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Any sign of improvement. Not this end there ain't. The oil market was not too friendly early on today, stuck in a very tight range.
My first entry signal occured after an hour and a half again. But right above the daily low, so i passed. Was a small winner. An hour later I got my next signal but I was scared and stood aside, market even gave me a 2nd entry, but could not pull trigger.
As yesterday my plan got +3 and +33 and I got sweet FA. I did take a trade on the 6 range as I was P****d off with myself and just wanted to get in the market. It was a valid setup, just on a faster time scale. Whilst in that one my internet went down. The first time ever that has happened to me. Good news was that I got through to my broker very quickly and to my relief I was already stopped out. Good to know that my order worked even without me being conected.
Then my brain had a great idea, why not post that I had followed my plan. Why did I feel the need to lie to people I have not, and never will meet. God only knows. Fortuneately for me, my honest golfer instinct took hold and I knew that the only person i would be lying to was the one I look at in the mirror. Therefore, tomorrow, come hell or high water, I will take the first three trades I see on the 12 range, and if thats not moving to well I will move down to the 6 and take them there.
I have 7 days of this challenge left, thats 21 trades max, if each one is a full stop thats $3k. I can easily afford that, so why the hell is this so damn hard. I have to change me, not easy when your in your mid 40's, but here goes. Three trades WILL be posted here by me within 24 hours................................hopefully
Hi Mickey
One of the best advice I ever received in trading is the following: “Good trades [winning trades] most of the time feel uncomfortable, they just don’t feel right at the time you take them.”
It made lots of sense to me, since most trader take trades that feel right, yet most traders lose money! Try this, next time you have a set up and it does not feel right, take it.
Hats off to you my friend. We may never meet, but we do share the same feelings. This is kind of group therapy for all of us. I keep this journal to keep myself honest. I don't care who reads it, but I do care that someone reads it. I don't know why, but I think that helps me see this as real. And if I can lie to someone I will never meet, than I will lie to myself.
I understand the mid-40's thing and trying to teach the old dog a new trick. Wait till you catch up with me in the mid-50's and you get comments like "I think it's just wonderful when someone your age understands how to operate a computer??!!". I say this not to put myself on a pedastal but to encourage you. This is VERY doable. Kareem was right. Follow your plan. Execute. Live the results. This is an occupation for stone hard killers that want to take other people's money and not lose a minute of sleep over it. That is what this is about. 95% of people that try this, fail. 95% of people who start a new buiness, fail. 95% of the people that go to Alaska to mine for gold, fail. It is easier to win the lottery than to get into the NFL. Why all that stats? Anything hard and worthwhile will have a lot of dead bodys along the way. Don't be one of the dead bodys. Make the plan, execute the plan, live with it! Chin up!
Now that made me smile. Thanks for your other comments, they all make perfect sense to me. Have been watching the 12 range go nowhere for 2 hours now. looks like the market will not let me fufill my obligation to take 3 trades today. Still being flat is a position, and my plan is not to trade this chop.
if you are talking about a mechanical system, then i could see how gut/feeling/instinct is irrelevant. @monpere has a mechanical system that he trades and may agree that feeling is irrelevant.
but if you're talking about discretionary trading (with or without indicators) and there is any subjective component whatsoever, then that gut/feeling/instinct is both invaluable and frustratingly not-quantifiable. it should not be discarded, diminished, or down-played, imho.
Hi E,
No joke. I do mean it. I am talking about a discretionary trading with indicators/set rules. My problem in the past has been that would not take some of these signals as they “just did not feel right,” or “I should just go ahead and take my one tick profit/loss and bail.” IMHO entries/exits for many new traders “just don’t feel right” at the time they are ready to click. This can leads to frustrations, chasing and taking more bad trades, especially it the set up does what is suppose to. At my current trading stage, I am at a level I should NOT trust these feelings, maybe 5-10 more trading years, but not now. I believe many are in the same boat. I also believe that the best part of this exercise (Big Mike Challenge) is that we follow the rules that we set in advance, and execute without second guessing or changing anything in med stream. As Hubert Senters said it best, “you don’t any smarter during the trade.” But of course this is much easier said than done. This is why I am here! I see the other charts listed in this thread, and the indicators, they give very accurate set ups, and should have easily made profit. For a newer trader (like me), I honestly believe that I should not trust my gut feel and trade the set up, especially when it “does not feel right.”
Thanks
Kareem
Not so good today (following the rules) and did end up the day with a loss. The second trade was the key error, not the first, even though the first was a full loss/stop. I use volume bars, and some of those bars took for ever to close (or it seemed like it when I was in the trade). I was not happy about the last trade as well. I usually do not trade past 2:30. I took that one at 2:27! Good news is that I only took three trades as planned.
Still not following my rules. I did much better today in not trading just to trade. I did however, not follow my entry rules which seems to be a constant theme for the past four days. I must break this cycle. It’s not like I haven’t said it before, and people have not said it to me, and there really isn’t anything else to say. Follow the rules, or don’t play.
Now with regards to my trades, I only need one trade. For example, that’s what Sharky does. I'm not trying to be him, but it is good advice IMVHO. One good trade. I can make three, if I have to, but I should only need one. I had a small loser and a big winner. Isn't that what we are trying to get out of this? Learn to control the market by just taking the money and getting out of the woods. Why did I make the third trade…the hunt… ***[sigh]***
that makes sense ... thanks for clarifying that. i appreciate what you're saying and where you're coming from. i'm not sure if i disagree with you anymore. lol. maybe you're on to something here!
in my experience, trading someone else's system rule-for-rule has not worked out. i believe my greatest successes will come from a system/rule-set that i develop. yes, it's more time-consuming and much more of a pain than just buying someone else's stock stuff.
but in the trenches during the heat of battle, i am much more likely to trust something *i* created than something that was given/purchased. perhaps this is just my little neurosis.
Hi
The day started with a nice trading signal, but I was not as nice. The target ( T1) was at +14, but I took only +7. Then the YM kept trending and did not give me another signal until after lunch. I almost took a bad signal right after 1:00, but did not. The second trade was a good signal with a very modest T1, but got the full stop instead. It was the cost of doing business. The third signal was too late, so I stand at another daily loss. Glad to see the weekend here. I need the break. Mentally I see myself going into that “cesspool” again. Definition of Cesspool: an underground reservoir for liquid waste [thoughts such as, I need to tweak or new indicator, Market/chart or interval setting.]