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Platform: Sierra Charts, Investor RT, Ninja Trader
Broker: VanKar
Trading: NQ
Posts: 520 since Sep 2009
Thanks Given: 583
Thanks Received: 1,248
First day of trying the scalping method. Tried it on 6B, NQ, and even CL. Tried different parameters (different range bars and some time bars). As a result, it is not a good day to post charts. This was not a day that is representative of how I trade; this was a day to experiment.
At the end of the day, I am not really sure how I feel about Sharky's system. The chart is a little busy for me. I found myself entering too soon. I have not resolved what to do when price exceeds the DMA line and then turns back in the direction of the trend and gets an arrow. Gonna take more screen time to sort that out.
I think you will find that this system will take weeks if not months to perfect. I believe almost any system will work, but it takes years of practicing it over and over again.
I like your idea of getting better entries on the insidebar concept.
Platform: Sierra Charts, Investor RT, Ninja Trader
Broker: VanKar
Trading: NQ
Posts: 520 since Sep 2009
Thanks Given: 583
Thanks Received: 1,248
Folks that read this thread will probably think I have gone off the deep end, but today has been a great day. I have been in a fog for the last month. I have questioned my trading methods, my platform, my goals....just about everything to do with my trading. I have looked at other trading methods (including a chat room....just totally reconfirmed that I can not do a chat room), tried different indicators, different platforms (NT and Sierra Charts, I like them both), and even started the procedure to switch brokers.
Once I applied for the other broker, I started to really get cold feet. I decided if there was any glitch at all, I would just leave things as they are. ToS is not the best futures broker but they are good enough. What I really like is NOT having to use Windows....I have a long time love/hate with Windows. I currently use Ubuntu (but my secret desire is to buy a nice big MAC....but trading will have to pay for it). ToS is Java based and runs on Windows, Mac, or Linux.
The reason for switching brokers/platforms was to use range charts, but I have come to realize I don't like range charts as much as I thought I would. I am also doing the YTC Price Action Course. All the charts there are time based. The fellow at YTC has good techniques, but he also likes the 9/20 method from Trading Naked. That is the method I was using before I started doing the CL inside bar trade. Today, I traded the 9/20 pullback method on a 1 min CL chart. My entry was one tick above/below the bar that initially touched the 20 ema. The 9 ema was just used to show me on which side of the 20 ema to trade. Was able to trade with a near 1:1 ratio. Had about an 80% win/loss ratio. Chart is clean which I really like. Method is simple enough to explain. Basically it is just enter the trend on a pull back.
Well, there was a glitch in switching brokers. So, I think the Good Lord just gave me the answers I needed. For the first time in weeks, I feel like the fog has lifted.
I would like to share the story of the chinese bamboo tree. After months, in my case years, of struggle trying to get my trading to a consistent level, and I think to myself damn this is taking forever to figure out, I like to read the story about the chinese bamboo tree, it's a few short paragraphs. Here's to your tree sprouting.
Platform: Sierra Charts, Investor RT, Ninja Trader
Broker: VanKar
Trading: NQ
Posts: 520 since Sep 2009
Thanks Given: 583
Thanks Received: 1,248
Thanks Tmanbone....the grass really is not always greener elsewhere....sometimes though you need to reassure yourself of that. That is what the last 5-6 weeks have done for me. I toyed with other ideas, but came to realize what I have been doing is just fine. Need to keep on watering that bamboo tree.
Today, I used ToS and had a 15 min chart of CL alongside a 1 min chart of CL. I used the 15 min to give me the big picture and to spot the inside bars. I used the 1 min for scalping from the 20 ema touches and looking for a better entrance on the inside bars. I traded only until 11 am (another luncheon). Had good success. Ended up $280 (before commissions). That is great considering I had 2 losing trades. Keeping the R:R in line does indeed have its advantages. I intentionally traded the choppiness from 9-10:30 just to see how it would work. It was in there that I had the losers, but the winners more than made up for it.
I will probably go back to live trading some time next week and will get back to doing charts then. I need to practice marking up charts to more clearly indicate my trades. Have not found the right program on Ubuntu to allow that yet. But will keep looking.
Platform: Sierra Charts, Investor RT, Ninja Trader
Broker: VanKar
Trading: NQ
Posts: 520 since Sep 2009
Thanks Given: 583
Thanks Received: 1,248
Traded live again today. Used the 1 minute chart for CL. On the chart are 3 moving averages, all ema's. These are 8, 20, and 120. The 120 is there to approximate an 8 ema on a 15 minute chart. I know it is not exact (I am still under a demo account on NT and I have a 1 minute chart of CL with a transparent 15 min data series that has the 15 min ema visible) but I am using what is available. The horizontal red lines are pivot points (price turning points) drawn looking at a 1 hour and a 15 min timescale. Once they are placed, I switch back to a 1 min chart.
This scalping technique is a play off of the 9/20 method (or 9/30 if you use a WMA) from Trading Naked. My modifications are to wait for a bar to touch the 20 ema before entering a trade rather than just waiting for it to close above/below the 8 ema. Once a bar touches the 20 ema, I put in a stop entry order beneath or above expecting a retracement away from the 20 ema. This is scalping, so I use relatively small targets and stops (want the stop on the opposite side of the ema beyond the swing point of the price move). The target is based on recent price action (a recent swing point or other price point, looking to get R:R close to or greater than 1).
Took three trades this morning. Two of the followed the rules above; the third was based on a reversal not taking out a recent low (I felt comfortable taking the trade but it strictly was not by the rules, so I am not as happy as I should be). All three were profitable.
I quit after the 3 trades. I have seen other setups form, but I have other things I need to get done. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Too many bites might make you sick.
I have attached my chart. The three small red lines approximate where I entered. I have not found a really good Linux program to mark up these screen captures. If any of you know of a free one, please let me know (I really like open source software).
Platform: Sierra Charts, Investor RT, Ninja Trader
Broker: VanKar
Trading: NQ
Posts: 520 since Sep 2009
Thanks Given: 583
Thanks Received: 1,248
I had a good day yesterday. The method worked just like it was supposed to. After I quit live trading, I sim-traded some more and had a high winning percentage and good equity build. The method works, but...
It really works well when the price is trending. Today, in the morning hours price was not trending. How do I know.....look at the chart. Price is going across the middle. It is not going from lower left to upper right or from upper left to lower right. It is meandering across the middle, pretty much oscillating around the 120 ema. Warning. Do not trade this mess.
If only I had heeded my warning. I attempted to follow the method. I did wait for the opening moves to settle down. My first trade was at 9:21, going long at 86.84. Price went to one tick of the target and then reversed on me., it came within one tick of the stop and headed back up. I scratched that trade as we were getting close to the NYSE open and I didn't want to be in the trade then.
I took 7 other trades this morning. Three were losers and 4 winners. Unfortunately, the losers were bigger than the winners. I placed stops above the swing before the entry. My mistake was I kept the targets small. Additionally, price action was very choppy (I took heat on every trade I think) and that made me nervous, so on a couple of trades, I made the target even smaller.
It was a learning experience and for that I am grateful. It was not as costly as it used to be. I honored the stops. Each trade is but one of many; each trade has a probability of success or failure. In a trend, the method has a positive expectancy. As long as I keep the probability on my side, the equity curve over time will go up.
I did notice a couple of glitches with the ToS data. On one trade the chart showed the price well below the stop, but I heard the order alert go off as a stop was hit. Several seconds later, the chart "jumped" to the correct price. This really does bother me a great deal.
I was focusing on the one minute chart and missed the inside bar at 10:30. I am not sure I would have traded it if I had noticed it. The upper end of the bar was close to the 20 and 120 ema and I had more of a downward bias (from earlier looks at higher timeframe charts). Anyway, I missed the trade. The initial break could of been traded fro a small gain to the previous peak around 10am. I did not see a good re-entry point on the one minute chart.
I did not mark up the trades on the chart today.
Papa15
