Welcome to my Journal and feel free to post your thoughts. I'm using this thread to keep track of developing patterns and setups that I find throughout the trading day going forward. Most of my posts will be pictures and maybe a one line thought process on the setup. I am a full-time intraday trader of index futures(ES, NQ and YM) and am looking into trading oil. I am also a long-term position trader in ETFs and occasionally will take a swing trade on individual stocks.
After paying my "Tuition" to just about everyone who took the opposite side of my futures day trades for a couple of years, I have found some clarity and developed a system that works for me. I do not use any "indicators" such as moving averages and oscillators as I found they are not for me after my second or third deposit. I rely solely upon price, time and volume to make decisions. The indicators on my charts are nothing more than Floor Trader Pivots, a Plot of the Opening Range (the rectangle) and a zigzag indicator that I have modified to display chart patterns, retracement values and price targets. Please know that I am not a "strict" Fibonacci pattern rules guy so please do not tell me that a pattern is invalid because it did no extend or retrace to blah, blah, blah... Also, I may reference some patterns that I have created and will attempt to explain them as they develop.
For Market Context, I rely on Floor Pivots, Point & Figure Charts and Mark Fishers excellent ACD logic. As the day gets going, I view the markets as moving towards or hovering around floor pivots or other areas of Support & Resistance. I am conscience of patters that have developed and trade accordingly. I use Fib retracement and extensions as a secondary framework for defining my entries and exits. If my charts display a Reward : Risk ratio, that # is simply the difference between the top/bottom of the last swing and the high/low of two bars ago vs. the high/low of two bars ago to the low/high of the swing. I do not use bar patterns to enter trades so this is just a reference for money management.
If you have any questions, constructive criticism, opposing opinions or setups you wish to share; please do not hesitate to post in this thread.