brownsfan019

Is it an actual indicator or just a math formula? If it's just a math formula that you plug #'s into, Excel will do the trick.

I think a longer term 'trade' must have profit target(s) and stop loss put in place before the trade is even taken. In other words, not only do you need to place the stop loss, but you need to know where you are getting out and why. Once that is done, if you believe in the trade and your analysis, it's easy - let it go. Either the the profits are hit or the stop loss. Now if you do not enter with profit target(s), you have to be more proactive on the trailing stop but as you pointed out Aaron, I believe it's difficult between placing too close or too far...

And that is what turned me off to NT. It's not free, regardless of what anyone may say. If it was free, how could NT stay in business, right? So just keep that in mind when comparison shopping. You want stability and reliability, but you also should watch your business expenses. IMO Open ECry offers a very attractive free option that is also very solid. I came from a platform that I was paying $500/mo for and have to say that OEC has been great to me.

So far so good today - 2 trades and done. Shutting her down at +4 on the ES for the day. Just enough to get the blood flowing again.

fs - she works at a daycare during the day. We tried the stay at home all summer thing and that was not such a great idea.

I would never trade through TS. Great charting, backtesting, etc. but I would never risk money on that platform. I was on TS quite awhile ago and the platform to trade on is very unreliable and has not changed much as evidenced by this thread and many others out there.

Wish me luck guys. First full week w/o Patch by my side. I tried to keep busy with stuff last week but not sure I can or want to do that again this week. I'm debating about whether to trade live or not, guess we'll see how I feel in the AM.

Everything I have heard about Ninja/Zen has been good. Depending on the commission setup, you may pay extra fee(s) for this so make sure to do a comparison against Open ECry and others.

For me Frank, I did not need the extras that MC offers vs. just using OEC's platform. My setup is pretty simple so OEC has what I need. When I was using MC, I also plugged OEC data into that to save some data costs. That's a good way to go. Just keep in mind that OEC historical data is very limited currently so if you need a lot of historical data, you will still need another data source.

I would suggest using MC since most, if not all, of your TS things should transfer over. I was an avid user of MC prior to moving to Open ECry and found MC to be a pretty good option for charting. Who knows what the future may hold, so I would not factor that into my decision as Ensign could change things or have the same issues down the road as well. Just pure speculation at that point.

Buyer beware if there is no trial offered. If this was as good as advertised, why not let someone give it a go for a week or two? If it is that good, most would surely purchase it...

Checking an economic calendars like this one is a good start. Usually the items marked with a star will have some effect on the e-mini's. From there you can track which regular reports seem to have an effect on the YM more than others.

That's it in a nutshell - for a free platform, you'll have trouble finding anything comparable. If you need more data, you will need to get an external data source and charting software. It would be nice for OEC to open up the historical database, but not sure if/when that will happen. I've put the bug in their ear for awhile now and I believe it's a storage/database issue. Thanks for the help FS.

So sorry to hear dandxg. It's one of the most difficult things a person can do IMO. I wish I could say it gets easier, but this is still new to me. Everyone keeps telling me it just takes time, but time cannot go by quick enough for the first time in my life. Take care of your mom she will need a shoulder to cry on, someone to listen, someone to just sit there and get through this.

Just wanted to say thanks for everyone that posted here and sent PM's. Goes to show how great the TL community is when I've never met anyone of you in person, yet so many here came to offer support during this tough time for me. This week has been the worst needless to say. Tues Patch was put down and since then, it's been brutal on me. I'll find myself ok and then something will happen or trigger a thought and off I go... For example, yesterday while making my lunch salad I dropped a tomato and normally she'd be right over to gobble that thing up. When I realized that was not going to happen anymore, I had a little trouble there. No trading this week at all. Probably a good thing. We'll see how the weekend goes and if I feel like jumping on the horse come Monday. I know I need to get back into the swing of things, but it's harder than I thought right now. I hope the weekend can keep me occupied.

Is this the book you are talking about zdo? I'm not familiar with it but would love to read more about this topic.

RMT, Interesting post. Guess it depends on the person and style of trading. Personally, I don't mind mind walking away for a bit and let the trade work. Starting at each up/down tick can drive you nuts IMO. I think this is also why those that backtest or trade on a sim have trouble sometimes when real $ is on the line. In backtesting or fake money land, you can easily just let it play out. But when your P&L is changing in front of you by the tick, that can lead to premature exits.

Blue, I think it comes down to how you learn best & what you are looking to learn. If you learn on your own doing your thing with trial and error, then I would trade on my own to start. If you'd like to learn from another trader or company, consider a prop firm. Just do your due diligence first. With so much stuff on the internet, there's plenty to get you going but it does take time to find your rhythm, much like poker. I believe I am better poker player now than I was a year ago; but I also have a lot more work to do. Same with trading - you'll get better over time, if you can survive and see the light at the end of the tunnel. Many just give up way before that.

Yeah, that's what I did yesterday MC and it was great. Today has been a struggle. I'm watching charts, but no trading. Everyone keeps saying time will heal this, but for once in my life, time cannot move fast enough.

Exactly. Sometimes it takes a Bowling for Columbine type thing to get people to at least pay attention for a little bit...

Thanks gamma! Yeah, she loved playing w/ those tennis balls. We'd go up the park and I would throw it as far as I possibly could and she'd go get them and bring it back. Just had a ton of energy at that point. Unfortunately that energy started to slow down in the last year or so. Today is the first day I am on my own w/o her. G/friend is back to work (she took off yesterday and we kept busy), but it's back to 'normal'. Going to take some time getting used to this b/c I'm so used to her right by my side during the trading day. Some things in life just don't seem very fair...

You are so right MC. Making that decision is not something anyone should have to go through, but we do. I used to say all the time that I wish I could read her mind and just that one time I wish I could have. I wish I could have known her thoughts before the vet came in. Good stuff here guys, thanks again. I'll have this thread bookmarked so when it's a rough day, I can come back an see the support here.

Thanks guys, I appreciate it. I knew there would be some great support here, so I didn't think twice about posting. A new day and the struggle continues. Looks like no trading for at least this week for me. Thanks again.

Thanks MK! It's hard, I'm not sure I want to put myself through this again to be honest. I know that's the sorrow talking right now, but I'm not sure. Give your dog a big ole hug and treat - tell him/her it's from me.