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I had put both YM and CL in the plan, but would only trade one at a time. My thinking was that there are times when the Index futures don't move, so I was giving myself the option of having another market to look at. I remember what you said about mastering one, so I will be updating the plan to only trade one market. I will stick with YM.
Great plan. Thanks for sharing it. I too work with volume-price SR and appreciate/enjoy reviewing your method.
I have had a hard time putting together a plan but mainly because apart from listing entry/exit rules I keep muddling around. I think your excellent layout throughout will give me a boost and help me finalise it. At this point I am not clear on things like max daily loss etc. and reading your plan made me realise: I can create a rule and then stick with it rather than worrying about whether or not the rule is perfect. For some reason this is a mini-breakthrough in understanding how to make the plan.
Is that TPO chart a publicly available indy? If so, could you provide reference?
Of old the skilled first made themselves invincible to await the enemy's vincibility.
Invincibility lies in oneself. Vincibility lies in the enemy.
Thus the skilled can make themselves invincible.
They cannot cause the enemy's vincibility.
Thus it is said: 'Victory can be known; it cannot be made.'
Thanks, I appreciate it. I question whether or not its great. While writing it and making images for it I felt very good about it, but the last few days have been very strong and trendy. Today was not very trendy, so in looking at charts it was not as impressive. I guess we will never find something that is perfect in every situation. The key is to have something written and then follow it, because that is what will help to allow us to fight another day. So, in regards to your comment about not being clear about a max loss etc., you hit the nail on the head. The plan is living and can be modified, but give the rules a chance. I used to define a max loss for myself and I used to go beyond it all the time. Just another in the many mental rules I broke. Hence I've lost more money than I care to think about. Ultimately we need to have the strength and discipline to follow the rules we've created. if we (I) can't do that then I really do think failure is eminent.
Well, it is encouraging that indies that cost money are sometimes better ones even though many open source are just as good if not better than so many hustlers out there charge for them.
'mental rules I broke'. That's it. I have been thinking of rules as something external, usually defined as entry and exits etc. even though I have read here and elsewhere that this is not really the point of a complete plan. I understood it intellectually immediately. But I didn't actually get it internally. I think now I have. And it is sort of exciting actually, because then rules are things we control, we choose, we either execute properly or not. So now I am going to go through my plan and look at the whole thing from this pov and also tailor it better in terms of understanding and clarifying how the rules are really choices that I have made and these choices are commitments I am making to myself to execute real time. They are not external things like laws of physics or a military code of conduct handed down from above. They are MY rules which I choose to implement.
I think this is going to get both very hard, very interesting, but by clarifying and having such rules I will start a feedback journey which is the single thing that has been lacking in my recent day-trading career which started about a year or so ago now and which has not yet proven consistently profitable although it got close for a while before I had to stop because of both poor results one month and a seriously worsening dialup connection making things unworkable. That's history. Now I can go forward with (finally) an understanding of the purpose of having a plan. Your post made something click. Thanks again.
PS. On quickly reading through the above after posting I realise that much of what I/we have just been discussing is the internal subject matter of the quote I have in the signature below from Tsun Tzu's Art of War, that twist at the end about Victory being a function of Knowing, i.e. rules are what we ideate, not external objective entities.
Of old the skilled first made themselves invincible to await the enemy's vincibility.
Invincibility lies in oneself. Vincibility lies in the enemy.
Thus the skilled can make themselves invincible.
They cannot cause the enemy's vincibility.
Thus it is said: 'Victory can be known; it cannot be made.'
I've been pleased with the Fin Alg TPO chart. I wanted a Market profile, but did not want market delta or the other expensive options. The one on the forum, imarketprofile_65 may be sufficient, but it was around, or I didn't know about it when I obtained the Fin-Alg version. The free one is nice, but i don't know if you can split the profile or merge days together or not.
Is Tsun Tzu's Art of War the book that Gordon Gekko mentions in the movie Wallstreet?
Thanks for checking on me. I find that the best time to take the trades based on my plan are during the open. I have had difficulty with being up at that hour as I am not used to be up that early. I know that is just an excuse, but its all I've got. Also, I am letting the plan sit in my mind for a couple weeks. Mike suggested not changing anything for at least that long. I feel the plan had too many options in it such as minute charts and MedRenko charts etc and I think it should be slimmed down a bit. I will most likely be posting an updated version, but still in alignment with my main methodology.
I know it's important to journal, so I am back again to do so. I must admit that there are still some lose ends to my plan, but I know that Market Profile is a major part of the my methodology.
I am improving on eliminating the impulsive and revenge trades.
Today i show a number of trades, but not everything. The first was a stop out at B/E from a trade I executed over night. I was up 50 tics, but the bastards took price down and stopped me. thats okay. A because I followed what i wanted to do.
Next i went long, but I was too abrupt and exited on my own for a 6 tic loss. D for that trade.
Next i went long and held on for 75 tics and moved my stop to up. I was up as much as 130 tics, it think. I was following my plan which included a target. Target did not get hit, but I captured 60 tics on the trade. I guess since I followed my plan that is positive, but I lost out on about 70 tics. B for that trade.
I took a couple garbage trades and made 6 or 7 tics. C on those.
One not show is a trade on ES I saw set up so I took it for 1.75 points. I'm discovering I don't really like ES. Way too much wiggles of up and down constantly.
I know CL is a volatile market, but it seems as though it can trend better. I know it has its days.
A very nice day $ wise, but still need to solidify my plan. The thing that I feel is missing is what trigger method to use for entry. Many market profile trades are based on a level and volume and as you can see from the candle with the long wick there isn't a lot of time once price hits a level. Any ideas or suggestions on triggers would be appreciated. So plan wise etc I am improving, but giving myself a C-.
Today I took 4 trades. There is info on the chart. 2 long and 2 short. Ended with a loss of $130, but could have been worse.
I try and have a bias based on the MP, but that can mess with my head. I will work on having the bias, but trade what I see. Can't let a bias affect the days activity. Still need to work on patience and waiting. Also, if I go through the work of doing analysis via the MP I should be watching the key areas of S/R and not just trade blind like a fool.
I agree with you & am frustrated with the ES. Read somewhere that most of the recent moves were after hours and it fits, one of the reasons I'm up at this hour. The 6E is now my favorite instrument.
R.I.P. Andy Zektzer (ZTR), 1960-2010.
Please visit this thread for more information.
