Breaking your own trading rules

[Real Money]

traders don't make price

This is bullshit. You are not looking at the right stuff. ETJ just recently posted a video here

https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/intro-to-the-new-cbot-traders.338348/

DiFransesca said, (paraphrasing) most new traders on the CBOT find out that everything has already been done. Most successful guys at CBOT do not invent entirely new styles of trading....

Traders absolutely make prices. Maybe you should learn about things like the BOB spread.

Traders are very much trading this. You want volatility? There is more than you can handle.

who is the volume behind the trades, is it a HFT trader who is participating or trading or institutional or retail trader or market maker?

You should start watching arbitrage spreads.

Even if retail can't trade a spread (because it requires HFT, exchange membership, or access to OTC or cash markets) that does NOT mean that it is not important (pros are watching it).

My favorites are the index futures and ETF differentials VS the CBOE real-time index and the BOB spread.

price discovery in the markets. that is great myth.

If you don't understand what I just said there are some things that you should learn about.

Price discovery is happening (spectacularly so), but retail is usually the last to know about it.

 

[.sigma]

I have a tendency like many traders to lose discipline and break my own trading rules.

I always lose money when I break my trading rules.

Also, information is very important. Why doesn`t the exchange show who is the volume behind the trades, is it a HFT trader who is participating or trading or institutional or retail trader or market maker. I don`t see how for futures or high volume that there is that much volume and price is FLAT for hours

it seems like the price is controlled or rigged there is no momentum

If you "always" lose money when breaking your rules, why do you break your rules?

And also, lets say the exchange starts showing the volume behind the trades.. how would you (retail trader) profit off this information? It would be nearly impossible.

 

[Bernfeld]

To avoid this problem, I completely automated my trading strategy. Did not think in this direction?