Quote from luckyhonda:
1. My biggest problem is coming up with the initial buy/sell bias going into the day. It is easier when the market is trending. However, on range bound days and also toward the end of a trend, it is often very difficult to determine which way the market goes. How do you deal with those situations?
2. You've mentioned market profile. How do you use MP?
3. How do you handle losing trades?
A buy or sell bias in my opinion is not necessary trading the way that I do. It certainly helps if you wish to hold over night. Then you probably need a bias over a period of days, and should be looking at a daily, weekly and monthly chart.
Now having said that, a bias is certainly helpful, especially if you intend to only trade one side all day, i.e. only sell or only buy. So, in my daily pre-market commentary, when I make a call on my bias, how do I do it? I look at three things:
The 50 MA on the 5 minute.
The 50 MA on the 60 minute.
Where is price right this moment based on the most recently established daily high or low.
Personally, for me, I place emphasis on the 60 minute, prior to the open, and then rely on the 5 minute during my trading.
How to use MP, see my reply above.
How do I handle losing trades? A losing trade comes with the territory. Don't look at the next trade as making up for the loss. Take the next trade without hesitation. Never let a single daily loss exceed the average high end of your best profitable day. Since my best performance is with the first three trades of the day, I will never trade after more than three losing trades in a single day. Statistically based on my performance, the odds are not in my favor.
