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)
I think @Jeff Castille had a rule in his Three Setups thread to tighten his stop if 1st target not hit inside the 15 min bar - he would move his stop to 1 tick outside the range of the 15 min bar that was your entry bar. So not quite a time limit rule, but nonetheless one that dealt with trades taking a long time.
Platform: Sierra Charts, Investor RT, Ninja Trader
Broker: VanKar
Trading: NQ
Posts: 520 since Sep 2009
Thanks Given: 583
Thanks Received: 1,248
Steve
You are correct. Jeff discusses that in his thread and it is a technique I have used on several trades. I have not been as consistent with it as I should have been.
Papa15
Here's my 2 cents worth on time limits.........after entering a trade........I wait about 2 minutes and assess the trades progress.....if there appears to be some progress towards my first target...I'll stick with the trade.....if not I'll try to get out as close to breakeven as I can. One way to assess a trades progress is looking at a faster timeframe. If you are trading signals generated from a 15 minute chart you might want to look at a 5 minute chart to see if the bars have moved against your trade or broken a swing high/low. If 15 minutes passes.......and you haven't been able to exit the trade yet.....move the stop to the high/low of the signal bar.
Patience is a virtue in most areas in trading BUT this is NOT one of them.......once in a trade.....instant gratification is the rule. Well.......maybe not instant but pretty quick. LOL
Platform: Sierra Charts, Investor RT, Ninja Trader
Broker: VanKar
Trading: NQ
Posts: 520 since Sep 2009
Thanks Given: 583
Thanks Received: 1,248
Used Jeff's time limit guidance right off the bat this morning. First 15 min inside bar on CL formed at 9:30. Price hit the upper buy stop quickly and then struggled. The CL has had 5 up days in a row and has touched a 2 year high, so a market retrace seems like a probable thing. Market had been down most of the night, so this move above the inside bar seemed sluggish. After 2 minutes or so, I started looking to get out as close to breakeven as possible. Cut the trade for a 2 tick loss. Later the market went on to hit my original profit target, but cutting the trade was the right move. Experience has shown trades that don't go smartly your way once you are in it more than likely end up being losers....this one happened to not be.
The second IB formed at 10:15 after a rather large drop in prices. Price exceeded the buy stop first but did not move smartly towards the profit target. Large bars (about 2x the typical range) tend to have resistance/support around the half way point of the bar, and that is where price was stalling. The also coincided with the daily S1. After 2 minutes or so, I cut the trade for a 5 tick profit.
Overall, a good day. Did a couple of trades using the 512 tick chart with entries based on exceeding a recent high or low. Took small profts.
Jeff, thanks for the comment on the timing of trades....that was a missing piece of my puzzle. I have sometimes in the past cut trades early, but that was entirely based on my observing price action stalling. Last week, I let two trades go to full stop outs even though there was opportunity to get out of both near breakeven. I should have instituted this on my own, but I am glad to add this to my toolbox. The main issue I have faced has not been entries and profit targets but rather in controlling losses. Hopefully this will help in that area......
Platform: Sierra Charts, Investor RT, Ninja Trader
Broker: VanKar
Trading: NQ
Posts: 520 since Sep 2009
Thanks Given: 583
Thanks Received: 1,248
A short trading day today. Had an inside bar form at 9am. With yesterday's close below the low of the inside bar, and ES/YM not showing much strength with about a 3 point up value on ES, I was biased to the downside. The sell stop was hit and profit target hit shortly thereafter. Price bounced around a bit, then continued down. When it went below the 30 min opening range low, I entered and took a trade with a smaller profit target since we were not far from yesterday's close and I thought there might be some hesitation in that area. The profit target was hit. At 9:30 another inside bar formed. Price was near the top of the inside bar when it closed. The next bar did a double top but then prices dropped. I entered when price went below the low of the inside bar. Profit target was quickly hit. I called it quits since three profitable trades in less than 45 minutes. I am going to a luncheon today and needed to get ready.
Platform: Sierra Charts, Investor RT, Ninja Trader
Broker: VanKar
Trading: NQ
Posts: 520 since Sep 2009
Thanks Given: 583
Thanks Received: 1,248
A mid week holiday disrupts the normal flow of the market, doesn't it. Today has it normal news plus the typical Thursday news as we celebrate Veteran's Day tomorrow. Too much news today for my normal trading and I have no idea what the volume will be like for tomorrow.
I did one small pre-market trade using the 512 tick chart, made the targeted amount to make my weekly goal, and then closed down the trading interface. I am done for the day and the week.
Hope everyone has a great rest of the week. If you know a veteran, thank him/her for their service to this nation. For those of you that served, I salute you.
Platform: Sierra Charts, Investor RT, Ninja Trader
Broker: VanKar
Trading: NQ
Posts: 520 since Sep 2009
Thanks Given: 583
Thanks Received: 1,248
Started feeling bad last Wednesday afternoon and developed severe sore throat and flu like symptoms. Good thing had quit for the week. Started recovering Saturday and feeling much better now.
Was looking forward to trading today but ToS did another of its monthly updates over the weekend and whenever I opened the program, it would indicate it was updating versions....something it usually does once and is done....so when I opened it up this morning and the same thing happened, I was suspicious. Lo and behold, the charts were not updating...the DOM and the quote board seemed to be working fine, but the charts were stuck in never, never land, running several minutes behind. I am not much of a tape reader, so sort of up cripple creek. Back in September they had to undo the monthly update.....I am sure the response from ToS will be the update has nothing to do with the charts lagging...it is all the data providers fault......
I was able to do one 30 min ORB trade (took a 2 tick stop since market had reversed back up and eventually came back down, was in trade about 4 minutes and just cut it) Did one other tick chart break of a previous high, recovered the 2 tick loss, commissions, and made 1 tick profit. Decided this was enough for today without reliable charts.
Tomorrow has a good deal of news from 0830 through 10 am. Tomorrow night my daughter and family from CA are coming for an extended Thanksgiving stay and we will have 4 grandchildren in the house for several weeks. Basically I am not sure how much, if any trading, I will do from now until after the first of January. If I don't post often, it is because I have granted myself a vacation....one of the perks of being your own boss. Of course, it is an unpaid vacation, but the choice is mine.
Platform: Sierra Charts, Investor RT, Ninja Trader
Broker: VanKar
Trading: NQ
Posts: 520 since Sep 2009
Thanks Given: 583
Thanks Received: 1,248
We had all the family together over the Thanksgiving Holiday and took some family photos. Here are all 15 of the little ones. What you can't tell from this photo is that 8 of them ran a 5k that morning (no I did not, when I retired from the navy, I retired from running). The adults in the 5k photo are my wife, older son and two daughters.
The youngest is Jake. He will have surgery this Wednesday for craniosynostois (two of his skull bones have already fused and must be separated). We have his 3 older siblings and are scheduled to take them to California on Dec 14th post surgery. We will spend 3 weeks or so out there to help his mom. This is one of the main reasons I am taking a break from trading for a while.
I am also doing a psychology course I bought from Upside Breakout in early November. So far, it has been quite good.