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Catching Big Waves - a trader's journal of surfing the the markets


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Catching Big Waves - a trader's journal of surfing the the markets

  #3681 (permalink)
 
websouth's Avatar
 websouth 
Perdido Beach, AL
Market Wizard
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: graph paper
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just a different view
1 hr


“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” - Dr. Seuss
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  #3682 (permalink)
 
GaryD's Avatar
 GaryD 
Orlando, Florida
 
Experience: None
Platform: shoes
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Posts: 6,462 since May 2011


Big Mike View Post
Well like most things in life, there is not a clear black/white line. What I meant by my post was "in general". In other words, if we can make some assumptions, people posting on futures.io (formerly BMT) and trading are probably not living in poverty. They are probably more educated than average.

Let's just say they make 75,000 a year at their "day job" on average. They work 60 hour weeks, aren't crazy about their job. They have a wife and 2 kids.

It is my opinion that taking this persons income from 75k to 150k isn't going to make them happier. They will buy fancier cars, a bigger house, spend more money going out and on entertainment, buy a new plasma tv, some new toys, a new set of golf clubs, buy a new boat, whatever... all of those things provide brief moments of happiness, but overall for the long haul will likely not solve any underlying problem if you are already unhappy to begin with.

It is very difficult to explain. I can still very clearly remember how I felt in my day job prior to me quitting and turning to trading full time. I would not have classified myself as unhappy. I had all kinds of toys, big house, cars, bought whatever I wanted, etc. But it turns out, I was not happy. It was not due to lack of money. Thus, money does not buy happiness.

I only was able to reach that conclusion after I had made some major life changes, which happened as I was trying to make trading for a living work. I had been trading for 15 years but never as my sole source of income. It took some major changes, which I talked about in-depth in the 3 hour webinar "An afternoon with Big Mike".

It was only because I am able to look back and compare my happiness both before and after that event that I am able to say I was definitely not happy before the change. But like I said, if you had asked me at that time, I would have answered "yes, I am happy" simply because I did not have proper context to compare to.

Since that time, another saying that I've said many times and that I believe is true is that you can go away from North America and visit other places, lets say the Caribbean since it is a favorite of mine. You will meet people who have virtually nothing compared to the spoiled Americans. Virtually no money, no "toys". They live very simply. And without a doubt, they are much more happy people than the average American.

Toys, gizmos, possessions, and money do not make happiness. So I will add a qualifier, which is that obviously a certain amount of money in order to buy you food, shelter, medical care, and to make sure you are not living in poverty is required.

Mike


What is it exactly that causes trading full time to make you happier?

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  #3683 (permalink)
 
GaryD's Avatar
 GaryD 
Orlando, Florida
 
Experience: None
Platform: shoes
Trading: happy
Posts: 6,462 since May 2011



websouth View Post
just a different view
1 hr



That is something I have never seen.

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  #3684 (permalink)
 
GaryD's Avatar
 GaryD 
Orlando, Florida
 
Experience: None
Platform: shoes
Trading: happy
Posts: 6,462 since May 2011




I think partly from my schedule hthis week, but the 120m was starting to just look like garbage to me. Tonight I have a better feel, and am watching the symmetrical triangle (orange/blue). The cyan line broke already, which is actually a higher timeframe, but the near term consolidation is what I am more interested in.

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  #3685 (permalink)
 
GaryD's Avatar
 GaryD 
Orlando, Florida
 
Experience: None
Platform: shoes
Trading: happy
Posts: 6,462 since May 2011


Started this thread
  #3686 (permalink)
 
websouth's Avatar
 websouth 
Perdido Beach, AL
Market Wizard
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: graph paper
Trading: The shiny stuff
Posts: 1,209 since Jul 2009
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GaryD View Post
That is something I have never seen.

It's a Gann Grid. Let's you add a structure to trade from. Diagonal graph paper... just did some searching. I don't think ninja has it. Also helps with consistent axis scaling. I am off and on with it. I was just looking at your charts and thought it went with your style of zooming out to find structure... you could also Google pyrapoint. Similar concept that ensign offers I believe.



Gann Grid - [AUTOLINK]Gann[/AUTOLINK] Tools - Technical Analysis

later

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” - Dr. Seuss
Visit my NexusFi Trade Journal
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  #3687 (permalink)
r3algood
Little Rock, Arkansas
 
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GaryD View Post

It'll pick a direction soon enough, just be there to capture the move mate.

Congestion to trend and back over and over and over

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  #3688 (permalink)
 
GaryD's Avatar
 GaryD 
Orlando, Florida
 
Experience: None
Platform: shoes
Trading: happy
Posts: 6,462 since May 2011


r3algood View Post
It'll pick a direction soon enough, just be there to capture the move mate.

Congestion to trend and back over and over and over





The gray zone is no man's land. Tighter...

Started this thread
  #3689 (permalink)
 
GaryD's Avatar
 GaryD 
Orlando, Florida
 
Experience: None
Platform: shoes
Trading: happy
Posts: 6,462 since May 2011


websouth View Post
It's a Gann Grid. Let's you add a structure to trade from. Diagonal graph paper... just did some searching. I don't think ninja has it. Also helps with consistent axis scaling. I am off and on with it. I was just looking at your charts and thought it went with your style of zooming out to find structure... you could also Google pyrapoint. Similar concept that ensign offers I believe.



Gann Grid - [AUTOLINK]Gann[/AUTOLINK] Tools - Technical Analysis

later

Looks cool, guessing it is running off ATR?

Started this thread
  #3690 (permalink)
 
GaryD's Avatar
 GaryD 
Orlando, Florida
 
Experience: None
Platform: shoes
Trading: happy
Posts: 6,462 since May 2011



websouth View Post
It's a Gann Grid. Let's you add a structure to trade from. Diagonal graph paper... just did some searching. I don't think ninja has it. Also helps with consistent axis scaling. I am off and on with it. I was just looking at your charts and thought it went with your style of zooming out to find structure... you could also Google pyrapoint. Similar concept that ensign offers I believe.



Gann Grid - [AUTOLINK]Gann[/AUTOLINK] Tools - Technical Analysis

later

I recently said, jokingly, that just believeing in an outcome, waiting for it, and getting out when wrong, might just be a "plan" That grid, if someone traded the way it should be traded (assuming from one line to another?) could be very profitable, IF they believed in it enough to find out, set some max factor to say they are wrong, and develop a "feel" for when it is better to believe or not.

I am finding all indicators to be that way. To me, today, I don't think I want to change anything, only because this is what I know. I recently was going to replace my Donchians with ones that changed colors, or remove the indicator that changes my bars from white to black, but why? Indicators give a frame of reference, to me anyway, so that when something happens in the future we can reference it to the past.

If I were starting over, I would love to see what that grid could do, but today I don't know how I could trade if I did not draw the lines myself

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