james_gsx

+1 But I've had my fair share of data problems on tradestation. Specifically after big announcements followed by insane volume moves. Another idea is NinjaTrader with a specific data feed. I really like their charts, and it's really easy to use. You could combine that with a broker like Infinity, Interactive Brokers, etc.

I used Infinity, and really liked it at the time. By far the best customer service I've ever received from any broker - not sure if I got lucky or if that's the norm at the firm. But when I visited the office, it seemed like the norm. So if that's of any importance to you, then it should help. I never had problems with data or slippage. I've heard good things about OEC, I used their demo and thought their charts were pretty decent. From what I've heard from Brownsfan, they should have excellent service as well. I can't really speak about their data, but I've never heard a complaint from Brownsfan so I would imagine they are excellent in that area as well. By great service, I mean the broker actually knows who I am and knows what I'm talking about. The broker calls me on a regular basis to check in. When I call, the phone is promptly answered by my broker - or the guy next to him if he's away. If it's not an emergency, he promptly calls me back. Which can be very important in a critical situation. I absolutely hate having to find a number to call, and only hearing from my "broker" when I close my account.

We print more money - and the rest of the world will continue to print more money. China will own a vast sum of T-Bills, but the truth around the Chinese economy is of a completely different subject IMO.

Pretty terrible stuff, and it's irritating as hell to watch http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/11/27/india.attacks/index.html I know there are people from all over the world on this forum. So I hope that no one has been involved, or knows anyone that was in the area when s**t hit the fan. And a happy Thanksgiving to everyone. For future reference to anyone who cares, I think Thanksgiving is a dumb holiday.

A huge portion of my plan is focused on risk. I'm an ultra conservative trader that would probably drive most people here nuts. But it only takes one black swan to wipe a trader out for good. Bootstrap had a great thread here: http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/f30/a-different-approach-4609.html Other than that, keep it simple. Remember that your goal isn't to be the next uber millionaire on Traders magazine, but to live to fight another day.

AAPL tested the 20EMA today

Fedeo, good post. The first stock is MA, sorry I forgot to mention that the first time. One problem that immediately comes to mind with counter trend trades such as these is movement. Often times, price will simply move sideways as the 20EMA catches up to price, then it will continue to move in the direction of the trend. But sometimes, you can get a nice bounce. It all depends on how your plan is set up. A better example would be if you were already short, that would be a good signal to take some off the table, or take your entire profits and wait for another trade setup. As for the white candles, the idea is simply to study price movement and not necessarily if price went up or down for the day.

I was just going through some random charts and this one popped out at me. Obviously, I'm interested in everyones thoughts but I thought I would post my own as well. Oh, and don't mind the white candles - it's just a temporary experiment :o There were three classic rejections at the 20ema with great candle setups. But this last week showed advancing volume towards support, followed by a high volume hammer at support. I think this could be a great counter trend setup to the 20 ema, and if that breaks a potential double bottom. The risk reward is nice as well, something we should all look for in these trades. I decided to add AAPL, since that's another good candidate to watch. Similar situation, except the 20ema helped build the triangle formation. I personally played this one, and was short from $100 down to around the $80 mark where I took some off the table and hedged the rest. I apologize these aren't the ES, but you get the point.

Again, you're smarter than that Chris. Now, everyone knows if McCain won this same thing would have happened and you would have called it a technical move. I'm starting to sense I'm just going to piss everyone off in this thread. So maybe I should stop posting.

[quote name=DbPhoenix;51774 And if Republicans agree with you that "selling security and hope" to his base is what won him the election' date=' it is unlikely that they will re-establish themselves in four years, or eight, or perhaps ever.[/quote] Republicans don't agree with me on that; Plato wrote that in The Republic. I'm sure Machiavelli mentioned it too. It's a common way to gain (or preserve) power over others. You sell security in an insecure world, and people will follow you. Leaders have been doing that for hundreds of years, not just Republicans and Democrats.

By recipe for failure, I'm talking about the phenomena based on pandering to hope. The world is very complex and few things move in a straight line, except disappointment. This doesn't mean Obama will fail, I don't think he will. But many people who were wrapped up in the idea of change and hope, could be disappointed in the years to come. Obama did well to sell security and hope to his base (the youth) and that's what won him the election. Bush did the same thing, he energized his base and won both elections. A huge majority of people vote based on emotion, and Obama's way of speaking, and his campaign for change did a great job to spark emotion in his favor. If McCain ran a more disciplined campaign, and had a vision, I firmly believe he would have won. McCain dropped the ball when it came to the economy, so bad that it hid the mistakes Obama made. Obama's organization on the ground was also much better, he even beat the Clintons at their own game. So in a sense, Obama is a political genius. I do think Obama will be a good president. I think his diplomatic approach on foreign affairs will boost our image and get more accomplished with the aide of the EU and UN. I think this will be a true test for Democratic demand-side (or Keynesian) economics. But most importantly, in times such as these, I think Obama will be able to inspire the people. So while many problems will remain unsolved (not because of him, just the nature of the problems) his ability to inspire will allow for many people to love and hate him. I also think he will listen thoroughly to his advisors, and those against him, before making decisions. His nature to stay calm during a crisis (even the WSJ made this claim) will benefit his ability to make sound decisions. So while he may raise Brownsfan taxes, I think the country as a whole will benefit. And hopefully in the next 4-8 years the Republican party will re-establish itself, with a better vision, and hopefully learn from their mistakes. Maybe Karl Rove was right, a war and economic downturn would force most of the partisanship in Washington to end.

My uncle who has spent much of his life involved in politics (served under a president, not sure who, and now is an aide and helping manage a campaign for prime minister candidate), he did not support Obama and thought much of his "campaign for change" and "yes we can" as a recipe for failure in the long run - which is obviously very understanding. Anyways, my uncle put in a lot of hard work as a young adult to push for civil rights. So while he doesn't support Obama from a political view, he is incredibly proud of America and Obama. Like he said, Obama is "the man". So while the majority of you most likely don't support Obama - hopefully for legit reasons and not because he's a "liberal" or "terrorist" (you guys are smarter than that, so I don't expect to see that here). At least congratulate him on the incredible milestone he achieved. In reality, it wasn't that long ago the Civil War was fought, and the push for civil rights. The best part, is that for the majority race wasn't really an issue - that speaks volumes of how far this country has come. Now some of you will probably see your taxes get raised, and I hope to join you in that income bracket in the coming years

That's the way it works though. The vast majority of people vote on emotion, hence why the attacking ads are so popular. The public is too easy to manipulate, so it's easy to get stupid things in their head and let it grow. I don't care if someone votes for Obama, McCain, or no one. As long as they have a legitimate reason. There are legitimate reasons to vote for either candidate, but it's important to make your voice heard.

Fedo, good trades. You got 2 out of 3, and those 2 winners look pretty good IMO. In that little clusterf**k area I probably would have screwed up and tried entering twice before you did. You could have set your stop a little further below that support line, 2 ticks is asking to get stopped out though - at least on the ES. But you would have needed to be patient if you wanted to catch that big trend. You didn't know that trend was coming, so it would have been a difficult trade for me to hold onto.

But when you look back, will you say the market rallied/fell because Obama won or McCain won? Or will it be because there are small body candles on lethargic volumes at resistance? Or maybe because when the VIX was 10 points below it's 30 day historical volatility the SPX tends to fall about 8% in the next 20 days? That would also work with the current technical picture. We could fall 8% tomorrow and still be within this range, and we would later just look back as a WRB after spinning top at resistance. Or we could take a long term view and look at demand-side vs supply-side economics. But of course, nothing would happen unless it passes through Congress. Considering they love to act like children I wouldn't expect either candidate to be able to get much done in the first year. Even Karl Rove said a big economic downturn would most likely be needed to bring the parties together I can see how a McCain win would be more beneficial to traders. But I just don't think we'll see a big move based solely on either candidates victory. I apologize if you think I'm being a pain in the ass

I think it's weird how someone of your caliber would place importance of a news event on market direction. Of course there are a few news events that affect price, but the markets have largely ignored the election for the last two years. Not to mention, I thought it was all about the charts Just a little something to add for everyone.. http://quantifiableedges.blogspot.com/2008/11/election-edges.html

Look at it this way, if you can live to fight another day in this market then you are learning some very important skills. The one thing you should be aware of though, and I'm confident you know this already, is that you need to be able to adapt. This volatility won't last forever, and when it dies down those big 9-20 point trades won't exist. Instead, you'll have to settle for 2-4 if you're lucky. But if you stick to your plan, and learn as much as you can, then this is a very good time to be in the market IMO.

Nice rejection at the 20ema on the daily today. Looks like the SPY will retest the 84-85 (es 840-850) level.

Jon, what is your clarification of 1 point? Lets say the ES moves from 980.25 to 980.50 is that one point? Or is one point 980 to 981? I can see it being either in this market, so I just wanted to clarify.

Well I got back two days ago, and I absolutely loved it. I don't even want to know how many miles I walked, but I was all over the place. I went to Gibsons steakhouse, and had one of the best 14oz Filets I've ever had. Unfortunately I didn't get into the CBOT or CME, but I had a nice lunch/breakfast with my broker in a little cafe at the CBOT. It was pretty neat, there was a screen with quotes from all the commodities traded there and the CME. Plus seeing all the floor traders was cool. Now I'm looking at apartments out there. The city really spoke to me, and I want to live there.

It wouldn't surprise me. But I think it's unrealistic to think such a big index could more than double in value in such a short time frame.

You know it's interesting, I was VERY right for a long time. Now I found myself towards the middle, and I'm not even sure how that happened. In fact the majority of the country leans slightly right. Hence Karl Roves quest for Republican domination. That kind of back fired when everyone in the house (Republican and Democrat) started acting like little children who couldn't get along. Also, when I talk to someone who clearly has no idea what they're talking about, I automatically take the opposite side. So if they are very conservative and talk like an idiot, then I act like I'm far left. I could be an Obama supporter, then when I hear someone say something incredibly stupid about McCain I will then proceed to to show them why they are an idiot and should never vote in their life.

Don't get me started on politics. In all reality, both parties have severe problems of their own. We have the most direct form of democracy in years, yet the typical voter is pretty clueless and can't handle the issues. The real power in Washington isn't what we see on t.v. The media helps many powerful lobbyists (some don't like to be called that) and politicians to prevent things from happening. So in reality, we can all become educated and find flaws in both candidates.But at the end of the day, it really doesn't matter who we vote for. The two parties are so divided that it will be nearly impossible for either candidate to have a realistic shot at accomplishing anything they set out to do. But what can I say, politics eats your soul. The ones who would do best shy away from the power. The ones who want power, become the politicians.

I voted yes, then realized most of you were talking about CEOs. As for the guys who lost their job and were really just doing what they were told, that sucks. It's devastating to get laid off, and I can't imagine how the guys at LEH must feel after their company went bankrupt. It's not like they were running around like Tarzan taking retarded risks and knowing about it. Of course they know theres risk involved, that's the nature of this business. But I sincerely doubt any of them knew the outcome. It's probably pretty rough on those with families. It's very easy to sit back and point out the blame, even at CEOs. I think it's stupid, because none of us really know the whole story. Even those of us who have done a lot of research, you will still never know the entire story, therefore it's pointeless to sit back and judge - especially in hindsight. And as traders, I'm kind of surprised so many of us are taking that route. I hope we all realize how hated even we are on main street.

Thought this was interesting Friday. We saw several tests of the 20ema, each time proved crucial. Hope you all enjoy that hammer;)