your end. That makes life much, much easier. As for how James will use it, not sure yet.

In an effort to educate and stimulate some discussion, I'm going to try to put together a few steps for candlestick trading success! Step 1: Identify the candlestick 'patterns' or 'formations' There are a variety of websites and books out there talking about candlestick patterns or formations. Some sites out there with some free stuff that can at least get you started in pattern recognition. Stockcharts.com in particular has a nice section on candlesticks (click hyperlinks): Main Page Intro To Candlesticks List of Common Patterns That's a few free links from stockcharts.com. Those are pretty good for being free. Keep in mind that is not meant to be a substitute for books, videos and live seminars. As mentioned previously, I like the work of Steve Nison. So the very, very first step is to be able to look at a candle(s) and identify if there's a potential candle pattern or formation there. That's step 1. I know that seems easy, but it can take some practice, esp in real-time and esp in day-trading. I would suggest looking at some DAILY charts and just start flipping through charts of stocks to see what you can recognize. Don't worry about stock charts if you just trade futures, you just want to train your eyes to see patterns and formations. And speaking of day-trading, there is one important consideration when using candlestick analysis in a day-trading environment - YOU MUST REMAIN FLEXIBLE IN YOUR DEFINITIONS OF CANDLESTICKS IN REAL-TIME, DAY-TRADING. The lower the chart timeframe, the more flexible you must be. And what I mean is that if you are only looking for picture perfect hammers, you might be waiting a while for a signal. As we get more charts posted, this will make more sense. And from candlestick recognition, there are a couple schools of thought of how trade them: 1) Trade any of the patterns if your parameters are met. 2) Trade certain patterns based on your preference and testing. This is going to be an integral part of your trading plan and there's no right answer here. It really is dependent on how you build your trading plan and what your testing has shown. I'm not going to do the work for you, so don't bother asking.

Check this thread - http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/f30/how-to-post-a-chart-properly-805.html