ztrader

WOW! TRO "Never Lose..." thread is now on TL. I haven't visited TL for a while until yesterday. Avery, good to see you here at TL, WELCOME! Here are charts for YM, ES, and EURJPY on my methodology with TRO additives. BTW and I hope you don't mind, I made a couple of cosmetic modifications to your MPMM Exit indicator and use it instead for entry [making the original name no longer appropriate ]. Interestingly enough, with it, I can trade/scalp YM, ES, EURJPY, EURUSD concurrently by just looking at one YM chart with the MPMM setup I have - all arrows GREEN at last Friday's closing hour. Excellent visual tools and can be a stand alone trading method. Keep pumping out/coding them indicators on MT4. You'll never know what else will blend into the TRO additives for my trading system. Thanks again. :thumbs up: ENJOY! ztrader

If you're scared, you're scared. You will find it very hard to pull the trigger even on your highly profitable methodology. When your real money is on the line, you will react differently. This is more so when you start with smaller trading funds. Best wishes and ENJOY! ztrader

Well said tune. Planning is one thing; implementing the plan is another; SUCCEEDING with it is something else. ENJOY! ztrader

Exactly my point. Very well said, Head2k. ENJOY! ztrader

Yes, there are edges including "better observations"; better understanding of the market, its players [bulls and bears], and its footprints [price and levels], among others. Even those who weren't born better traders , can acquire the knowledge and training to become one either by your own self or with the help of others. ENJOY! ztrader

OK, it's NY martini lunch time and I am done with my trading. Db, you are a rare bird. By that I mean, you maybe in the upper ranks in the 10% bracket of successful traders. To believe that a trading strategy "which would-be trader develops himself" is "consistently profitable" without putting it through the real time testings I outlined in my previous post, is absurd and naive. There is no such thing as "automatic touch down" just because you [meaning traders] call the play. This applies to those obtained from third parties by most beginners or even by experienced traders [as in years of trading] as many are still struggling and looking for an answer. Here again, there is no guarantee that the "success rate would be far higher". No two or more traders using the same and let's call it "consistently profitable system" will trade the same way nor get the same results. Unless, trade order signals with entries and exit at the same prices are given. There are still so many variables that come into play in reality trading. In the true sense of a "business plan", and I only touched on this because it was brought up, it is considered the "bible", the official operating document in the corporate world, franchise businesses, and a structured small businesses. This is also an "imposed" discipline on accountability where executives and managers are expected to adhere to. It is not a just "list of things to do:. A trading plan is only a component of this. I am not implying here that traders should develope an extensive business plan. Agreed. But one should still put it through the same reality testing or it would just be pure fantasy. If one "needn't have "faith""; how can one execute the entries and exit consistently everyday and be consistently profitable? I am not really here to debate this topic. We all have brought up before the readers some items to take into consideration in their journey in this rough world of trading the market to become successful traders. Here to everybody's success in their . Best wishes and ENJOY! ztrader

In about 25 posts or so, we have read the two sides of the Edge vs Mentality. Db advocated well the necessity for consistenly profitable trading strategy stating: On the other hand, smwinc contended: Both have presented strong arguments on the EDGE and on the MENTALITY and both were nominated posts. The two posts in fact indicated that it is not a question of EDGE vs. MENTALITY, rather they raised the issue of which one should you have first. MINDSET or what I also called PDF = patience - discipline - focus - is really hard to come by in the trading world as most are consumed searching for the so called and non-existing "holy grail" that by the time most come around to thinking or discussing about it, is when a trader is already struggling or have lost good amount of money, time, and effort in the quest for that "consistently profitable system" The EDGE or CONSISTENTLY PROFITABLE SYSTEM is by enlarge, something that almost all commercial vendors of softwares and systems, and forum thread authors on systems and methodologies tout about everyday on their websites, email spam promotions, and postings. Db suggested that one should have evidence and to this I will add and say compelling evidence of a consistently profitable trading strategy. What are those evidences and when are they compelling enough? Well, there are talks about backtesting results, playback, still images of charts with marked entries and exits. Those are evidences; are they compelling enough to you? So, we go to past performances, proof of actual trades, and to some extent actual brokers statements or even push it to audited trading and bank statements. At the bottom of which we will see a disclaimer saying that "your results may differ or vary" or even lose your money using such system. To accept any claimed of "consistently profitable system" you must be convinced that there is a compelling evidence. YOU have to judge it yourself right in front of your very eyes, clicking on your very own mouse for entries and exits, in real time, live data, with real money for sufficient amount of time. Now, here is where your MINDSET - patience, DISCIPLINE, and focus - will be TESTED. You now have to PROVE YOURSELF to the system that IT IS IN FACT without any reasonable doubt "consistently profitable system" that suits your style and resources. I believe that these tell us that: without a claimed "consistently profitable system", we cannot really test if we have the trading disciplines to become a successful trader; without testing our trading disciplines, we cannot judge if we have a "consistently profitable system" to become a successful trader. So, ideally we have to marry the two and based on "KNOWING THYSELF and on our personal circumstances and resources, you can then decide which one you will give priority to. Either way you will need both to become a successful trader. smwinc also brought up something here of real importance when he wrote: Here, I believe he is referring to "faith" in your system. It so happened I read something last night along that line and let me quote here: That is FAITH. That is POSITIVE EXPECTANCY, a mindset a trader should have. Db further alluded: I confess that I have compared trading to a game mainly, to football as an analogy in presenting levels of support and resistance or zones and the interactions between the two teams: the BULLS and the BEARS, on those lines of defense and offense. Also, trading has been called and is a zero sum game where we have winners and losers. Trading is also the only game where we make and break our own rules. Trading IS IN FACT A BUSINESS not a game nor a job. There have been a lot mentions in passing that trading is a business yet there hasn't been an extensive discussion of it as such. Having been in business and management consulting, I have made the "development of a business plan" an integral part of my system and coaching program, from 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months to 3 years and longer. I work with traders in my group "organizing" and writing up their "YOU TRADING, INC". In treating trading as a business, there is no boss, you are on your own with no accountability other than to yourself. This is when and where the discipline in most instances "goes out the window". You may have disciplined yourself in the past with your exercise, diet, etc. With everybody telling you to spend countless hours of screen time, there is that temptation to let go of that good old habits and start forming new bad ones. Trading the market will constantly put you to test. You will have a lot PROVING TO DO, to yourself and no one else. Best wishes and ENJOY! ztrader

Here is an article which may be of value to some of you who follow this thread. I work with several newbies and experienced traders alike who, after testing, using/trading with either one or more "profitable systems" and/or one or more "commercial" mentors/coaches, have come to me first and foremost with an intention to use the EDGE of my system and learn its methodology. However, after they have been qualified and accepted into my fastrack learning process, they quickly realize the emphasis on the importance of acquring the "mental edge", the discipline, first in their quest to become consistently profitable trader. I believe the industry, the many forums on the net and trading chatrooms have put more emphasis and conditioned majority of the traders to acquire the mastery of techical analysis and methods together with so called money management. Yet, the statistic on failure rate among traders remains very high. ENJOY! ztrader

I empathize with your skepticism by just looking at the stats indicating that 90-95% of traders are either struggling or have completely failed. Yet, on the other hand you see and read all these optimism in most boards and from among the many emails you may have received from some commercial system vendors. Optimism is most welcome, of course, and there are those of us who make very comfortable living in trading business. At the time being, you may just happened to be travelling in the wrong or "not so suitable" tunnel. You have also read, told, and heard about and, in fact as you stated you have done and spent, countless hours of screen time but what was on the screen, the kind of information and technical overload one may have been visualizing and transmitting to their brain during all those times. What filtering process do you apply with what you screen in and screen out? You have programmed many systems and back tested them successfully yet when you have launched it on live real time data you may have encountered many disappointments as in most cases it did not give you the similar results. You did exactly what most traders have read and said to do, "screen time and back testing" technical analysis, market internals, etc., and still no light. You're right, the market is very challenging and hard to conquer yet you can tame it with PDF = patience, discipline, focus. Don't give up on HOPE and OPTIMISM yet. You have done a lot and have plenty knowledge behind you. Maybe, this is just about the RIGHT time to redirect your time, energy, and money and start looking quickly for an exit on the side of and out of that "dark" tunnel you now travel; look for a shorter tunnel where you can see the light within a short distance and period time, reducing you new learning curve with a new trail in your trading adventure. It will not be easy but it sure can be simple. ENJOY! ztrader

Ric, Secretariat, who used to do their live scalp calls had left them and setup his own room [public access]. You may want to check his new room and his ES/DAX/Stock calls. I don't trade them but I do check them from time to time on my charts. So far so good. For me, I just pop in there once in a while to enjoy his sound and the music. ENJOY! ztrader

Indeed, a good way to look at it. It seems the availability of so much technical information and knowledge, impair traders decision making and alter the course of trading their plan. The offensive team has only seconds to view the defensive line formation checking for "probable" open space, the play is called, audible sound off and they run the play. That's how it is in real time trading. Just from my goldeneye bears eyeview. ENJOY! ztrader

servo, This is your lucky day. You have won the Mega Bucks Jackpot on machine #123. More on this later. What an interesting coincidence in our background. I have developed an automated financial reporting system for a major medical transportation company. I have also worked with my nephew in the development and installation of some software systems and support services for POS, variety of tracking, and security surveillance for smaller casinos, resto bars, and entertainment lounges. Those were the good ol' FUN days in Las Vegas. Now, for the Mega Bucks winning. In lieu of my Part 2 post, here is the Jackpot you can claim, if you accept and IF YOU QUALIFY. I have an offer you cannot refuse [but you still have the option to. I am not with the Vegas mafioso. ]. It's a project I would like to work with you and here is a couple of the details: I will guide you through those 3-2-1 suggestions on my previous post. This will help you speed up your learning curve, save you time, money, lots of frustrations, stress and aggravations. Although, you will be tested in handling and managing them. You will go through my "Fibonacci 1-2-3 Steps to Trading Preparedness and Skills Development. It's like learning to dance Salsa, 1-2-3 pause, 1-2-3 pause. You will actually be trying out to be in the team so you will have to learn and run the plays FROM and BY my playbook. Typically, one should have already been trading at least 6-12 months to even get into the tryout camp. I hope you like watching football games and court trial type TV shows. That would be one of your assignments so you will understand and appreciate my analogy in reading and understanding the market. You will have FUN! Now, please do not ask me for a proof of anything like, track record, account statement, etc.. I don't have to prove anything to anyone. On the hand, should you accept, YOU have to prove to me that you deserve it and qualify to be in the tryout camp. To claim your jackpot, you must contact me via Skype no later Sunday, 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time. In the mean time, watch the following short video clips: http://www.spikedhumor.com/articles/24078/Any-Given-Sunday-Inches-Speech.html?rh=116196 ENJOY! ztrader

servo, So you want to become a trader, a successful one, I hope. As you embark on your new adventure studying "everything" on this board and elsewhere, may I entice you to take this approach and suggestions: Do NOT study "everything' on this board or elsewhere. The variety of technical information will overwhelm you. You may find yourself lost and spinning your wheels trying each and every system, indicators, ideas, and software under the sun. The trading method you eventually adopt will only represent a small portion of how and what you can become as a trader. They are dime a dozen. Do NOT think about leverage and money management at this time. It will not impact much of your trading performance at the beginning. That will come to you in due time. DO spend a major portion of your initial study time to the STUDY of YOURSELF. If you don't know how and what heck I am talking about, do Skype me. WHY do you want to trade the markets (besides the money)? What got you interested in trading in the first place? Talking about money, you mentioned you are lucky to have lots of disposable time. Are you as lucky to have lots of disposable income and RISK money to trade? These questions should be part of the "YOURSELF" study. Number #3 will be a MAJOR portion of what kind of a trader YOU CAN BECOME. Major on MAJOR things. This is how I start a new and/or wannabee trader in a program. The first two seems to always get Top Priority; so much emphasis and time given to it YET 90% of them traders fail. Go figure that out. As far as YM, spend 10 minutes or less with me and you will learn "everything you always wanted and needed to learn about it. As far as trading it, it will take a heck of lot more time than that. BTW, I primarily trade YM and/or ES during the morning session and selected forex pairs prior to that. There is a part 2 to this but FIRST things FIRST. ENJOY! ztrader P.S. Oooooops! This post may NOT be well received here. Yikes! Sorry about that!

kvn, Let me premise this post by saying that I am "technically handicapped" when it comes to most of the technical trading subjects discussed in this and other forums. So, my thoughts on your thread is limited to what I have studied, learned, and developed from my own observation of real time market actions and historical data, ideas from other traders, and various bits and pieces of readings. Now, having said that, here is my response to your post. From my perspective, OHLCs are footprints of the market left behind by price actions and interactions between the BULLS and the BEARS with which key levels, major and minor support and resistance areas are established and later will be revisited as BUYERS AND SELLERS scrimmage for control. Those pre-identified key levels are those OHLC footprints with custom settings and calculations. OHLCs in the text comment box for the previous and current day are also considered key zones in my method. For forex pairs, the levels are based on OHLCs during the 24 hour period and on each 3 sessions If you look at the YM or ES charts from yesterday and today, you will see where prices bounced as the BULLS took control and dominated the push to the upside. My entries are taken almost immediately near those levels. This may not make a lot sense to you [and others] at this time as you are trading the swing highs and lows. Nonetheless, I hope this gives you some overview of how I do it. Trade well what you see on your chart in real time. ENJOY! ztrader

Here is my take on trading support and resistance levels with what I called the "Z3 Cycle Trading with PALS [Price Action Levels]". I only take my entries off of bounces on pre identified key zone levels as it goes along with what I termed "Market Flow" and "Market Timing". With my lazy way of daytrading and swing trading, I let a couple of indicators do the line drawings for me. I only daytrade YM and/or ES along with selected forex pairs for 2-3 hours a day in 1-2 trades, out and done on or before NY martini lunch time. I use MT4 and Ninjatrader charting platorms to monitor only 1m timeframe for each instrument I am trading. Proper trading of S/R levels seems to be the closest thing one can get to that elusive and mostly sought after "grail". I have attached an MT4 setup for your viewing. If need be, I can attach an NT chart later on. ENJOY! ztrader

Let's see how this one works for you. I have the latest version of NT and I just imported the same adxvma and works fine as shown on the attached screenshot. I am not sure if these are the right settings you are looking for.

Check the ones I posted here: http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/41814-post29.html. I believe Walter posted some templates for NT. You may want to go through his thread or do a search.

Andrew, Please check if one of these is what you're looking for. They are for Ninjatrader and Metatrader4. ENJOY

Nice trade there Paul. I have attached two charts on CHF counter currencies and another on GBPUSD. On GBPCHF, I made notations on the validity of the trade, technical and the inter-currency SW effect, news notwithstanding, which by the way, gave added acceleration. Once again, you have your trading method to check on and Currency Strength score on excel format as an added tool. ENJOY! ztrader

Walter, I emailed them to you earlier for you to evaluate. Please check you gmail inbox. Thanks. ... EJ

Paul, The Currency Strength/Weakness meter in Excel and/or digital format function the same way. The digital version was coded based on the Excel format. I just prefer the Excel version for its better graphing and visibility. Although at times, I put the digital version on one chart. You will be looking for the same strength vs weakness score levels then check your chart for the affected pairs for trade entry timing. ENJOY! ztrader

Thanks Walter. Take a look at these and let me know if these historical lines will work out for you. ENJOY! EJ

Here is another example of how the Currency Strength and Weakness can be used to anticipate potential high probability move on currency pairs [not normally traded]. CAD has been weak early on the US session [6/13]. GBP hit the 7 mark and with proper chart profile setup, LONG trade was taken on 3rd bar at 17:00 hour. There, one has the opportunity to grab 50-100 pips in less than an hour. Notice that the price did not move against the trade at all resulting from acceleration which is an added beauty of this tool. Please note that GBPCAD has wide spread of 10-12 pips and may not be available with your broker. ENJOY! ztrader

It would depend on which pair. Let's take AUDUSD since it is not on my focus pairs. AUD was already in the weak zone [score=2] at the day open. USD started to pickup strength reading [upper 6 score] as it approached Tokyo open. All I do then was open the AUDUSD chart, applied the template, saw the right setup, took the short at the 3rd 5minute bar [Tokyo Open]. USD hit the 7.0 and the acceleration followed. Please remember that the Strength/Weakness excel or mq4 format is a tool and not a trading system in itself. BTW, since you have camtasia you may want to record the real time level changes on both formats together with FxMM. I would be curious to see how in synch they are. ENJOY! ztrader

Here is how Currency Strength Index and/or fxmeter can be used as shown in 3 of my trades during 6/12/08 Asian/Tokyo Session. Though this session is not popular among most forex traders there are opportunities during these hours by applying market timing together with currency strength/weakness tool. My traders IQ and technical knowledge is way down compare to most of you, so I keep my method simple. At Sydney session, I usually do a quick glance at the Excel file and check for some S/W scores, get charts ready for identified pairs, then take a nap or watch a movie. By the time Tokyo gets going, most pairs have pushed for enough tradeable range and the excel graph starts moving actively to give obvious signal of strength and weakness. USD kept the 7 plus score throughout the first 2-3 hours which resulted in substantial pips profit on the pairs I traded. By employing the strength/weakness scan, selected trades gain speed and momentum in an hour or so, without using any oscillator indicator, as shown on the attached charts. Caution: This type of BIG trades do not occur at all times during Tokyo or other sessions. However, with proper knowledge of nuances on how to use the tools, you will find opportunities for profit in almost all sessions. I suggest you observe it and demo trade with it. Find how you can effectively employ it with your trading methodology. ENJOY and trade well. ztrader