MC

It's sad but true. If only the fed and lenders were as cautious and concerned about the lil guys maybe the intraday margins would still be there at IB. Cause then vix wouldn't be up as high and nest eggs wouldn't be -40% for the year. LOL It's a sad society where companies need to protect people from themselves. Why can't people just be reasonable and logical. I have a small (sub 10k) account and have been cash here. I trade the YM but not when a 10 point stop must become a 100 point stop. Not when my pivots go from 20-50 points apart to 200-500 points apart with 10x volatility. It's just common sense that my account cannot handle a drawdown in this environment, so I sit and wait. Dumb me for being rational...I am killing it paper trading. LOL J/K

3 years of sim...you earned it. Congrats! Best wishes going forward as well. If you can trade in this volatility anything else should be a cakewalk emotion wise.

I know...just playing around. I hate the minimum character limitations sometimes.

..................... Hahahahahaha

Thanks...do you have the 1st one in mp4 format or other good quality. I've seen crappy youtube resolution and didn't want to bother watching it like that.

That's me...1 lot wildman. And I'm gonna just sit cash till this mellows some because the wiggle room needed is sometimes 3 stops away from where I think it should be. LOL Spikes are wild on YM and ES here...too wild for my small account. Now if you have $ to let the stops work you are rolling in the $ here...such sharp moves to profit from. I'm sad I'm poor at this stage of my trading career.

Again...IF and only if you have proper patience for entry and/or wide stops to accommodate for the shakes and spikes of volatility. Not that I'm debating...I've run the 21sma myself for most the time I've watched futures and if I had the right mindset and entry/exit plan MAN it could be profitable! Love the thread guys.

Most that books tactics are heavily dated. This volatility we have going on will demolish most newer traders without a sound mind, deep pockets for wide stops and/or great entry skills. Definitely not the best environment to be tinkering with live. I 2nd the sim trading thing heavily!

Gotcha. I was with them when it was free and when they switched to $55 I had to give up on em. Add data fees to slippage and they weren't a broker I could afford to use any further. The $10 change is good to know...thanks again.

LOL...I left Tradestation over their poor communication on this. I thought it was $55 for the YM data. I had other issues with slippage but I loved the platform. I would have kept the account and did the minimum 10 trades per month had I known it was $10 per month for the data. Oh well...so long.

WOW 40 trades a day will get only 1 person rich...your broker. I think you hit the nail on the head, though it was almost mentioned in passing. You were living in a world of being governed at your engineering job. You got a taste of absolute freedom to do WHATEVER you wanted emotionally and being starved in that regard you ran with the new found freedom. This is IMO why people are prone to gambling or drug addictions as well...it's an escape from reality and authority. I have to say 40 trades a day would label you as a mega scalper box or an addicted gambler. I don't have an addictive personality so I can't fully relate, but I can imagine how good it feels to be seemingly in control and to fill that void, despite the negative end result. Just keep in mind THE MARKET is your boss now and it's really the one in control. Play the laws of probability and move to at least a semi-mechanical trading system. You can allow some degree of freedom, like on the last portion of your position, scale out for example, so it's not 100% rigid and mechanical. Just remember an addicts gambling is about FEELING in control when they really are not. Playing the odds isn't full on "gambling" despite you not being able to control the games outcome. When done properly YOU'RE in control, at least with your position sizing and execution. Good luck

You didn't ask me but the fact it didn't hold would kill it for me. Add to that how flat the ema is and there's no trend left to track with that ema. JMHO

Spend the $320 on something fun and learn to read price action for free. BF candlestick corner is a good place to read up. No paintbar or grail hunting will give you anything worthwhile IMO. As BF pointed out they take the BEST screenshots to sell crap, it's very misleading when you see indicators being talked up. Good luck

Very cool! Thanks for sharing those.

I wouldn't see that as a clean test of the EMA and a bit of a stretch. It went on to close below the EMA. Naked candles based on the market structure it was maybe a fair long attempt but not off the EMA setup. JMHO

This same day I was tinkering with the EMA setup and saw that S&R cluster. I'm on paper and tried a sim trade with the EMA over the market structure. Big mistake...lesson learned. IMO market structure > arbitrary levels.

I feel this is the prime time to learn and watch the market. I'm thankful I came in just about 2 years ago so I say a chunk of a bull and the full bear to date. I think from watching this insanity you really learn to respect the market just like mother nature...if not you blow out. It's simple as that. You've put in lots of time and effort, I expect updates here so we know how well your work pays off. I think you're gonna do quite well thanks to all your preparation. Good luck

BF...if you have instant messenger look me up. I'll throw a few thoughts your way then. The first thing to try is to try safemode...press F8 during the bootup to see if you can get into windows. That tells you if windows is corrupt or if it's an additional software issue more less.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm sure it will help quite a few people. Someone mentioned it, I would suggest the same thing...try to stop payment or go through the BBB to get some resolve or at least a partial refund.

Stop overthinking it, sounds like you're ready to go IMO. You're at the stage I am with prior live trading experience on all but random market timing. I also have been working on my edge and turned consistent profit on simulated trading. I intend to fund my account in the next week or 2 once I finish some other chores up in my personal dealings. Just be sure you have the full biz plan including hedging strategies and all that good protective stuff. And I won't wish you "good luck" because it sounds like you're going to have better than random results. Added--- Damn, James beat me to it and had the same message. Oh well, I know I'm in good company prep wise then.

elovmer...same thing on my end still. Sorry to be a pain. Has anybody else tried the code for squeeze and had it work? I've never had a custom indicator come up red in my list so I'm confused as to whats wrong. :crap: Edit--- Found it...the space in code for "upper_ba nd" slipped by me. I deleted that space and shes good to go. Thanks a bunch. Did you code these? I have one other indicator I miss from Tradestation that I wonder about having coded for TOS.

I've had some speed issues here with ff3 and xp pro. A few times I actually had server busy or down errors, though they were VERY temporary.

I also have a hard time believing this recent rally without a legit test. Just seems like too much momentum to stop on a dime. But I also think those that run the game know how close they are to wiping any small gains left on the buyers of the consolidation after the Y2k bear. My one buddy does that...uses the consensus of boards on the internet to gauge what probably will happen. I've tried it out as well...usually the herd is VERY wrong. It does feel like doom n' gloom in most boards, especially lately so who knows.

LOL zdo. I think anyone that is consistently profitable at the market should get an honorary psych degree.

Thanks...very cool. The squeeze doesn't load on the screen for some reason and it's red in the list of active indicators. Wonder if I'm doing something wrong. Any ideas?