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)
You seem to be getting an incorrect impression about what is required to succeed in trading. It has nothing to do with your past achievements or abilities.
I may be wrong to assume you are trading live, in which case you obviously should switch to sim trading. There is not enough quality or consistency in what you are doing. You think about markets as simply something going up and down, which isn't useful if you want to make money. How long have you been working on your trading? Do you understand why what you do should generate positive results? Do you actually have a consistent methodology?
Some people hide behind emotional problems, when in fact they simply haven't done the necessary work. It doesn't matter how many years you've been following the markets. You need to KNOW what makes money by testing your ideas first.
Thanks for your comments, as mentioned earlier I witnessed 2008 crash then rise then flash crash all these so long enough, I did very well buying low and holding until flash crash day, of course didn't used leverage. Regarding method, simple buy low sell high...and follow value using Volume profile, internals etc...regarding method I feel there is no right or wrong method only the process and how good you are sticking to it and how fast you are reacting when you are wrong and taking positions opposite to your initial bias...regarding method I always wonder what method @tigertrader and @bigmike follow? Do you know? It is not the method it is you, you are responsible for your own making or destruction..
I am not saying that methodology is everything. But you definitely need one. You only mentioned a list of tools, but you need a consistent way of using them - your own style. You are talking about process and using intuition, but you need to learn to walk before you can run.
Thanks for taking your time to help me, I really appreciate it, after becoming active on BMT I wish I can meet you up personally in Dallas but I know you are at a beach in Ecuador :-).
Anyway I will explain my process not in the form of flow chart because mind will not follow a concrete flow chart/plan (Maybe it should...)
Short term Swing trading using ES (One/two contracts)
1. Once weekly I examine monthly chart and weekly charts of ES, GC (But trade mini Gold YG) and CL (But trade mini oil QM) to see oversold/overbought levels and to find divergences.
2. Look at daily (some moving averages) and on 2 hour chart examine previous week VPOC, High, Low, HVN and LVN to get an idea of entry (either short of long).
3. Look at breadth such as One month/week NYSE high's and lows on 2 hour chart, look for any divergences in ZN, USDJPY, Oil.
Entry
Previously I entered when price touched or near my entry but these day I am waiting for confirmation to enter any swing trades--thanks to this face ripping rally.
Scaling - I would like to scale in at next level of resistance/support...what I noticed is supports holds all the time but not resistance thanks to our central bankers.
Exit
This is my main problem, once I enter I do have a price target in my mind but I exit before hitting it because of fear of loosing, I will be watching tick by tick get messed up by plethora of information available on twitter etc. Sometimes I do good but sometimes misses it.
Two issues - 1. Not able to exit quick enough in case of wrong and flip sides, 2. Exit quickly even when I am right.
Stop- Once price move very far my entry, I go into defensive mode i.e I will say ok, let me scale in at next level then again scale in at next level then go into obsession mode because by that time I will be looking at huge loss and look for confirmation bias from almost everything (twitter, news etc.) .
I think I do good in volatile market because I know price eventually will come back to my levels but I am very very bad when volatile market becomes trendy because price would moved away from me and I would be holding bag on swing trades because I am no good in reacting fast enough and see what's going on.
Fix (I think...)
1. Since support works all the time, just don't look for shorts only look for longs.
2. Put a stop doesn't matter because I am not ready to read this market and evaluate dynamics on the go.
Day trading
1. Intraday (Strictly for daytrading) look at CTICK (thanks to BMT), TICK, VOLSPD, ADSPD, VIX,USDJPY and volume and other indices NQ, YM and TF.
2. Look for low volume pullback at support levels and divergences but if for some reason If I miss my entry and price moved away from me a lot I always looks for trades in reverse direction and if it is a trend day, I am screwed and sometimes I feel like ok I will wait for scale in at my next level on higher time frame -- VERY BAD.
3. I really don't like to watch tick by tick even though I do it every day so really don't want to be doing day trading because big money is not in day trading unless you are trading with more number of contracts and stick to your rules very very strictly.
By reading all this one can say YOU DON'T HAVE A PLAN, but what is the plan? is it like as simple as entry on moving average crossover and exit on moving avergae crossover but I don't see that kind of trading from other successful traders
IMPORTANT ISSUES
1. Not able to cut losses quickly, forget about flipping - Improving on this
2. If price moves away from me then looking for reversal - Again not doing this these days.
3. Not having physical stop because I am not at the level of where I can get my context right.
I had good success last year - I converted 8K account to 18K in Nov, Dec time frame but lost quickly in Feb. So it's not that I never had any success but I need success consistently.
Thanks for reading and for all the support.
@tigertrader @bigmike @rahulgopi please help me formulating a plan or whatever it is to fix my mind (I think that's my biggest enemy in trading).
I saw you wrote "regret" in the other thread. This is something you want to watch out for. Mind is a chatterbox and 99% of the thoughts are automatic and doesn't have much value, most of the time are not the truth. Mind, if consciously used is a powerful instrument. Most of the time it controls us as we get attached to the stream of every little thought. I practice ZEN / mindfulness meditation every day. Eventhou it is just as simple as sitting and observing your thoughts, it is very powerful with daily practice. You dont need any bells and whistles for meditation, I was initiated to Kriya yoga , BUT just simply sitting watching the thoughts is more beneficial than anything else.
Here is the simple exercise I use
1) Sit comfortably with feet flat on the ground, take few deep breaths and release slowly.
2) Relax your eyelids while exhaling, and carry the relaxation to rest of the body
3) open your eyes and passively look at something, wall or anything, do not focus on anything.
4) now observe the thoughts / feelings that arise, DO NOT judge, no mental commentary, just observe and let them fade.
5) It is important to not look for any experience, like tingling in your tail bone or light in the 3rd eye or what ever. Looking for any experience is an attachment and it will create mental illusions and fall into the trap of mind. Enlightenment, if it happens is beyond mind , so let go of all experiences while meditating and dont look for any .
Commitment and dedication is the key. The reality is, if you are emotional and impulsive in trading, you are the same in other life situations too. Trading just amplifies everything . So having such a practice will elevate overall well-being, true to my experience. Few years back , after having kids , my stress level was over the roof. Few other financial situations / investments elevated this. As I mentioned elsewhere, trading has pushed me to adapt and change my lifestyle. It amplified and projected all my issues and I choose to face them head on. More work is required but I am very happy with the progress thus far.
EDIT : I posted this before I saw your last post .
.
. So having such a practice will elevate overall well-being, true to my experience. Few years back , after having kids , my stress level was over the roof. Few other financial situations / investments elevated this. As I mentioned elsewhere, trading has pushed me to adapt and change my lifestyle. It amplified and projected all my issues and I choose to face them head on. More work is required but I am very happy with the progress thus far.