A break even stop is like throwing a dart in a windy day up in the air and trying to guess which blade of grass it's going to land on.

Markets don't care about your break even stop. They do, of course, care where predictable people place their stops. Market is drawn to them to test for support or resistance, but always will take your stop out.

All of this is repeated a million times in journals over the last 15 years on the site.

Read the Spoos thread for starters.

Spoo-nalysis ES e-mini futures S&P 500 Lame Ducks Both Fed Chairman Bernanke’s remarks yesterday and President Obama’s speech last night about his jobs plan; combined, failed to reassure the market that a solution to the country’s economic woes was at hand, and the …

Learn to enter the market where others are placing their stops, for one.

Big Mike 

A break even stop is like throwing a dart in a windy day up in the air and trying to guess which blade of grass it's going to land on. Markets don't care about your break even stop. They do, of course, care where predictable people place their stops. Market is drawn to them to test for support or resistance, but always will take your stop out. All of this is repeated a million times in journals over the last 15 years on the site. Read the Spoos thread for starters. Spoo-nalysis ES e-mini futures S&P 500 Lame Ducks Both Fed Chairman Bernanke’s remarks yesterday and President Obama’s speech last night about his jobs plan; combined, failed to reassure the market that a solution to the country’s economic woes was at hand, and the … Learn to enter the market where others are placing their stops, for one.

Much appreciated I'll give it a read

1 Minute Man 

haha I am a glutton for punishment. But I really appreciate the insight!

And it's just a suggestion. We all have our own perspectives and opinions of what works best.

So I should refrain from telling you how to trade. All I'm saying is... I did EXACTLY what you are doing .. I'm looking at some of your trades.. and it's like looking back 10 years. Heck, a few years.. wasn't until recently (within the past two years) I really started to looking hard at candlesticks.. And frankly, I learned more from looking at the 1HR and 4HR candlesticks.

I HATED how slow those bars would form... Never thought that was for me... until I realized... ah, in order to see the short-term moves, in order to trade the 5min (or even 1min) it's a good idea to understand the bigger picture. Which is why I incorporated the 1HR wicks and the 5min trend in my example.

In most situations you'll be able to get information from, let's say, 4 different time frames. Keep it simple. Let's use 5min, 15min, 1HR and 4HR.. use the 4HR for levels... use the 1HR for channel, use the 15min for trend, verify the trend using 5min... and maybe, if you want, execute on the 1min.. but frankly, I'd suggest executing using 5min or higher.. So .. that's my perspective. Works better for me than just using the 1min

cmtrader99 

And it's just a suggestion. We all have our own perspectives and opinions of what works best. So I should refrain from telling you how to trade. All I'm saying is... I did EXACTLY what you are doing .. I'm looking at some of your trades.. and it's like looking back 10 years. Heck, a few years.. wasn't until recently (within the past two years) I really started to looking hard at candlesticks.. And frankly, I learned more from looking at the 1HR and 4HR candlesticks. I HATED how slow those bars would form... Never thought that was for me... until I realized... ah, in order to see the short-term moves, in order to trade the 5min (or even 1min) it's a good idea to understand the bigger picture. Which is why I incorporated the 1HR wicks and the 5min trend in my example. In most situations you'll be able to get information from, let's say, 4 different time frames. Keep it simple. Let's use 5min, 15min, 1HR and 4HR.. use the 4HR for levels... use the 1HR for channel, use the 15min for trend, verify the trend using 5min... and maybe, if you want, execute on the 1min.. but frankly, I'd suggest executing using 5min or higher.. So .. that's my perspective. Works better for me than just using the 1min

Yes the input is more than welcome we are all students. So you are doing top down analysis starting with 4 Hr ? Down to 5 min for execution ?

cmtrader99 

And it's just a suggestion. We all have our own perspectives and opinions of what works best. So I should refrain from telling you how to trade. All I'm saying is... I did EXACTLY what you are doing .. I'm looking at some of your trades.. and it's like looking back 10 years. Heck, a few years.. wasn't until recently (within the past two years) I really started to looking hard at candlesticks.. And frankly, I learned more from looking at the 1HR and 4HR candlesticks. I HATED how slow those bars would form... Never thought that was for me... until I realized... ah, in order to see the short-term moves, in order to trade the 5min (or even 1min) it's a good idea to understand the bigger picture. Which is why I incorporated the 1HR wicks and the 5min trend in my example. In most situations you'll be able to get information from, let's say, 4 different time frames. Keep it simple. Let's use 5min, 15min, 1HR and 4HR.. use the 4HR for levels... use the 1HR for channel, use the 15min for trend, verify the trend using 5min... and maybe, if you want, execute on the 1min.. but frankly, I'd suggest executing using 5min or higher.. So .. that's my perspective. Works better for me than just using the 1min

Part of my psychological block is a fundamental belief that markets are fractal based on time .. meaning a buy signal is just as likely to fail on a daily chart as it is on a 1 minute chart

Trade 35 Long
Entry:19515
Stop:19479
Reason: 1 Minute break in a clear uptrend looking for fed volatility to the upside
Trade 35 Long

Trade 35 Loss
-37 Points
Trade 35 -37 Point loss

Trade 36Long
Entry:19510
Stop:19464
Reason: Looking for intraday breakout into the close
Trade 36 Long

Trade 36 Stop moved to Breakeven
Stop Moved to Break even Trade +30 Points

Stopped outbreakeven
Stopped out Brekeven