Thanks for the input, and yes, I would welcome your charts and/or any other helpful advise. No doubt I'm not seeing the forest, but if I understand your chart, it's showing 1 buy zone at 83.75 and the rest are sell zones - is that right? There is also 1 support line at 84.15 which I saw and tried to short the break, but waited too long. I certainly didn't see the support at 07:00 PST, but I was trying to sell at the top of the ranges (your yellow bands?) as I saw them.
Birth of a trader
- Thread starter frank8800
- Start date
Thanks for the input, and yes, I would welcome your charts and/or any other helpful advise. No doubt I'm not seeing the forest, but if I understand your chart, it's showing 1 buy zone at 83.75 and the rest are sell zones - is that right? There is also 1 support line at 84.15 which I saw and tried to short the break, but waited too long. I certainly didn't see the support at 07:00 PST, but I was trying to sell at the top of the ranges (your yellow bands?) as I saw them.
Stick to price action, learn to read price action, and profit.
No need to confuse yourself with trying to figure out these supply/demand zones.
Different things work for different people. Adding more doesn't necessarily make things easier to see.
I trade price action with a 20EMA, as you know from my journal (which I am taking a break). Today I just went in (sim) and swung away. I missed a few good signals, but I ended the day +30 on 9 trades (+25.5 after commission). I don't think I drew one trend line today. Ultimately, since I managed some trades less than optimal, I really should have finished the day +50 (+45.5). The day offered much more than that since it was a great day to trade with the trend.
My point is that you can do this just by trading price action without all of these extra fancy things that just make you think more than you already need to.
No need to confuse yourself with trying to figure out these supply/demand zones.
Different things work for different people. Adding more doesn't necessarily make things easier to see.
I trade price action with a 20EMA, as you know from my journal (which I am taking a break). Today I just went in (sim) and swung away. I missed a few good signals, but I ended the day +30 on 9 trades (+25.5 after commission). I don't think I drew one trend line today. Ultimately, since I managed some trades less than optimal, I really should have finished the day +50 (+45.5). The day offered much more than that since it was a great day to trade with the trend.
My point is that you can do this just by trading price action without all of these extra fancy things that just make you think more than you already need to.
I'd recommend avoiding the counter-trend trades until you have a ton of experience. That way you should have fewer losses and less chance of ending up sim trading. Notice how nicely your breakout long worked, because it was with the trend and by playing a breakout, you let price momentum tell you who was in control. I also played that one and it was second easiest money of the day (the easiest being a 38-second momentum short around 9:37am ET).
I'm curious why you entered the b/o long @ 84.95 instead of 84.82, 84.85, or 85.05?
Yes, avoid the counter trend trades. That was why I took a loss today. I limited the loss to -7 ticks.
When the 20 EMA is sharply leaning one way or the other, don't trade the other way. In a ranging market, the EMA won't be as slanted and the EMA won't be as strong of a support/resistance line.
I shorted the break of the low of the 2:10pm bar (EST). Price went up to 85.68 and then came back down. I thought it might have been a bull trap so I shorted it as it came back down and broke the low. I got sim slipped in at 85.53 (wanted 85.52). I put in a hard target of 20 ticks. It went to +12 and then turned around. The steeply slanted EMA acted as support. If I would have just been mindful of that from the beginning, and given that it was the end of the day, I could have taken +11 to end the day, but instead I got +1. After I realized it, I moved my stop to +11, but it had already bounced back and only came back as close as +9. I could have closed it manually, but I was hoping it would come back to get me out.
84.95 is the top of the 1 min bar at 08:27 PST. I waited for the surge past the 84.85 double top on the 08:15/08:20 bars (where I had a failed long at 84.80).
There's obviously something I'm doing wrong on those break out plays, since more often then not I get stopped out on a retrace. I see the pivot highs, but am wary of them.
Yes, you are correct about the zones, The zones do change from resistance to support or I blow them out if price tells me to. Simple price action and bar reading is so important; zones or no zones. Personally, I don't know if I'm ready to trade CL specifically without my zones. It moves fast, lots of gaps, and movement. I try to let price (dojis, hammers, spinning tops, gaps, etc) of the past tell me what price is going to do in the future. The zones that I draw just help me remember that price is probably going to turn, reverse, zig-zag, or do a table dance. 
Last thing I want to see on my chart is for price to do something totally unexpected that why I trade price action, and zones.
I'll add some big picture captures for you so that you get the idea. I also do Skype. Handle is the same as on here. Not sure I can help you much on CL trading to much I'm usually trading with a friend of mine on the emini and t-bonds but am willing to try.
I am also migrating to Ninjatrader and have some addons that you might like to see.
Last thing I want to see on my chart is for price to do something totally unexpected that why I trade price action, and zones. I'll add some big picture captures for you so that you get the idea. I also do Skype. Handle is the same as on here. Not sure I can help you much on CL trading to much I'm usually trading with a friend of mine on the emini and t-bonds but am willing to try.
I am also migrating to Ninjatrader and have some addons that you might like to see.
Why are you wary of pivot highs? That's where a true show of strength occurs. When someone is willing to pay just 1 tick more than the price that was "too high" last time it got there, a lot of stops get triggered to market. If it's nothing more than a stop run, the breakout fails and you head for the exit. But if there are real buyers coming in they'll be buying right through each previous resistance zone (84.90, 85.04, 85.20, 85.29, 85.64, 85.84, etc.) as long as the trend stays intact (higher lows on each pullback).
Normally, I make a list of previous S/R levels from wherever price is when I first turn on my platform in the morning. This can be really helpful in setting profit targets.
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I guess I've been burned too many times where price will run up 3 - 4 ticks past the last swing high, then retrace beyond my stop. Maybe I'm looking at the wrong pivots, or perhaps in the long run I'd come out ahead if I took the all.
It's hard to look at a 5 min chart and tell if you would have survived the trade.
I am trying to be more aware of the big picture.
If you trade cl have you looked at mark fisher and how he trades??? His philosophy is awesome and I have learned so much from following his strategy...I try to highlight his strategies in my blog...
http://theopeningrange.blogspot.com/
http://theopeningrange.blogspot.com/