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I made the changes needed for tick data, and did not see the same thing today. But when the changes were made all historical was lost, and today was nothing like yesterday in terms of volume intensity, so still waiting to see.
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
How losses are handled makes or breaks a trader. Stop Losses, breakevens, goes in your favor then comes back, thought about taking the trade but didn't.
The psychological impact of major losses. Psychological losses...
Whatever the loss may be, dealing with it, and moving on to the next trade without a hit to confidence, is a required skill. Learning it takes work.
I had a day today where that has been a major conversation topic when I think to myself.
I continue to try to wean myself off scalping, and the process can be frustrating. I had 5 "trades", not counting scalps here and there, and the profit potential per trade ran from low to high, +18, +20, +30, +32, +71. Could have had five 17 tick winners in a row and called it a day, with maximum heat 10 ticks.
Instead, I had two wins, 3 losses, (1 scalp I decided not to call a trade after I posted the chart and do not feel like correcting it). And I want to be OK with that, as I am really pushing myself to mentally desire longer holds, enjoy longer holds, not be so quick to close a trade.
Being profitable is all about where you get in and where you get out. Why I chose the long side after I saw the day starting to form is spelled out in a post back a few, and I am not at all disappointed in my read of the day. That first long trade I posted here yesterday was the one I thought I was looking for, but it wound up being one minor wave too early, price had to test the LOD first.
But what does bother me is I sat through having thre profitable trades go to +20, +18, +30, all of them to come back on me, and then I allowed that to condition my mind late in the day to expect about 30 ticks max. Where every trade prior I had expected 50-80.
When the trade finally did come, I had talked myself out of it. It's like I started the day with my confidence tank on full and burned it up as the day progressed.
Looking back on the day type, and knowing where my head was yesterday, after I saw the open shake itself out some I was expecting a neutral day with minimal range extension. If that was what I expected, A ROTATIONAL DAY, that is possibly when I should focus more on scalps, or allow a better balance of them.
I know that better when the market is closed and I can get everything together here in silence. But when it is open it still seems to cloud my logic some.
I have scalped for so long it is a hard hard habit to break. But I am very committed to, if not getting away from it at least achieving balance in it. So I have done some things recently that are way out of character for me.
My typical first scale out would be 12-16 ticks, if I were trading multiple contracts. But all of the brain activity and decision-making process that goes with heavier positioning makes it more complicated for me to focus on what I am trying to shape in myself longer term. Thinking about "money" starts to bring into view more trees than forest.
But trading 1 contract, I could let it go and not be as concerned that I could have made $300, I can let it run against me if I choose -$300, and not lose focus on the psychological stretching that is the exercise I am doing lately. That excercise has caused me to leave more money on the table than I put in my account, but I am ok with that.
Getting this out shows me that I am making progress. If I want a long move on a rotational day, I need to fade the extremes, or scalp the rest, or my expectation of a trade target distance should change depending on day type and trade position, and even possibly time of day.
Really, the goal is to get my mind to where I can assess the day, and become the trader that the day supports. And to do that, making money has to move to the backburner.
My read on Thursday was a lot better, and the same approach I took to Friday, which did not work well, worked like magic on Thursday. And both were "Neutral" days. But, I can see now where the IB extensions may be the determining factor in deciding how to play it.
Which also had to do with the local DB / failed W5 down that was the backdrop for Thursday, compared to Friday coming into major resistance on low volume.
Balance, imbalance, repeat...
Crude is like that, can be stubborn and have wide and violent consolidations, and until the W4 top breaks the W5 target can't be totally ruled out. On Thursday, because it was near the test, up seemed the only sane way to go. But on Friday, now the risk is minimal for the swing to enter short again. Thus, tighter range...
Really, what I see now is a possible ABC correction inside a W5 still in progress.
It sure does seem to line up on an approximate time projection, and with good ABC symmetry...
The move up off XFib 1 was coordinated with Gold's move up in the overnight session...
Going to erase everything and start over with that theory in mind. Get rid of a lot of things that are left over from prior projections that are just cluttering up the picture.
I have followed your threads and posts for a long time and enjoy when "GaryD" pops up on the "New Posts" part of the front page as I know I have a great post to look forward to.
Let me float the following idea to you and see what you think:
Instead of "assessing the day" or trying to figure out the day type, why not JUST focus on trading the chart in front of you?
Going back to your idea of the mental "gas tank", what if some of that mental fuel is being burned unnecessarily in hopes of identifying the day type, instead of spending all that fuel on simply trading the chart in front of you?