Maelstrom

Wow.... still getting posts on this thread! Gotten a few PM's and some posts with questions and comments.... will try to address a few of the more general ones. Am I still trading - yes. Am I still using this method - yes, kind of. I am always tinkering and trying new things, so have a few other twists and things I have been using. Can I answer questions - sure. It really is nice to see that there is still some interest in what I had posted here... I have gotten some really nice messages from a few people about how something "clicked" for them in reading some of the things here, and honestly... that was the purpose. Always been a believer that something you create or discover or, most importantly, believe in for yourself, is the most useful and effective thing you can find in trading. Kind of why I stepped away from the thread and the forum - people were contributing their methods and ideas, and I hoped it would continue. After all, my way isn't necessarily the right way, it just happens to be the direction I am moving in! M

Holy grail v 1.0 was discovered by the famous trader Monty P. - I believe it was called the black plague edition. Version 2.0 was then refined by I. Jones providing loss protection against Nazi stop running. Apparently this edition will now cure world hunger,stop all wars and make us all rich and happy. Can't believe there is now a second thread of this rubbish. M

Anyone miss me? :rofl: Wow, feels like I have been gone forever. Spent the last couple of weeks getting a new house, moving, furnishing a much bigger place, and dealing with the wonderful things that come along with all that. Haven't even been able to open a chart in that time, so I am completely lost to what has been going on (other than what has been on the news). Hope everyone has had success trading, and looking forward to catching up with things here on TL. Now if I could just get my wireless network back up and running, I will be ready to hit the trading arena once again (hopefully by next week) M

I pretty much stopped checking into this thread after the first page, but I have to ask..... are you simply trying to get subscribers to some sort of signal service or training? The reason I ask is you keep stating you are looking for friends who trade like you..... but, there is no way to know if anyone trades like you because I have no idea how you trade. Your screen shots are tiny and unhelpful, there is no real explanation of your methods, and frankly, I haven't been able to discern anything of value from your posts other than you have an "automated" system that seems to magically catch every swing top and bottom almost to the tick. Some friendly advice.... if you are indeed looking for trading "friends", initiate a more engaging dialogue. I have made many friends here with many great traders by posting my trading methods, ideas, successes and failures.... Phantom and others have done the same. Guess I am just trying to figure out the intentions here..... M

Adam, Phil is perfectly ok in posting here..... at one point earlier on in the thread, I encouraged anyone out there to post their trading methods, ideas or questions if they thought it would help other traders. I do appreciate you watching out for the thread though, and not letting it get "hijacked" And, I have been missing in action this week. After the first couple of days, I figured discretion was the better part of valor until the debt issue is resolved. Would have turned out to be ok this week, but once I told my girlfriend I wasn't trading this week, she practically kidnapped me lol. M

Great - looking forward to your posts! M

Ok, I'm game..... You said you are trading sup/res....curious as to what these levels are based on (single bar s/r, intraday swings, etc) And, you listed specific times that you took your trades....are these set times of the day that you always look for trades? I guess I am asking if you are looking for some commentary/feedback on your style of trading. If so, a bit more detail would be helpful. And, the fact that you were trading off of 15 m charts was not self-explanatory when the attachments are zoomed in to 2 or 3 bars. Looking forward to learning about your methods.... M

DAVT, Precision is always a great thing......care to expand? Thanks M

I will Jon.....I think the best way to elaborate or clarify on certain points will be to do so through live trades - application of ideas has a tendency to make concepts easier to grasp. Thanks M

Mslk, Thanks for the kind words - I do appreciate it. I think I may continue to post some trades, if for nothing else to keep my self in check. This week, thus far, has.....hmm, let me see.....what's the word I'm looking for.....oh yeah.....sucked. :rofl: Actually, not too bad.....2 failed trades thus far, with the last one coming within 3 ticks of my take profit before reversing. This may very well be where discretion comes into play with any trading method, and I may sideline until the ass clowns in Washington get their collective shit together - well, as much as they can at least. Thanks for the post.... M

Phantom, I felt compelled to post a comment here regarding the lack of feedback, participation or even gratitude when one makes the effort to start a thread to help, or at least attempt to help, traders out there who may need a hand. I questioned several times why I was posting a thread - often, it all seemed to be falling on deaf or uninterested ears for the most part. After some time, I realized it could be several things..... Traders who know how to trade were visiting my thread just to read and perhaps check into someone else's trading (as I am guilty of doing with your thread) Some people may not have a clue what I was talking about, and just chalked it all up to being too complicated or not for them Wrong trading style to fit their temperament - not fast enough, too fast, wrong markets, too much risk, not enough gain.... Maybe people reviewing my thread just think I or my trading style is full of **** It's an endless list. But, when I started thinking all these things, I remembered why I started my thread. I don't need to convince anyone about how to trade, nor need followers for a subscription or teaching service, or really anything else at all. I started it for one reason - to help. Whether I have done that or not, I am not quite sure. But I do know that several members have participated in my thread, and received many messages of thanks for my efforts. An overwhelming response? Far from it. But, I do feel good thinking (or deluding myself) that I may have helped a couple of people out there improve their trading. And that will do just fine. I knew immediately from reading your first few posts that you are a very skilled trader, and that you have a lot to offer. Do the community a huge favor - keep offering it. You, as I, have no reason to do it other than because we want to.....that comes from inside, and THAT tells me you are much, much more than just a skilled trader. I for one enjoy reading your thread, although our trading styles are different, and appreciate and applaud what you are doing. Keep it up - remember, what goes around, comes around. Thanks, M

Good catch, but the downward formation I referenced from Friday was an invalid one. See post #172. Sorry for that - trade was over and done, so out of sight, out of mind. M

I made an inaccurate statement in my last post, so let's see if anyone can identify it and why (hint - it was part of my answer to question #3). Yes, I make mistakes..... lots of them actually lol M

YM, Great questions, let me try to answer. - How do you determine whether the first trade for a new week will be long or short? Everything is a continuation from the last trade. Last Friday, the last qualified trade was a short, which I took and got stopped out with a relatively small profit in the congestion period. So, this morning, I was only looking for longs. Weekends, overnight, etc.... none of those things matter. I simply look at the last direction a completed trade occurred, and then look only for the opposite. - Do you take the set-up off of the 1st intention move? Yes, as long as the following occur: - there is a closing bar above the formation ( for longs) - the pullback movements do not exceed the bottom of the formation (again for longs, everything in reverse for shorts) - Do you wait for an overall trend to form, and then look for the 1st opposite signal? A trend for me is once there has been a confirmed formation ( 3 or more bars in a direction, then a close beyond the formation in the formation direction). Friday, the down trend was confirmed for me when a downward formation formed (started at 05:45 cst) and was confirmed once a bar closed below the formation. Trend remained down until this morning with the upward formation that began last night around 17:02 cst. -Also, when the market gaps open like it did Sunday night, do you count that move down as an intention move? That is a difficult one, but yes, I do usually count that gap as an intention move. Today, I took the long trade that you indicated on your chart (spot on with your entry bar btw!) , and unfortunately, was stopped out to the tick. But, now looking for shorts (and ignoring that 1st downward formation that formed this morning) Hope that helps! M

Well, set out with a purpose of laying out my trading method to help those who might need a hand in finding profitability. Not sure if I did that or not, but hopefully, I have at least been able to spark an idea or two in a few traders out there. The majority of how I trade is outlined in this thread. I think there may be more than a couple of points that I did not explain as clearly as I should, but as IamJon said, questions can always be put forth. But, no need to grow a thread further just for the sake of posting. I want to say thank you once again to everyone who has visited and/or contributed to the thread. I am still amazed at the community here at TL....an excellent group of people, and some great traders to boot. Thanks for the opportunity. I will still be around the forums, and available if anyone has questions or comments - feel free to post here, or send a PM. Thanks for following guys, and I wish you all the very best in your trading! M

Ok, losses..... yes, they suck. But, for me, I like looking at them as opportunities. The way I trade is basically from confirmed tops to confirmed bottoms, and vice versa. That is why if I had a long trade, my next trade will only be a short. The "dark side" of that is the following..... if I finish up a short trade, I will be looking for a long. Assuming a signal comes up for that long, everything looks great, I pull the trigger, and.... it turns and becomes a losing trade. Of course, what does that market do? Probably takes off like a rocket in the direction I wanted right after stopping me out. Do I re-enter? No. Will I then be looking for a short? Yes. I may be sitting on my hands for a while watching the market go by, but I have not yet found a reliable re-entry into a trend - this is something I still need to work on. The flip side is, losses for me open up an opportunity to take the next trade with the trend. Ok, enough of that, but I will go over how a loss affects my next trade - it's really simple. If I take a loss, I am looking for an opposite trade, but I disregard the first formation in my intended direction and only take trade signals based off of the second formation. Example - short trade, and it takes a loss. Now looking for longs, and I get an upward intention move. I ignore that move and wait for a second upward formation to trade off of. My logic behind this is, if I take a loss, there is a good chance we are in a congestion period and that is what caused the stop out. I want the market to scream at me "yes, I am moving in a definitive direction!" before I get into another trade. This has kept me out of some choppy action several times. Yes, I run the risk of getting in late to a new trend, but I have found this to work very well for me. M

Jon, All good points - thanks! As for S&R, some is what I have gone over, and there is a little more that I look at, but I am going to hold off on that for now. Enough confusion out there already M

Adam, You use the formation just prior to your entry bar.....so in this instance, the first extension would be based off of the next formation (the one right before the first oval) M

Just a possibility..... won't trade it, but will be interesting to see if it goes down here. M

This is the sort of thing you can kick yourself for sometimes

Out at 12628 all contracts on close above previously noted stop. +24 per contract - far from a sexy trade, but them's the breaks sometimes.

LOL.... no offense taken. That perception is something I have been concerned about, because as careful as I have tried to be in laying things out, I think some things may have been skipped over, put in the wrong order, or frankly just been unclear. I have given some thought to putting together a pdf or document with everything laid out as clearly as possible, but that would be a pretty significant effort, and I am really not sure how many people would find that useful. Good news is, the thread is just about at it's end.... not much more to go over.I think I have gotten just about everything out that I wanted to, disjointed as it may be. Perhaps I will start a journal in that section to post my trades real time and results in case anyone is trying to follow. Thanks M AKA WTF :rofl:

Second extension target set at 12575 Bar close below 1st extension target - stop now set above this bar at 12624. This is a closing bar stop, meaning a bar will have to close above this for an exit, not just touch or breach the price. M

May or may not make sense, but take a look. Thanks M

Good question. Quick answer is to take a look at post #14...... then look at the 3rd downward formation back ( starts around 11:45cst) M