7-25-07

[brownsfan019 17]

Maybe I can take my own idea and use this part of the forum! :rolleyes:

 

What can you say about today? Wow. Nice action and movements all day.

 

Here's some add'l stats that I track that are not in the template:

 

16 trades, 10 winners (1 scratch) = 62.5% win %

Ave win = 4.5

Ave loss = -1.71

 

While a great day, not common as we all know. The movements and action today just fell into place for me.

[GCB 10]

Nice, brownsfan! Can you post a chart of the setups and tell us how you arrived at them, or is it a "trade" secret?

[brownsfan019 17]

Nice, brownsfan! Can you post a chart of the setups and tell us how you arrived at them, or is it a "trade" secret?

 

GCB - My exact trade methodology is not here verbatim, but there's quite abit on the forum. Exact charts w/ annotations will not be provided. Not only is that labor intensive, you can call it a 'trade secret'.

[AbeSmith 10]

GCB - My exact trade methodology is not here verbatim, but there's quite abit on the forum. Exact charts w/ annotations will not be provided. Not only is that labor intensive, you can call it a 'trade secret'.

 

That's very cool Brownsfan. 34 points on the ES is alot more money than than YM if I understand correctly. It would be nice to see your entry and exits, even an execution list would be nice if you don't want to go through the labor of charts. But I do respect your decision to keep it private. Anyways, good job. Hope you have more good days like this.:beer: But a good trader like you probably doesn't hope. He is confident in his abilities. Right?

[brownsfan019 17]

That's very cool Brownsfan. 34 points on the ES is alot more money than than YM if I understand correctly. It would be nice to see your entry and exits, even an execution list would be nice if you don't want to go through the labor of charts. But I do respect your decision to keep it private. Anyways, good job. Hope you have more good days like this.:beer: But a good trader like you probably doesn't hope. He is confident in his abilities. Right?

 

Abe - thanks for the compliments.

 

I am by no means at a level that I at least envision myself getting to. I still have some of the basic struggles, that most seem to be mental issues. I really think that you are your own worst enemy in this biz. That's part of the hardest part in trading - you first have to find a method that makes money and then be able to execute it all day, every day. I can't tell you how many days were in the crapper till the last 2 or 3 trades of the day. Without those trades, the day would have ended down. But, that is easier said than done some days.

[brownsfan019 17]

And for those that are just dying to know how I trade, here's the teasers that you will get:

 

1) Start with these books that I reviewed here on TL:

 

http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/f8/japanese-candlestick-charting-techniques-second-edition-1561.html

 

http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/f8/the-candlestick-course-by-steve-nison-1560.html

 

Click the Amazon.com link on each review if you decide to purchase as I donate proceeds from my Amazon sales to charities.

 

 

2) If you get serious about trading with candlesticks, we'll talk more. Till then, study the Nison books.

[GCB 10]

brown,

 

I use candlestick charts, but do not directly trade the candle shapes. So your secret would be safe with me. But I gathered enough from perusing your various posts to see that you are scalping for 1.25 on the ES. Are you still all in and all out? Is that still working for you? Have you ever scaled out? I'm thinking of switching all in/all out, but I'm a Carter duckling so I learned to scale out. But sometimes it seems like it only helps to take pressure off. But when you scale out price has to move that much farther for your profit to match your risk. Anyway, not totally on topic, sorry.

[brownsfan019 17]

gcb - good questions. I should try to update threads that I started or participate in, but can't always hunt down old threads!

 

Here's my current trading setup - trades are not being taken off at a fixed level. That was working well in a low volatility environment, but as we've seen, volatility is expanded and therefore I've adjusted my exits accordingly. I think that's part of being a trader that is in the markets daily. You see it yourself and you can react based on what you see. I am currently exiting trades when a reversal trade appears. That's it. No scaling or set profits, just stay in the trade until a setup that goes the opposite direction appears. Again, this is a function of current volatility. I've never been a fan of scaling out as it just never worked well for me. I mean, if you exit at 2, 3, and 4, why not just exit all at 3 since that's the average of your exits? As you said, it seems like additional risk just to get you to the average price of all exits.

 

As for candlestick analysis, home is where the heart is. As much as I've looked at many different things, I end up back at candlestick analysis. Now one thing that I sometimes have to refresh myself on is that it's hard to use candlestick analysis in and of itself, by itself (esp in the more traditional sense). So that means different things to different traders, but that is something that Nison hit on a number of times in books, dvds, etc. and I can sometimes stray from that trying to make things even easier. My setup is rather simple and many would say too simple to work, but it works when I stick to my plan.

[GCB 10]

That's interesting because that's what I'm leaning towards. Stay in the trade until at least a preliminary signal in the other direction. I'm kind of glad to here you say that, because it validates a bit what I'm thinking.

 

Do you trail your stops at all, or at least at some point move them to breakeven? I'm going to at least do that, but again trailing stops aggressively eventually seems to just take me out on routine pullbacks.

 

I haven't figured out any way to go for 2 or more times risk without being willing to endure pullbacks, i.e., endure giving a lot of it back at least once during the trade (omitting those wonderful trades when the you get 2x+ risk instantly with no retracement). Tight stops don't work for me. Entry has to be perfect with them and even then just a little noise and I'm knocked out before I have a chance.

[brownsfan019 17]

Well, you said it - trailing stops can be very dangerous as far as I am concerned. If you routinely get trailed out, then going for a fixed target(s) may be best. I don't trail at all. I have my initial stop, which is a level where I am proven that I was wrong on my trade. Being taken out for 1 or 2 ticks does not prove I was wrong, it proves that I was too afraid of taking some heat. I understand some trades a trail works, but I have found for me that the majority of the time, the trail does nothing other than lock in pathetic gains. That's it.

 

My feeling is that if you are going to stay in until a reversal signal appears, then that's exactly what you need to do. It all comes down to high reliable your setups are and how often you get a decent reversal that 1) locks in profit on previous trade and 2) initiates new position.

[Blu-Ray 10]

Brownsfan

 

Just a couple of quick questions for you regarding candlesticks.

 

1) Would you say tick charts are any good for candlestick patterns ( 144 tick or less ) or would that be too much noise for patterns to emerge ?

 

2) Would you say candlesticks are more powerful if 2 or 3 form together, rather than one on it's own?

 

Cheers.......Blu-Ray

[Nick1984 10]

Blu you read my mind with that post!

[brownsfan019 17]

Brownsfan

 

Just a couple of quick questions for you regarding candlesticks.

 

1) Would you say tick charts are any good for candlestick patterns ( 144 tick or less ) or would that be too much noise for patterns to emerge ?

 

2) Would you say candlesticks are more powerful if 2 or 3 form together, rather than one on it's own?

 

Cheers.......Blu-Ray

 

Blu & Nick:

 

1) I never had much luck or spent enough time using tick charts and candlestick patterns. I'm sure w/ enough study there is a good combination based on the market being analyzed, but I haven't found one for me.

 

2) Good question. My view is that I cannot wait for 2-3 candle patterns to appear back-to-back. I LOVE seeing multiple hammers AFTER I am long already, but I can't wait for that much price action to take place and then enter in my opinion. Not to mention, you don't see back-to-back candlestick patterns that often, at least on the ES (which is my primary trading vehicle). Now, there are patterns that encompass 3 candles as well. For the pattern to be valid, 3 candles must form together; whereas a hammer is 1 candle.

 

Keep in mind guys that you cannot just run out there and grab every hammer you see. It depends on the context of the market at that time. What I mean is, if the market is flat lining, hammers mean nothing to me. If you get a hammer on an extreme price level, I'd pay attention.

 

Also, you'll see others refer to selling/buying tails, which in my view, is basically a hammer. That's the power of them - I call them a hammer, someone else calls it a buying tail and we both buy. That's a good thing.

[Blu-Ray 10]

Excellent stuff Brownsfan, thanks for the detailed reply.

 

I currently only trade off tick charts and do take note of the candles as they form and you can see the power struggle in some particular candles.

 

Thanks Again

 

Blu-Ray