Welcome to NexusFi: the best trading community on the planet, with over 150,000 members Sign Up Now for Free
Genuine reviews from real traders, not fake reviews from stealth vendors
Quality education from leading professional traders
We are a friendly, helpful, and positive community
We do not tolerate rude behavior, trolling, or vendors advertising in posts
We are here to help, just let us know what you need
You'll need to register in order to view the content of the threads and start contributing to our community. It's free for basic access, or support us by becoming an Elite Member -- see if you qualify for a discount below.
-- Big Mike, Site Administrator
(If you already have an account, login at the top of the page)
That was funny! The Teeter is my secret weapon!! I hate to keep emphasizing the 'trading plan'--but in the heat of the battle I know that I am both
a) A scalper (targeting acceptable Reward:Risk setups that I calculate before entry)
b) A trend trader (trading 1st and 2nd pullbacks within defined trends)
Divergence trading or scalping in a 'range-bound' market makes me want to throw myself off a 200ft building and makes my stomach hurt w/uncertainty; so I avoid this type of market.
My best advice (if I could be so bold) to struggling traders is to WAIT out consolidation and keep your powder dry and on the 1st trade of any pit session pay attention to the range and s/r on the 1st target.
I also balance my trading with several other daily swing methods and different trading instruments that all came about after hundreds of hours of testing and research and grueling chart work that proves an edge over time and (again) keeps me mostly out of consolidation.
Consolidation is my own personal Vietnam (kind of like dating). Everyone knows it but you have to make even a nearly 100% mechanical method with a proven EDGE your own over time. Each trader is 100% completely unique and different and even if you are trading 'autotrading' chances are that this approach has been put together with subjectivity and the personality behind it.
Also, if I may--I am including some recent quotes from my daily journal. Trading isn't work--it is a privilege. Even after 25+ years (began @18 yrs. old--father was p/t Cbot trader) trading never gets boring. If it is--take a break and be honest with yourself and align your trading with an edge; not your personality.
I am inspired by several of the journals that I catch up on a few times a week here at Big Mikes--good stuff!
I'll share some of my journal thoughts and then a provocative interview that is fascinating to me.
Journal thoughts (recent): I wrote this out to myself and trading partner before Monthly Employment last Friday 2/03/12. It was middle of the night and I felt like writing out my thoughts.
Quote: "I decided to wait until AFTER Monthly Employment to do my Friday trades. I ALWAYS think about outlier risk or avoiding unecessary trendless trading conditions.
Seriously, if one waits for ideal setups one can and should be able to sit down most days and patiently wait for good setups and execute and then walk away. You can always come back if you have had a good session and patiently wait again for another setup if you choose to.
You can't do that if you overtraded in consolidation or took impulse/emotional setups or traded because you HAD to get into a hard trend that left the station without you.
It is counterintuitive but you tell yourself in your mind that you don't care if you have a setup or not; you are sitting in a comfortable chair sipping good beverage (coffee/water/etc...) listening to your favorite music--when the market isn't doing anything you are surfing the web and looking at interesting information from around the world--then taking a break on your physiology ball and/or teeter inversion table. It's not work--it's a few hours of pattern recognition and 'fun with math.'
The game never ends and each day is never the same as the last. If you want to take a day off or the morning off or the afternoon off you do whatever you feel like; another few hours and the market will be available once again. If you feel like trading at night you then get quotes for asian indices/currencies. If overnight trading is your thing you trade early Europe markets like dax/stox50 or currencies. Whatever you want because you have the timeframes and volume charts on different timeframes and (this is completely true) ALL markets are fractal in nature."
----------------
Provocative Interview that is inspiring and thought provoking...
Thank you for sharing that wisdom. I re-read your post and something struck me - you mention in b) a trend trader, taking 1st and 2nd pullbacks, and a) a scalper. Do you in fact scalp against the trend? I pictured scalping as still being with trend.
I had read the article you linked to. It is really good, isn't it? The same person with two very different dispositions toward the accounts he's trading and equally different results. How very powerful! The same person making both sets of trades!!
I went to the site. Rick did mention in a video that he had learned the setup from another trader.
I *think* (I have several pages from the site open and am still digging) that it is the B-Line that is the closest to what Rick describes. There seem to be overlapping approaches (2x, etc.). I think that my best bet is to download a trial of ensign and some of the templates.
My preference is to have the fewest number of indicators possible. Even Rick's "fully loaded" chart was more than enough for me. I like how he (and it appears others) nicely define a trend and a with trend pullback. Almost even better for someone like myself - I can invent all too well - the conservative entry is extra-well defined.
--------------------
I am 'officially' on vacation, though I am not bringing my cell phone or laptop with me or trading; my traveling companion is giving me the ipad to 'get my fix' to kill my boredom~saw your question.
I feel a bit guilty talking shop on my break until 7/15/12; but, unless you are some fairly harmless mult from ET {he knows who he is, and if it is him--you didn't have to bump this thread just to keep yourself amused}.
I think I looked at your trading screen many months ago where you trade fibs inside of fibs; hope that is going well for you!
Regardless; I will still answer the question.
R930 is one of 3 intraday methods I use. Along with price-action w/s~r & rolling 30 minute pivots combined with 4 additive 'top-down' indicators.
Each day, at least 2-3 intraday R930 trades along with the other two I mentioned.
It is very simple but efficient way of trading for a target. Key is multiple time-frame analysis and trading pb's within defined trends and a 'confirmed' breakout momentum trades.
I wouldn't be using it if it wasn't efficient for me.
I watched the videos 4X's each in the beginning; so about 20 hours and then did the work on the sim for a month+. Then did smaller size until 800 trades for my sample.
@That point (Jan '12) I went to full size trading in 6E/CL/NQ when I had intraday R930 trades.
Full size for me is 10-30 6E, 10-15 CL, 20-45 NQ.
My advice is be patient and if you can watch two markets at once you will not get too bored if you are really picky.
Never overtrade with this method; you don't have to.
Trade to a profit goal each day and don't go too micro of a timeframe.
I got this ad email today from this vendor. Link to a page demonstrating use of market profile on the ES:
"If you'd like to see how I made 7.75 points today then just click on the link below and you'll see a full transcript from our Live Room today complete with charts & details."