GCB

No contest. Cut your losses short. You have to learn the right way to lose before you can learn to win. Second would be follow your plan, and it's complement, no impulse trades. Third would be don't chase, wait for pullbacks.

Good to be back, brownsfan. Yeah, I'm not much interested in VSA or MP. But to each their own. Really, I think people are looking for something to have confidence in and they feel the more complex and seemingly analytical it is the more legitimate it is.

I'd imagine all traders go through the period where they think the "secret" of the market can be unlocked by learning some sophisticated, esoteric analysis technique. The motivation is uncertainty and the goal is certainty. But there is no certainty in the market, except that if you can't find a trading technique simple enough to confidently follow you are going to be the source of income for somebody who does. VSA seems to fall into the holy grail category. Way too complex. Market Profile isn't as bad, but I dumped it because it simply gave me too much to think about and didn't help much to begin with. It's interesting that there seems to be so many people on this board who are into those two techniques.

You are a Detailed Trader! The Detailed Trader type suggests that you are very quiet and serious. You tend to earn your success by being thorough, methodical, systematic, organized, and dependable. You are also realistic and responsible as long as things make sense for you. You have two of the three qualities that are necessary for trading success (i.e. You make decisions based on logic and analysis and you are decisive, orderly and do things sequentially). Thus, if you are willing to commit yourself, you'll probably be quite successful as a trader. However, you may need some help seeing the big picture that is necessary for trading success... One of your Trading Strengths You should have no problems staying with and executing a simple trading system that someone gives you and you feel confident about. One of your Trading Challenges You love the details of trading system analysis and development so much but you can often be working on the wrong things. Your efforts can be misguided if you are following the wrong guidelines or advice. ======================================== I took it twice and reversed the answers to "on the fence" questions the second time around and I still came out a Detailed Trader. :o The description sounds like me. But I think I'm more of a non-conformist that it gave me credit for, but that's a good thing according to the test. Hi Guys, I'm getting back into trading after a 7 month hiatus with a new job. I just put it aside and honestly barely thought about it for 6 months. I was prepared to just let it go. But then I thought, what about that dream.... Now it seems a lot less intimidating. I made some trades in the last month and been successful. Nothing big, but I am noticably making more rational decisions. It doesn't seem like the monster it was before. It helps to have another source of income.

Yes and no. I have my approach to the market and I look at the market through that prism. Obviously I need to be flexible, but I'm looking for the same kinds of signals every day. I have a few different type of trade entries, but they are all variations on the same theme, though perhaps with different backgrounds. JC said once that the job of traders is to try to push the market one way or the other. If it won't go one way then they'll try to make it go the other. That spoke volumes to me. Trader's don't know which way the market is going to go, but their participation in anticipated moves makes the movement happen. Those attempts to move the market and their successes and failures look pretty much the same every day. The thing is to find an entry, stop and target system which you can can overlay on those attempts so that over the course of time you will come out ahead. That's pretty much what I try to do. Nothing complex about it but the trick is to find something that not only works but that fits one's own psyche, that resonates day in and day out. I think that's what Hubert did with tape reading.

I've been fortunate enough to have a large windfall from the tech bubble which I've been living on while I learn to trade. But that is dwindling, though I have learned much and am getting better. It's a race with the clock though.

If you are single you can be more flexible. Try to find a job where you can trade in the morning and work in the afternoon and early evening until you get proficient enough and gain enough money to support yourself.

James, I'm wondering do you feel you need to do this to have specific insights for the next day, or do you do this for general study to see if you can improve in any way possible? I currently spend a lot of time studying, and I enjoy doing it. It's part of the pursuit. But I don't feel like I need to study charts for 5 hours in order to be specifically prepared for the next trading day. If I was day trading stocks it might be different, which is one reason I don't day trade stocks. I asked my mentor--a successful, self-sufficient YM trader--how he prepared for the trading day. He asked me, "Do you want to know the truth?" I said yes. He said, "I get up, pet the cat, have a bowl of cereal, check out the news, and turn on my trading platform and that's it." Now, I know he does evening research because he sends out a newsletter. So his reply might be a little misleading. But the point is with technical trading of futures, if your method is in place, not much review is necessary. For example, Hubert Senters said he did very little preparation for the trading day. "I'm a tape reader," he said. "I do what the tape tells me. Most other information is not useful to me." Or something to that effect.

YM just moved 140 points in 18 minutes. :woah:

There are several ways to do it. None are "right." But last is probably the one you want because it is the most common. It just means use the close of the bar, I gather. Not sure whether the 200 has much of an effect on a 5 minute chart. Not saying it can't, I've just never heard of anyone using it. The price action is so schizo now.

Keep your powder dry, though. The market has had some amazing selloffs in the last 30 minutes...and beyond. To the close... and beyond!

Now it's bad chop.

Actually that's funtwo doing JerryC's arrangement. That video is one of the most viewed videos on YouTube. Over 26 million views for all the versions of the performance. Read about funtwo here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funtwo

There is bad chop and there is good chop. Today is good chop By the way, how many of you have had a chance to view this guy. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4058167696931541082

I moved up today from a 377 tick chart to a 466 tick on the YM. I'm using trendlines now so it matters less and there were too many bars on my chart.