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today i have traded the market (i trade the market 2-3 days a week)
here is my trades.
Trade1:
LOSS - Grade A
price below the BB and volume pattern shows buying activity trend line break STOP LOSS.
Trad2:
reenter same setup as trade 1 - WIN!
Trade3:
WIN - Grade B Double Top near BB, i grade my self B because of Not trailing my wins
Trade4:
WIN - Grade F
price below the BB and volume pattern shows buying activity trend line break target 1 only.
i grade my self and F because after my second trade i tried to trial my stop and i didnt follow my rules
Trade 5: Grade F - didnt follow my rules Double Bottom setup - my entry was with 20EMA and not at the actual 2B , i waited because from some reason today the market didnt move fast.
Looks to me like you have the entry portion of the equation figured out pretty well. Although I can't quite pinpoint your exact entry rules they seem to work for you.
Devising rules for exiting is always harder because rarely will you exit at the perfect location. This is true for most all traders regardless of the instrument or trading style. Personally, I use two charts instead of one and rely on the faster chart for exits. Even with the faster chart I still get frustrated because I leave money on the table.
So I'll stick with my existing rules until my account size doubles. At that point, I'll add 1 contract to my trading. This will allow me greater flexibility when I'm in the middle of a trade. In your case, you could "graduate" to a 3rd contract that you may manipulate as you see fit. One idea would be to obtain your 1st and 2nd targets, then move the stop on the 3rd contract to BE +10 (the same as your 1st target). Then get up and walk away for 15 minutes or so.
Most of the time the stop will be hit at +10. But what do you care? You are in a free trade and every now and then you'll hit a runner for +40 or more.
When I'm with my trading buddies I use a completely different method to trade, but they're not always around. Then I switch to a very simple method somewhat similar to what you've described.
I start with a 5 min chart and identify price zones. The idea is to group a number of bars to identify general price action in the past 30 to 60 minutes. I'll simply draw green lines across the highs and lows that create the zone. What I'm looking for is a breakout outside the zone.
Image #1
This common patten show highs that are descending but price is also being supported across the lows in a straight line. Being in a recent uptrend my tendency is to think price could easily pop above the zone. But I really don't care what price does as long as it breaks out of the zone. I'm not in the business of predicting the next move, I'll just let the market tell me what it wants to do.
And the next to last bar in the image trades below the zone. That's simply a heads up that it's toying with going lower.
Image #2
Sure enough, the market does head lower. This is confirmed by a close below the zone.
The steps I follow after creating the zone:
1] Look for a heads up where price trades outside the zone
2] Wait for a confirmation close outside the zone
3] Enter a sell stop 2 pips below the low of the previous bar
4] Once in the trade I create a new zone for this down move. If a bar closes above the zone I know it's time to get out.
That's the basics, but there are a number of secondary rules I use. For example, placing my stop is tricky but as a general rule I don't want price to get back too far into the zone. My ATM is programmed to automatically put in a 10 pip stop.
I'm looking for a strong move outside of the zone. It if doesn't develop quickly I know it's time to sneak out with a little loss or little gain. That's because I know taking a few small hits don't really hurt me and the strong move I've been waiting for will surely come.
hondo69 , I like the use of price zones I use them as well I refer to them as areas of confluence and will usually wait for price to approach an area before I take a trade. I find this minimizes my trading frequency and gives me a clear area to place my stops.
today i had 3 trades all grade A and all made 2 targets
trade1:
price below the BB and volume pattern shows buying activity trend line break
Trade 2:
2T setup at the high of the BB short below the last candle low which was also a trend line break (high probability setup)
Trade 3:
price below the BB and volume pattern shows buying activity trend line break
trade 1 and 3 are by definition counter trades and i feel like i need to change my system to add with trend setup (its hard mentally always play counter trend )
i will be adapting some new ideas next week from this website (maybe use Big Mike trading method if he agrees :-) ) to trade with trend
appreciate if you guys can help me find with trend setups (No indicators :-))
Just wanted to pop in and say "thanks!", good job on the posts and journal, and keep it up.
Nice work on grading yourself, I think that's the right way to do it and can greatly help.
Have you learned more about your strengths and weaknesses, and applied some sort of plan or effort towards putting them in play as a result of this thread?
my major weakness is holding the position more then 3 bars i get very nerves and always second guess my trades , since most of them are counter trades i think its harder but it fit my moto of buying low selling high
as i mention in the last post i am working now on with trend ideas in addition to my setup
and i might use your ideas if thats ok :-) (BTW love your post on your method and advice)
my biggest strengths are drawing the correct trend lines and this help me to get right in profit.