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 know CL is a beast, possibly the most insane market, but something about it seems to work for me. It has to do with the number of opportunites given within a certain time period that fits my psychology. Had I stayed in ES I might not have ever turned the corner. Gold is close, but I could not get it to stop taking my profits after a good run up.
If I did not have the wife and the dog I would not have become the trader that I am. They have kept me grounded, and after major losses showed me that money was not everything.
Thanks for your kind words on the analysis. I keep studying and studying, and occasionally get it to all come together. Still working daily to understand better.
“Every stock is like a human being : it has a personality – a distinctive personality – aggressive, reserved, hyper, high-strung, volatile, boring, direct, logical, predictable, unpredictable. I often studied stocks like I would study people; after a while their reactions to certain circumstances become more predictable.”
Gary - I know you've mentioned reading Ari Kiev and I'm not sure if you're already into or through his books. But I just wanted to say that when you do start to seriously approach sizing up, you may find Ari's book "the psychology of risk" incredibly valuable. He trained olympic athletes to reach beyond their self-imposed limits for more than a decade - his philosophy of life and risk is all about reaching your potential - especially as it relates to trading. It really is an awesome book. Here's a quote from the final pages:
"I cannot emphasize this point enough: you are what you have the courage to be." - ari kiev
Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty. - Frank Herbert
Yes..for me..my whole trading endeavor drastically changed when I discovered CL. There's nothing else like it. It definitely fits my personality. I traded Forex for several years and sometimes when I see oil do one of those momentum spikes..I get lured in. When those spikes happened in the Euro, I knew it was usually the start of a big move. But you get a spike in oil, it often just turns right around and goes the other way. I have to remember this is not Forex ! The trick for me with CL has been trying to determine how long to hold some trades. I find that my best chance of runners usually occurs around 9:00 to 9;20 est...sometimes 10:40 est and often around 11 am est. Sometimes 2:20 pm gives a nice closing push. I have configured a 4 range chart with some algo coded trailng stop dots. Whether it is mainly psychological or not, they help me to stay in a trade much longer. The thing is..sometimes I'm up 10 to 12 ticks..but they cause me to only break even. But on many others, the dots will keep me in 50 to 100 tick trades. Being someone who scalped Forex for small tick gains, catching nice runners has been a new, but wonderful experience. Between the volume I see, the time of day, where the price level is, my adx and a few other things, I take my entries. I never take more than a 10 tick stop loss..and I will often stay in the trade untill the dots give me my exit signal. I'm very happy with the results I'm getting.
Anyhow, thanks for starting one of the best threads on here. Your posts have been very insightful and helpful to me. Here is a chart form this morning..nice move starting just before 9am est..
Try an ATR trailing stop and set the parameter to 1.5 or 1.2 or whatever your tolerance is. It could keep you in the move right till the end give or take a tick but you WILL get stopped out with it. That is the whole idea. Let the technology do all the work. I do. I am trying to one going for my ZW moves in the morning. Good luck!!