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)
As a new trader, this is my paradox, especially while studying scalping practices.
On one hand, you'll hear "price action is all that matters because indicators can only tell you what has already happened". My simple brain likes this concept because if I can learn price action then I don't have to worry about the latest greatest indicator and (in theory) I would be able to trade almost anything that can be charted.
Then, on the other hand, you'll see fairly busy charts as @loantelligence has shared and the strategies with those indicators that I have to assume are working.
My goal (and hope) for my learning process has been to keep it simple but I keep running into conflicting opinions and strategies, this thread alone is a great example of that.
For every 4 people that said "scalping isn't sustainable" there is one that claims to be consistently profitable scalping.
Are all the traders claiming to scalp minis for a living only using two-legged pullbacks charlatans or are they actually consistent?
I've spent weeks studying scalping because I like the idea of being in/out with a predetermined stop/profit target while not leaving myself exposed in the market for very long. However, this thread has been a slight kick in the nuts because it sounds like swing trading is where most professional traders end up being profitable and I'm just a typical newbie that bought into the scalping idea.
Eating an elephant is one thing...at this point trying to find my place as a trader feels like trying to eat the entire circus while juggling flaming chainsaws.
*on a side note finding this forum has definitely helped maintain my sanity, thank you all for that!
It's like saying for a weather forecaster clouds are the only factor that matter or for a guitar player to say, notes are the only factor to play music. Most long time traders know it is not the reality but it is what it is. Sigh!
Bro just pick one style and stick with it for 6 months or 3 months at least. You’re getting conflicting info because THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO TRADE SUCCESSFULLY. Many ways to trade successfully necessitates conflicting points of view. Choose one indicator, or none, and stick with that while documenting your trades to track progress. Ps...candlesticks are an indicator, it’s a basic one but it’s still an indicator.
You are 100% right, I've tried to stick with a couple of moving averages and price action.
I just need to find a simple strategy that has been proven to work with a certain probability and then test and practice it until I reach its historic probability.
Totally right about candlesticks too, which is why I thought learning price action could serve as a good foundation, even if I don't stick with scalping.
A few thoughts...
1) Part of your challenge is possibly not accepting a zero sum gain. For every buyer there is a seller. For every winner there is a loser. For every gain there is a loss. Many people try highly active intraday trading and lose money. They stop doing and new people enter to "try" it. While on the other side of zero sum are some traders that are fairly consistent at taking money out of the market in highly active intraday trading. It can't be that everybody wins or everybody loses.
2) As a very short term trader, I like price action because it is also very short term. I have more successful when I am not committed to my prediction but am willing to change my prediction and change it again, and again. In this model, my edge is knowing the product well, so possibly my predictions and active revisions lead an edge in begin correct a bit more often. Then trade mgmt allows me to keep in the game.
3) Indicators are fine. The number of indicators and setting are endless. What works or didn't work in the past may not work or work now. If one is a highly active intraday trader, and one sets the indicators to very fast/short timeframes then one is almost looking at recent price action through a different lens.
4) You seek "what works" ...well...the actual proper (and very difficult) question is what works for you, which product or products, which type of trade or set-up, what timeframes, profit targets, stop losses, etc. This is why trading is hard.
5) I suggest pick a product, trade very small or paper, use price action for very rapid feedback, use an indicator or two for comparison. See if you can gain some edge in knowing the product, reading price action, or some indicator success.
You aren't the only one who seems to get confused by all of this because I was like that years ago and I believe all newbies too.
Since my english isn't good, I'll use simple terms to explain my opinions. Reading price action is like making a travel plan for a leisure trip to Europe from US. You'll have to do some due diligence to find out what sort of things you need to prepare to make sure your trip is a successful one. Things like visiting your favorite places, what hotel to stay in for each place, where to rent a car and etc... You can consider these as tools/indicators in reading price action which you've to do it on your own. It depends on your trading style and how you interpret price action so you can create trading plans to capture those movements that you keep seeing everyday.
TA is a vast field and every trader uses it differently. The problem is you can't tell whether or not they can use it successfully to make consistent profits. So, you always have to take it with a grain of salt in what everyone says. What matter is that you've to give it a try in a serious manor to see if you can figure it out on your own while trading under sim. If you can't, the only thing you'll lose is time.
This is a really good question. Let's start by saying that there is not only a way to be profitable, but you have to build your own. Scalping means staying on the market for a short time and there are hundreds of ways to do this. What matters is to be consistent and specialize at your edge. You can use dom, order flow, footprint price action renko charts eccc. What matters is finding your way and if this means entering the market and holding a position for a few seconds or a few minutes, that's fine. But the study of the tool and its behaviors is essential to be successful in this way. I have chosen this approach to the market and I like it because it adapts to myself. If you really want to operate in this way, test a strategy for 3-4 months in sim and then go live with the micro trying to optimize every possible aspect day after day, trying to build strict rules and find your advantage on that market. Good luck
Talking about setup is very difficult. As I told you you have to build yours that aligns with what works best for you. What I can tell you based on my experience is: specialize on 1-2 instruments maximum - try to understand the logic of the chosen instrument and the correlations with other instruments. Understanding the speed and volumes traded in the cash hour and at the close of the same. Take a look at the historical series to also see the distribution of volumes and the net daily variation. After this he begins to study the instrument looking at it for days and days and tries to find your edge or situations that are repeated in the market. Try to read the tape. There are so many ways to do this I look at orderflow, footprint and volumeprofile. At that point, build your own strategy and test it, only then can you begin to see the first results and understand if you are on the right trade. And obviously don't forget a fundamental aspect. Work on your psychology and your trading routine because without them even an excellent strategy becomes bankrupt. Good luck
Thank you! You always hear "build your own strategy" but I've never really heard someone break down what that looks like.
I'm curious, can you clarify "volumes traded in the cash hour and at the close of the same"?
In regards to the psychological aspect, I am almost done with "Trading In the Zone" and I'm very glad I read it. I think it will keep me from creating bad habits before they have a chance to take hold.
Right now that is part of my "three-pronged approach" lol, I'm reading on psychology while working through a few different basic courses in the morning before work and trying to paper trade when my schedule and the market volume align.