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)
"at least 95% here will not agree with me."
I think you underestimate your futures.io (formerly BMT) brothers and sisters....I'm sure many would agree with what you are saying (including me).
I agree with Big Mike that position size is key here. If you're trading too large a position for comfort, you need the stop to be so close to the current action that it tends to get taken out during random noise.
Try dropping down to half size or less (this may mean trading ETFs like SPY rather than futures) and see how it feels to give trades more room to develop.
I'm sorry to have to disagree, every trade is not a 50/50 proposition. If this were true then you would have to agree that every setup is irrelevant to the statistical likelihood of success or failure; that the setup phase of a trade provides no edge whatsoever. This simply is not true. Traders have performed studies to show that various patterns and approaches provide varying degrees of statistical likelihood for success/failure with certain contexts such as as time frame etc. To prove this I challenge each and every trader reading this to throw out your setups. On the next trading day skip the "setup" phase of of the trade and just toss a coin as criterion for long or short position and use your trade management approach exclusively to negotiate your way out of your trade. Puts a knot in your stomach I'll bet. You can't and won't do it.
I agree with mikes approach, calculate ahead of time (before entry) where price needs to be to confirm that your assumptions about prices future direction were wrong and protect you from a catastrophic event. BUT make sure that your leverage isn't so big that you are effected psychologically by the loss. Every trader has different criterion about what is catastrophic, and about what point they are wrong on the trade, therefore every stop is unique to the trader and the trade. That is the best approach in my opinion.
"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
- Michael Jordan, 5-Time NBA Most Valuable Player, 6-Time NBA Champion
Sorry I used the wrong quote for my previous response :-)
"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
- Michael Jordan, 5-Time NBA Most Valuable Player, 6-Time NBA Champion
I've been to enough trading seminars and the one consistent from pro traders is "you're always half in and half out". Meaning scaling in and out is key. If your normal position size is 2 contracts then enter with 1 contract using a bigger stop, wait for more confirmation in your trade direction before entering the second contract using a bit of a tighter stop. Exit trades in the same way, scale out of 1 then the 2nd determined by your strat, indicators, etc.