Saint Joseph
Posts: 12 since Nov 2018
Thanks Given: 7
Thanks Received: 4
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Please excuse this sounding like a rant, as I am slightly tilting.
Often people say that changing strategies and markets is the wrong thing for a trader to do. However, I have seen strategies and edges of my own come and go, mostly due to changes in volatility. If I didn't adapt, and change what I was doing, I just wouldn't make any money or progress. Some traders give advice like "you have to recognize when the edge isn't there, and take the day off" or "If beginner traders could just stick to ONE strategy and learn it well, they would have a much higher chance for success" Well, the thing is the edge could 'not be there' for multiple months at a time.
I began trading in late 2018 and there have been wild swings in market volatility since then. had I traded the same style and stuck to just one strategy as is said to be the disciplined thing to do, there would have been periods of time where I would have sat on my hands for 3 months straight, maybe traded the next few months, and then right back to not trading for another 2 months.
I went from day trading stocks, to scalping stocks, to swing trading stocks, to scalping crude futures, to mini crude futures, to micro ES futures + swing trading stocks
Just FYI I'm not the guy that switches strategies after a few losing days, I think it's important to make that distinction.
When I first started scalping crude futures I did excellent right away, the pit session ATR was below 1.5 and it was the perfect environment for my style of scalping. I thought I finally found "my market". Now it's just gone, I have no edge there anymore and that's just reality. I tried widening stops and trading QM but nope. It could be a year before that regime returns, but until the ATR drops below 1.5 I'm going to stay away. I just imagine how sad it would be if I was still waiting for that edge to come back because I heard some guy say that was the correct thing to do.
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