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)
In my initial post I redefined an uptrend, a downtrend and a trading range. I believe that an uptrend is Support is holding and Resistance is failing. Conversely, a downtrand is Resistance is holding and Support is failing. A trading range is both Support and Resistance are holding. Look at the following chart of the Euro. I've circled several trading ranges. Note how both Support and Resistance are holding. Notice how when the market moves higher, Support always holds (as seen by the wicks even on this rather large range chart) and Resistance fails. And when the market moves lower Resistance always holds and Support always fails. All markets trade this way- 6E, ES, CL and the NQ (these are the markets I started to track). It is also not uncommon for the converse side to hold until the dominant side also holds- meaning in an uptrend Resistance can temporarily hold until Support holds and Resistance ultimately fails and vice versa. If you look at the chart I posted yesterday of CL you can see this same concept. When trading in a range both are holding. When the market reversed you can see the shift When it was in an uptrend earlier this week Support was holding and Resistance was failing. When it reversed to the downside (after trading in a range) it put in a double bottom and resistance held trading lower. Note how beautifully Resistance held and it went down. When it went to a range both held and resistance continually held until yesterday. Once again you can see the shift as Support started to hold and Resistance started to fail and up we went.
6E is a mess today. A day to step aside and spend time with the kids. Seeing where we are on the daily shows this is a big area of indecision. Not worth it.
The strategy for trading a Range is to trade the extremes and to stay out of the middle.
Platform: "I trade, therefore, I AM!"; Theme Song: "Atomic Dog!"
Trading: EMD, 6J, ZB
Posts: 795 since Oct 2009
it would help, if the interval, bar type and analytics that you use, be shown, on those posted charts, otherwise its just so pretty, but can't be duplicated, and hence the point being made substantiated or proven on our own platforms.
hey, I understand some guys feel sharing is not caring but watering down, but these markets are just so huge, its not likely we will dull our edge or weaken your approach
I would have benefited if I could understand what you're showing here in the chart...
I started this thread with the best of intentions. It was intended to be my journal, not a "How to" manual. It was intended to chronicle my own struggles with trading, the issues that I faced, my strengths and weaknesses etc.
While a lot has changed, some things remained the same.
I no longer trade the 6E. No particular reason except to say that I have enough trading opportunities during the day that if I want to make more money, I can trade more contracts on the one Market I trade.
I trade the ES.
I am still a Support & Resistance trader. But I had to put it all together. I was, and still am, a student of the Markets. It is my life, my love and my passion. So much so that it cost me a marriage. I hope that I never come to the point that I become unteachable.
I left my job in mid December to become a full time trader. Let there be no mistake, I am still in "Survival" mode. I need to trade and will either sink or swim.
I continued to try this indicator and that indicator. This time frame and that time frame. Even when I knew it was not the solution. I did it because I needed to find my niche. I needed to find what was right for me and my style of trading.
I have a low tolerance for risk. I laugh when I say that because it's like saying, "I am a blind umpire." there seems something contradictory about it. Unless someone was watching the Rams/Saints game in the NFC Championship. NOT a fan of either team but it's clear, someone was blind and then to wave off the other official's flag? A disgrace... But I digress.
So if I have such a low tolerance for risk, then I needed a pretty damn good methodology. Damn good....
I have a propensity for Market generated information. Gomi's work and the additions by Zondor to gomi's work were fascinating to me and I knew I wanted to incorporate them into my trading. But how?
How it seemed was the least of my questions.
I had wanted to incorporate Woodies CCI as well. But I stopped using it. Yes, one more indicator discarded after too many hours to count.
There was so much time lost. lol If I'd been working for a trading firm I'd have been fired a long, long time ago. Too stupid, stubborn, wanting the Holy Grail etc., etc., etc.
But there is something about the sink or swim that is rather motivating. I certainly am NOT suggesting or recommending it to anyone. I did say trading, or rather my decisions in regards to trading, cost me a marriage, right? I don't recommend doing what I did and jumping in with both feet.
People will still, absolutely hate my charts. At first they are overwhelming. Until... you know what to look for.
I am still learning. Just the other day I discarded, yet another, indicator. After a couple of losses last Friday I realized that my beloved Keltner Channels needed to go. The way I was using them was as a trend following tool. But I am not a trend trader. I am a S/R trader. Both losses came because I was trading the trend (not who I am) and not from trading S/R. I would have been fine if I had stuck with S/R.
It was a defining moment.
Consider for a moment, this chart...
Just a simple 4 Range chart. Now consider the next chart. Just adding Keltner channels provided a kind of context. The Market became contained. There is something about trading in the direction of the colored SMA that made trading the ES, dare I say it,(?) "easier".
I like Keltners. It was one of the first (and there were several) methods that I studied. Giving it up was difficult. But here, the last attachment, is a little more difficult. Yuk